Just picked up a 1971 CL350 as a winter project for my girlfriend. I have a mildly modded Triumph Bonneville and after recently going to a few vintage bike shows in Brooklyn, my girlfriend fell in love with the older cafe'd cb/cl's and has been bugging me to learn to ride rather than just be a passenger. I am the type of guy who always needs to have a project (or several going) so after she shot down my idea to build a moonshine still in the backyard, I decided to do something that we both could enjoy and picked her up this bike to build. I live in NYC, but thankfully have a pretty large private backyard so after waiting until a late enough hour, I wheeled the bike through the building and my apt to the backyard and started tearing it down. It's going to be a mild build, keeping the stock frame (though cleaned up a bit) as I do not have access to my mig welder here in NYC. Basic plans are:
-Clean and paint frame
-Clean and paint engine - polish side covers
- go through and update wiring
- rebuild forks
- tapered steering bearings
- clubman bars
- repaint and install spare CL tank that came with the bike
- either clean/rebuild carbs or upgrade to Mikuni VM30s
- switch to CB exhaust headers wrap and install shorty mufflers
- new tires/tubes
- fiberglass cafe style seat and cowl
- new rear suspension
She basically wants the bike to be all black. so it'll be a mini version of my bonneville with norton style honda tank graphics.
My bonneville:
The CL seller's pic:
in the backyard (I have a 6x6.5' tent garage I'll be setting up to protect from the rain/cold)
I am pretty proficient with paint and mechanical, but my Achilles' heel is definitely wiring. This is going to be a learning experience trying to go through this wiring harness, fix 41 years of splices and issues, and upgrade to make sure it is reliable. I've been trying to sift through all the information here and on hondatwins and am pretty overwhelmed. I'd like to upgrade to a modern fuse panel and modern R/R. Will that be enough as long as the rest of the wiring is gone through and inspected and repaired where necessary? Thanks.
Cheers,
Jason
-Clean and paint frame
-Clean and paint engine - polish side covers
- go through and update wiring
- rebuild forks
- tapered steering bearings
- clubman bars
- repaint and install spare CL tank that came with the bike
- either clean/rebuild carbs or upgrade to Mikuni VM30s
- switch to CB exhaust headers wrap and install shorty mufflers
- new tires/tubes
- fiberglass cafe style seat and cowl
- new rear suspension
She basically wants the bike to be all black. so it'll be a mini version of my bonneville with norton style honda tank graphics.
My bonneville:
The CL seller's pic:
in the backyard (I have a 6x6.5' tent garage I'll be setting up to protect from the rain/cold)
I am pretty proficient with paint and mechanical, but my Achilles' heel is definitely wiring. This is going to be a learning experience trying to go through this wiring harness, fix 41 years of splices and issues, and upgrade to make sure it is reliable. I've been trying to sift through all the information here and on hondatwins and am pretty overwhelmed. I'd like to upgrade to a modern fuse panel and modern R/R. Will that be enough as long as the rest of the wiring is gone through and inspected and repaired where necessary? Thanks.
Cheers,
Jason
