Go to page: 1 - The Beginning 2 - Oil tank, seat & gas tank 3 - Coils & fender 4 - Electric box & frame 5 - Welded frame & battery 6 - Oil tank, seat & taillight 7 - Painted parts & covered seat 8 - Painting and final assembly 9 - Last minute changes & starting 10 - Final bike photos Credits: Me: guy that owns the bike and comes up with "great" ideas that usually don't work. I can't weld Dad: does most of the tack welding and brings home lots of scrap metal from the weld shop where he works. (when I say "I welded" I mean "Dad welded") Brother-in-law Rich: mechanical engineer that comes up with great ideas that do work. Also has the mig welder that my Dad and I borrow when we work on the bike. Last updated Tuesday, August 02, 2005		In September of 2002, I started chopping my '73 CB750K3. When I bought this bike, it had a king/queen seat mounted to the stock frame and a small windscreen. There was an aftermarket 4-1 header and muffler on the bike. Overall, it was in great shape and had a current PA title and inspection sticker.		Click for a larger view
			Here is a sketch of what I think I want my bike to look like. It will have a sportster tank, taildragger fender, apehangers and an extended swingarm on the back. The rear wheel is a 16" rim. Pretty much everything on the bike will be black. But, I'm going to put red handgrips on it, and two thin racing stripes down the center of the tank and fender with a red steel tractor seat.		Click for a larger view
			I started the process by taking off the tank, seat and side covers... the easy stuff.		Click for a larger view
			Next to go was the oil tank, carbs, electrical stuff, bars, fenders, you get the picture.		Click for a larger view
			The heavy heart of the beast had to come out eventually. After removing the engine mounts, I rolled the frame over on it's side and picked the frame up off the engine. This is the easiest way to safely take the engine out of a bike yourself. Try not to pry on the engine with anything. I broke an engine fin doing this.		Click for a larger view
			After completely stripping the frame, it was time to remove those ugly passenger peg mounts. The sawsall made quick work of this job.		Click for a larger view
			I ground off the remaining metal, and smoothed off some other unnecessary stuff, like the centerstand mounts.		Click for a larger view
			The frame is looking cleaner already. Now it's time to take out the horizontal braces and cut off the tabs for the stock oil tank and battery box.		Click for a larger view
			Here you can see those pesky stock braces have been cut out. I will be reinforcing the single backbone with a piece of 1/4" steel plate. See sketch for an idea. I still haven't figured out what to do with the rear shock mount/fender brackets. I'll either keep the arms that are there now, or make custom fender brackets.		Click for a larger view
			This is a mock up with the freshly stripped frame. I may need some taller apes or maybe some risers. These bars are 12". The fender is a fiberglass one found on ebay. The swingarm is off a '79 cb750, so it is about 2.5" longer than my stock one. The 16" rear rim is painted black and laced to the stock Honda hub. The hub is painted black as well. I want to mount this steel tractor seat to the frame. I'll probably mount springs under it, but since I'm keep the rear suspension (yeah, I know, real choppers don't have shocks) I may leave the springs out.		Click for a larger view