CB360 - working on it on the weekends

[trek97]

But believe me I understand, It does get frustrating and you will be pissed off...almost til your head flat out fuckin explodes.
but, now youve had your little pissed off pity party and you have vented. thats a good thing, you are healthy.

So, now its time to buck up, smile and get busy pulling wrenches. again and again and aga......

 

[mydlyfkryzis]

How old are you? AND you have already proven to me that, you have what it takes.

You are riding a 37+ year old bike. that has sat rotting in the weeds under a tarp for how long? Has been through how many previous owners doing god knows what to the poor old girl. Every ride IS a test ride. lol...every single one. FOR EVERY SINGLE GUY ON HERE. Do not give up on her. It is a "test" of your patience, your mental capacities to learn yet another new thing about her, To learn what fun she is capable of bringing you when you finally do get her running good. AND YOU WILL. ...

I bought my 1976 CB360 in 1978 when it was only one riding season old. Guess What? Even 2 years old it's a test ride. I always had things falling off, wires coming loose, battery going dead.....YET, back then, the Honda was considered reliable....

Today we live with cars that go 100000 miles on a set of plugs. My 65 Chevy Biscayne needed points and plugs every year. It had a 35 Amp alternator. In the winter, with the heater fan on full, lights on, and idling, you could run the battery dead.

It wasn't until the 80's that maintenance really started dropping for cars. Driving/riding with a tool kit and spares was normal in the past.

The Honda often will run crappy, but get you home...the CB360 never stranded me...though made me worry often...(Pre Cell Phone days too)

 

[edukaycheon]

Thanks for the encouraging words all, brings a smile to my face. Maybe it's being around all the guys at the shop who just come in and drop off their bikes, then come back, start them up and ride off. I went for a bike ride earlier today and I saw two guys on a new BMW and Ducati Sport Classic, and at first I was kind of jealous, but as I followed them from light to light they looked really unsure of themselves, kind of squidly, and as it turns out they were just going back and forth on Pacific Coast Highway. Kind of happy with myself, working on a bike that is more mine than anything they could have, something I know about more than what the dealer tells me, and something I've put time into both off and on the bike.

Anyways, I was looking through eBay, found a local dealer selling some CBR1000 rearsets for cheap. Auction ended before I got to it, but I emailed him and hoping to drive out tomorrow and pick them up, then on the way back, talk to a upholsterer and see what I can do about my seat. Rearsets are modern looking definitely, but the footpegs and levers are together instead of the broken GSXR style ones I had and the pegs bend in case of a crash and the price is right, so looking forward to that. Might even send them out to be powdercoated 8)

 

[crazypj]

Should have asked the BMW/Ducati guys if they wanted you to show them some canyon roads as you were out playing with the old toys

 

[edukaycheon]

Oh just to clarify I was on a bicycle, but I was still keeping up with them light to light, I kept trying to get their attention but they wouldn't glance over :'( They had pretty wobbly starts and bad lane discipline though, I suspect they were just looking for someone to occupy their pillion before the night was over ha ha

 

[edukaycheon]

Long day today, not much actual wrenching but still some good progress.

Grabbed the seat vinyl that's been laying around at the shop and the seat, took it to the upholsterer I called the day before. He's just some guy that does work out of his garage but the stuff he had laying around looked good, and apparently he did the work on some of the show bikes at Born Free 5. He wanted to put the vinyl on with snaps like a lot of cafe bikes, but I'm not a fan of those snaps and the chrome wouldn't fit my bike overall, plus it would be more expensive. He agreed to sew something up and attach it to the seat for pretty cheap, hopefully can pick it up tomorrow.

Drove from there to LA to the shop where the guy had posted the eBay rearsets, but turns out they moved locations, so I traced my steps and found his shop. Pretty cool auto shop, some cool projects and old cars on the lifts. The guy was really nice, took him and three other guys searching upstairs to find the rearsets but I didn't mind waiting, I was too busy looking at their gokart in the parking lot.

CBR motor and fabricated tank and skateboard wheel chain roller, this thing was fun to look at

Drove back home, and I'm really lucky I didn't drive northbound any later, CHP had all lanes stopped in two separate places. Even the guys lanesplitting were stopped by the patrol cars, looked awful. Went back to the shop and did some brainstorming with the rearsets, ziptied them on and tried to figure out how to get them on.

So not exactly the same ones, but same idea. I'm thinking I'll line the outer edge of the footpegs up with the existing footpegs, which means the shifter and brake lever can clear the exhaust without being too high up. With a thick bracket welded to the passenger peg loop, I can thread in the shifter without having it placed backwards, get a joint mount thing that threads onto the existing shifter and connect the linkage, so turning it around and making the linkage horizontal from what the picture shows. Same with the brake side, I need to push it out so the springs and stuff clear the exhaust and frame, and I figure I can get some kinked linkage and connect it to the drum. But again I want to wait on the seat so I can sit on it and figure out where it would be comfortable.

