The CL750 Project (only 1/2 Suzuki)

[Racing Geek]

I never made a formal intro thread and instead introduced myself and my project with some carb questions here: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=187857

It was mentioned that I should start a build thread so here it is. I have a build thread on another website that I update regularly so hopefully I'll remember to keep this one updated as well.


The bike started as a 1974 Honda CL360. I got it for free looking like this.

Then had to take a ~1 year break from the build to finish this so I could get back to racing.

Then I started working on the motorcycle again and began swapping a bunch of parts onto it from newer bikes. Here is a quick list.
-- FZR swingarm
-- XS650 front hub (I'll be lacing it to a 18x2.5 wheel)
-- Ducati 916 front brake (320mm rotor and 4 piston caliper)
-- modified CBR600 F2 front forks and triples
-- 15" eye-to-eye shocks
-- VTR1000 clipons with F2 controls

And this is what it looked like at that point. The next photo is the tank and tail I had planned to make for it.

Then a friend went and bought a GS700 and I didn't want any of my bikes to be slower so I took some measurements of his motor to compare to my CL360 frame and found that it would fit without a whole lot of work. A couple days later I found a deal on a 16valve air cooled GS750 engine and went to pick it up.

 

[Racing Geek]

When I got home I setup the plasma cutter and went to town on the "test" frame and this was the result. The engine is perfectly centered in these photos but it at least fit into the frame and even started falling out the other side. :-$

I'm 6'3" and when you combine a guy of my size with a tiny bike and a big engine you end up with only 1.5" between your knee and the valvecover. That's even when I'm sitting partially behind the upper shock mount.

 

[Racing Geek]

The bracing I'll be doing....
-- all stock engine mounts (2 back, 1 bottom, 1 front)
-- make the stock breather an upper engine mount
-- box the cut open back bone
-- and these braces along the side of the backbone
-- tie the upper shock mounts together
-- add gussets throughout

Here is a mock up of some of the bracing. The coils will be hidden under the tank above the front of the motor.

This is the tank and tail I have in mind for the build.

Here is the geometry of the bike based on how the bike was before I started the engine swap (see profile shot above).
-- 54.75" wheel base (center of adjustment)
-- 25* rake
-- 4.5" trail
-- 4.25" front suspension travel
-- 3" rear suspension travel
-- 7.5" ground clearance
-- 31.5" seat height
-- 350# estimated wet weight (I was at 300# wet with the stock motor)
-- ~80hp?

 

[Erki]

sweet, is the added frame tubing going to show along/under the tank.

 

[Guest]

Wow I've gotta tune into this... I think the word "ambitious" is most apt

If you did that bracing right you could actually make it a design feature and paint them a different colour to the main frame...

 

[Racing Geek]

sweet, is the added frame tubing going to show along/under the tank.

Yes.

Wow I've gotta tune into this... I think the word "ambitious" is most apt

If you did that bracing right you could actually make it a design feature and paint them a different colour to the main frame...

No, the frame and the brace will likely be black and I'll probably use a dark red for the tank and tail. What did you have in mind for paint?

 

[Guest]

That's cool, no specific ideas on paint but if you were going to be doing a simple paint scheme I thought some accent colours on the frame bracing might be a nice touch to make them pop... make it form meets function if you know what I mean...

Say you had a black frame and red bodywork like you're saying, maybe silver or gunmetal grey on the bracing might just be a nice touch... of course it could look like crap too...

 

[Racing Geek]

The new (to me) shocks I bought showed up. 15" c-c

An 18x5.75 wheel I bought also showed up but was a lot wider then advertised (18x4). This was a headache to deal with. If anyone has an 18x4 40 spoke hoop please let me know. Even if it's close to 18x4 send me a pm.

I also received a pair of VM34 carbs, a 2-1 throttle cable, and a pair of filtered velocity stacks.