68 CL175 Project Vicarious

Re: 68 Honda CL175

mikeadamstattoo said:

i didnt see the plexiglass in the pic and said "why did that guy write a big 175 on his garage door?"

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That's funny man - there's no riff raff outside of my garage, only me in the garage! I was reading your build and if you want me to measure or take pics of my tank, just say the word. But we are staying out at her sisters tonight so it wouldn't be til tomorrow.

Well, ran the heaters all night to thaw out my compressor - and it worked! I can't beleive how stupid of me to leave that much water in the tank. Still kicking myself for that one. So I finished sandblasting the frame and got to lay some paint. Didn't use the cheap rattle-can chrome, bought some Duplicolor Paint Shop in silver. Almost the same effect though:

Sorry about the cell phone quality!

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Lookin good! I love silver frames on old bikes. Classic. Next one will be silver...

Re: 68 Honda CL175

So I got to sandblast a couple parts last night and I was looking at my front pegs/kickstand again. I remembered that the pegs looked a little crooked and just assumed that it was because the bike was dropped before. Oh no, that's not exactly what happened. Crooked pegs:



And the reason why:



The PO had failed to mention (and I failed to notice sooner) that the left peg AND kickstand had been welded back on crooked. Oh well....

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Time to get out the torch, and BFH...

Re: 68 Honda CL175

pegs look cool without the plastic. Maybe wrap em in leather? I want a blaster!

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Curbcast said:

pegs look cool without the plastic. Maybe wrap em in leather? I want a blaster!

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Have you thought about building your own sand blasting cabinet? I have seen all kinds of plans on-line. If I had to do it over again though, I would build mine out of wood. Steel will last forever, but its amazing how long the wooden ones last.

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Here ya go Curb, this is all I use:

http://cgi.ebay.com/GRAVITY-FEED-SPEED-Sand-BLASTER-Hand-Held-SANDBLASTER_W0QQitemZ190358750276QQcategoryZ43570QQcmdZViewItem

If you have a compressor of course. Just don't use it around and an open motor, open drinks, open eyeballs, open lungs, kittens, whatever. Best to use outside with gloves, goggles, respirator, and a full faceshield (or and old 3/4 to full face helmet).

Works like a charm though.

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Curb,

If you're looking at getting or building a cabinet. Be sure you have a good compressor. You can't get by with a pancake compressor or a $200 jobby from HD etc. If you are looking pay almost no attention to size or psi ratings, the only thing that really matters is how much air it moves in terms volume. You need something with a minimum rating of 6 SCFM @ 90psi to run most blasters some more. (ask me how I know) The ratings are stated on the specs decal on most machines. Often they are not on the display tag.

I'm currnetly scouring craig's list for a deal on one.

Re: 68 Honda CL175

So I got the motor put back together with new gaskets and started painting it today. In between coats I started messing around with moving the ignition switch. Here's what i came up with:

I'm going to get some clipons off RCC once they come back in stock so I don't need the handlebar mounts anymore. Started by taking the double taper out of the right side.


Then ground out some stock from underneath. Drilled and tapped a hole for a set screw too


Had to grind the square corners off of the ignition switch to get it to fit


Ta Da! Crammed in there


Going to get a smaller set screw when I go back to work this week

Re: 68 Honda CL175

I like it!!

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Cool man! That looks great.

Re: 68 Honda CL175

smart thinking!

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Thanks guys! Best part is that if the ignition is on, there's no way for the switch to fall out the bottom

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Ok, it's 3 am and it is STUPID cold outside. So cold you can feel your boogers freezing in your nose. Even with 2 heaters running in the garage I'm giving up for the night. Earlier today (yesterday i guess) I got the motor painted again and started working on the edges of the fins. The side covers aren't staying black, just easier to paint the motor when the internals aren't exposed. And I found a great use for my buddy's creeper that he hasn't taken back in 6 months!



And since I'm not even trying to find a finned points cover any more I took the trusty old Dremel and shaved off some paint to give the illusion of fins. Ghetto fabulous! Sorry about the cell phone pic - the paint looks a lot better in person. I'll take another pic of it in natural sunlight (feels like it's never gonna happen) tomorrow

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Bateman racing doesnt have finned ones? Looks good anyways. 3AM? Thats way past my bedtime!

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Hell ya R!!!! Getting it done! Im tellin ya man, spring is going to be a lot of fun around these parts. We'll show all the HD trailer queens whats up!

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Curbcast said:

Bateman racing doesnt have finned ones? Looks good anyways. 3AM? Thats way past my bedtime!

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I saw them on Bateman's but figured I didn't care to pay any money for something like that (right now). Got other/bigger stuff to spend dough on. And past your bedtime? 3 in the morning is when the best parties start!

And Von, I'm tempted to make a habit of this every winter, ya know?

But anyways, since it's too cold to do anything major outside (and my dog would die of paint fumes inside), I took what I could into work the other night trying to accomplish whatever possible. The worst thing is the dust at work - got on some of the paint so there's gonna be some wetsanding down the road. Oh well, got paid to work on the bike!

Got the side covers painted to match the frame, did the carb mounting flange to match the motor, and the carbs themselves to match the frame/side covers. I think it will give the carbs a "floating" effect. Wanna replace my mint green filters down the road too. Any body have any ideas?


Also realized that somebody had switched the slides in the carbs, therefore the caps(?) on top were switched. Looked like left cable, right carb and right cable, left carb. More of a nuicance than anything. And my bro is coming out sometime this weekend to help lay some more insulation in the garage (plus that heatwave coming through PA!)

Re: 68 Honda CL175

NICE rich! Love that switch idea... It has me thinking. Which is very bad.

And MAN must I comment on the beauty of the frames on these slopers. So smooth and flowing.

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Ya J those frames sure are purty... Industrial design at its best.
Im with you Rich. Working on a new bike every winter is going to be how I roll. The wifes thrilled with the idea :. Once I get my cafe and bobber (someday). Ill build and sell. I love working on these things too much to just give it up after the 350.

Re: 68 Honda CL175

Jfishsolevibe said:

NICE rich! Love that switch idea... It has me thinking. Which is very bad.

And MAN must I comment on the beauty of the frames on these slopers. So smooth and flowing.

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Thanks John. What I like the most about these frames is that there's nothing to them. Once you get it stripped down you can pick it up with one hand to move it around. How's the Tiger coming along? I was just looking through my thread and noticed I didn't have a pic of my dismantled motor.



Notice the lack of cam chain tensioner? That's the easiest way to get all the crap that i dropped out of the case

VonYinzer said:

Ya J those frames sure are purty... Industrial design at its best.
Im with you Rich. Working on a new bike every winter is going to be how I roll. The wifes thrilled with the idea :. Once I get my cafe and bobber (someday). Ill build and sell. I love working on these things too much to just give it up after the 350.

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My biggest problem is I fall in love with everything I buy. I couldn't sell my Suzuki, can't sell this Honda, and my wife wasn't too happy about me owning 2 bikes. So the 3rd one would probably include divorce papers . But maybe I could restore a CL350 for my Dad......