Project Atlas - '69 CB350

[MiniatureNinja]

Hey guys!
back at it again - this time with an even smaller bike, with lots of potential
here's what I am starting with:

The bake came with no exhaust (anyone wanna sling me a standard CB350 exhaust for fitting?)
but it does have carbs, starter, and the sprocket cover

I have some ideas, but it's always evolving. for now - it's TEAR DOWN TIME!
keep ya posted

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

Hey guys!
back at it again - this time with an even smaller bike, with lots of potential
here's what I am starting with:

The bake came with no exhaust (anyone wanna sling me a standard CB350 exhaust for fitting?)
but it does have carbs, starter, and the sprocket cover

I have some ideas, but it's always evolving. for now - it's TEAR DOWN TIME!
keep ya posted

Cool, just needs a wax.

I would like to get something like this down the road.

 

[whynot]

Yep, like this.

I have a 350 I'm playing with at the moment too..........stalled right now......money and all....you know.

 

[idahofrank]

I believe this is a 1968 model. Does it have 6mm exhaust studs? Does the tach redline at 10,500 rpm? If so, this was the fastest of all (stock) CB350s.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

it has the 10,500 rpm gauge and I'm not 100% sure on the studs - serial number and this page is what I am going by to guess it's a 1969 = CB350-1023858

(EDIT: just confirmed, 8mm exhaust header studs)

Monday I will start tearing it down - and hopefully get it down to nuts and bolts by the evening. Project will be better documented than my cb360 bike

also, both choke plates the flapper spring is broken, and this one is broke AF anyway. suggestions? should I scrap these carbs and get vm28s or can this be fixed.

I'm also somewhat concerned about the stator covor... something is obviously off here.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

Well I did this today:

came apart with zero issues. considering the bike was last run in 1998 - I was happy.
engine tear down and some major frame modifications in order

also something wacky is the bike has a 19" front wheel bit it's SUPER wide, like 4" wide rim.
I like the 19 so I'll have to find a narrower front rim

 

[whynot]

No turning back now.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

I could throw the whole thing away and make more money than I paid for it

stupid question ( and I know all about track and rack and geometry and I care not one little bit about it for this bike as it's more of a shower than a grower )

can I get a 33mm top triple from a later cb350 and just slide these forks up in there... or do I need later forks too ?

 

[whynot]

Don't know if they will line up.

 

[ridesolo]

I don't have a bunch of CB/CL350 experience, but if I remember correctly, I believe the older fork tubes were different and had a taper at the top and only worked w/ a matching top clamp.

 

[ex119x]

You have the early style forks that have the tapered top. I suspect that they will work with the later style top triple, but the tapered part will have to be above the top triple. You will end up with shorter usable forks and about 3/4" of taper above the top triple. If I get a chance I will take a look at my pile of 350 stuff and see if it will work for sure.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

Lots of bikes with fork tube above the top clamp when they are lowered- I don't mind the "giraffe horn" look - a lot of these companies are supplying billet top clamps for cb350/cb360 so I figure they are the same... I suppose I could just take mine off my cb360 to be sure, but then again.. finding one of these aluminium top clamps that isn't broken in 14 pieces is proving difficult.. not keen on spending $200 on a billet one.
I did just realize these tapered forks use an external spring, which means I'll either have to trim the spring down to slide the forks up.

considering it's either this or getting entirely new front forks - I think I'm going to attempt it and no loss if it doesn't work out.
I am doing my best to "work with what i've got" like on the cb360 and not do too much conversion stuff that wouldn't have been possible "back in the day"

 

[ex119x]

I have a set of those external spring forks and they could use a little preload anyway, so sliding the tube up in the triple should probably help that fork, a little.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

well... after tearing down the front end to determine my plan's viability - the forks are bent. not much, but bent. so... if i'm going to experiment I may as well do it with these and see what's possible.
new fork tubes are in order - probably new forks completely. (sliders are different I imagine)

 

[MiniatureNinja]

after confirming that the cb360 top triple is NOT the same width as the cb350 clamps, I had to figure something else out.
so I went ahead and bought a set of cl450 forks that aren't bent - they are 35mm and now I need to find a triple to fit them. Any suggestions out there?

(my plan is to have these forks slid up in the triple a little ways, I know they are designed for a bolt top that isn't a clamp, but I have made a closing bolt for these and I think it will be unique to have the tapered small part extended through the top rather than the larger diameter like pretty much ever other cafe racer out there. I have a special plan for the handlebars

cb550 triple: pros - found one complete with forks | cons - it comes with forks that I dont want or need and is therefor expensive to ship
xl250 triple: pros - cheap, 4 bolt lower | cons - ugly top clamp, unknown offset
sl350 triple: pros - 4 bolt lower | cons - no top clamps available
cl450 triple: pros - match the forks, good offset | cons - hard to find

then of course there is the ripple rock racers triple - made for the cb350 but with 35mm clamps.

expensive.... VERY expensive.

 

[ex119x]

When I used Xl350 forks on my CB350 race bike I just reamed the CB forks to 35mm with an adjustable reamer. It was pretty easy and worked fine.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

Are you the guy with the 750 fairing and THR ignition I was drooling over last night in my google image search?

 

[ex119x]

Nope, all that stuff is way too fancy for me. I haven't had a 350 together for about 15 years, but almost have the one in my XL500 frame ready to start. Just need to put on the carbs and exhaust, plus s few other things.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

I am desperately looking for a top triple clamp that is simple, smooth - I can smooth it out a little by removing brackets, but the clamp bolt is and ugly thing - this is going to be the top most part of the bike, pretty much sitting out there for everyone to see.... maybe it's worth spending the money on a billet one... but I'm down to find something out of the honda world if anyone knows of something that works.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

Spent most of Monday doing frame modifications as per my usual. Still not sure where the project is going but at the moment - I might be moving this thread to the "bobber" section - we'll see

seam welding the frame - both for strength and for looks. looks how?

we'll I'm using a tank from a 70's yamaha MX175 and it needs to sit a little lower in the back still (got some room in the mounts to make that happen.

removed the footpegs and sidestand mount - thing is UGLY. will have to come up with mounts for that and the rear brake pedal

CB450 forks are in... working out how those will have to be modified to to shorter, removing about 2-3" of the external spring length.
engine still hasn't been touched. I need to get on that.