More Exhausts on the go, busy times at Carpy’s Garage

Busy day at home and more 4 into 1 Exhausts systems are now completed, I have been busy as of late and just about caught up with previous orders, I love making these and getting them sent to all over the world.

These are the CB750 and Cb500-Cb550 Yoshi style systems, some of these will be Ceramic Coated, some will remain Raw and be packed in boxes ready for shipping etc, always good to be busy and more styles coming out soon.

I sent a few boxes off to Europe today, good to get that lot on their way to their Customer and they can get their own machine back on the tarmac, the Sun is out and that always gives you a little extra boost of work ethic, so got a ton done.

Well, I best get a few packed away in boxes and put in my workshop, but just wanted to share what i get up to some days.

Thank you for suppoerting me, I am a one man show and the show is going good.

A HONDA CB750K I Aptly Named The NUT BASHER

I forget to add pics of Motorcycles that I have built over the years and some times I kick my self for not posting anything, but today I will overcome my forgetfulness and add some photos of a fun creation I built using parts that I had around the shop.

 

I wanted to build something that was a cool reference to Cafe Racer styled Motorcycles back in the day but, of course using a later motorcycle but, still early enough to be classes a classic and I started off with a 1971 CB750 Honda four that was just basically a frame, I had a bunch of boxes with parts in them and over time, I started to put a few things together.

I had an old Fiberglass Racing Gas tank that I thought would be just the job, I fitted it to the frame and sat on the bike, immediately crushing my nuts, that’s when the Penny dropped and I thought what an apt name for the bike and thought if I did it in the style of the Norton Logo, this would look pretty Classic.

I chose to go the traditional deep Black Color and then pin line around it in Gold, as that would really give it the 1950’s era British Motorcycle look that went along with Norton, BSA, Triumph and Matchless, as well as the Vincent of course.

 

Now the Gas tank has a Ton Of clear sprayed on it, I had to test fit it to the frame, as I had powder coated the frame Gloss Black and Built the Motor to an 836cc and wedged her back in the chassis, the bike was looking really good and I was happy about this, but now I had to come up with a Classic styled seat unit for the Nut Basher, so I went the whole hog and built one from scratch.

I tried all sorts of ideas until something clicked, but had to thing of a cool way of mounting a tail light and I wanted to have the light incorporated into the seat hump.  I chose to French the rear Led tail light into the cowl, and although it took a full day, it came out really well indeed and was super stoked that I had gone this route on the NutBasher Machine.

It sat on the frame just right and I attached snaps to the sides of the until so I could pull the cover off and get to any documents I need, or remove the seat if I ever needed to quickly, I also made sure there was a ton of clear coat applied just incase I scratched it and could buff it out on final fit etc.

I was super happy with the way the seat unit fitted and the tail light assembly was Classic looking but in fact was an Led stop light that was as bright as Einstein.

I wanted to put a lot of detail into this creation as I knew it would turn many heads where ever it ended up, this Fuel tank held 5.5 Gallons and that made for some great riding, without worrying about running out of squirt, but it sure was bloody heavy once the tank was filled up to the top.

She was a Long and thin Motorcycle that screamed out Nostalgia, it ran hard as nails and breathed really well as it has a hand made 4 into 1 Racing exhaust that was built in less than 3 hours by a Indy Racing mechanic, this would really exit the gases well and have never heard something so mean in all my life.

This was created by a top Indy exhaust builder and designer and he didnt even need the bike to make it, just an upside down engine, it was so cool to see him knock this out.

A sheer work of art and it fitted like a glove too, this was made in Inconel and a one off like this, nobody in the world will have one like this. The material is as I said Inconel  that refers to a family of trademarked high strength austenitic nickel-chromium-iron alloys that have exceptional anti-corrosion and heat-resistance properties. … Burns Stainless recommends Inconel 625 alloy for exhaust systems due to its excellent strength, corrosion resistance and fabricability. And it sure stood up to my fire breathing 836 motor no problems at all.

This is such a nice system, shame to coat it Black but I want the bike to have a lot of Black parts on it, so ceramic coated it will get and I am sure it will look great.

This Motorcycle will not just look fast, it will haul so much arse, it will leave people scratching their heads as it goes by, and the roar from the exhaust will stay with them for a lifetime I should think.

Another thing that I do and nobody ever did back then was, make my own gauge faces, I have created many over the years and this Ton Up machine needed a great set of gauge faces to give the top end of the bike some class too.  So I went with a Roaring Tiger, Synonymous with the 1950’s Triumphs and colorful to say the least.

These are really easy to apply and give your tired old gauges a brand new lease of life, also very unique and personal to your bike, something that I have been very proud of.

I even repaint the needles and add a longer Red line to the end, so you can clearly see where the needle is pointing at speed, also if you look, I have readjusted the configuration of the gauge faces and they digits start at a different position than the stock factory versions.

Not sure that you will notice but, I also changed the 100 to the word TON, which of course means the magic 100 MPH and a milestone in Café Racers back in the day to reach that Golden triple digit. I also added my own Oil Light warning  display of which has a High Beam and Neutral light, just to keep you informed as to what’s going on up top.

The Motor was totally rebuilt, the head was Ported and polished and has an 836 Yoshi kit inside the jugs, this pulled like a steam train and of course, stainless Allen head bolts throughout the whole engine. I also drilled the starter Motor cover and fitted bronze mesh for a cool Look.

Rear Hub got my Custom drilling and Polishing detail, as well as rear brake arm, I sure loved creating this Motorcycle and always enjoy doing my own thing to it.

I machined my own Motor mount to follow the fins of the engine and on ALL motors, I have always run an Alcohol filled Oil Pressure gauge, to give me a true reading of actual engine oil pressure, through the oil galley.

