Cold weather is here, and time to do something with my cb450

I have been lurking and studying here for way too long. It is time to start a build thread for my little scoot. So, here is the starting point 1970 cb450k3





I rode her like this for about a year and a half and didn't have any major problems. All I had done to this point was rebuild the carbs and sync them, new points and condensers, new tires and tubes, and obviously the scrambler pipes. Then this past summer due to a series of unfortunate events, she looked liked this.





I low sided to avoid a situation. pushed her the half mile home and she has sat since then due to a banged up knee and I was in the middle of moving when I went down. It is hard to tell in the pic but the bike is banged up pretty bad.


List of parts to be replaced:
Upper triple
Headlight bucket
Bars
Clutch cover
Rear brake lever
Turn signals (I may just remove them)
Front fender


And now for the reason I posted all of this in this section





I did a bunch of wiring work on a buddy's sportster and he gave me the car for payment. It is an early 70's American Spirit sidecar. It is pretty good shape. Needs a little fiberglass work done but nothing major. I also have the original seat cover and the cover that goes over the opening of the car when no one is riding in it.


So, I have begun acquiring parts for my rebuild of the bike. I want to get it road worthy before I start fitting the car to the bike.


New parts so far
Biltwell kung fu grips
Gs1100g gas tank
Vortex clip ons
60s Bridgesone headlight w/speedo
bunch of stock parts off of my parts bike

Here is my work so far. My $30 Gs tank sitting on the frame. It still has to slide forward a couple of inches. I have to grind down the mounting studs on the frame about a 1/4" on each side for it to slide over them. I haven't decided how I am mount the rear of the tank yet. I need to get it into position first.





Obviously I going to have to do something with the seat. I think I want an aluminum bumstop but I am not sure.


So, I went ahead and swapped out my triple and bars the other night.





I like the bars with the new tank


Last night I was toying around with the idea that I wanted more braking for for when I get the car mounted and snatched the master cylinder of the gl1100 in the back ground and mounted it up for a dual disc swap.

Subscribed! I like where this is headed.

Something for you side car genius', here is a pic of a bare cb450 frame.



Where are the ideal places to plan on attaching the mounts from the side car? I know that the 2 upper ones need to be as close to the steering stem and the rear shock mount as possible. Where should the 2 lower mounts go? I can weld and access to a welder. I am thinking about building a girdle that runs from the steering stem down under the bike for attachment points and to stiffen the frame some.

cool project.

Subscribed to this one!

lingo said:

Something for you side car genius', here is a pic of a bare cb450 frame.

Where are the ideal places to plan on attaching the mounts from the side car? I know that the 2 upper ones need to be as close to the steering stem and the rear shock mount as possible. Where should the 2 lower mounts go? I can weld and access to a welder. I am thinking about building a girdle that runs from the steering stem down under the bike for attachment points and to stiffen the frame some.

Click to expand...

This might help for basics. As a rule of thumb - always look to triangulate your mount points / members.

Thanks for the info BC, I have a feeling that rear sets and kick start are going to cause me problems.

I'm in.

I'm in and jealous to boot ......... what a lovely chair.
Don't worry about the kick starter, you can fit a car battery in the boot of the chair to add ballast and that will give you all the cranking juice you'll ever need. Regarding rear sets, whats the problem? they don't need to be high cause you won't be leaning, so you can even mount the right one off the chair chassis if needed.

Definately be checking in on this one as well!
Quick question first....
Why not the GL? Much more torque in that boxer 4 engine.

GL's belong to a buddy. We are building a bobber out of them. I am in the middle of reringing the motor and a few other things. Sorry but no real updates on the bike this week. I finally got my 73 super beetle home last weekend and I am in process of rebuilding the brakes on it and making sure it is ready for DD duty.

I did work on my dual disk set up last night. I am going the easy route. going to run two cb 450 left lower forks with the associated brake brackets and calipers. I know that it won't look as good, but it is truely all about function.

Erksine, I hadn't even thought about setting the right side controls up on the car frame. I may run a small battery in the car to help the extra amp draw from a couple of extra lights on the car.

well I spent some money on the bike today.



I can't wait for them to get here.

Wow! That is fuckin cool!

You don't need a spare set of CL pipes do you?

I have never seen Hooker pipes for a bike other than here on DTT.
Very nice!
I'm thinking you need a new patch.

That's a nice looking pipe there.

Merry Christmas me! My pipes showed up today. Headed home tonight to mount them up. I can't believe how light these are compared to my stock CL pipes. Might have to take some time off from VW this weekend to show the bike some love.


HD- My girlfriend bought me a patch for my jacket like the one you posted. Might have to sew it onto my sleeve.

Took a break from working on my VW last night to show the bike a little love. Modified the mounting studs for the tank so that my GS tank would slide over. After I took the seat latch off the frame the tank sat down real nice.



Now I just have to decide how I am going to attach the rear of the tank.

Kind of funky how suzuki changed their tank mounts, is the rear one bolt vertical or two bolts horizontal?