[bigjeff]

A guy from work GAVE me a 1987 VN750 with a broken internal shift shaft for free. It had been sitting for years and his wife wanted it off the property.

So.......I now have a project to work on and I just got the kawasaki to a roller state - minus the brakes. Working on the brakes now. Need new front brake pistons and a seal kit of course - the original pistons were corroded. Found a guy in England that carries them relatively cheap tho. :motorcycl

I am doing the military OD Green with a white army star in a circle thing. I was in the US Army and have always liked that look. :carryflag

I have a bunch of pics on the process - need to upload them to a host then I will do up this thread better.

Later - BigJeff

It looked like this when I got it - engine was out of frame and many parts in boxes:

I stripped it down to this and painted the frame:

And have rebuilt it up to this so far:

All it takes is money and a boatload of time! Right? lol

My other two bikes:

 

[sailormonkey333]

very nice! Keep the pictures coming...are you doing a full rebuild on the engine/trans?

 

[bigjeff]

very nice! Keep the pictures coming...are you doing a full rebuild on the engine/trans?

Got to split the case to fix that famous "broken shift tie rod" - so I'll give it a good look over. Should be in pretty good shape. Only has 14k on it. Will need to buy a complete set of rebuild gaskets tho. :/ Going to leave the tranny alone unless something glares out at me.

If the pistons and bores measure out right I'll leave it - if not - big bore time.

 

[WilliamTech]

Got to split the case to fix that famous "broken shift tie rod" - so I'll give it a good look over. Should be in pretty good shape. Only has 14k on it. Will need to buy a complete set of rebuild gaskets tho. :/ Going to leave the tranny alone unless something glares out at me.

If the pistons and bores measure out right I'll leave it - if not - big bore time.

Ensure you replace the dampers...mine went out @ 13K miles.
To avoid possible leaks, I also replaced the shift "Shaft" Seal ....also performed the Tuxedo Mod.

 

[Spockster]

x1000, check the dampers, the pics of failed ones are hideous.

Can't beat free and it's obviously going to look cool.

Stock bars on that in the pics?

Military theme, eh... I see some of those gas cans they use on the milspec KLR650. Tiny fuel tank, solved!

Nice neat shop, I'm jealous.

 

[blazblu82]

Awesome start on the resto!

I'll xInfiniti on the dampeners. If your bike is already vibreating badly (badly as in can't see out of one mirror regardless of RPM and the bike dances around on center stand) then get those suckers replaced! Else, you'll end up with bullet holes in the casing.

Good job on the work thus far! Looking forward to more updates!

 

[Okiebezer]

Looks great!

 

[bigjeff]

Thanks for the tips. I'll replace the dampeners for sure and look into the tuxedo mod. Yes - stock bars - so far. lol

 

[bigjeff]

Ok people - I got the US Army Star decals I ordered today! Whoo Hoo!

Tank - notice Honda cb900c and NC700X peeking through under the tank:

Side cover:

You get the idea:

 

[sailormonkey333]

that really is looking slick! I can't wait to build my next garage....it will allow me to go crazy with project bikes I'm just now finishing my first vulcan build and am already on the lookout for another one LOL

 

[bigjeff]

Going to back up now and show you some past battles (tires) and new challenges (brakes). And some fun stuff - fork gators and a goofy idea to cover pits on the upper fork tube that actually may work out well.

Wanting to be more like Holysmokes - I want to do my own tire work. It is just that. WORK. I sweated. But with a few tools - 3 irons, and a bead breaker I got er done. The tires are shinko and were $180 shipped for the pair from the motorcycle super store:

The rear wheel was a night mare - the 1987 original tire with a can of fix a flat that had turned to a concrete like substance. Blah. That sucked.

After much grinding and sanding I was able to save the wheel but it sucked.

It came out good though:

The master cylinder was a nightmare to get apart too - had to bring out the big tool:

But I prevailed. The MC was full of gunk:

And - the pistons need replaced:

So - I ordered two brake caliper pistons and two caliper rebuild kits from partsnmore, and the master cylinder rebuild kit off amazon. Plus a set of Stainless steel lines from ebay and a brake light switch from ebay as well. All told, the brake re-do will run around $220.

 

[bigjeff]

13 pic per post limit - had to do this in two posts.

Now for some fun stuff…Wanting that rugged military look I got some fork boots off ebay (around $20 shipped):

The top of the fork tubes were pitted with corrosion. I neutralized the corrosion but wanted to hide the pitting. I had some split wire loom laying around and an idea struck me. It is just hanging on there now but with some zip ties and trimming with a razor knife it will snug up and lay flat. Pit be gone.

Anywho - once all the brake stuff I ordered comes in and I get the roller to be a stopper, the star bike comes off the lift and the engine tear down starts. I have an engine table but want the lift freed up to lay out and label engine parts so I can remember how to put all this stuff back together.

Later,
BigJeff

 

[BeeSea]

even with labeling stuff I have looked for about ten minutes where did I put that??? I haven't got my bike back together yet but on the mend. I really like the lay out of your shop. Looks great! I am sure the bike will be great looking and make the military service proud!

 

[bigjeff]

even with labeling stuff I have looked for about ten minutes where did I put that???

yeah - and sometimes I put a numeric code in the service manual by a step or picture and then put the code on the baggie with the hardware or part in it. I also group areas or systems together in different boxes. AND - lotsa digital pics. :beerchug:

 

[Lionheart]

What you have done to this bike is awesome I love it

 

[bigjeff]

What you have done to this bike is awesome I love it

Thanks for the encouragement. Still waiting for bake parts to make my roller a stopper. The people on ebay sent me the wrong SS brake lines so I got to send those back. It is a PITA when people market things wrongly and then YOU have to pay for the return shipping. :BLAM:

 

[new rider 9984]

If you have any issues with the motor rebuild just give me a call I can help you out with some technical assistance over the phone brother main thing is to make sure you put the cams back on the right head cause they are head specific first time around I had to pull the engine six different times to figure that out lol

 

[Spockster]

Ouch, coulda saved you $60 on those tires, but I think you'll like them, have the 230 Tourmasters on mine and they're great. Could've mounted those in seconds without tools. (link in my signature)

Now we can see why the tire shop guys flip out when we don't tell them we used Fix-A-Flat. Well, if we tell them, they usually refuse to touch the tire.

I like where your bike is headed, makes me want to donate my WWII hand grenade.

 

[new rider 9984]

He got the white walls spock they cost more lol

 

[bigjeff]

yeah - new rider got it right. I shoed my cb900c with a set of shinko 712 tires for $103 shipped. The white walls are 777s and .were much more.