CJ360 Build (my first)

ZenMoto

New Member
Hey guys,
I'm new to the forum, but have been riding and wrenching on bikes since I was 7 ...and I'm 45 now ...so DAMN, that's a long time.

I recently acquired a pretty clean 1976 Honda CJ360 and fell in love with the idea of doing something custom with it. I'm a designer by trade, so I have some fun ideas for a clean build. I thought I would start a thread here to keep track of my progress.

Anyway, here's the bike as it was when I picked it up.

stock_02-L.jpg


stock_01-L.jpg


It looked decent, but had been lightly crashed, had a head gasket leak, and frozen carbs from sitting for several years ...the tank was ruined from rust as well.

First things first, I bought a rebuild kit for the carbs and tore into them. I was fortunate that the diaphragms were both in excellent shape, so it was just a matter of cleaning everything out and replacing O-rings, etc. ...almost as good as new.

carbs_01-L.jpg


Next I started tearing the thing down, making note of all missing, bent, or broken pieces I would later need.

progress-L.jpg


I was able to find a decent CB360 tank that had the logo mounts bondo'd over, so I'm in the midst of cleaning it out and prepping it for paint, but right off the bat, what a difference it makes in the lines of this bike ....I like it!

profile-L.jpg


My plan for the bike involves painting the engine rather than polishing the covers, and I'm shooting for HRC gold, but getting the color right can be a trick. ...until I removed the stator cover and found that the upper half of the crank-case is, for some inexplicable reason, factory painted that color inside ...and it looks AMAZING in person. Now I KNOW I'm going to paint the engine this color! :)

eng_01-XL.jpg


eng_02-L.jpg


I have no idea why it's painted that color, I've seen several of these torn down and never seen one that wasn't just silver (bare aluminum) ...has anyone else? Seeing it in person, it's clear this isn't some old rattle-can job that wore off on the outside, it's really stunning.

Anyway, that's all I've got at the moment. Between my boy's Scouts, my girl's gymnastics, and my pesky job, there's little time to work on it, but I'm doing my best. ...I haven't even had a chance to fire up my new welder yet! lol

Cheers.
 
Welcome to the site! Glad you found us.

I have no idea about the coating under the stator cover, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that oil sits in that area.

Nice choice on the tank - I've always preferred the older exposed chrome gas cap Honda tanks to the flip-lid style.
 
Thanks for the welcome reception.

And thanks for posting that Trek97, I've never seen it before but I guess that's just the way they are. :eek:

I made a little bit of progress tonight; managed to get the engine out of the bike and began the tear down.

Overall the engine looks good so far, though I'm not thrilled at these cam-followers; I'm not sure what caused this scoring, but I'm thinking I should polish it out or look for replacements.

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2018011121251771-IMG_3866-X3.jpg


At least the cam lobes look clean. ...there is some minor wear on the bearing surface, but I can't feel it with my fingernail, so I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about.

2018011121251771-IMG_3872-X3.jpg


I won't get to pulling the cam out until Sunday at the earliest, so I don't know what the journals look like. If the valve cover is an indication, I think we'll be in decent shape.

2018011121531708-IMG_3874-X3.jpg


2018011121531708-IMG_3873-X3.jpg


Last thing, to take a break from getting covered in oil, I cut down the front fender (with it's broken bracket) to see how it looks. Not sure if I'll use the stock fender or not (I can weld the bracket / brace) as the CJ has a creased fender that may not work with the softer lines of the CB tank. ...we'll see.

2018011121251771-IMG_3878-X3.jpg


What do people usually use for a donor fender to make nice round one? Is there an off-the-shelf fender blank that is good for cutting to shape?

Thanks.
 
Need some advice...

Hey guys, trying to make some progress getting this engine torn down and I've run into a small snag. Removing the head from the barrel there are 8 crown nuts in the head that have to be removed, then there are two 6mm bolts, one next to each spark plug port. ...but I can't get a socket or a wrench on them as they are just about up against cooling fins:

Right side:
2018011520100834-IMG_3938-X3.jpg


Left side:
2018011520100834-IMG_3939-X3.jpg


10mm socket in place:
2018011520100834-IMG_3940-X3.jpg


I can *kinda* get a 10mm wrench on it, but it's right up against the fins itself and I'm worried about rounding the head if I attack it at an angle.

2018011520100834-IMG_3941-X3.jpg


If nobody has some good advice, my plan is to get the dremel and carefully grind out some clearance for a socket into the offending fin.

