1973 CB350G Canadian Noob Build (Gotta start somewhere!)

All round ace build thread 8) , cool video of the engine rebuild great Saturday morning watchin as its another wet day here in UK, Jeff's a great guy wish there was more like him this side of the pond most round here just after makin a quick buck keep going mate lovin it ;) ;)
 
yorkie350 said:
All round ace build thread 8) , cool video of the engine rebuild great Saturday morning watchin as its another wet day here in UK, Jeff's a great guy wish there was more like him this side of the pond most round here just after makin a quick buck keep going mate lovin it ;) ;)

Cheers Yorkie! Yes, I was very lucky to find him. Thanks for the sentiment mate!
 
Hey guys,

I really needed some advice and thought I would reach out here. Can someone give me a quick guide to wiring up the bike so I can fire up this engine before I get too much further? What do I need exactly to run the engine and go through a few gears? Mostly I am looking for the electrical part of this equation. I really just want to get to the point where I set a few wires up to the battery, the throttle, carbs, coils, fuel, etc.. And fire it up, rev it, laugh like Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor and piss my mum off to the point where she comes into the garage swearing in her Scottish accent and waving a broom at me.

I've been working on installing the front forks, swing arm and front controls but had to order a few copper washers here and there and am replacing my zerk fittings with a modern pair on the swing arm bolt. Things are heating up and I am getting really excited about this bike being completed! I need to get on the tank design ASAP and have the seat upholstered and do some rear shock measurements before I order a pair.

Oh! Another question. I have all the parts for my 520 chain conversion but the rear sprocket I bought did not come with mounting bolts. Am I to use the old mounting bolts from the stock sprocket? Are those even removable?

Thanks as always.
 
Saturdays Wrench said:
Hey guys,

I really needed some advice and thought I would reach out here. Can someone give me a quick guide to wiring up the bike so I can fire up this engine before I get too much further? What do I need exactly to run the engine and go through a few gears? Mostly I am looking for the electrical part of this equation. I really just want to get to the point where I set a few wires up to the battery, the throttle, carbs, coils, fuel, etc.. And fire it up, rev it, laugh like Tim 'The Tool Man' Taylor and piss my mum off to the point where she comes into the garage swearing in her Scottish accent and waving a broom at me.

I've been working on installing the front forks, swing arm and front controls but had to order a few copper washers here and there and am replacing my zerk fittings with a modern pair on the swing arm bolt. Things are heating up and I am getting really excited about this bike being completed! I need to get on the tank design ASAP and have the seat upholstered and do some rear shock measurements before I order a pair.

Oh! Another question. I have all the parts for my 520 chain conversion but the rear sprocket I bought did not come with mounting bolts. Am I to use the old mounting bolts from the stock sprocket? Are those even removable?

Thanks as always.
Like stock setup?
 
If all you want to do is hear it run, just clip the positive post of a battery to the coils and the negative post to the frame. As long as you have power to the coils, it ought to have a spark.
 
55c8d84e64471e430bf5999a293c2a7a.jpg


If you run total loss off battery you don't even need the voltage regulator, just power to coils.
 
Engine is mounted!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqVA_OA0QzA

Getting closer to a rolling chassis & things are heating up outside! Exciting times indeed. In my last session, as you can tell from the picture, I finished up the right side of the engine and bolted on the cover with the sweet new stainless steel bolts. I got the bolts from AlloyBoltz.com in case you were wondering. This was before I realized I could get them locally from my buddy Rob who runs Bullit Custom Cycles. Anyway, finishing up the side cover was a lot of fun since I was pretty comfortable putting it back together. I also installed my new Barnett clutch system, which I am excited to try. I know there are other clutch systems that will work in this engine but Barnett was recommended by an experienced 350 race bike owner so I decided to try them out. It's a good idea to upgrade the clutch system due to the extra power output from the upgraded components I have in the engine.

