I have FINALLY removed the carburator assembly. It seemed to take forever due to very stiff connections between the carbs and engine AND the incredible humidity. Here is the bike sans carburator.

Yesterday I started to remove the individual units (finnicky work!) and picked up a large amount (so says my neighbour) of carb cleaner for them to soak it. The garage stinks of a gasoline-like smell. It is awful. So far I have one of the four soaking.
The old gasoline has formed a thick crust of varnish inside the bowl. Nasty.

Last night I ordered a few things from VintageCB750.com (out of Stratford, ON) to help get this bike running:

- 4 carb rebuild kits
- 4 spark plugs
- 1 battery

My next goal is to start soaking another carb, clean this current one in preparation for the rebuild kits and pour some transmission fluid into the spark plug holes of the engine so I can get this engine unseized.

Today is my last exam day. Once I mark (they are writing as I type this), record, make comments and submit I am pretty much done for the year. I still need to do some other menial tasks but I am effectively done. Starting next week I can work full force on the bike. Exciting!

However, I have done a few (small) tasks on the bike. In no particular order:

- Removed the seat (wow!)
- Gas tank was previously removed by Paul.
- Removed the back rest (once again, wow).
- Removed the license plate and alarm system* it was attached to. (my Dad took both as a souvenir)
*The alarm system, so says my Dad, was set off when the bike was tipped too much in either direction. Fairly simple. I opened it up to find a LONG corroded 9 volt and two small vials filled with mercury. When the liquid mercury moved too far to the left or right it touched the contacts which set off the two alarms.
- Drained the oil! (this was difficult as I only had short wrenches the bolts were seized. A visit to Paul and I picked up the needed tools: metric sockets and a johnson bar [Truth be told, I thought he was kidding me with the name]. I barely had to put pressure on this bar in order to loosen the bolts.)
- Started to disconnect the carburator.

I have picture of the oil disposal process (i.e. pouring the oil from crappy, dollar store salad bowls [the dye on the bowls actually stained Allison's shirt! Quality craftsmanship] into an empty detergent container.) which I'll post later.

I'm hoping to work on it a little bit more before I go camping with the guys this weekend. We'll see...

P.S. I found the HUGE (~300 page) CB750 shop manual on the Internets and printed it off in one of the school's computer labs (shhhhh...don't tell admin :s).

For as long as I can remember there was a motorcycle in the shed in my parent's backyard. I was fascinated with it. I remember wanting to sit on it and ride it. I'm pretty sure I did get to sit on it...my memory is a little fuzzy about that. However, I do remember that it sat there, untouched, day after day, year after year until last year when my brother (Paul) pulled it out of the shed and into my parents' garage.

The motorcycle is a 1973 Honda CB750K3. This bike took my Dad to the West and East coasts of Canada and back. I know that he also used it to commute to university (notice the yellow sticker near the rear light?). The license plate states that the last year this bike was legal to drive was 1981; the year after I was born. There was nothing wrong with the bike when he stopped riding it. It sat around for a little while (my Dad is not quite sure how long) since my Mom and him were kept busy taking care of me. He never got around to riding it and, because of this, the engine seized.

I think he wanted to fix it up eventually...but life just sort of got in the way. So it sat in the shed for years. Until now.

I have made it my summer (most likely longer) project this year to get it working. What you should know about me, and if you KNOW me already than this will come as no surprise, I have absolutely no mechanical knowledge or skills of any kind. However, I am going to try my hardest to learn and figure this stuff out. I like a challenge! I also have many people in my life who said they are willing to help in any way they can.

I have decided to document this for friends, family and for myself.

Wish me luck!