CL350 Brambler

Thanks Kiefe! It's nice when someone else notices the product of my growing obsession to detail. The more I look at my 40 year old bike, the more I feel the need to tweak and the more I tweak, the more I find wrong. This truly is a crazy rabbit hole, but it's one I'll likely never leave.
 
Barnburner said:
Thanks Kiefe! It's nice when someone else notices the product of my growing obsession to detail. The more I look at my 40 year old bike, the more I feel the need to tweak and the more I tweak, the more I find wrong. This truly is a crazy rabbit hole, but it's one I'll likely never leave.
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I hear ya'! I keep getting asked... you know it'll still be a GS450 when you're done right?

Yeah I know... don't change a thing ;D
 
A month or two ago ago I finally got around to pulling my carbs and giving them a good going through. The PO had told me that there was a problem with the float when I bought the bike, so this has been a project I always knew I needed to get around too. Plus, they were dirty as hell and cleaning the bike makes me feel productive even when I don't have the money/time to do anything serious mods.


Carburetors & the Dark Arts by RStutzman, on Flickr

I started by cleaning the left carb with a spray bottle filled with white vinegar, lemon juice and warm water to get the worst of the grease and dirt off. After that, I pulled everything apart and surveyed the damage. Besides the usual varnishing, it didn't seem too bad. To be safe, I pulled everything and cleaned all the jets and passages with carb cleaner.


CL350 Carb (Disassembled) by RStutzman, on Flickr

The jet holders were a real bitch to get out, but after some heating/cooling cycles and some gentle pressure with a wooden dowel I got them out. One was slightly broken though, so I had to eventually bite the bullet and order a carb rebuild kit from Sirius Consolidated (siriusconinc.com). If you guys haven't looked at them for parts you are missing out. They're in Canada (and therefore have higher shipping rates) but they have almost everything! I got a "Premium Carb Rebuild Kit" because it was the only one that had the jet holders. Since each kit was a whopping $45 plus shipping, I decided to just get one and split the parts between the carbs. Some of you may question this move but I had been huffing carb cleaner for a few days so it seemed genius at the time. ???

As the PO said, there was indeed a problem with the float. It contained a small amount of gas that I surmise got in via the microholes pictures below. There was some gummy substance on the float that I guess came from a previous repair. In what seems to be a major theme of this build (and a lot of others I've seen), I began re-doing a previous fix the correct way. I peeled off all the gummy stuff, drained and cleaned the float, then soldered the holes. To prevent soldering off-gas or smoke from getting in the float, I had to remove a small solder on the inside of each round part, which I then re-soldered when I was done with the microholes.


Float Holes by RStutzman, on Flickr


Soldered Floats by RStutzman, on Flickr

Please excuse my shitty soldering. I ended up cleaning these up before reassembly. I also polished the carb bodies with the aforementioned solution and some various grades of steel wool. They cleaned up really nice. here's a before/after comparison with the left/right carbs.


Carbs Before & After by RStutzman, on Flickr.

After repeating the above procedure with the right carb (including soldering the crappy float repair :mad:), I reassembled both carbs with the rebuild kit and the best of the stock hardware and gave them a final polish.


Clean Carbs by RStutzman, on Flickr

Here they are after the re-install, with a freshly oiled set of K&Ns on them.


Clean Carbs Mounted (Right) by RStutzman, on Flickr

Thanks for reading.
 
Mate nice carb work there! So glad I didn't have to repair mine! They definitely look the goods and should work well for you now :D
 
The guys at Sirius Consolidated (siriusconinc.com) are great, the prices are right, and they're prompt. Ive used them several times and been happy with their service although my parts haven't always matched up as well as I'd hoped. I ordered the listed CL350 petcock only to realize that I'd need a fuel Tee to compensate for the single fuel lead on their aftermarket product. In the end, the petcock didn't quite fit, forcing me to order elsewhere to get the original petcock anyway.....bit of a hassle. Same thing with the float gaskets, again didn't quite fit, although I managed to stretch them over time to fit the bowl.

