New old guy...

[Bassdude404]

Like the title states, new guy here, annnd old enough to remember when these were still being produced...Always liked the style, even when I was in my teens...Last fall I bought a '77 CB750K that had been repainted (poorly) and needed tires, chain,etc,etc...It ran good though and the price was right at $1900...Over the winter I bought the stuff it needed to get it roadworthy, and decided to repaint it and bought a Maier sport fairing for it...When I bought it, then paint was candy red over gold, and I have an old school gold sparkle helmet...So with that in mind, I decided to two tone the new paint job...Went with a gold base, then gold flake, then masked off the parts and shot candy apple red....Then while unmasking I had the realization and said outlook, "Awwwww man, I made an Iron Man bike!!!"...My grandson and wife immediately loved it, and I got plenty of other positive comments on it, so I left it...Put it in riding rotation and quickly realized that little fairing just isn't going to cut it....In my mind, sometimes it thinks I'm still in my 20's, but my body quickly tells me that I'm indeed 61...lol...

So that brings me to this past Saturday...The better looking half and I took a road trip 2-1/2 hrs north of us and brought home a pair of Vetter Windjammer fairings, for the price of gas and road snacks...They were extremely dirty, but they're both in good shape for their age...We got home and while giving the wife's Tacoma a hand wash in the driveway I did the same to the fairings...Some critters had been using them as their residence, so there was plenty of cleaning to do...Saturday I had decided to use the Windjammer IV on the 750 and the Windjammer V for parts, but now on Tuesday I'm not positive on that decision...Going to paint it to match the rest of the bike, but haven't decided as of yet exactly how, and today while in the semi I think the MK V might be better to work with the gold and red two tone...Still thinking on that....

I found the correct mounting bracket on ebay, it's on the way here, and also found the wiring pigtail on ebay along with the left and right covers and internal wiring harness...That harness might be needed depending on how much the wildlife decided to chew on wiring...A couple things I never have really cared for on thrse is the windshield height, and the soft left compartment cover...Saturday evening while searching online I found this place, and a place that makes new windshields for these in different heights and several tint colors...So Sunday morning I grabbed the tape measure, roll of blue tape, Sharpie, and the Dremel and chopped one of the windshields down to the shortest height that company makes, and I think that'll be perfect....When the bracket gets here I'll do a mockup and sit on the bike and see what I think...Annnd I'll be making a new left cover put of fiberglass to replace the soft one, and might actually.make a new right side one as well while I'm at it....

And with that all being said, I have a few questions...
1- Will the chrome headlight ring from the MK IV fit the MK V??...I haven't tried taking them apart, but a buddy with an '82 Wing with a Windjammer V said he can't figure out how to get the headlight apart despite reading the directions multiple times..Said he gave up so he wouldn't break it...

2- The edge trim on both of them is pretty rough, and the links to restoration parts on the Vetter site just takes you back to the home page...So what are you guys using to replace that??..

3- Windshield foam...What are you guys using for that??....

Going to try and post pics, we'll see how that goes...

 

[Bassdude404]

 

[Bassdude404]

 

[Bassdude404]

 

[KGBnut]

Gorgeous bike, and I like the Ironman colors. I have restored a few Windjammers, so if you have any questions let me know. Craig has pretty much retired since his accident, and has mostly shut down his store. However, last I checked (2023?), his wife Carol was still monitoring their email and would sell some parts directly via PayPal. At that time, they still had both edging kits and windshield foam. Shoot them an email. I have found Carol to be delightfully helpful.

I have attached instructions for a CB750. Headlight ring info is there. Essentially, you push in a tab in the back and turn it, but sometimes, those tabs are broken off. I know all the earlier ones were interchangeable, but I am not sure about the V. There were a number of changes on that version.

Let me know if I can help with anything else.