Mounting the engine was quite the process! I decided just to put it in the same way I took it out. After wrapping the frame in rags I attempted to install the engine with the help of my Dad. After a little bit of persuasion we got it in the frame but scratched up the top cover a little. I need to do some touch ups from the rebuild, so I'm not too worried. It also took a lot of time to get all the mounting bolts in place! I used a small crow bar to move the engine around and get them all through the holes. It was very frustrating. The paint also made it more difficult to move things around since those tiny clearances were even smaller now because of the coating of paint. We did it eventually though and got her all torqued up and sitting pretty!

Enjoy some pics and a video for now! Next time I hope to install the swing arm, forks & wheels onto the frame! Once that's all on place I am planning to start with the electrical and repairing the gas tank. I have also come up with a bunch of design elements that I am pretty excited about but will share with you all later.

Until next time, thanks for all the comments and answers to my questions. This really is a great community.
 

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Sweeet mate I know that feeling you on the right side of the project now mate, warm weather and smiley riding face just round the corner . You won't be sorry you went for the Barnett clutch set up I use them and it makes all the difference , the pull in the lever feels a bit tougher but a good upgrade keep it up mate ;) 8)
 
redwillissuperman said:

Jeahhhhh! haha where'd you find those leafs?

yorkie350 said:
Sweeet mate I know that feeling you on the right side of the project now mate, warm weather and smiley riding face just round the corner . You won't be sorry you went for the Barnett clutch set up I use them and it makes all the difference , the pull in the lever feels a bit tougher but a good upgrade keep it up mate ;) 8)

Cheers Yorkie!!
 
Part of the Cdn keyboard option. But does come with downsides- all the keys are sticky with Maple Syrup, autocorrect always suggests "John A. MacDonald" and you only get 74 words for every 100 you type.

But every time you write "beanie" it changes it to "toque"
 
redwillissuperman said:
Part of the Cdn keyboard option. But does come with downsides- all the keys are sticky with Maple Syrup, autocorrect always suggests "John A. MacDonald" and you only get 74 words for every 100 you type.

But every time you write "beanie" it changes it to "toque"

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

That was quite clever and hilarious.. well done! lol
 
Hey guys.. Looking for some help please

So I'm taking a few days off this week to put in some extra work on the bike and get things rolling. I've built my wheels and had some questions about some problems I'm having and things I'm concerned about.

For one thing there is some space in the front axel bolt that I can't remember if it was there in the beginning or not. More specifically, the axel bolt in the front wheel is sliding left and right by about 15-20mm or so. Can you please look at the pics below and tell me if that space is supposed to exist on the right side of the wheel where the speedo mechanism is? In the reference picture I took before I dismantled the bike I noticed that the left bolt sits right under the wheel catch, so I know I have to push the bolt all the left in order for that piece to sit there, but on the right when I do that it creates a lot of space as seen below. Is this normal? What am I missing?

pic #1: You can see the space here

pic #2: Then I can move the speedo mechanism slong the bolt, is this normal?

pic #3: Is the bolt supposed to stick out this far on the right side?




Also...

So I am doing a 520 chain conversion and I have the chain and 2 sprockets all in 520. When I installed the rear sprocket there is some space missing now since the new sprocket is thinner than the stock one. I had to use washers after I put the sprocket side plate on (#3 in fiche) in order to get the bolts to properly tighten on to the drive pins. But! The missing space is causing the 70mm washer (#2 in part fiche) to not sit tight up against the circlip like it usually does. See pic below. Any thoughts?? I can imagine this is a good thing. The drive pins are not being forced into the hub and I can't imagine this is very safe...

pic #4-5: see that 70mm washer I am pointing to? That should be sitting snug against the circlip.

Am I missing some sort of washer that's supposed to come with a kit or something? I did not buy a kit, 2 sprockets together then a chain separately. Anyone ever deal with this? How did you compensate for the missing space?

Please help.


Thanks as always!
 

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You didn't show a pic of the other side of the front axle where the nut is. BTW the axle nut goes in shoulder first, there are no threads at the shoulder and it recesses past the threads on the axle and snuggles down on the hub. As for the rear sprocket, the thickness of the sprocket at the inside should be the same as a 530, usually only the teeth are machined down to 520 thickness. You can see that in the photo of my 520 set.

224380_10150266586077674_1575220_n.jpg
 
DrJ said:
You didn't show a pic of the other side of the front axle where the nut is. BTW the axle nut goes in shoulder first, there are no threads at the shoulder and it recesses past the threads on the axle and snuggles down on the hub. As for the rear sprocket, the thickness of the sprocket at the inside should be the same as a 530, usually only the teeth are machined down to 520 thickness. You can see that in the photo of my 520 set.

224380_10150266586077674_1575220_n.jpg

Thanks for the response btw!

I did not show a pic of the left side of the front axle because I know exactly how it sits due to the reference pictures I took before dismantling it. For some reason I failed to take a picture of the right side where the speedo mechanism is, so I am unsure how it's supposed to sit in the hub. I just don't remember it poking out like it does in my picture above.

Can anyone post a close up picture of the right side of there installed front wheel for me please on a CB350? I am having a hard time locating one online for some odd reason.
 
If you read above you'll know that last wk I took some time off work to get things moved along more quickly with the project. I ran into a bunch of frustrating walls that I would like to share with you guys. I've always stated that in no way do I know what I'm doing with this. I mean that in the sense that I've never done this before and my experience in the garage is limited. I'm not completely clueless and I always do my homework before I tackle something on the bike. I try to keep it to one or two things at a time or I feel like my head will explode.. Like how to rebuild forks with aftermarket parts and figure out oil measurements and spring preload. I'm not going to lie.. I probably put my forks together 3 times and still need to go back and do it again this wknd because I did not measure my preload properly.

I guess my point is that if you're a noob like me and you're reading this.. heck! Even if you're an intermediate mechanic you will level with me that this stuff can be complicated but approach it with an open mind, ask a lot of questions and most importantly; Don't get discouraged if you mess something up or don't accomplish what you set out to do. I bet every guy/girl in here can attest to leaving the garage and sitting there in bed at night when suddenly you get a light bulb moment and you figure out the way something goes together or how to wire that rectifier or how that wheels goes back together..

I hit a bunch of walls this week with getting my wheels on, with getting my carb boots to fit, my spark plug threads got damaged, I screwed up my fork rebuild, my aftermarket top triple clamp is too thick and I need to get it machined and I figured out that I bought the wrong throttle! weee! But I'll get back in there! I'm climbing that ladder! I was super discouraged and then bounced back and have some new life in me to make things right. Anyway, I just wanted to share that on here because I think it's important to share experiences on here so people can learn from them. My advice is to just inspect your aftermarket parts thoroughly, be skeptical and just make sure it all goes together properly but don't expect it to!

So here is where I'm at:
- Figured out how to properly measure my fork spring preload, will do that tonight and rebuild the forks
- Sending the top clamp back to get machined, will also double and triple check my all balls tapered steering bearing install to make sure I didn't muck that up (that may be causing the problem)
- I'll mod my carb boots with a dremel to elongate the mounting holes so they will line up properly with the cylinder head and use a small washer for extra hold
- I've pretty much figured out the spacing issue on my rear 520 sprocket, just need to add a second washer to fill in the space
- In the meantime I need to redesign my battery box (happy days!) because I did a mock up with my electrical components and there's not enough space in it... Battery Box for sale!! (anyone??)
- once the triple clamp comes back I can mount the wheels and install the exhaust
- after that's done I can quick wire up the bike and fire it up! Or, I may just finish the electrical all together.. THAT will be a journey!
- tank has been stripped of all paint, rust inside will be dealt with next wk and a few dents will be repaired using Bondo
- tank paint designs have been in the works and I have a pretty unique colour I'm thinking about.. probably won't reveal that until the very end ;D

Onward and upward friends! 8) :D
 
Know that feeling mate ??? keep at it she will get finished and top notch too 8) if it was all so simple everyone would be at it and mystical smoke would be out the bottle :-X she gonna be a head turner when done for sure ;)
 
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