'79 resto(#2001683)mfg. 04/78

[jawa]

i have built alot of really neat stuff for other people my hole life and non compair to the task at hand. the 79 cbx i have is by far the one i want to keep and i hope to pull a rabbit out of my *** before im done so that i can keep this one.
this bike shows 14,945 miles and is all there. the last tag is from 1993.and was stored indoors since then. prior to that i dont know anything about it. the paint is a little faded and the seat is coming apart indicating it sat outside at one point of its life. the exhuast is decent on the right, rough on the left, but not good enough for a full resto. the rear sprocket is not stock and the tool pouch and owners manual are missing. the stock ignition switch has been replaced with something that looks more briggs and stratton than honda. other than that its all there and in decent shape. i have it down to the bare frame. i found on ebay replacement decals for the frame and the body work. any input as to the quality of these decal sets before i start buying this stuff blindly will be appreciated. next question is the exhaust. original is best by far, if that is not available what is the next best choice? i intend to paint this myself and wish to find the exact color match to the factory red. thanx for any input . have a nice day.

[NobleHops]

i have built alot of really neat stuff for other people my hole life and non compair to the task at hand. the 79 cbx i have is by far the one i want to keep and i hope to pull a rabbit out of my *** before im done so that i can keep this one.
this bike shows 14,945 miles and is all there. the last tag is from 1993.and was stored indoors since then. prior to that i dont know anything about it. the paint is a little faded and the seat is coming apart indicating it sat outside at one point of its life. the exhuast is decent on the right, rough on the left, but not good enough for a full resto. the rear sprocket is not stock and the tool pouch and owners manual are missing. the stock ignition switch has been replaced with something that looks more briggs and stratton than honda. other than that its all there and in decent shape. i have it down to the bare frame. i found on ebay replacement decals for the frame and the body work. any input as to the quality of these decal sets before i start buying this stuff blindly will be appreciated. next question is the exhaust. original is best by far, if that is not available what is the next best choice? i intend to paint this myself and wish to find the exact color match to the factory red. thanx for any input . have a nice day.

Awesome Jawa, great start.

Stock exhausts are quite pricey. Very recently the OEM manufacturer Sankei reproduced the original 422 pipes (what you have) with what is reputed to be a dead ringer replica. You will find reference to that in the Exhausts forum, and possibly also in the Vendors forum. I have another brand of reproduction exhaust, called Delkevic. It is very good, but folks that have seen both seem to prefer the Sankei.

Ignition switches are a dime a dozen, that switch fit many bikes. TAS Classic, or eBay on a buy-it-now, or of course our friend Louis are all good sources. Try Louis first is my advice. Bargains on eBay are rare IMO.

I also bought a set of repro stickers. Don't remember where from. Ask daves79x or EMS this question if they don't chime in.

The 'Candy Glory Red' paint is reputed to be tricky, and there is a silver base coat. Research this before you jump in, you may get your heart broken. I believe others have replicated it, but some that do it for a living aren't saying exactly how. Check out SteveG's molasses tank derusting process.

You need your carbs and petcock rebuilt and it could end up costing you nearly $1,000. Contact Dave McMunn (daves79x) or Mike Nixon. Sorry to break the news.

Tool pouch? Good luck, I found myself bidding on one that went for near $100.

Manual? If you're looking for 'original', see 'Tool Pouch', above . Reproductions are available though. This was very recently covered, search or browse the threads.

You can get a NEW 'B" type seat as seen on my bike from Honda for ~350. Or you can get a NOS or reproduction seat cover from a number of sources. I seem to be the only one that likes the 'B" type seat with the puffy welts, but it is nice to have a spotless seat pan. If you're super fussy you could buy a new 'B" seat and have it recovered with the canonical "A" cover I suppose, plus the metal trim. You'd be $500 into your seat by that time. Check out Tim's CBX for this (and a lot of other good repro) stuff.

Sprocket is available, fore and aft...

N.

[jawa]

thanx for the input. i am a honda factory trained tech but have not worked in a honda dealership since 1990. i have already gone through the carbs. fortunatly they had been drained. i had to replace the float valves, float bowl seals, air cut off and acc pump. so far so good. the seat, i will attempt the reproduction cover first. one of the four trim pieces are missing and the hand strap is not there. i dont remember if it had one to begin with. my battery box is rusted pretty bad due to the battery vent tube being off at some point, that is what killed the chrome on the left pipe. thnx again.

[NobleHops]

thanx for the input. i am a honda factory trained tech but have not worked in a honda dealership since 1990. i have already gone through the carbs. fortunatly they had been drained. i had to replace the float valves, float bowl seals, air cut off and acc pump. so far so good. the seat, i will attempt the reproduction cover first. one of the four trim pieces are missing and the hand strap is not there. i dont remember if it had one to begin with. my battery box is rusted pretty bad due to the battery vent tube being off at some point, that is what killed the chrome on the left pipe. thnx again.

Louis will have your battery box if someone else doesn't pipe up. Tim's sells the trim, but in sets I think, for $200

N.

[daves79x]

Just catching up here. My advice would be to first decide exactly what you want to end up with and what you hope it will be worth. You can easily have 5 or 6K in a $7500 bike. And to be worth on the north side of $7500, it had better be really nice. I'm talking a quality, exact-match paint job, stock or repro exhaust, every detail you can attend to done very well, fasteners correct and new or nearly so, and so much more.

It also takes quite a bit of time to collect all those little things you'll need at reasonable prices (it can be done). You just can't expect to spend a lot of hours in a short period of time and end up with what you want without spending a lot of cubic bucks. I spend at least a year on each CBX I do. Much of that time is spent just researching parts and getting everything rounded up. Honda has many fasteners still in stock and those are the little things that make a bike stand out. I haven't had any trouble getting my price for the finished bikes, but they have to be really nice. You just can't take quickie shortcuts.

It would be really great if you didn't have to flip this one. But your situation is what it is, so we'll try to be as much help as we can here. One thing - maybe posting specific tech questions under the appropriate tech topic will be noticed and commented on by more guys.

Dave

[jawa]

thanks dave, i appreciate the input. as with anything i simply dont cut any corners, i have bagged and tagged everything, nuts, bolts, even the harness ties on the backbone of the frame. i ve already researched an online honda parts house and found what is or isnt available through honda.