 

[Bassdude404]

Yeah I found that pdf of the instructions last weekend and had my wife print them out at work for me...Looks like they used 6mm diameter bolts to hold the fairing to the bracket??...Man that seems a bit small!!...I still need to get that stuff, along with figuring out what size clamps I need to mount the bracket to the bike...Hoping I can find some of those in black so they kinda blend in better....The bracket arrived yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to do a test fit...Had to clean out gutters on the house and we're putting the boat in the lake for the season today, so was getting some stuff done to get that ready...

And after thinking it over for the past few days I decided to roll with the V...Already have the paint scheme done in my head, just need to strip that fairing down now and get it ready to shoot...And I'll send an email to Carol and hopefully she can hook me up with the edge trim and windshield foam....

Another question...I'll be putting a mechless (no CD player, just AM/FM/USB/Bluetooth) Pioneer stereo in the Cycle Sounds radio housing, so I need to cut the housing to fit the cage for the stereo, that's not a problem...I also have an add-on weather door that was made for the Cycle Sounds housing, and I found it after work yesterday...It being made for the old shaft style radios, sticks out quite a bit, and looks like it will make it difficult to adjust volume or access the tiny buttons on the faceplate of the stereo which are already a challenge to press the right one while riding...lol...I found some lower profile ones on Amazon for marine use, but I obviously don't want to get one that's bigger than the place it's going to be mounted...Anyone here find one that fits/looks right??....

 

[KGBnut]

Yeah I found that pdf of the instructions last weekend and had my wife print them out at work for me...Looks like they used 6mm diameter bolts to hold the fairing to the bracket??...Man that seems a bit small!!...I still need to get that stuff, along with figuring out what size clamps I need to mount the bracket to the bike...Hoping I can find some of those in black so they kinda blend in better....The bracket arrived yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to do a test fit...Had to clean out gutters on the house and we're putting the boat in the lake for the season today, so was getting some stuff done to get that ready...

And after thinking it over for the past few days I decided to roll with the V...Already have the paint scheme done in my head, just need to strip that fairing down now and get it ready to shoot...And I'll send an email to Carol and hopefully she can hook me up with the edge trim and windshield foam....

Another question...I'll be putting a mechless (no CD player, just AM/FM/USB/Bluetooth) Pioneer stereo in the Cycle Sounds radio housing, so I need to cut the housing to fit the cage for the stereo, that's not a problem...I also have an add-on weather door that was made for the Cycle Sounds housing, and I found it after work yesterday...It being made for the old shaft style radios, sticks out quite a bit, and looks like it will make it difficult to adjust volume or access the tiny buttons on the faceplate of the stereo which are already a challenge to press the right one while riding...lol...I found some lower profile ones on Amazon for marine use, but I obviously don't want to get one that's bigger than the place it's going to be mounted...Anyone here find one that fits/looks right??....

I have played with Cycle Sound (in fact I have two sitting on my shelves) but not in quite a while. Bluetooth helmet sound systems have gotten so good, I don't see any reason for it any more. All you really do is blast the music at the cars around you. I use a Cardo Packtalk.

 

[Movanm]

Yeah I found that pdf of the instructions last weekend and had my wife print them out at work for me...Looks like they used 6mm diameter bolts to hold the fairing to the bracket??...Man that seems a bit small!!...I still need to get that stuff, along with figuring out what size clamps I need to mount the bracket to the bike...Hoping I can find some of those in black so they kinda blend in better....The bracket arrived yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to do a test fit...Had to clean out gutters on the house and we're putting the boat in the lake for the season today, so was getting some stuff done to get that ready...

And after thinking it over for the past few days I decided to roll with the V...Already have the paint scheme done in my head, just need to strip that fairing down now and get it ready to shoot...And I'll send an email to Carol and hopefully she can hook me up with the edge trim and windshield foam....

Another question...I'll be putting a mechless (no CD player, just AM/FM/USB/Bluetooth) Pioneer stereo in the Cycle Sounds radio housing, so I need to cut the housing to fit the cage for the stereo, that's not a problem...I also have an add-on weather door that was made for the Cycle Sounds housing, and I found it after work yesterday...It being made for the old shaft style radios, sticks out quite a bit, and looks like it will make it difficult to adjust volume or access the tiny buttons on the faceplate of the stereo which are already a challenge to press the right one while riding...lol...I found some lower profile ones on Amazon for marine use, but I obviously don't want to get one that's bigger than the place it's going to be mounted...Anyone here find one that fits/looks right??....