I notice your fuel line exits the bottom of your float bowl which is different from the 69' model. Mine has an elbow joint at the side of the bowl which has been causing me problems. after taking it apart to replace the fuel lines and petcock, that elbow joint sits inside the bowl loosely, falling out easily. i'll be the guy flying down the road spewing gas if i cant sort it out. (insert suggestions here guys)

your carbs are looking great. keep it coming.
 
really like what your doing with your bike. im heading in the same direction with exhaust. keep up the excellent work
 
BarnBurner - great looking work on the headers. Those are the stock headers, with the mufflers cut off right? In the pics before you wrapped, the pipes seemed to no be as straight to one another as they did once you wrapped.

Did you do anything to adjust that or is it an optical illusion with the new heat tape? Bike's looking good!!
 
Thanks, brother. You are correct - those are the stock CL headers with the 10lb mufflers cut off. Your eyes are also not deceiving you. The earlier pictures of the chopped pipes showed them as crooked. This was because I didn't line them up properly. The high pipes curve a bit more and are right next to each other, so you have to have them just right in order to line up with each other. I clearly did a better job with that post pipewrap.

Also, thank you for posting your reply. I really need to get back into working on her now that summer is quickly approaching and having a build diary here on DTT is a good way to keep accountable. Here's a more current pic of her but, as always, there's still loads more to do, including fixing the stupid gap between the tank and the seat, switching out cables, tires, etc.


Untitled by RStutzman, on Flickr

I took a quick look at your website and I'm digging the direction of your cb350. Have you found out anymore about doing that Triumph front-end swap?
 
Right on. That makes sense. I can't seem to find a pair of headers to play with anywhere. Not on the forums, or ebay, craigslist, etc. Next step is to look at salvage yards I guess.

I'm trying to track a few parts down on the engine before I spend too much more on my CB. The condition I bought it in, the original owner had disassembled the engine and tried to put it back together and failed. Everything is "finger tight" and there are quite a few random pieces missing here and there. I want to make sure I can get the little bastard running first.

Also, in order to figure out if I can swap front ends, I need to finish the front end on my Triumph first. That's my daily driver and I can't be w/o a bike. Until then, I'm in a holding pattern but really hope it works. If it does, I have a full front end with blacked out wheels, good springs, custom triple trees/gauges, etc. That would save me tons of time and money!!

Glad you checked out the blog. I'll keep updating the CB build there so stay tuned ;D
 
TheBullitt said:
Right on. That makes sense. I can't seem to find a pair of headers to play with anywhere. Not on the forums, or ebay, craigslist, etc. Next step is to look at salvage yards I guess.
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Why don't you do as I did. I bought mandrel bent tubing U bends from J.C. Whitney (I think Summit Racing and Jegs also carries tubing too) then got with a TIG welding wizard friend and we made this pipe:

bikepics-2132076-800.jpg


Took about $20 worth of tubing back then, probably about $30 now. It's made of I think two 180 degree 3" radius bends (just needed a bit more than one) and one 45 degree bend. It got chromed by mistake, was to be nickle plated another $25. If I did it now I'd do ceramic coating. I'm not much for wrapping, I don't know if it might hold moisture when sitting or not. I just prefer coating. No painting any more and virtually no maintenance required, per my experience with my dual sport.

You could easily make a set of half mile pipes (2 to the right side), high pipes, or TT pipes (both under the engine). The muffler was a cheap Emgo reverse cone type muffler, about $50 now.

For the OP mentioning tires. The biggest issue I've had was getting an authentic set of dirt track capable tires in the 18 rear/19 front tires I needed. The K180s are gone, old style Firestone are 40s-50s Harley flat head stuff. The only decent set available in DOT is the new K70 which is a 4.00-18 and 3.50-19 set. I used them on the SR back in the 90s and the back tire wore out way too fast for me. So I tried to get Duro HF309 (Pirelli MT53 tread replica), but the 19 can be only gotten in a 4.00-19 6 ply way too stiff in my opinion, and no 3.50-19 available. There was a 4.00-18 4 ply available on ebay so I got one.

So I ended up with essentially what I had in 1972 on my Bultaco short tracker - a K70 on the front and a Pirelli MT53 style tread on the back. Works for me. Pretty much the real deal from the early 70s as I wanted.

I'm considering going to an old RD400 18" front rim to run a 4.00-18 on the front, but I'm not sure I'll do that. The 3.50 will probably be better on the street.

Here are some shots of the tires I got.

