Hi, from the Oregon coast!

[Closed_Casket]

Greetings from the central Oregon coast, and happy holidays to all! I'm a lifelong motorcyclist aged 66 who has owned and ridden my bikes since I was 11 back in New England. I've owned over 100 bikes in my life (yes, it's an addiction), including a 1974 Honda CB550K I bought new when I was just 16. I was the man in high school, lol.

This past week, I spotted and purchased the beautiful red '74 750K below, with only 13K miles. It doesn't need an awful lot to restore. The usual stuff, all cables, new tires/tubes, carb clean and adjustment, oil/filter change, battery, plugs/wires, etc. I'm amazed at the paint quality - it must have been repainted because it looks too good to be original after 50 years.

The most daunting task is to try to find new looking OEM pipes, without breaking the bank. The #1 and #4 pipes are rusted at the ends, and all four have rust holes at the bottom. I've heard there are places that will restore these, but don't know where or how much that'll cost. I see the replicas on eBay that are between 1800-2000 US dollars. Yikes. I paid 1800 for the bike! I do not want to put a Delkevic 4-into-1 on this beautiful bike, but want to maintain it as close to stock as I can. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Loki]

That's a beauty, hard to believe the exhausts would have rusted out when the rest of the bike is like new! I know what you mean about replacements, I'm making my own for my 77 F1 can't be too hard, made a twin system with cross over for my Chevy truck.

Loki

 

[AutoMac]

I have found here in the UK the majority of Japanese exhausts from this era rot from the inside out if the bike is not used often as condensation eats away at them when not used and salty roads eat away at them from the outside .
I had had a stainless steel exhaust made for a Honda PC800 most of which was hidden under the Tupperware ( shame I didn’t have a rear swinging arm made at the same time but that’s another tale )

Whilst your exhaust is all together and in one piece it maybe an idea to get a copy of it made in polished stainless steel that way it’s fit and forget. Because of environmental concerns here in the UK getting things re chromed is becoming a bit hit or miss in the quality and longevity of the finished product.

Some restores are now going down the powder coating and polishing route and the results can be astonishing. But on something like an exhaust I would go polished stainless steel it’s then fit and forget it and possibly cheaper than the thin steel shiny thing dealers want your liver for.

 

[Loki]

I got mine finished just got to finish the polishing, bought a Chinese muffler to finish it off as I couldn’t make one for what it cost! There’s pictures on my other posts.

Loki