Anybody have some sage advice? :)

Thanks.
 
My upper case on my cb is that same burnt oil golden color too, found it odd as well the first moment I saw it. As for the head bolt, man that's strange I don't remember mine being inaccessible at all, but they are now all socket bolts, so I can't check clearance. A good quality 10mm open end should work, cheap ones can be out of tolerance and round the ends
 
You can grind a little away from the socket, or grind a little away from the fin. I would probably do the latter.
 
Thanks guys. ...I think I may just grind off a bit of the fin to make clearance ...then clean up the grind once the head is off.

Onward and upward! :)
 
Only the top case is painted, hot oil make silver paint change colour.
Get a 1/4" drive set from Lowes for 'pretty cheap' or even just get 1/4" drive 10mm long socket and 4"~6" extension, no need to grind on anything plus it's way easier to get cam bolts torqued up properly later on
Cam bearings and cam looks perfect, the spalling is a manufacturing fault and not related to oil feed (although it's a REALLY good idea to do all the oil mods while you have it in pieces. What are you doing with stock CJ tank or is it already sold?
 
crazypj said:
Only the top case is painted, hot oil make silver paint change colour.
Get a 1/4" drive set from Lowes for 'pretty cheap' or even just get 10mm long socket and adapter, no need to grind on anything
Are you seeing the pic? His cast is off somehow. There's isn't clearance between the screw head and fin to fit a socket or wrench.
 
Yes there is, the counter bore for bolt head doesn't hit fin although right side is real close
Thinwall socket is all you need as max torque is only 9ft/lb (although they are almost always tightened to 12~14ft/lb)
1/4 drive long socket with extension is also the easiest way to 'not fuck up' cam bolts
Sorry for all the edits, grandson pulled the 'H' hey off laptop keyboard so it doesn't always work and I rarely notice until after I post something
 
Thanks for the tip(s). I'll take a look at Lowe's and see if they have any thin wall sockets; I have lots of tools, but nothing that will fit over that bolt without hitting the fins.

...I guess I need to do a search on 360 oil mods, eh?
 
ZenMoto said:
...I guess I need to do a search on 360 oil mods, eh?

yup, guess you do.
If you hang on Trek will probably post all the links for you ;D (or you could find his 360 blog, it's all there)
 
crazypj said:
What are you doing with stock CJ tank or is it already sold?

I have the tank, gas-cap lid, etc. sitting in a box in the garage. The whole bike was painted brownish red, over the stock color (which may have been a similar burgundy color) by a previous owner, but I'm not using these parts. They're dry and sitting in a box until I decide to start parting bits out.

If there's anything you're interested in from a CJ360, let me know. ...not much is being reused.

Also interested in what people use for fender blanks (front & rear) to cut down to size. The OE CJ fender has creased edges running lengthwise and I'm not sure I'll like that look on the front, and certainly wont' match it on the rear; looking for something with a smooth, round profile. :)

Thanks again guys.
 
CJ fender won't work, I used part of one plus a Maico Enduro one on one of mine. ( had a Maico 490 MX/Enduro Alpha 1 at the time with a few 'modified' parts, 130mph MX bike isn't sensible , even by my standards ;) ) May be easier to adapt something completely different or get hold of some CB parts?
I'll PM you about tank
 
Thanks for the great info PJ.

Good news on my front though, after taking crap from a buddy for "having every damn tool in the world" and not being able to remove the head, I dug into the old toolbox and put this together:

2018011620381469-IMG_3964-X3.jpg


Worked a treat on those two 6mm bolts.

The rest of the head & barrel removal went smooth as silk.

Dirty valves, but everything looks okay so far.
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You can see evidence that the cam chain tensioner needs replacing; luckily, the chain itself looks no worse for the wear:
2018011620323817-IMG_3953-XL.jpg

2018011620381469-IMG_3963-XL.jpg


Pistons & rings look great, and the bores are mirror smooth (no burrs or scarring of any kind).
2018011620371671-IMG_3955-XL.jpg

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Lastly, for this installment, the cam journals all look pretty decent:
2018011620381469-IMG_3965-XL.jpg

2018011620381469-IMG_3966-XL.jpg

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Not sure I'll get much else done this week as we're off to San Diego for another kid-related sports tournament! lol
 
Cam journals look good. You can see the 'witness marks' are from startup as they are only in the bottom and not full semi-circle,te oil 'floats' the cam away from bearing surface when running. Bore needs 'glaze busting' but looks good. You can do it by and with some ~300 wetordry'
 
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