1975 Honda xl350 brat? tracker? project so far

[ob1xl]

ok so im makin some progress and figured id share what i got so far....never posted so im gonna try to get the pix on here correctly..bear with me
bought for 400$
smoked quite a bit so got a nos piston and put it it.....

[ob1xl]

tore it down....lotta take off parts to get rid of...
i took off all un needed brackets, seat, air covers, battery, fenders...
i made lopped off the rear of the frame and made a rear loop...
put cb550 pegs on, cb550 shocks, disassembled, cleaned and painted the wheels...put new tires
fabbed up a battery box mounted to the frame under the swingarm
removed and painted motor
made a seat pan, padded it, about to send to upholstry...
still workin changing the new exhaust to stay on the right side of the bike..
after i get the rear fender brackets made for the cb550 fender i can send the frame to powder coat..
im tryin to get this build caught up on the site here, it would have been alot easier if i had taken pictures and posted as i went

[ob1xl]

just adding pix

[ob1xl]

more

[ob1xl]

not sure how to add more than one pic at a time

[ob1xl]

wheels pegs etc

[ob1xl]

pegs were tricky to get to work on the xl brackest but i was able to rig it up...
the wheels were so grimey and dirty that i had to take em apart to get em cleaned up and this was my first time lacing a rim...that was an interesting trial and error.

[ob1xl]

more....
sanding the fins on the motor was annoying lol but looks decent
the pic with the seat foam on the bike shows how u cant even see the battery...love it

[ob1xl]

totally open to any questions, opinions, suggestions as this is the first bike ive ever built....!

[ob1xl]

the look of the bike is really growing on me..i bought the bike because i was in love with the way the tank looked and the patina that it has....may switch the front to an 18" rim to match the rear tire but i kinda like the look of the old trials tire so far

Swivel- ugh i hope the small cheap pod filter doesnt mess up the way it runs..i love the look of it and cant stand the big k&n filter that they offer for this bike...it looks like a big 16 beer can sticking out....i didnt want anything protruding into the triangle under the seat

so far im most proud of the battery box and the  way u cant even see that sucker!

[ty.man]

Good work so far, i like this. Do you have any close ups of the battery box or pics of the process?

[ob1xl]

here are the requested pix of the battery box....hope this helps

First i welded a piece of flat bar to the bottom cross member of the frame as a perch for the battery to sit on below the swingarm

then i found a plant stand that the neighbor was throwing away and used the steel strips from it to make a bracket to hold the battery to the bottom of the frame....

then i took the old rubber tube from the rear wheel and cut a section out to make a sleeve for the battery to insulate it from the perch and the bracket and to cover the battery in black so it was harder to see under there...

hope these pix can show what i did good enough...

[ob1xl]

more

[1969Honda]

What paint did you use on the motor? That thing looks sick!

[ob1xl]

thx!
just regular high temp engine paint from checker auto....one was flat and the other was semi-gloss...and then a stainless steel bolt kit i found to set it off....and sanded the edge of the fins on the top of the motor...