I installed this on my Vetter a week ago. Works great. Pyle Water Resistant Marine... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MCLVZO?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[Tonyaussie]

Nice bike. I also had trouble releasing the chrome headlight rims but once you get the hang of it, it's easy. So just inside the viewable ring there is a plastic bendable locking tab. I found the ideal tool to use is a small spade screw driver with the last 1/4 inch bent at 90 degrees. With your left hand place a bit of anti clockwise pressure on the ring while simultaneously go around the inner part of the rim with that screwdriver pressing the out of sight tab areas. It should release when you find that tab. With my trike I made my screwdriver tool and put some electrical tape to measure how long it should be poked in there to that tab. I also put a small mark on the fairing where that tab is. Takes me 5 seconds now to release the ring.

 

[Bassdude404]

Nice bike. I also had trouble releasing the chrome headlight rims but once you get the hang of it, it's easy. So just inside the viewable ring there is a plastic bendable locking tab. I found the ideal tool to use is a small spade screw driver with the last 1/4 inch bent at 90 degrees. With your left hand place a bit of anti clockwise pressure on the ring while simultaneously go around the inner part of the rim with that screwdriver pressing the out of sight tab areas. It should release when you find that tab. With my trike I made my screwdriver tool and put some electrical tape to measure how long it should be poked in there to that tab. I also put a small mark on the fairing where that tab is. Takes me 5 seconds now to release the ring.

Wild trike!!!!...I dig the hell out of that...Looks like it started life as Honda Fury??....I have an '07 VTX 1300R that is undergoing substantial modifications currently....

 

[Tonyaussie]

Yes mate. Started out designing my ultimate trike couple years ago careful not to be too radical. Then searched for a bike. I wanted just a cruiser with chopper style to compliment the curves, good stock rake. Aussie has rules against too much rake and needs to be engineer approved. Also they can confiscate your bike here or even crush it for high speed or what they deem as hooning. So only wanted the trike capable of cruising the 110kph limit. It'll be over 600kg when registered in 8 weeks time. Then I'll make a video and put it up here. The fury had the benefit of shaft drive for my diff but I had to lengthen the chassis 2 feet so driveshaft angles weren't too acute. The reversing mechanism I thought up is here-

Australian rules- over 450kg you need a way of "propelling the trike rearward". So although a bit slow it does that and it's behind the axle so no excess weight on the front wheel like a ring gear and starter motor that's common. The batman fairing designs now wouldn't suit this trike
So glad I refurbished a vetter, may they live forever. I made the badges myself but got professionals to paint the orange matt metallic, rear brakes and the driveshaft.

 

[Bassdude404]

Stripped down the Windjammer I'm going to be using this morning....The turn signals in the other one are in better shape, so I'll be pulling those out of that one (glad I got a second fairing for parts)...And I drilled the rivets out where the snaps were for the soft lid on the left storage opening...I never did like that soft lid/cover about these fairings...Used ABS epoxy to fill in the rivet holes, and next weekend I'll knock that down and see if I can emulate the textured pattern that's already there, not sure how I'm going to do that yet...lol...Still need to fill in the hole that had the cigarette lighter, but I ran out of the ABS epoxy....

I've been bouncing around the idea of sanding the texture out of the black and painting it red/gold along with the outside...Or maybe sand it out and use black bedliner paint so the texture is consistent...Haven't decided for sure....

 

[Bassdude404]

Pics

 

[Dave Ireland]

Looks like they used 6mm diameter bolts to hold the fairing to the bracket??...Man that seems a bit small!!...

You'd be surprised how much it takes to pull a 6mm bolt apart. Just make sure you use penny or mudguard washers under the bolt heads.