New guy from Va with an 84 700s

[TDodge7]

Hey all , I'm new here , from Virginia . I finally picked up a 700s , I've been talking about getting one and drooling over pictures of them since ....I guess since I first saw one but never got around to buying one until now . Just picked up this 84 , doesn't run yet , but it should , I'm going to try and get her to fire tomorrow . Please excuse the bad picture and the fact that we never clean around here . And get ready for questions , because I'll probably have quite a few .

[82CB750SC]

Lol, you should see my garage.  It looks to be in decent condition.  Why isn't she running?  Mind me asking how much you paid?  And what is that seat for in the lower right hand corner of the picture!?

[detdrbuzzard]

hello and to NHF tdodge7

[highwayjamin]

  To the forum,it looks like it should run really fast    Whats wrong with it?

[ariwhiteboy]

  to the forum! That's a nice looking bike and don't worry about the questions, the only thing we like more than questions is pictures!

[JB1290]

Looks like its in good shape. 

[gammer]

Hi Tdodge7 and 

Nice looking Nighthawk S!

If the bike has sat for a while, then the carbs will need a good cleaning. If you can get it to fire up, try using some SeaFoam fuel treatment.

[TDodge7]

I'm about to find out why it doesn't run , it's got spark and the carbs are clean now , gotta go get some gas . The other seat you see in the bottom corner of the pic is my 70 triumph bonneville chopper , there's also a yamaha rz500 v4 2 stroke engine on the table there , and a pan head engine under the table , lots of fun stuff around here . 

[82CB750SC]

Everyone on this board continues to amaze me.  I'm working with my first bike now, and many of you guys have multiple projects going at once.  I can barely manage the one! 

Keep it up and i'd love to see pics of your triumph.

[TDodge7]

there ya go , it kind of got to that waiting for paint stage , and it's been there the last 4 years , I don't do anything with it because I know when i finish it I'm going to end up selling it since it's not much fun to ride ....sure looks cool sitting still though .


on a nighthawk related note I got her running , well idling anyway , and man she purrs . I wasn't sure if there was some trick to getting the carbs out on these (tighter fit than most of my bikes) so I pulled the rear boots out to make it easy to pull the carbs , I still have those boots off so I'm not surprised that it doesn't really want to rev . Sadly even if I get her running awesome I can't putt up the street until i find a new set of master cylinders , the PO ruined all the screws so I have no front brakes or a clutch . The carbs looked very very clean inside and I kind of wish I had just tried throwing new gas into the "non running" bike that seems to have just had a dead battery . One of the pilot jets was messed up , one side of the screwdriver slot is busted off so that one had to stay in , it is clear though , I'll deal with that later as it still functions and any attempt to get it out is going to ruin it more . Tach doesn't seem to work either ....hmmm

[82CB750SC]

Nice!  I really like that one. 

Tach doesn't seem to work either ....hmmm

Broken Cable?  Is it screwed on all the way?  My speedo stopped working about a block from my house one time after replacing my gauge cluster.  When I got home I found out I was dragging my cable behind me!  I made that things so tight after that happened.

[Munkey]

Tach doesn't seem to work either ....hmmm

Broken Cable?  Is it screwed on all the way?  My speedo stopped working about a block from my house one time after replacing my gauge cluster.  When I got home I found out I was dragging my cable behind me!  I made that things so tight after that happened.

No tach cable on a 700 S. It's electronic.

[82CB750SC]

Lol, well I guess that definitely rules out my idea. Whoops

[TDodge7]

Well the tach started working , and it looks like the gas gauge is working now too , guess they just got stuck from sitting . The bike runs awesomely now . I also fixed both master cylinders , sadly the brake master cylinder is going to need to be replaced , it's leaking through the inspection window . Is there a resident bike parting out guy here like on some other forums I should talk to ? But I can already tell that hands down I like this bike more than the xs1100 I replaced with it , it's so smooth ! I've been zipping around the neighborhood all day .

[ariwhiteboy]

I really like that triumph!

[chromy]

Welcome aboard Tdodge7!
  That's one fine looking 700S you have there.  I'll beat Coffee to the punch and ask if your considering meeting up with  some of us 20 or so NH owners for our Rally in the Blue Ridge Mtns (Deal's Gap area)?
Again, welcome aboard and enjoy the ride,
Eric

[skramer360]

No need to replace the MC just because the window is leaking. Use a dime and JB weld to fix it. Much lower cost than a used MC. BTW 

[Brittles]

No need to replace the MC just because the window is leaking. Use a dime and JB weld to fix it. Much lower cost than a used MC. BTW 

Exactly, and you can take it one step further and replace the window with a watch crystal. I've never done it but apparently some folks have.

[RIDERED]

nice set of bikes ya got there

[pwinegar]

I too have drooled over them since I first saw them back in the 80s.  I just picked up an 85.  LOVE IT!  Your bike looks to be in very good shape, congrats and enjoy. 

Heres a picture of mine. poor picture, sorry about that.  I will get a better one soon.

[TDodge7]

That's what 6 hours of wet sanding sun bleached lenses looks like when you're done , I really wish I'd taken a before shot , but trust me , the lenses on this bike were white , you couldn't even see the needle except at the very edge and you could make out a few of the numbers . So I got bored today and had at it , not bad if i do say so myself . I've also been doing a lot of cleaning , everything that was black is now grey , until you touch it , it's going to take me a while but there's a pretty good looking motorcycle under all this dirt . I have a ton of parts on the way and a new sticker kit minus the tank decals since mine are in great shape . Anyone have any pointers for removing the stickers already on the bike without destroying the paint ?

oh , and does anyone have any tricks to re-blackening heavily sun faded handle bar switch housings ? both of mine are almost white and it's not very attractive

[fishball]

Hi Tdodge and welcome to the group.

[Munkey]

oh , and does anyone have any tricks to re-blackening heavily sun faded handle bar switch housings ? both of mine are almost white and it's not very attractive

I've read that you can use black shoe polish but haven't tried it yet myself.  Mine are kinda rough too, but right now I have other issues to worry about.

[TDodge7]

I may have already found an answer , my switch housings were both sun bleached gray (about the color of the high beam lo beam switch) except for one which was still black (top side of right hand switch). Just for fun lastnight I tried hitting them with some sharpie and it would seem that sun bleached plastic absorbs sharpie like a sponge . It doesn't easily rub off and as you can see from picture #2 the sharpied black on the bottom half matches the natural black of the top half .

[gammer]

Armor All seems to make those parts look good for a while. But like you said, it just gets absorbed.