'72 cb350f Cafe Build, Four Angry Squirrels

Hi everyone, I'm a resident lurker and I'm trying to get better. Thanks to all of you guys out there for the inspiration and help that keeps this stuff going. Heres how my bike started back in 2010 with 6,000 miles on it after I put it together from a box of parts for $600.




All of my mechanical background is from building cars for track and drag racing, and in the last 2 years airframe and powerplant work on aircraft. Always been a speed fiend and competitively raced downhill and slalom skateboards for the last 6 years. I want this thing to be at home at the track but also handle some cross state trips keeping it simple and hopefully making a cafe racer that rides and looks equally good.

While working in memphis last year I started to change the look of the bike, First to an all black theme, and then to how it sits now Orange and Fedex Air White (Pros of painting aircraft)






These filters worked great but still hit the frame on both outside filters enough to bother me and scratch paint.


I started with handlebars, a wonderful aluminum seat that i rode on for a year, widened the back tire to 115, got 4 tiny k&n filter pods, and changed my old switch to an all left handed switch from dime city. When I painted it orange I had the motor out and sandblasted every bit of rust off the frame and all other parts. That was over a year ago and other than touchups on paint its still doing great. When I rode it from Memphis to Dayton this is how it looked.




And then she turned 40 years old in march, so this winter is for perfecting the motor, electrical, handling, and getting the final look i want. The great thing about deciding I want the motor out is that it takes 30 minutes and 4 wrenches to get down to it. I'll post more when I get some help lifting this thing out of the frame. Hopefully tomorrow. Here's how she sleeps now!

So I'm back from jail... Apparently driving with a suspended license is possible after I was supposed to have my license back and is 30 days in jail regardless. All because the cop could care less about my actual license and went by the computer. Made me lose my job, apartment, and killed my moms one week of vacation to help me get out of my old place. Good work putting me back to square one justice system. ANYWAY...

I stripped the paint off the tank because of some dents that need fixing and my constant urge to paint and I'm shaping the mold to make my own seat for this beast. I have a rebuild kit on the way for my carbs too so I should be keeping this thread plenty boring for you folks in the next couple weeks. I'll also be going through my wiring harness AGAIN once I figure out where i'm actually putting my battery if I keep it. I have to say thanks to all of you for inspiring me and motivating me to get this thing back into shape. I'm trying to make it worth looking at and even more worth riding when I'm done.

I've been looking into upgrading my front brake with a newer big brake kit but am not sure where to start or what to look for that will fit my bike. Machining things isn't the problem, its trying to keep cost down. What route have most people gone?

Also for rear shocks what do most of you like? I've been looking at different adjustable dirtbike shocks but damn thats some money. Anything I can grab from the scrap yard and clean up is better!

Hey I remember that bike. Seen ya at the Forest store with a big kat on a Yam 350 or 360 can't remember. I ride it all the time(forest) with Snake and I was wondering why I ain't seen it in a long time.

Small world, I might still have a picture of your bike I snapped! I still have a message from Snake going at me to "unass" myself from bed and come riding. Man, I miss riding the forest! Most of the dents in my tank are from when I wrecked in front of that store and the dent on the other side is from letting that big kat ride it haha. I made the mistake of moving back up to Ohio last October and I've been stuck since. Its already into the 30's every night so riding time is about over. Hopefully I can ride this beast back down in the spring. Memphis still has the coolest group of riders I've seen, I miss it down there!

Hell yeah come down! We have picked up another 6 kats that moved here, and ride almost every weekend together. I blew that bike up about a month ago,pistons and valves didn't get along to well. So she's being rebuilt over the winter. The kat on the Yam is out there sometimes but never wants to ride?? I don't think he likes us very much... lol

Got the mold for the seat finished, ready to lay down some glass once its wrapped up. I'll post a how to in the seat section, please let me know if there's anything I can improve upon!













Have a great day everyone! Thanks for creepin!

Rocker450 said:

Hell yeah come down! We have picked up another 6 kats that moved here, and ride almost every weekend together. I blew that bike up about a month ago,pistons and valves didn't get along to well. So she's being rebuilt over the winter. The kat on the Yam is out there sometimes but never wants to ride?? I don't think he likes us very much... lol

Click to expand...

That sucks, but I'm glad to see it rebuilt rather than trashed. It had race number plates on the side when I saw it didn't it? I wish I had the time to rebuild this thing but i decided not to crack open the motor too much while it still runs. I'd get carried away with building it when I just need a bigger bike. This things for corners anyway. I didn't leave on too good of terms with the dude, he's not too bad, just needs to grow up a bit and get his stuff together. Now I can't wait to come ride! Never rode in big groups like in memphis, it was a blast!

I recently made a seat mold like that. It was a huge mess, and took a little longer than I expected, but now that all is said and done it's hard to beat having a seat that is made to the exact specs that you want. Good luck with the glassing/body filling process.

So its wiring harness time again once I wake up in the morning. My least favorite task but only because I get distracted easy. My goal is to only have what I need and because I've gotten rid of so much on the bike I have a lot of stuff to narrow down. More on that once I actually get to it!