Cerakoted exhaust system looks great against the Silver and Polished Aluminum of the inline four engine, I used Italian rear sets to give this bike a wee bit more aggressive stance when you are sat upon it. I sell many pairs of these and dead easy to fit, they function so well and smooth, I try and use these on the majority of my creations.

All clean and new, this bike ran so well, it was like a new wrist watch to be honest and sure do miss this Beast of a Motorcycle, but enjoyed every minute building it.

Rear sets look pretty darn cool, I drilled and polished the sprocket cover too, for that Racy look and give it a little more Bling, personal choice but I have fun doing that.

The Grips you may find to be from somewhere else, and you would be right, I used Original 1970’s Schwinn Bicycle grips, put them in Boiling water and then pushed them onto the handlebars, they fitted snug as a bug when they cooled down and look great and flow with the piggy back shock reservoir’s.

 

A tall drink of water for sure, running on 18 inch rims and Bridgestone tires, a Combination I have used many many times, these have great grip in all weather but of course, have a nice Classic tread pattern too.

I have always been a fan of how this bike has sat, she looks ready to race off down the road from any angle, I also made sure that the front fender sat tightly to the tire.

I also removed the fender stays to clean the look up at front and I think that it works well, I hand drilled the front rotor and you can see much polishing of Aluminum was done to give this bike some class.

There really is a lot of detail that you will not notice at first but hope you like what I have done, we are all different and have many styles we like, but I get a lot of emails about this build and thought that it was time that I shared it with you lot.

I should of made a mold of the gas tank as I really liked that shape, even with the Chin Divot at the front of the tank, that goes back to the early TT days and stream lining.

Everything redone, even machines the Oil Filter Housing to give it some fins, a thoroughly pleasing to the eye motorbike that I am quite proud of creating.

Thanks for looking at The Nut Basher, I hope you liked what I have done to this old inline Four Honda and I continue to build and make parts for these 500 pounders.

Thank you for reading about this bike, if I can help you with Parts, Service or just if you are stuck, you can email or text me. carpy@carpyscaferacers.com carpysgarage@aol.com or TEXT 714-598-8392

Classic Japanese Cafe Racers

People know me for the CB750 Honda, and that inline four is one of the most robust motors out there, but many other Brands are just as good, the Kawasaki Z model and the infamous Suzuki GS model too.

Here is just a couple of videos I saw and thought I would share today for my Blog.

Enjoy.

japbike1

I made the cover of Lightning Magazine in Japan!

Well, I am pleased to announce that I just made the Cover of Lightning Magazine, Japans leading Lifestyle and collectors edition.

To be able to make it into a Japanese magazine s something, I managed to get 10 pages in Lightning back in about 2006 and now, here I am on the Cover, I feel proud but very honored to be able to be the person they want on their cover.

 

The Editor was great fun and we had a good day when they came to visit me at my shop in Anaheim Californioa last week.

It was so cool to see my Alloy Cafe Racer featured on the cover, as well as it is sporting one of our newest exhausts systems on it, the good old Dunstall style 4 into 2, with megaphones.

I spent many hours trying to configure this machine, this has so much work you may never even notice, but I really like all the lines of my Alloy Tarmac eater.

The Velocity stacks are each made on a lathe, no mill, just a lathe and boy are they sick, and have stainless steel removable mesh filters too.

 

 

My Cafe has a very rare ARCES Italian front end that I took off a Formula race bike of the 1970s, and has a set of Marzocchi clip ons to match the era.

 

I have follwed this magazine for many years and am so suprised at how many collectable people there are in the land of the rising sun and they sure do enjoy what they have.

We spent a few hours conversing on what turns my dial and why I am into Motorcycles etc, I grew up owning and working on Japanese motorcycles and thats how I used the name “Rice Boiler ” On my latest machine thats just finished.

Motorcycles have alwasy been part of my life, I love many styles but am a wee bit of a traditionalist when it comes to the 70’s motorbikes that I grew up with.

 

I used all sorts of cool tricks on the Rice Boiler and one thing i wanted to be a forst to do, was to use CB750 Connecting Rods as Mirrors.

The same about the exhaust hanger, we made the exhaust out of Stainless steel and then used a big Block Ford Con Rod for the hanger.

As you can see, I even have a Z900 right now, as I shall be making exhausts for the Z900, the Z1000 and also I shall be making exhausts for the KZ series Kawasakis and also I have some to build for clients that have GS750E and Gs1000 Suzuki’s, so keep checking back on the website, as we shall also be making swing arms again and a few more cool parts.

 

 

 

 

 

The Alloy Machine gets a lot of attention and is a super machine, I will let it go but not for peanuts this time as this is a rather unique build with very rare race parts on it and one off items.

The 4 into 2 exhausts keep selling out and I am glad I created this style as it give the bikes some classic curves.

 

 

 

 

 

I also enjoy painting and designing Tee Shirts and a good release from a stressful day at the workshop.

Thats an Original RR250 flat top 2 stroke Harley and has Never ever been fired up, its a sweer ride but tiny in comparisson tothe 750 Honda.

 

 

The 4 into 1 system of ours is a great seller and we are making them for 350 and up now, with more style and more models coming out soon.

 

 

Thats Old Jack- My security gueard in all his Original Rocker Gear!

 

 

 

Our Mechanical Lamps are a hit, all hand made from recycled parts here at our shop, very cool gifts for people.

 

The Rice boiler- My latest ride.

I still cannot believe that I made this magazine- I am so stoked.

 

 

You can tell I was in a great mood that day.

 

 

 

 

So- thank you my friends across the water, I hope to be in your country next year and attend some of them shows.

 

 

 

Have fun with your machines.