76 CB360 "Cafe Interruptus"

Got an inexpensive steering damper off ebay and welded a threaded-rod coupler to the frame for one mounting point and used the existing threaded hole in the bottom triple for the other:

More frame work. Made some little brackets out of 16ga to mount rear turn signals. I also added some 22ga to hide the wires and bolts:



This shot also shows the underside of the electronics tray and how it spans the entire rear section of the bike and gives, I think, a nice clean look.

Also in the summer of 2014 I bent up some 3/8 rod and combined it with 16ga pieces as well as the tiniest bits of the original fender bracket to make a new bracket for the bobbed front fender:



A rough idea of how it will look (I can't seem to find a better shot):

I bought a trail-tech "Vapor" electronic speedo, tach, temp, time, etc. unit for $100 and the indicator light surround (for another $50 - yikes) but I really like the unit. I made a bracket for it that bolts via long studs to where the old handlebars used to mount. I also relocated the ignition key up to this new bracket:



In the above shot you can also see my ebay clip-ons, the EMGO headlight brackets, 7-inch headlight (via DCC) and the brackets for the EMGO "Viper" fairing.

Here's a front view:

And here we are in July 2014 with all the major fabrication mostly complete. One major thing incomplete is the seat. All I had at this point was the 18ga pan. The white is part is poster board and the padding is a Daytona Speedway seat cushion folded in half and held on with duct tape. It was around this time that the bike moved under its own power for the first time since I'd bought it in 2012 (and likely for the first time in many decades.) It was quite a feeling to be able to finally ride the bike and see what tweaks and changes were still required.

Other distractions and the ridiculous Florida summer heat kept me off the project until October 2014 at which point I decided to finish the back half of the seat pan. I took a piece of 22ga and gently bent it around my welding tank and used various clamps to hold it in place so I could tack it to the 18ga piece I had made many months before:



In this rear view you can see the aftermarket CBR600 taillight unit I found on ebay and decided to use:



Here's a side view with much more welding still to be done:



(Don't worry I got rid of those junk pods!)

Another long break on the CB360 cafe during which I was probably working on the parallel CB450 brat project. Not sure why I do that. My work life has taught me that too much task-switching is a productivity killer, but I can't help it -- sometimes you just want to work on something else...

Now it is Feb 2016 and I had bought myself a $200 sewing machine back in August and was determined to do my own upholstery (why I do not know.) I made some quilted throws from Crown Royal bags as a way of becoming comfortable with the machine (no, I'm not kidding...)



I cut some foam from an old pool float and used contact cement to glue it to a couple of pieces of 1/4-inch Starboard (used mainly for boats) joined with some angle brackets (since Starboard is kinda hard to glue.) Next time I will use aluminum.



I laid out a diamond pattern on a sandwich of marine vinyl, 1/2-inch foam, and black cotton:



I used poster board to figure out the pattern for the side and back and then sewed that on. I used a cheap Harbor Freight pneumatic staple gun to attach the cover to the starboard. Then I used contact cement to attach a piece of felt to the bottom. Finally three hook/loop strips were stuck on which is how the seat will be attached to the pan.

Early March 2016 with the seat done I made a few other tweaks to make the bike ride better. When I had drilled all the holes in the aluminum rear-set bracket my idea was that they could be used to fine-tune the foot-peg positions. So I did just that and mounted the pegs to a different hole that moved the pegs down 1-inch and forward 1.5-inches. I also tipped the levers on the bars down a bit which was much more comfortable.

A local vintage bike shop called Garrison Moto (great bunch of guys) started having Jax Beach Vintage Moto nights and here's my buddy Anson and I headed out to show off our CB360s at the bike night



My bike did not get all that much attention that night perhaps because even though it was fully functional, its ugly fit and finish of rust and primer left a lot to be desired. Soon it will be time to improve on that.

Nothing happened on the bike from March through June of 2016 as I was setting up a permanent paint booth and teaching myself to paint. First with a set of corn hole boards and later with my other project CB450 brat. Early July of 2016 it was time to take the CB360 completely apart for bodywork, paint, and polish. Before I took it all apart I used some tape to play around with a paint scheme. My this time I am up and running in my new dedicated workshop including a mini-split for climate control. Big props to my wife and kid for putting up with all the hours I spend out in the shop and the large equity-line balance it has created (I just need to flip a couple of bikes, right?)



Took a bunch more pics to document how it goes together and made careful notes on the wiring since the aftermarket pieces have the wrong color wires. Next time I will add stubs of the correct Honda wire colors to each part to make things dead-simple.

2+ years earlier I had bought a large order of paint from thecoatingstore. I had heard good things about them and it seemed like a good value. The colors I bought were single-stage gloss black, base coats of white, silver metallic, charcoal metallic, orange candy, clear and all the activator and reducer to go with it.

I decided to paint the frame and a bunch of related parts silver base overlaid with clear. I had bought some $14 dollar roller stands from HF and replaced the roller with a piece of 2x4. Now I had all these small parts to paint so I drilled holes in the 2x4 and cut up a bunch of dowels to hold everything



I ended up painting over 60 parts all told

While the fabrication appeared to be complete on the frame, etc. once I took it all apart I was reminded of just how much "I'll fix that later" work there was to be done. First up was to finish welding up things that had been impossible without the frame upside-down. For example the relocated side-stand and some gussets added to the triangle area.



I also decided that the rear hoop needed some re-sculpting to better match the concave curve of the CBR600 taillight



I also deleted the center-stand bracketry. After all the welding was done I sandblasted off all the old rattle-can etch primer off and sprayed the frame & swingarm with thecoatingstore's epoxy primer. Next it was time for bodyfiller



And more bodyfiller on the tins

I wanted to hide the front turn signal wires as much as possible so I bought and bent some brass tubing and Gorilla glued it to the fairing and smoothed it in with body filler

Body work finally done it was time for priming and sanding

After sealer I laid on the white basecoat and started taping off what would remain white



I had to do a quick mock up to help me decide on the shape of panels

All taped up and time to lay on the silver metallic

hi oh silver away ! Silver applied and I taped off what is going to stay silver



Went crazy and decided to put a logo on the tank

Candy orange applied and tape removed



And a closer view of the tank



This was all done in a 10-hour orgy of paint on a Saturday. Clear coats went on the next morning.

Let the parts dry a couple of days and then it was time for reassembly. I laid the engine on its side and draped the frame over it and then added the front fender and forks



Front wheel, swingarm, rear fender and wheel. Along the way I am polishing parts and replacing all hardware with new SS button heads, etc. Some parts got DIY nickel-plating.

Lots of parts needed sanding through various grits of wet/dry and then black, brown, white on the buffing wheel. Lots of work, but that shine is worth it.

Cables and wires and trouble-shooting

Finishing touches and she's about ready to roll out of the shop



Driver's eye view