its a bird, its a plane, its a... Cb350 CaFe

dano

dano

Active Member
hey guys, thought i would post my build here. i bought this 1972 cb350 a week ago in baskets. i put it all together in the back room at work and she started to fire. i thought id be able to limp it home then see where i was at. well after work that day i was out front giving the kick start all i had, but there was no back pressure from the kick start, it just free swung i guess you could say, i ended up on my ass and wrenched my knee really good. so i went and got my buddies truck and hauled it home. i dumped the oil to find rubber bits in the oil, im thinking cam chain tensioner but not sure. so im taking it apart again... going to do it all right.. at least right in my mind anyway.
plans are to build a very clean unique cafe... here we go.
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Welcome dano, looks like a pretty clean bike you found. Sounds like some tensioner bits in the oil but your kick start should still be turning the engine over even if the head and tensioner were off the engine. Sounds like something else... maybe you held the clutch in during that last kick when you about to drive it home?
 
Those rubber bits could be gasket material, the tensioner breaking up, or even black silicone from a half assed rebuild in the past.
Sounds like the kicker shaft may be busted, which happens every so often. Looks like youre going to have to tear the whole beast down.
If so, REPLACE THE CAM CHAIN TENSIONER. They suck. There are some good aftermarket units that will do ya right.
Otherwise that is a clean looking bike man. Looking forward to seeing the "unique" cafe you come up with!
 
thanks guys, it is pretty clean, but needs a lot more for sure... yea it wasnt the clutch, in fact i couldn't get the clutch to work at all. another reason for tear down. i believe the clutch plates are stuck together because of time, the rod from the other side wont push in at all no matter how i adjust the clutch. or thats my guess at this point. i did order new vm30's today along with clip on's from DCC. i wont be needing them for awhile, but its a start. i figured if i didnt order them now, id end up using the stock carbs. haha
 
VonYinzer said:
If the clutch is frozen, that may be why your kicker isnt engaging.
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hmm.. it does engage most of the time. it seems to slip about every 5th kick and will stay slipping until i turn the rear tire, then it engages again. what i find weird about that is its in neutral when i spin the tire. i cant wait to pull it apart.


thanks erskine!
 
Erskine said:
Nice photography.
:)
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+1 Excellent use of depth of field. Dude knows photography.


saywhat said:
Is that pitting on the cam lobe or just debris?
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Looks like minor pitting to me. I'd still use it, just keep the oil fresh and topped up.
 
Always nice to see another cb350. I just got the same tank mounted to my 69. I loved the wings and all but this is the color I wanted and found a NOS tank. Another "+" on the photography as well.
 
hey thanks for the compliments on the photos!! im actually learning more as i go, my wife is the teacher. she deserved most of the credit.
 
overdraft said:
and more to the point, what do we do about it? my cam's all pitted as well...
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Simplest and cheapest solution is to source another one in better condition. You can go the welding and reprofiling way but will cost more. I can live with minor pitting.
 
Best option would be to replace the cam, you might be able to take them somewhere to see if they can polish them out or repair the pitting without drastically changing the characteristics of the cam, but if they are worn out of spec you might be out of luck. The cam posted above doesn't look too bad, just make sure you fix the problem that caused the initial pitting, so that it doesn't get worse.
 
thanks saywhat for the advice.


i took some more pics this morning, im stuck now at the oil filter, need to find a proper wrench. ill be ordering some tools soon.


here is the carbs, i will be rebuilding them even though i bought new vm30's try to recoup some of the cost with them.
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stuck for now
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progress
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