'73 CB350G: Project Sakura

Re: '73 CB350G: Project Sakura, Finally have the motor in the frame

I've finally found the time (and help) to put the motor back where it belongs. Couldn't resist throwing the carbs + velocity stacks on it too. I don't think I have to go into work this weekend so I may actually make some decent progress! I'm really excited to get her all bolted back together.


Also, I grabbed that piece of plywood from a dumpster. Who the hell throws away a perfect sheet of plywood? Well, there loss was my gain. Its my temporary stage to keep anything i drop from falling between the slats in the deck.








-jordan

Well, I took a three year break from the project but I'm back at it again. Now the bike is up and running and almost streetable. I'm patching a leak in the gas tank today and tossing some paint on it. Then I get to start shaking her down and seeing what else needs to be fixed/updated.

It is going to look sharp with the new color scheme. As soon as I fix the oversprayed area....

Some less than stellar news: The nice red stripe I painted on peeled off a bit. So, I'll be re-painting again in the future, but for now I'll have to start working on that "patina" look... Also I rebuilt the master cylinder and replaced the cracked and peeled old lines with some new stainless ones from Slingshot cycles, but managed to shear off the brake bleeder valve in the process. So my victory lap will have to wait while the new one is on its way. I'm still waiting for the exhaust clamps by mail so it's not so bad waiting for more parts.




-jordan

Bummer about the paint Rimmy. The bike is coming along though, and that's what is important.

Getting closer...
It runs and drives so I'm a happy camper. I need to adjust the wiring harness for the new controls and to add a support for the exhaust, but after that it'll be streetable! I've also been reading on how to add faux patina to paint jobs and will be doing that instead of scrapping the paint job and starting fresh.


Also, I got the quiet-er core mufflers from DCC and they are awesome! Exactly what I wanted. They give a nice rumble, but aren't annoyingly loud.

Rimmy said:

Also, I got the quiet-er core mufflers from DCC and they are awesome! Exactly what I wanted. They give a nice rumble, but aren't annoyingly loud.

Click to expand...

I've been debating going with the quieter core ones or the shorter 12" ones, would love to hear them in a vid if you get a chance. I was worried the quieter ones would look too long but they look great on your bike. Any issues mounting them and clearing the shocks?

Thanks, I was worried about the length too, but I really like the way they sit. I had to rotate the CL pipes about the exhaust flange a bit to get the best clearance. The top exhaust clears the shock with a little room to spare. The bottom just barely rubs, but I haven't played with it much further. The mufflers are also barely touching each other, but I'm hoping once I fab up and have my hanger bracket mounted I can fine tune it so they won't be touching anything. I wonder if the Hagon slimline shocks would give me any more wiggle room since that is on my list of things to update in the future. I'll take a video of it running in the coming days and toss it up here.


-jordan

Loving reading this Rimmy. Just trying to get the courage :-\ up to start my first project. A CL350 I picked up a couple of years ago. Had a shop tune it and get it running for me, but after a couple of years riding it, I'm thinking of making a brat tracker. Love the pipes on there. My top pipe is rusted out on the bottom just before the exhaust so the bottom pipe is just black. I'm going to look into these right now.

Smiley, I'm glad you enjoyed the progress on this build. The bike is actually once again in pieces since I've decided to make a more comfortable bike that I'll enjoy 10 years from now.


If you've got a well-running bike that you know pretty well you are way ahead of the game. A lot of people (myself included) make projects of half-running bikes that we tear down before ever getting running great. If you've got a living breathing bike, then you've got a great canvas to work with. I hope you start your project and remember to start a build thread so we can enjoy it with you!