Salt City Cafe - 73 CB 350 Super Sport

[motogoose]

As Hurricane Sandy approaches I am buying a new bike to start working on. Priorities...

Anyways last night I picked up a '73 cb 350 from a coworker. The bike has paperwork which my XS 500 build (a few pages deep) did not have, therefore I am either scraping the xs build or at least putting it on the back burner.

The bike turns over but the carbs were off it it and the tank has a decent amount of internal surface rust, needless to say we didn't try to start it.

The bike needs some work but for $300 I couldn't pass it up and included was a '71 350 parts bike minus the tank, carbs, and rear wheel. Therefore I have some spare parts to pick through and or sell!!

My plans are to get it cleaned up and running first so I know it will be ready to go for the summer and then make it look pretty.

Here are some picks from today when I did some minor tear down stuff.

Before:

Notice the custom basket on the back. ;D

After:

What I hope the bike will look like:

+clubmans and minus some of that huge front fender.

I will be using the front end off of the 71 as I prefer the look of that fork

Let me know what you guys think and any input you have as far as resources go.

This will also be my first trip into a four stroke motor so help there will be huge.

 

[Tim]

Looks like you have a good attainable target vision and it's a great bike to work with. Planning to get it up and running first is always the best idea.

Don't knock the front fender. All race bikes have them, and the bracing helps stiffen up the front end. You can remove the fender from the mount by grinding off the rivets, but you want a fork brace for sure if you remove the whole thing. I should say I have no front fender on my XS650 cafe but have always planned on putting one on. I've had too many encounters with garbage juice on the road on pickup days.

 

[motogoose]

I am keeping the front fender....just not all of it.

I have been trying to do some research on here as well as through google so I don't make the noob mistake of asking questions answered 1000 times but I do have some left over.

A lot of people have a ton of different ideas as the best way to remove surface rust from the inside of your tank. I am looking into using POR-15. Any success or horror stories from this product would be appreciated.

I picked up a second set of carbs and some rebuild kits. What is the best way to get them all cleaned up/anything I should know specifically to these carbs that I need to look out for? Diaphragms are intact in 3 of my 4 carbs.

Lastly, I am going to be breaking into the engine this week. Besides looking for wear on the obvious parts are there any engine related issues with the 350? And I am in the market for an upgrade to my cam chain/tensioner. Any suggestions?

I tried the "lay it on its side" method of engine removal and failed miserably. Hint for any other amateurs- take off the starter motor if at all possible first, it makes a ton of space up front to move the engine around.

New pictures and updates to follow

 

[mono]

RE: Tank De-Rusting/Sealing -- there are many people who have gotten good results from simply using evapo-rust inside of the tank, but if it has pinholes and you need a sealer, Caswell's sealer seems to get a lot of rave reviews. no personal experience on that yet, but ive done a lot of research for a tank i need to seal. one guy on the SOHC forum posted about using POR-15 (just the paint, not the actual tank product) with good effect, but had no long-term results to give yet.

RE: Carbs -- you'll want to remove any rubber/plastic bits before using carb cleaner, especially the chlorinated stuff. it can damage them badly. just get some paint gun or airbrush cleaning brushes and go to town scrubbing away. remove all the needles/jets and clean them well, then (as everyone seems to say) "once you think they're clean, clean 'em again!" haha. carbs are the one thing you don't want to slack on. otherwise you'll just end up having to pull them and go through them again. been there, done that!

 

[johngofast]

Salt City?

 

[motogoose]

Syracuse, Ny is known as the salt city so that is where I have derived the name from.

Mono thanks for the tips. I think I might try evapo-rust as the body seems 100% intact just heavy surface rust on the inside

 

[johngofast]

Syracuse, Ny is known as the salt city so that is where I have derived the name from.

Mono thanks for the tips. I think I might try evapo-rust as the body seems 100% intact just heavy surface rust on the inside

ohh Got ya! I'm from Salt Lake City... Was curious to know if you were local, but you definitely are not.

Plus one on the Evapo-Rust followed with Caswell's sealer.

 

[motogoose]

So I have hit a roadblock in my build. More of a mental one than anything else. This is my first four stroke rebuild, I got as far as opening up the valve cover and decided to quit for the night. I have a Clymer's manual but does anyone have any good resources with a lot of pictures or video on a CB 350 engine take apart?

Some good news from the evening would be that my plugs look great as did the top of the motor. I just want to check my pistons before I deem it a road ready engine.

Thanks for the help guys!