[CPSquires]

Growing up, my Uncle, who lived nextdoor to me, had a 74 Honda CB450 stored in his basement. Me, and all the kids in the area, thought it was so cool and would love to climb on it and pretend to ride.
I've always wanted a motorcycle and knew that when I got one, I wanted one just like his. Last fall I found a bike in New York state and loaded up my VW to leave Ontario, Canada to get it.

650 kms later I had the bike.

Quickly turned around to head to the border to get it imported into Canada.

Made it back home without incident.

Gave the bike a quick rinse, and off for the first ride and some pics.

I have never owned or even ridden a motorcycle before this but I was instantly hooked.

Im not one to leave well enough alone and before the riding season was even over I was digging into the bike - named Project Eagle in memory of my late uncle.

Unfortunately his bike has gotten pretty rough since his passing.

 

[CPSquires]

Another ride and more photos.

Cleaned the chrome a little with WD40 and 0000 steel wool to clean up the rust in the putting.

 

[CPSquires]

Gave the tank a quick clean up.

Wasn't running very well so wanted to do a quick tune up.

And rebuilt the carbs.

 

[CPSquires]

And yet more pics before the tuneup started.

My wife also got a CB250R.

 

[AnalogLiz]

What a beauty! Welcome! 🤗 I’m new to the forum (and to the world of project bikes) — I joined in October and have found everyone here super helpful. What an invaluable resource this forum is!!

 

[CPSquires]

My tune up kept growing and growing as I dug into it.

Figured my tune up should become an engine rebuild, so moved the bike to my newly built shop to take the engine out.

 

[CPSquires]

Engine tear down.

 

[CPSquires]

Continuing to disassemble the engine and getting the parts ready to go for vapor blasting.

 

[DD23]

Hi cp,

Lovely pictures all taken by phone ?

May I ask how many miles has the bike done ? Lots of "grey" inside, leaded petrol ?

Also may I ask the piston with the "shineyer" crown ring, which cylinder was that piston from please and hows that big end ?

Lovely vW and workspace...

 

[CPSquires]

Hi cp,

Lovely pictures all taken by phone ?

May I ask how many miles has the bike done ? Lots of "grey" inside, leaded petrol ?

Also may I ask the piston with the "shineyer" crown ring, which cylinder was that piston from please and hows that big end ?

Lovely vW and workspace...

Yes these are all with my old Pixel 4a. Nothing special and just a few adjustments in the native photo editor.

16,000 miles showing on the odometer.

Sorry I'm not understanding the last question.

 

[CPSquires]

Got the parts back from vapor blast.

And after getting the engine out I figured I'd strip the entire bike.

 

[rokonosan]

Wow!! Great work

 

[CPSquires]

Tank has some coating inside that is delaminated from the sides. Sending it to a radiator shop to hopefully renew the inside.

Taking apart more components for inspection and rebuild.

Taking apart the seat.

 

[CPSquires]

Thought I would try to do some polishing to nail down a procedure for all the pieces.

Vapor blasted part.

Progress pics.

Happy with the results. Keeping some of the scars and texture with just enough shine.

 

[CPSquires]

Seat pan was rusty so I wire wheeled it and put a few coats of Tremclad.

Foam is in great shape but replacing the cover due to a rip in the original.

Sandblasted a bunch of parts to get powder coated.

Used some syringes from Amazon and Testors model paint to refresh the emblems. The raised chrome parts aren't in great shape so they aren't perfect but I'm happy with them.

 

[rokonosan]

The enamel/ badgework is fantastic!

 

[CPSquires]

Gave the engine parts another wash and rinse and ready to start on engine assembly.

 

[CPSquires]

Starter disassembled. Was working just dirty and just hard gunk and dust where grease should be.

Rebuild kit

Bearing and seal out

New in

This should be smoother than before

New parts and cleaning

Back together (wrong o-ring at this point, noticed when I tried installing)

 

[Emil]

I may be stating the obvious...but, make sure to use pre-lube/assembly lube, on all of the main & rod bearings. You'll be glad that you did.
I'm only saying this because I can't tell from the pictures whether or not you've already done it.

 

[CPSquires]

I may be stating the obvious...but, make sure to use pre-lube/assembly lube, on all of the main & rod bearings. You'll be glad that you did.
I'm only saying this because I can't tell from the pictures whether or not you've already done it.

Yes good advice. I'm using assembly lube and oil, basically copying the common motorsport collectives engine rebuild exactly.