She’s here. The 1976 Honda CB750F project I’ve been talking about has officially landed in my garage, and I’ll be honest, my first reaction was somewhere between excited and a little nervous. My dad texted me that morning to say he had the bike loaded up and was ready to bring it over. I told him to come on. What pulled into my driveway was a very minimalistic looking motorcycle, an engine sitting on a dolly, and a bunch of loose parts.
My first words were something like, “Okay, where’s the rest of it?” And my dad just looked at me and said, “That’s it. That is the rest of it.” Which actually made me feel better. These old bikes are simple compared to the modern stuff with all the electronics and sensors bolted on. What you see is pretty much what you get.
The plan for this video was to get the bike situated, do a proper walkthrough of what we had, and then put together a game plan for the work ahead. That plan lasted about ten minutes before we started pulling things off. That’s how it goes.
Table of Contents
Getting the CB750F Off the Truck and Onto the Lift
We rolled it up onto the motorcycle lift, got it strapped down, and started looking it over. The bike is disassembled in the way that old projects tend to be. My dad pulled the engine out of the frame to fix a known issue with second gear, got that taken care of, and then life happened and the whole thing got shelved. The transmission work is already done, which is one less major thing to deal with.
Once we had it on the lift and started talking through what needed to happen, the questions started coming. How does this come off? What about that? And before I knew it we had the rear wheel off and were already deeper into it than I intended. Not a complaint. Just how it goes when you get two people who are interested in the same project standing around a bike.
What This Bike Actually Needs
The honest answer is a ton of cleanup. And that part actually works in my favor because cleanup is something I can do on my own. Pull parts off, clean them, prep them, put them back. The spoke wheels are corroded and I’m not sure yet how much cleaning will help there. The brake calipers need to come off. The lights need to come off. I’m going to start from the back and work my way forward.
The bigger stuff, like rebuilding the front forks and sorting out the brake master cylinders (both appear to be seized), that’s where my dad comes back in. There’s already a rebuild kit for the rear master cylinder in one of the boxes of parts he brought over. This is an F model, so it has disc brakes in the rear where the K model came with a drum. Good to know going in.
The Tank Situation
Here’s where things got a little disheartening.
The tank looked rough from the outside but not catastrophic. Dirty, oxidized, some paint that had seen better days. The key is lost so there was no way to pop the gas cap and look inside for rust. But from what we could see, it looked like it just needed some attention.
Then I noticed a line along the bottom of the tank where the paint was flaking. I figured a little surface rust, maybe some touch-up work, nothing serious. Then I put my finger through it.
There is a legitimate hole in the bottom of that tank. Not a pinhole. A real hole, running a few inches along one side. I was not expecting that. My original hope was that the inside might have some rust we could clean out and then recoat. That’s still a possibility for the inside, but the through-hole is a different problem. Cutting a patch and welding it in is probably the direction we go, but that’s well outside my skill set. I’ve got some friends who are handy with that kind of thing and I may need to lean on one of them to sort it out.
Why This Bike Matters
This isn’t just any old Honda project. This is a one-owner bike. My grandfather bought it brand new in 1976. It’s got 14,000 miles on it, which is remarkably low for a 50-year-old motorcycle. He passed it to my dad, who rode it for a while before getting out of riding when the kids came along. After that it spent time in a storage in Philadelphia and then the last 20 or so years sitting in a shed out back.
There’s an inspection sticker on the side from 1980. So the last time this bike was street legal, I was not yet born.
Getting this thing running again means something beyond just the mechanical work. It’s a family bike with real history and I want to do right by it. That’s part of what makes the tank situation sting a little. But we’ll figure it out.
What’s Next for the 1976 Honda CB750F Project
The immediate plan is cleanup. Pull the rear brake caliper, pull the sprocket, pull the lights, start cleaning and assessing each piece as it comes off. I’ll document everything here and on the YouTube channel as we go. When we get into the stuff that’s beyond what I can handle solo, my dad comes back in. And for the tank, I’m probably going to need to call in a favor from someone who can weld.
This is going to be a long one. A labor of love, really. But that’s exactly what it should be.
Ride With Me
If you want to follow along as this 1976 Honda CB750F project comes back to life, the best thing you can do is subscribe to the WaltInPA YouTube channel
so you don’t miss any of the build episodes. If you know someone who has a soft spot for vintage Honda builds or has wrestled with an old bike project of their own, share this post with them. And if you want to talk through any of this with people who actually get it, come hang out in the WaltInPA Discord where the conversation is always good.
Recent Posts
This was an update session more than a hands on wrenching session, but it turned out to be one of the more significant ones in this whole build. The key problem finally got solved, the tank came off...
I am going to be honest with you up front. The seized brake piston from last session is still seized. I threw everything I had at it and got nowhere, so this post is mostly about stepping back from...