Mechanic wanted to close shop up early, but instead the three of us ended up staying two hours after closing up having a long discussion that started with the whole stupid Paula Deen story and branching into economics, foreign policy, gun control, etc. It was good times, we were all still friends at the end, but I was exhausted by the time I left

Anyways, hopefully I'll have the seat back tomorrow, probably get into the carbs tomorrow too.

 

[crazypj]

You really shouldn't need to keep going into carbs, they were working fine when I sent them back
You probably need to restore them to where they were, the fuel screws and secondary main jets are the only things that may need messing with
Float level needs to be 21mm with K&N filters, miss-firing or running problems are probably electrical

 

[trek97]

I lost track of the actual problem like 10 posts ago. What is or is not the bike doing now?

 

[edukaycheon]

Right side was flooding, gas dripping on the outside of the carb and bogged down/killed the bike at a light. I set the float heights to 21, spark is good, no misfiring and plug color is good, except it still died on me. I'm thinking I screwed up in setting float height or the needles are getting stuck (meaning the clips)

 

[trek97]

Right side was flooding, gas dripping on the outside of the carb

the needles are getting stuck (meaning the clips)

gas dripping on outside...meaning? out of the overflow tubes? OR bad bowl gasket? Or out of the big opening where the air filter is?

needles...Meaning. the float needles? stuck open letting carbs overfill w fuel?

 

[edukaycheon]

Sorry, gas on the outside of the carb body around where the bowl gasket should be, and yeah float needles stuck open (the current theory anyways)

 

[trek97]

Sorry, gas on the outside of the carb body around where the bowl gasket should be, and yeah float needles stuck open (the current theory anyways)

Yes, remedy those 2 items. reset floats to PJs 21mm, and then start from there w a bike that runs without puking fuel. Heck it might run pretty darn good right off the bat, and all the anxiety may be for not.

 

[crazypj]

Just remembered, did you get new fuel tap yet?
Could also be crap from old tap?

 

[edukaycheon]

New petcock is on, fuel lines look clear and gas coming out of tap looks good. Carbs look clean, or at least nothing came out that looks like it would cause a problem. However, right off the bat when I pulled the carbs I noticed the screw on the floats came out, and was sticking on the float keeping it open. Tightened that up, also noticed right side float pin was bent, so straightened that out as best as I could with a clamp and sandpaper. Float heights are now at 21, they were slightly off but not by much (not factoring in the screw that came out). Cleaned the float bowls, resat the gaskets, and about to put them back together.

 

[edukaycheon]

Okay changed my mind, even after messing with the pin it's still sticking the float if it slides towards the side that's bent/rough, and the right side bowl gasket is also not looking great. Decided to just order rebuild kits for both sides, like PJ said I'm tired of going into the carbs over and over, and it might not be completely necessary but it'll give me some peace of mind. Should have them by Tuesday, planning on swapping out pretty much everything except for the secondary main jets which I already did when tuning the bike. Also, seat came back from the upholsterer, for $25 it looks excellent. Will post pictures of it on the bike next week, also hoping to make progress with the rearsets then as well

 

[edukaycheon]

Just curious, since the rebuild kits don't come with the float pin I was thinking either I'd take it to the machine shop and see if he could be of help, because my clamp and bending technique wasn't really working, or maybe try to find some metal and come up with something? Doesn't look like it's a part I can order either, or I'd have to order a float kit for $40 each :-\

 

[crazypj]

Find somewhere that does stainless steel TIG welding, the filler rod comes in perfect size.
If you get stuck, pm me and I'll send you a couple of stainless pins

 

[edukaycheon]

So something interesting, rebuild kits were in today but yeah no pins. Tried to do some more work with a hammer, but my mechanic advised me to get a wire coat hanger and see if it would work. Turns out they're almost exactly the same gauge, just measured the coat hanger and cut it into two pieces. Float is nice and springy now, and works well!

Rebuilt the carbs except left the main and secondary main jets in since those have been checked out already and jetting is good, pilot jet, needle, etc were all changed. Float bowl gaskets replaced and sealed, float height set at 21mm for both, diaphragms look good, carbs are back on the bike. However as I was about to take it outside and start her up I remembered I left my helmet at home, also there's that little issue of no rear brake that makes me not so eager to take it for a test run. Guess I should figure that out now

 

[crazypj]

You don't need a rear brake, you do need a front brake

 

[OJ]

This is bit late, but what about stainless steel bicycle spokes? Your local bike shop should have at least 2mm, 1.8mm and 1.5mm in stock.