1974 Honda CL360 Tracker Build

tjvtyler

New Member
Hello all,

Newb here. I have been looking around for a bike that I could build into a neighborhood cruiser but still go race the hooligan class with the local flat track club. I was looking at XLs and XRs but I wanted to start with something really cheap which is how I arrived at the CL. $600 on Craigslist. Motorsports are in my blood and I've been riding motocross and working on my moto bikes for a long time but this is my first "project" of any sort... To make it a little more fun I suckered a friend into a build-off. It will be his first project as well and he picked up a Yamaha DT250 for $50!

Here it is the day I picked it up. It wasn't running but has good compression. I would soon find out that pretty much all the wiring was trash. No biggie, I planned on a Motogadget unit anyway.


Posing on the new (really old) whip!


The culprit...I have a lot to get to before I bother with this though.


Getting stripped down. Not too bad of shape actually.

We have a roller!


Motor will definitely need some blasting.


Couldn't resist polishing one piece up just to see how tough it was gonna be to bring it back to life. This piece probably took 15 minutes. Not bad.


Getting that shitty weathered paint off the tank.


I was hoping I could leave the tank bare and just clear coat it but unbeknownst to me someone had already bondo'd the right side :mad:


The carbs were dirtier than an Amsterdam madam. This shit was like melted caramel.


Get outta here brackets!


Starting on the tail. I couldn't seem to sketch up something I loved so I just said screw it and started shaving it up.


This is what I got done last night. The basic shape is there but obviously some more work to do tonight!


I'll keep this thread going as it progresses. I'm sure I'll be reaching out for help soon.

Cheers,
Tyler
 
Been a while since my first post. Slow steady progress is the name of the game. I've done just about everything I can do without really spending much. Now it's time to start the spending.

Here's some pics...

Finished tail mould



Glass laid up


Frame as she sits now


Engine painted


Also found time to photoshop my vision for the bike. Getting there!
 
Did some grinding over the last couple days.


First layer of filler on there. Obviously a bit of work left...
 
What was that you used to mold the seat?

Everything looks cool man......good job.
 
budlite282 said:
What was that you used to mold the seat?

Everything looks cool man......good job.

Thanks man! I used some craft foam from Hobby Lobby to form the shape then laid fiberglass over it.
 
tjvtyler said:
Thanks man! I used some craft foam from Hobby Lobby to form the shape then laid fiberglass over it.

Thanks, just looked different from others I'd seen.
 
Following this build. Im thinking about going a similar route with my cb450. Great job so far!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
 
Finally started making some progress. Wheels/Tires are done, tail is done, engine is done and just about all the remaining parts have been ordered. Next up is welding up the rear hoop and then on to electrical. I picked up an M-Unit so hopefully it won't be too complicated.
 

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Looks great, nice work on the tail. Engine looks good as well.

Have you checked those air filters to make sure they are not blocking any of the ports on the carbies? Some of the cheaper pods can block vital ports and make the bike run like crap. They also tend to be more restrictive than a good stock filter.
Grab some K&N or Uni filters. I will make a world of difference for tuning and troubleshooting.
 
Coming along very nicely.

Next carb tear down you should consider sending the bodys off to RestoCycle for a vapor blast... well worth the money for both the detail and function http://www.restocycle.com/

Similar to your carbs:

i-ChtqW8M-L.jpg
 
Brodie said:
Looks great, nice work on the tail. Engine looks good as well.

Have you checked those air filters to make sure they are not blocking any of the ports on the carbies? Some of the cheaper pods can block vital ports and make the bike run like crap. They also tend to be more restrictive than a good stock filter.
Grab some K&N or Uni filters. I will make a world of difference for tuning and troubleshooting.

Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely keep this in mind when I get it up and running.
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
Coming along very nicely.

Next carb tear down you should consider sending the bodys off to RestoCycle for a vapor blast... well worth the money for both the detail and function http://www.restocycle.com/

Similar to your carbs:

i-ChtqW8M-L.jpg

Yeah the carbs are driving me crazy. I will probably end up doing something before I finish this thing up. Refreshing everything else is making them stand out.
 
treitz said:
Nice work on that seat pan! Looks great.

Thanks treitz! It was my first shot at fiberglass and though it took a lot longer than it probably should have, I'm happy with the way it turned out.



sully1987 said:
Would love to see some updates on the m unit


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll be sure to chronicle my M Unit endeavors!
 
Great vision you have for your CL, your tracker tail looks trick. Are you going to try adding your number plates into it as a single unit?
I had an old, 60's tracker body given to me back in the 80's, when I was a teenager. It was one piece, tank, seat, numbers and tail. It was fiberglass molded with heavy, bass boat, silver flake and candy purple accents. I hated it and traded it for a TS185.
I so wish I had it today, I would build a whole bike around it.
Your photoshop reminds me of it.
 
Zweihammer said:
Great vision you have for your CL, your tracker tail looks trick. Are you going to try adding your number plates into it as a single unit?
I had an old, 60's tracker body given to me back in the 80's, when I was a teenager. It was one piece, tank, seat, numbers and tail. It was fiberglass molded with heavy, bass boat, silver flake and candy purple accents. I hated it and traded it for a TS185.
I so wish I had it today, I would build a whole bike around it.
Your photoshop reminds me of it.

Thanks, I'm glad you dig it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the number plates yet. I just got the engine in last night. Going to start piecing it together to get everything working as it should before I tear it down and paint the frame/tank/tail.
 

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