Rear:

bikepics-2370170-full.jpg


excuse the rear wheel not being in alignment here.

Front:

bikepics-2370173-full.jpg


Total outlay - about $170.
 
Quick update on the Brambler. I moved into a new house last February and made the mistake of thinking that I had plenty of time to do a full rebuild. It's now August and I've only managed to tear the bike down, blast and paint the frame, swingarm, and some other bits, clean and paint the engine, and build a nice bike table. Here's some pictures:



Engine turned out real nice. I had to strip and wire wheel a lot of old, peeling paint off. I then primed with Duplicolor Engine Primer and painted with Duplicolor Cast Coat Aluminum.





I got the entire frame/swingarm blasted for about $30 bucks. I probably could have stripped them cheaper myself but sometimes it's nice to let others do the dirty work :D . I then hoisted them up in a tree in my backyard (no booth available) and painted everything with a paint/2k clear mixed rattlecan that I picked up from 66autocolor.com . This stuff laid down like glass. The black looks nice and deep like professionally sprayed color plus it's got the fuel resistance of Spraymax 2k clear. I couldn't be happier with the product.



I also managed to find time to bead blast the rims and hubs, which turned an awesome clean matte silver. I'm debating painting the hubs/brakes and spokes black, though.



Finally, here is a picture of my finished bike table. I built it out of standard framing lumber and 50 cent linoleum tile from Lowe's. Whole thing probably cost me about $35 ($15 was the casters). Since this picture was taken I've added a lower shelf for all my clean/painted parts. I just received some bronze swingarm bushings and an All Balls Steering Stem/Bearing Kit in the mail so I will probably start re-assembly this week!
 
Build is looking great. I love the custom exhaust tip. Did you install any baffles in there?
 
veaone said:
Build is looking great. I love the custom exhaust tip. Did you install any baffles in there?
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Yeah. Before I tore it down I was running a 4" baffle wrapped in fiberglass packing in each tip.
 
Thanks, Gents. The bike is coming along slowly, but I did manage to get the All Balls steering stem bearings installed last weekend, and get the forks rebuilt. I also just received a new pair of tires (Dunlop K70s), tubes, and rim strips so getting those mounted is next on the agenda. I'll try to throw up some pics when i get home from work.
 
So I finally got my front end put back together ;D I had previously tore everything down and cleaned/painted the trees and fork lowers. The fork tubes were chucked up in my South Bend lathe and lightly sanded/polished using automotive high grit sandpaper. The chrome steel rims were glass bead blasted leaving a nice matte finish then I had new bearings and seals installed and new rim strips, tubes and Dunlop K70s fitted. The forks were put back together with new seals and the whole thing was reinstalled with an All Balls tapered bearing kit.


CL350 All Balld Tapered Bearings Installed

For the record, the CL350 takes the fat washer that comes with the kit (below is visual, albeit blurry, confirmation - new bearing is on left).


CL350 All Balls Tapered Bearing Kit

Being a bit of an impatient person, I quickly threw on the wheels, my original scrambler bars, and a 69 cb350 tank I picked up at Mid-Ohio, then stepped back and took it all in.


CL350 Dunlop K70


Not too shabby, huh? You probably can see that the front brake is mispositioned and that the rear brake is not even mounted, but I plan on getting new brake shoes so the wheels will be coming off soon anyway. Hopefully, I'll also get to start glassing a tailpiece here soon. I'd like to do a flat tracker inspired piece that has just a small kick up in the back and flat sides to match the 69 cb tank. I have seen people use 750 tail pieces welded to stock seat pans (user Clem's Garage I think), but I want something a bit lower key and very well-fitted to the frame. Plus, I cracked my mower hood the other day so I need to learn how to glass anyway (replacement John Deere fiberglass mower hoods are hundreds of dollars!).

I also need to decide on color. I have some ideas but would be interested in some opinions from the DTT community. I'm looking for a something that evokes the 70s but that's subdued a bit (no metal flake or bright colors). Anybody got any ideas?
 
Picked up a cheap pair of gloss black BikeMaster superbike handlebars from z1 for like $15. I like that they aren't as gangly as the original scrambler mufflers, but something seems a bit off and I can't put my finger on it. Any thoughts?


CL350 superbike handlebars
 
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