Alex's '68 CB350... Now I Know What I'm Dealing With...

I was bumpin around on Craig's List yesterday and saw an ad for a bunch of cb\cl350's for sale. The ad said he'd trade some of them for a cb750. Well I'm not about to get rid of my 750... ever. But I have bunches of parts for them so I called him. The guy was super nice and said he had a 350 he'd trade for my stock pipes. So I try not to go too apeshit and remain calm and say "Sure thing dude." He's in Pensacola, Fl. About an hour away. He says he'll bring me the bike tomorrow! He gets here and it's a '68. He tells me it's got a 69 tank on it he thinks. I don't know the difference yet. It's got some scrambler pipes on it (Fuck Yeah!) that have already been hacked at the muffler. So now I have no NOS butcher guilt about choppin 'em up. He said he thinks the motor's locked up but he doesn't know as the bike doesn't have a kick lever. I've got a complete '72 cb350 motor and carbs on the shelf, so I'll throw the kicker from that motor on the bike tomorrow and make sure she's stuck and can't be freed. My plans are a bare bones cafe with the tank that's on it and a homemade seat. Wrap the pipes and keep the front end stock. I just like the way those forks look. Dude also threw in a pair of cheapo clubmans! This one will be going slowly as I've just started doing some more work on my 750 (Dolores) and I'm building a rebel 250 bobber with my stepson (Eleanor Rigby). 3 projects at once... Oh well. Here we go.
Here's the pics.


Here's my spare motor:

Now I have a question. On the little chrome side covers on the motor; on one side it says "TYPE 1" on the other side it says nothing. On my '72 motor this is not there. My guess is it has to do with the bike being a K0, but is the motor any different?

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

Yep, it has to do with it being the K0, and dude, that is the motor to build. It has the bigger cam and the bigger head on it. These suckers are desirable for the AHRMA 350 class racers....just a more badass motor from everything I've heard. And it's definitely a 68...oval tail light and all! Badass dude. I am jealous.

PS, here's a 68 that will get you inspired.: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/122_0911_1968_honda_cb350/index.html

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

Yes sir that bike is inspirational! Glad to know I gots me a special motor too! Time to learn to rebuild a motor I guess! I've got a clymer for this bike that was in a milk crate of parts that I got with my 750, so that should help...

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

got your work cut out but its gonna be sweet!

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

You lucky bastard. So you traded your pipes for an entire bike. SOme people have all the luck. Youre in Mobile? I used to go there for work when I lived in Pensacola.

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

Thompson: I'm in Gulf Shores. Right between Mobile and P'cola on the beach. Hey... you didn't send anybody over to flame my thread did you???
Thanks mike, We'll see. It's gonna be pretty slow going until my 750 is done and the 250 gets to roller status.
Maybe I'll know if the engine turns tonight.

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

Son.

Of.

A gun! You ol' sucker, knew there was something else coming up! Damn, is that a score or what?!

Exclaimations aside, thats one hell of a take. Hope you do it to the nines, this is going to be a brilliant build to follow.

All the best - boingk

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

WOW!! Great deal! Good for you!

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

AWESOME! Hurry up with that 250 and get to this thing asap!

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

Yeah... This bike has definately lit a fire under my ass to finish the 250 so I can get to this one. Plus the wife will be more compliant if I finish the heap of parts I've already got scattered throughout the garage before I begin another!

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

Not yet but I haven't done anything with my bike yet today. So we'll see what kinda trouble i can get into today.

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

Whatever you do, just don't use me as an example!!!

And the motor is locked up! Yay! :-\ The front drum works, the rear is, however, locked up. The inside of the tank is totally fucked! I'm going to clean it out eventually and run some por 15 through it if need be. It's also going to get some pretty rad bondo work done to it. The dents are not in ideal positions. The knee pads appear to be shot. Does anyone know where to get some cheap? I found a set on ebay for about $100, but that is mighty steep! The shifter setup looks to be tailor-made for rearsets. And unlike my 750, this bike is going to need rearsets! I know that I'll end up doing a bit of detabbing on the pipes and wrapping them. The stock speedo is in good shape so I know I'll be using it. I've got a tach from a later bike, basically the same except that the redline is lower. I don't know if I'll be running it or not. I'm going to be running the clubman bars that the fine Mr. Hagan included with the bike because clip-ons would require me unshrouding the front end, and I kind of like the front end. The other front end option is to run a 750 front end I've got, but I doubt it. Okay, enough yapping. Here are the pics!
This tank needs lots of love!

Here's the stock speedo. Hagan said he had replaced the lens with a better one he had on a shelf. Notice those low miles!

Here are the freebie clubmans. I like the look of this style for a smaller bike.

Here's the shifter setup. Look, linkage!

Here's a shot of the top end of the motor and the pipes.

And here's my crowded work space.

I'm going to have to do another garage clean out to get this stuff in here better. So I made a deal with my wife, No more bikes... for a while...
Now that I know how big of a project this is going to be, I'm going to mothball it until I get Rob's bike back together. I'll do little stuff until then and post progress as I go, but aside from that this one's going to gather dust for a bit.

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

Kanticoy said:

Yep, it has to do with it being the K0, and dude, that is the motor to build. It has the bigger cam and the bigger head on it.

Click to expand...

Type 1 is the first gen motor with the hot cam but it's not bigger as commonly perceived. The lobes are actually smaller with less lift. I have one and measured it against a later cam. The early cam is good for higher revs. The 68 tach has a higher redline.

Re: Alex's '68 CB350... Hell-to-the-yeah!

DrJ said:

Type 1 is the first gen motor with the hot cam but it's not bigger as commonly perceived. The lobes are actually smaller with less lift. I have one and measured it against a later cam. The early cam is good for higher revs. The 68 tach has a higher redline.

Click to expand...

Very cool J. Didn't realize that man. Cool info.

You are the luckiest bastard I know! It will be fun though for sure! I hope to have Eillen together in time to help you with this one!

Great deal you made! Lucky bastard!

What happened to this project?