Hi From Australia CB350

ducatiboy

Been Around the Block
DTT BOTM WINNER
This is a quick post to introduce myself. I've been following the site for a few months now and have decided I should become a little more involved in the social side of things here.

I've always had a bike of some sort since I was a teen and I'll be turning 50 later this year. For the last 25 years I've only really had rubber belt based Ducatis starting with a 500 Pantah (although I once did own a 900S2 bevel) with my current two bikes being '08 848s -- one highly modified for racing, the other pretty much a stock rebuilt wreck for my daily commuter to work.

A couple of years ago, my brother picked up a CB350 for the grand total of $0.00 from my parent's neighbour's farm where it had been sitting under a tree for approx 10 years. It had apparently been running "perfectly" before that but, although complete, a decade in the elements had turned it into the proverbial basket case. His intention was to get it running and do a cafe conversion but it continued to sit in my parents garage for another year and half until I suggested to him that maybe I could start the work on it at my place which is where it is now.

Here's a few pictures of it the day I picked it up
IMG_0981.jpg

IMG_0980.jpg

IMG_0979.jpg

IMG_0978.jpg

IMG_0977.jpg



My plan is a cafe conversion (Just what the world needs! Another cb350 cafe conversion ::)) inspired by El Poquito over at Benjies Cafe Racers. Although I've done plenty of work on my Ducatis over the years including engine rebuilds, I am by no means experienced in bike building as such or in any sort of fabrication of custom parts. This will be my first build and pretty much my first time working on a non-Ducati bike. In addition to that, the constraints of work and family mean it will be a long term project!

Thanks for reading and I'll post up a few more pictures of what where I'm up to when I get the chance
 
Re: Hi From Australia

Welcome bud. I'm down in SA, where abouts are you located? Nice find on the Honda too!
 
Re: Hi From Australia

sweet another beefeater down under. welcome to dtt and looking forward to seeing your cb come together mate.
meanwhile while you're here, show us yer ducatis!!
allthebest
 
Re: Hi From Australia

Welcome that CB will look great when finished the petrol tank looks nice and straight, no major dents.
 
Hi From Australia

[Paul Hogan Voice] That's not a basket case, this is a... oh never mind!

Wish my bike was that sweet looking when I got it, good luck on the rebuild. Would be good to have an Aussie resourcing network by city so that we can see who is out there to help us with certain elements. I have skills and tools but lack fabrication equipment.
 
Re: Hi From Australia

neevo said:
[Paul Hogan Voice] That's not a basket case, this is a... oh never mind!

Wish my bike was that sweet looking when I got it, good luck on the rebuild. Would be good to have an Aussie resourcing network by city so that we can see who is out there to help us with certain elements. I have skills and tools but lack fabrication equipment.
Good idea. I'm sure there's something in the aussie thread. I'll have a look later. Bike first, computer later ;)
 
Re: Hi From Australia

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody. This forum is a fantastic resource for information, inspiration and motivation!

I'm located in the Inner West of Sydney just around the corner from Deus (world's most expensive "custom" bikes). Although I have a garage with lots of tools in it, it is very small and made even smaller by the amount of junk "stored" in it . Coming from a completely non-mechanical background I lack fabrication and welding equipment AND skills! Those jobs will have to be out-sourced. I do have most tools though

So far I have stripped the bike completely to the bare frame and stripped the motor down to the crank. Sadly, because I was so excited to get started on the project, I did this BEFORE testing compression. Mistake number 1. Oh well, I'll learn as I go! The motor has about 7,000 miles on it (assuming the odometer is accurate) and turned over by hand and although the pistons and cylinders looked reasonable, I bought new 0.25 oversize pistons/rings anyway and the cylinders are away for a rebore. The head has also been sent off for recutting of the valve seats and refacing of valves.

Here's a few more pictures:

DSC_2910.jpg

DSC_2914.jpg

DSC_2913.jpg

DSC_2917.jpg

DSC_2916.jpg
 
Re: Hi From Australia

More photos for the hell of it

Carbs were a bit of a mess

DSC_2922.jpg

DSC_2921.jpg


F***ing hell!

DSC_2923.jpg


All clean now though:

P1080881.jpg


And rebuilt with the help of this kit:

P1080884.jpg
 
Re: Hi From Australia

During the motor pull down I noticed the engine mounts on the lower cases

P1080877.jpg


A quick visit to ebay and I had another lower case for $65.00 (plus $50 shipping from Florida!)

CL pipes

P1080886.jpg


Despite a CB engine number!

DSC_2912.jpg


Rusted out muffler together with dead Huntsman spider

P1080885.jpg


Milk crate full of soda blasted engine parts.