The mold for the seat is finished so all that is left is to glass it up and do the finishing work. For paint I'm going with gloss black with a white stripe and a bit of airbrushing here and there inside the stripe. Nothing too tacky. My other option is to go with a gloss sort of olive drab, the same color Huey helicopters were originally painted for use in Vietnam but I think the black will look much cleaner.

My question for the day; When I went on long rides once the bike was off it acted like the battery was dead and wouldn't start or make any sound until charged or left for a few days. I don't think it was charging while I was riding just draining the power. Where do I start to fix this? Its a newer battery barely used and I don't want to kill the jell battery by discharging it when I do get one.

Here are some progress pics of the seat mold for the attention deficit crowd!



It fits!!

Nice! Working on a CB350f myself. Can't wait to see how yours works out...

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

So onto my wiring fun. Heres a little update before I go to work.

I made a hidden plug for handlebar controls behind the headlight, can't even see it when its on the bike!



And I also finished up the wiring for everything up front, still have the back of the bike to do but look how much cleaner it is! The headlight actually fits compared to the jumbo ball of stock wiring!



Rearsets should be on her by the end of the month along with the completed seat but it'll be a slow month so I'll do what I can!

Nice clean work!

Its been a minute since an update and much has changed. I've got to run to work but I'll get into it later. Here are a few pics of cleaning the motor and painting it!











And say hello to the new frame color as well, gunmetal with lots of flake! It looks great in the sun! Pictures of it all together will be up later on.

wow ya engine is looking real cool 8) that will look awesome in the frame i only dare paint middle part of the block but might give the whole motor next time round aqnd i would love to have the inside of headlamp look so clear great idea with the plug-in gonna watch yer build thread i mite steal a few more ideas too : cheers heres the state of my headlamp

Yorkie that motor looks sick! I like the stripe, I just couldn't get my block that clean. Your bikes lookin awesome!

Heres a bit of an update. Been busy in the garage the last week.

I started rebuilding my carbs to find one of the posts that holds the float in place had cracked, been jb welded and the weld had busted. Explains the gas leak...


I'm ok with one or two carbs but damn this drove me nuts. Reminded me of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.


Finished up wiring handlebar controls and things up front



Also finished up the seat today. Needs sanding and a bit of bodywork before paint. Its awesome to have a place to hide my battery and electrics 8) It was kinda fun to do it like this, at my work I always had vac bags and preimpregnated sheets but for a rush job/home build you can make awesome seats like this. Cost about $100 or less depending on where you get your foam, fiberglass, and resin.

masking tape over the foam mold, car wax used as release agent (always works great, worst case you scrape some tape)


Always pay attention to where you need more support, layer your glass accordingly. Under your ass, seat mounts, edges, and curves










I'll have some pics of the finished seat in primer up tomorrow hopefully. Pics of my electrical box, battery mount, and all that jazz.

HELP!!!
I really am trying to figure out what year Goldwing brakes will fit my bike up front? I'd really like to upgrade and that seems like the only option.

Also my exhaust is just a straight pipe, its sorta loud. I'd like to start motovlogging in the summertime and I need it a bit quieter.


So what is a good muffler I can put on this thing. I'd rather have a short Motogp style guy than anything longer. Suggestions for something that doesnt cost more than my bike?

Also I have yet to decide on a tank and seat color, opinions? I was thinking about airbrushing something on it but I haven't come up with anything that would fit the bike and not look cheesy so I'd rather stay classy with a color and two black stripes.

I'm also working on an 83 cx650c bobber that I'll take some pictures of tomorrow.

Phew, I'm going to sleep now.

-Chris

Wow,

She's looking really great man. You did a good job on the fiberglass tail. Take care of that bike. I sold my 350f and now I really miss how amazing of a bike it was. SO dependable and such a good sound!

Got a lot done today and I'm so stoked to finish this now that I'm on the last leg! My wiring harness is finally don't other than the ignition switch and tail light and looks all hidden and clean! I sanded and primed the seat, starting bodywork later this week on it and the tank. Color choice is still up for anything. I'm sort of thinking silver tank with two gold stripes with black pinstriping.

She's looking great now mate 8) you really get things done quick ya colour scheme gonna be awsome ime still struggling with colour thinking black n silver suprise suprise :-\ haha keep it goin mate soon be rolling

Yeah, she's coming along, and the seat looks great. I'm in the middle of a '73 350F also. I'm in for your build

Thanks for the support guys! I have a set of 10 lb nitrous tanks for sale to fund my rearsets. If you know anyone shoot me a pm or something, they'll be up in the classified section once I finish this post and find it.

Carbs should be back on tomorrow but if they look ugly I'm going to have to suck it up and fully detail and maybe paint. I'll also try to get some better pics of everything and not just phone shots.

I've been pondering and a recent thread inspired me to start collecting parts to put some busa brakes on her! I still need to figure out how much itll all be because that's a bit down the road and very $$$.

Heres that thread, very sick cb350 build to ooogle at
http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=45763.0

Decided to paint the tank and seat crimson red with two black tripes. If i can salvage my brushes I'll do some pinstripping on her in silver.

I figured on going with dimecitycycles rearsets and linkage kit because bikeyards don't exist in Ohio to scrounge parts from. Hopefully they fit well cause I'm 6'4" and tired of balling around my gas tank.

I'm about to sleep on the keys, later ya'll.