Breaking the Bike Down

This thing is all engine.

In order to be a true cafe racer, besides being a British bike, is that it really should have a side-by-side twin cylinder engine.  This one has two more cylinders than it should.  Well, just don't tell the rest of the builders out there that love cafe-a-fying CB750s.  So, what advice do I have for dismantling a bike?  Don't go too ape-shit.  Take your time, take lots of pictures, label the less obvious parts with a tag, or put them into a small zip top bag and label it.  Also, I recommend utilizing a nice heavy duty shelving unit to organize your parts.

Note the parts that are tagged.

Most of the parts are easy.  The frame will probably sit on a bench or lift, the other small stuff can go on the shelves, but what about the engine?  It weighs a couple hundred pounds and won't sit on its own, so an engine stand is a good way to go.  I don't think you will find any manual that will explicitly tell you to hang the engine by its rear mounts, but tons of people do it successfully.  My engine has been on the stand for about a year now without issue.  So, about the stand.  It is a light duty stand rated at 1,000 pounds.  You can get one cheap enough, but I got one for a case of beer.  Pretty good deal.

Custom brackets

This is a standard car engine stand so you need to make some brackets to change the bolt angle by 90 degrees.  These are just pieces of angle iron that I drilled and shaped.  Then is was just a matter of finding someone with a strong back and weak mind to help lift the engine out of the bike and onto the stand.  After which you have a nifty way to move your engine around and rotate it to work on it.

Sturdy and mobile

Now the engine can be moved about and because it is the lighter style stand, you can tuck in pretty easily from both sides with a chair for the hours of polishing that will happen at some point.  And when you are done working on it, it can be rolled out of the way.