P1080875.jpg


New gasket kit and cam chain

P1080878.jpg


New bronze swingarm bushes

P1080880.jpg


Old cam chain tensioner with new polyamide sprocket with pressed in needle roller bearing

P1080879.jpg
 
Re: Hi From Australia

While pulling the front end apart I started to have some thoughts about the forks. This bike has the fork springs outside the stanchions and there was an ungodly rusty mess under the covers. No pictures unfortunately. A few weeks of searching and I couldn't find replacement stanchions so an idea started to form in my head. I have replaced the entire front end of my 848 race bike with Ohlins 803 forks, 30mm offset triple clamps, monobloc radial calipers and lightweight brembo discs. So I have an entire stock 848 frontend sitting in my garage taking up valuable space. So I scratched my head and spent some time measuring up with the Verniers and worked out it could be done. I had the steering stem pressed out of the CB lower triple and pressed into the lower 848 triple with the help of a machined up spacer to make it fit

848 front end
DSC_4810.jpg


848 triple with CB stem. CB triple has a little more offset!
DSC_4806.jpg


848 vs CB top triple
DSC_4807.jpg


The ugly looking lug at the top of the 848 triple (for steering damper) has got to go as it will hit the front of the tank
DSC_4808.jpg


Gone!
DSC_4809.jpg


And tidied up
DSC_4811.jpg


It fits!
DSC_4812.jpg

DSC_4813.jpg


Right side
DSC_4818.jpg


Not so good on left. Bit of adjustment required on the stop
DSC_4819.jpg


How the mock up's looking at the moment. The most over braked CB350 in history!
DSC_4817.jpg
 
Re: Hi From Australia

That looks awesome so far mate very well done the front end looks killer and gives the little bike massive stance well done on the mods so far can’t wait to see the bike when it’s finished.

On a side note went into deus the other day to check out the bikes and grab a feed they has a stock sr500 for $16000 kida sucks for people looking for a project or inspiration. I also priced a cafe seat I priced online for $314aus to find it on sale in the dues chop for $510 great bikes and great atmosphere but shame about the prices.

Also mate where about did you grab the gasket set from? trying to price them for my cb200.
 
Hi From Australia

Wow that Ducati front end is awesome! Might need to do something about the rear now though, I think the front tyre is supposed to be smaller than the back ;)
 
Re: Hi From Australia

Too right Neevo! That front wheel/tyre is waaay too big. I just put that on for the mock up. I have a 2.15in harley chrome spoke wheel that I will be using for the front. The rear I will probably buy a 3 or 3 1/2in alloy rim to lace up to the the stock hub. Anyone know of any clearance issues with a stock CB350 swingarm and a 3 1/2in rim?

Deepwater, Deus is a great shop to browse through. Just don't even THINK about buying anything there though! Even a coffee is expensive. It's all quality stuff though. My gasket kit was from ebay Sirius Consolidated Inc in Canada. Have a look here

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HONDA-CB350-CL350-CB350G-SL350-ENGINE-GASKET-SET-/380393447709?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item589137611d#ht_2224wt_873
 
Re: Hi From Australia

aaaaaah this is gonna look sooo good!!!
 
Re: Hi From Australia

Geez mate this is looking good and rapid progress too. Love that angry stance.
 
Re: Hi From Australia

The more I look at the front-end in it's mocked up state the more I think the front end of this bike is going to be ridiculously overdone. This bike is eventually going to be my wife's "fun" bike so outright performance is not a huge priority. But adding unsprung weight to a 40 year old bike with only 30 hp sort of defeats the purpose of the "cafe racer" which is supposed to be super light-weight. So I was thinking I may just use a one disc set up. Seeing as I already have my stock 848 callipers, discs and master cylinder my plan was to use these. Does anybody know what effect using the stock master cylinder (designed for use with two discs) will have when using ONE disc?

Also it seems this thread is becoming more of a build thread than simply an introductory one. I don't know how to move this over to the build section. Can one of the moderators help??
 
Re: Hi From Australia

The result will be an overbraked front end. A slight touch of the brake will throw you over the bars. You're effectively moving the same amount of fluid with the master, but there's only one caliper piston to take up the travel, if you get my drift.
 
Re: Hi From Australia

ducatiboy said:
Does anybody know what effect using the stock master cylinder (designed for use with two discs) will have when using ONE disc?

The lever will become more wooden, and the braking performance will be reduced. You are effectively taking away a caliper and 2 pads, so you will have less braking regardless of the size of the M/C.

Which is probably a good thing considering what you are trying to stop now ;)
 
Hmmmmm... ???

One response suggesting the brakes will be much too powerful with a disc removed and the other suggesting the braking will be much reduced. Thanks for the replies and thoughts but I'm a little confused.

If the master cylinder designed for dual callipers is too big for a single calliper and creates more braking power for less lever effort isn't that more than made up for by the fact there now only one disc and not two? And wouldn't that mean just using less lever effort to achieve the same level of braking? I'm thinking that the only way to find out for sure is to try it out and see what it feels like.

Anyway, got quite a bit done in the garage today.

The front wheel is a Harley Dynaglide 19" 2.15

DSC_5635.jpg


The Brembo disc carrier ID is too big so I need a spacer

DSC_5640.jpg


Disc bolts don't line up so I'll need to drill some holes and tap some threads

DSC_5639.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom