CB360 - OEM+ lets see what happens here.

Cursh

Loves Stock Airboxes
I've been viewing this site for a few years, but didn't have an account until recently. This is my first bike, and i've learned a lot about tracing down problems. SpeedFreak inspired me to put all my progress here into a build thread (don't know the guy, never talked to me, but I respect a build that progresses across multiple years. As you will shortly see, my technical skills are minimal compared to most of the other guys on here, but here is what I've got.)

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in 2009 I bought a bike that looked quite a lot like this one pictured (not my photo). It didn't have turn signals, the charging system had some problems, and the starter had been disconnected, but it ran really well. The guy was an old Honda Tech out of Atlanta. I'd never ridden on the road before, but Alabama isn't super picky so they gave me a MC license anyway. I bought some gloves and a hard hat and went to check the thing out. The guy gave me a quick riding lesson, and let me ride the thing around his neighborhood for a few minutes before helping me load it onto the hitch rack on the back of my suburban. Super sweet guy - even offered to help me work on it if I brought it back up to ATL.

about 30 miles from home my suburban dies on the side of the road and I my cell is dead . . . (or maybe I was going to be late for a date - I'm terrible about trying to cram too many things into a day) so I ride the thing home. 75mph was terrifying and trucks were blowing me all over the place, but I got home . . . and went to get my truck (out of gas - broken gauge it ends up).

Drove the thing around for 6 months before it goes out of tune/ clogs the carbs/ whatever. I didn't do a damn thing to keep it running and ignored the honda techs suggestion to seal the tank or get fuel filters (what a dumb kid I am)

Park it in a barn for 2 years and start seeking out help to fix it. I deliver sandwiches for JJs at this point so I'm pretty cash poor. I'd worked a lot on my old Audi, and was a very competent bicycle mechanic, so I figure I can do motorcycles . . . not the case. I'm bad at everything. Long story short, I figure a bunch of things out, and get the bike back on the road. Charging is still bunk and the battery dies constantly but it runs. Pulling from my bicycle experience, I flip some sport bars and get laughed at by all the kids at recess, but I like the way the bike looks with drop bars, and the riding position suits my tastes.

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I'd hated the factory tail box thing - so derpy, so I'd replaced it with something that was laying around at my LMS. - here she is running (finally) but not charging.
 
I continued tinkering about with it: Tried the John Deere Rectifier, but it wasn't taking. The charging system was all sorts of messed up. Threw some new diaphragms in from those beautiful boys from kent - which had other problems. the rubber tire part wasn't thick enough and so I had to modify the slides to work. (basically crimped them down on the diaphragms and glued them into place. The problem was that the old diaphragms were stopping the slides from bottoming out in the carburetors and the new ones weren't - and then they were jamming - no fun.

My friend did call me to say he'd found these bicycle bags at the goodwill $4 a piece. I bought all four of them. Now I could make beer runs on the CB without bringing my messenger bag.

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They look better with stuff in them.
 
Up next - I'm frustrated with how hard it is to trace down electrical gremlins so I rewire the entire bike - there are a lot of redundancies. I have arms, so the blinkers won't be much of a priority as they aren't required in Alabama.

some preliminary thinking (and proof that I am easily confused). It took me a week to realize that these two drawings are exactly the same thing.

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extra stuff I didn't want or need:

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measure twice, purchase once: The reflector I ordered for my HID kit was too small . . . at least it wasn't too big. I took some radiator hose I had laying around and filled the gap nicely. The only problem is finding a place to hide the ballasts - right now they are zip tied behind the light - looks like a rats nest. So far thought I try not to clean things up until everything is running right, and we still aren't charging (doh). Put an LED tail light in to extend my battery life and a kill switch for the headlight. (did I mention how blind I was at night? Back country alabama roads are fun and pleasant at night in the summer, but not possible with my stock lighting. I'd struggled with the idea of getting a 3000k yellow kit, but figured I could put film on the reflector if it was too clean.

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now there is an angel that lives in my headlight =)

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So, at this point I've gotten the charging problem worked out. The starter chain and sprocket had come off and were wreaking havoc on my stator . . . I pulled the chain and sprocket and replaced my stator with a used one on Ebay. I hooked the third lead into the system directly (instead of through the headlight switch) and crossed my fingers that the John Deere Rectifier would keep my battery from being over charged.

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the bike - cat isn't helping. I like the color combo here and think the final product will have something similar to this going on.

I felt I had things together enough to start playing a bit more with the way things looked. I'd purchased some Copper Roof Paint for a bicycle build I was working on. a half pint sample was $50 and a quart was $80 so I went with the quart. This left me way too much copper paint, so I started painting my tank and side covers. The goal was to have it patina nicely (which the paint is capable of doing) but I was having trouble getting the patina to take. I used all sorts of methods to speed the process and nothing really worked. (the dent was from laying the bike over in a pile of leaves at 10 mph - only wreck so far and I'm thankful no one got hurt)

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everything getting their coat of all natural copper patina catalyst.

Lucky for me I have a friend who runs a metal shop, and likes being owed favors. I told him how I was planning to plug the starter hole (pipe cap sort of thing) and he insisted that we do better. This is bolted on from inside the left side cover and sealed with gasket in a tube.

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more tinkering with the carbs. who knows why at this point. Maybe I was trying to save weight by removing them all together.

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(you can see the threaded innards of the plug at the bottom left corner)
 
A quick intermission because at this point the bike runs REALLY well and the weather is REALLY nice . . . so i took a lot of pictures of it in various places.

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I even made it into an art gallery opening (asked my buddy where I should park, and he asked if I wanted to wheel it inside. it was mostly a joke and people had lots of questions.)
 
So I moved to Pittsburgh . . . because Jimmy Johns didn't seem like a sustainable career for me (i kept getting hit by cars, and I knew my knees wouldn't hold up forever) so I went off to graduate school. The 360 was my only self propelled vehicle at the time so I rode the thing to Akron to visit a friend.

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the side bags held more than enough gear for the weekend and the bike was . . . comfortable enough =/. two hours was not my favorite amount of time to be riding about. my butt wasn't used to it.

at this point, my tail light decided that it had been through too much and it left without saying goodbye.

when I arrive in Akron, my friend asks me if I drove the entire way without a license plate :doh:
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so I head to auto zone and pick up the cheapest thing I can find . . . which doesn't really look that bad (imo)

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until I get back to pittsburgh to find

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lucky for me the entire light was only $7 and I just go buy another one.
 
So I've spent a few months trying to track down a CL360 exhaust and haven't had any luck. I get REALLY close and then some dude in who knows where outbids me at the last second (because - I'm a cheap ass and really don't want to spend what they are worth.)

So I buy these in frustration before realizing that I can't get the mufflers for both pipes (only one was removable?!) damn.

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So i ride the thing around. . . badass - runs alright, but holy hell is it loud! I can't roll around on this thing, its embarrassing. so I take them off and let a dream die.

a few weeks later, I stumble upon the hondabrat blog of Trek97 . . . I see the EXACT PICTURE of the pipes that I was outbid on in the middle of a post where the guy says he is cutting them up to get to the pipes . . . woah - I email him and ask him if we could pull a trade. He hears me out and offers to send me the mufflers if I pay shipping (more than reasonable, what a great guy).

So now I've got the whole exhaust, but need to figure out the best way to attach them.

in the mean time I replace the throttle that has been bugging me, and the kill switch (included in the factory throttle) and add a horn (with the new "starter" button).

I also dry fit a CB450 tank I've picked up off of ebay. It needs some work, but whatever it was cheap (and missing a key part - the gas cap latch).

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I flipped the mirrors over because they kept hitting the old tank, and were a bit harder to use. I also like the proportions of the 450 tank better than my factory 360 tank. I think we are pretty close. I want to slim down the seat a bit, but this one is too nice to cut, so I wait.

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my materials and processes class is way to boring to stay awake through without some extra stimuli so I draw. This is what I'm going for, but we shall see.

-Ben
 
Winter comes . . . and I'm ill prepared. gonna have to do something about this. Nobody likes a snowtercycle

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mostly I wait - because 15 degrees is more than my alabama bones can handle...and I buy a car.

on good days I try to work through it anyway - I think it was sunny and 30 degrees on this day - practically spring . . .

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grab a CL350 heat shield off of ebay for $20 shipped and it mostly works. the holes are maybe 1/4" off at worst.

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my tarp elopes with my wheels.

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new tires.
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it started snowing as soon as I went around the block. damn pittsburgh.
 
my name is rod, and I like to party...

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winter is boring so I start to doodle. This is what I'm going for . . . buy not in paint pen.

The other side still needs sanding, but I'm procrastinating.

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thank God for spring!
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and with it comes . . . new bars . . . that kinda make things not work as well - damn. bike hits the fender under hard braking (which is terrifying). We can work through this . . .

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I choose you, tachometer.

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my shop in squirrel hill . . .

then the spark plug pops out . . . which was really sad for me. I rethreaded a cross threaded plug hole a few years back and I guess it just ate too much meat out to stay in there. damn. Time to pull things apart and deal with this little setback.

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just before loading her up to move to AZ - new factory fender that won't rub =)

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on the road.
 
that sucks, about the spark plug hole.

and Dude, driving across Illinois on your trip, you were like an hour or so from my house. Dang, You coulda bought me lunch, breakfast , dinner and a beer for the CL mufflers.
 
This is great. If you really want to patina that copper, you need a fume chamber. Buy one of those cheap clear storage bins big enough to fit the tank with extra room from WalMart, fill the bottom full of rags and dampen (not soak) them with a mixture of ammonia and salt. Then, suspend the tank in the bin with some wire for a weekend. Horse urine also works. ;)
 
Sorry Eric - I went WAY south. Headed through Charleston to get hitched, and then crashed in Alabama with my folks for a few days. I could have done all of those things for the CL mufflers =). I owe you a couple for sure.

deviant said:
This is great. If you really want to patina that copper, you need a fume chamber. Buy one of those cheap clear storage bins big enough to fit the tank with extra room from WalMart, fill the bottom full of rags and dampen (not soak) them with a mixture of ammonia and salt. Then, suspend the tank in the bin with some wire for a weekend. Horse urine also works. ;)

Thanks for the tip! I left the 360 tank on the side of the road (trying not to horde things "just in case" unless its a "most likely will need that") and in true alabama fashion is was gone in less than 5 min. I'm doing a slightly different thing for the CB450 tank but planned to use the same copper paint for part of it. I'm liable to try it again. So far the best thing i'd tried was human piss. Don't have access to a horse out here in AZ, which is a shame, though I'm pretty comfortable around them - I could probably get some if I tried hard enough.
 
Cursh said:
Sorry Eric - I went WAY south. Headed through Charleston to get hitched, and then crashed in Alabama with my folks for a few days.
Oh, so you probably went right by my house (I live a half a mile from I-20 in Augusta). I could've drank Trek's beers for him. Congrats on getting' hitched. You know that tank probably got scrapped, right? ;)
 
Yup - doesn't bother me at all. Tried to give it away in a couple places and there weren't any takers.

I did drive right by your place =) If either of you are ever in central AZ (avoid the summers) then ill make good on those beers.

-Ben.
 
Finally unpacked my multimeter and tested my coils. at this point I can't even remember which symptom led someone to believe that my coils should be tested, but I did it.

left side: 4.8 OHMS
right side: went nuts O.L.

seems like the culprit.

Now I work on random things that are free (like shaving the seat pan, and skimming bondo onto the new tank)

Next piece of employment will lead to replacement coils.
 
Thanks man. Had a killer find today. $20

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Which is enough leather to make a lot of mistakes covering my modified seat...

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It mostly fits in my car, which is good enough for me...

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Also had a bunch of 3" elastic webbing that I'm sure will come in handy, as well as some HD Zippers.

I hope to make a tool bag/ wrap and maybe some grip wrap..... And streamers and a bullwhip. Also found a really stupid Harley part that I'm saving up for (its a secret and its for this build)

Still too hot to put my workbench together from the move (much less work outside on it) is it October yet? Heading to Seattle next week for my honeymoon. That will be a nice change. I love being on the road. Just the dog, the wife, and a tent.


Don't post and drive with tapatalk
 
I've also got a stupid exhaust question. The slip on CL pipe is supposed to have some sort of gasket? I don't have that. Any hints on how to get one? Either they aren't for sale new or used, or I'm searching the wrong key words (I hope its the second)


Don't post and drive with tapatalk
 
in addition to the stupid exhaust question . . . I'm looking at McMaster Carr for rear set linkages (distant future) and came to a question: Do I need a Left and Right hand thread for each rod?

Here is the set up I am thinking about.

M6 Threaded Rod: (may be over kill, but the price on clevis and eyelets are astronomically cheaper)
Ball Joint End
Clevis End
Metal Rod with ID matching the M6 (1/4"-ish)
LocK Nuts (probably Nylock - why not?)

Does one of these need to be RHT and the other LHT?

I'm not sure.
 
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