1971 CB350

[beli]

the first attempt at painting the front wheel resulted in a minor run. i let it dry and then i used 1500 grit wet sandpaper to remove the run and then i threw another layer of paint and cleared it.

tackling the rear wheel....

a heavy use of sand-paper, brushes, and steel wool got me to where i wanted to be.

unfortunately, forgot to take pics of a clean rear wheel. i only have the finished product. primed, painted and clearcoated:

 

[beli]

the 3m wheel attached to the drill has proven indispensible. here are two screws that were initally equally dirty, but with some cleaning with wd40 and the 3m wheel, the results are pretty dramatic:

finally found some time to put bondo on the side of the tank where the knee indents are. i have to admit that i actually mispoke when i wrote about creating indents. i mentioned that i used a deadblow hammer, when i actually used a rubber hammer.

in any case, since i will be mixing up bondo for the tank, there are two more pieces in the need of bondo. the seat had several small places that needed to be filled the headlight bucket needed some attention as well. the plastic was cracked in one place and when i was fabing the seat i took a piece of fiberglass cloth and reinforced the headlight bucket from the inside. now i only need to add some bondo on the top to completely smooth it out and remove any traces of the crack.

bondo victims:

me mixing up bondo:

i decided to use the professional gold bondo because i've read on one of the forums that it was a better one and since that one was only about $1 more expensive, i went with it. however, i have no reference point to compare it to the "other brand" typically found at walmart.

bondo smoothing out knee indents:

again, i first use 100 grit and then 200 grit sandpaper to smooth everything out. the remaining imperfections will be "smoothed" out with paint, so i don't really need to go any higher in terms of the sandpaper grit.

 

[HerrDeacon]

Nice progress beli. Would you be able to post a pic of the 3M wheel you are using? Sounds and looks like its a pretty good tool.

 

[beli]

herdeacon, thanks for encouragement.

as for the disk, i don't have a pic and cannot take one as i won't be home for 10 more days, but it is a simple scotch-brite type pad that attaches to an electric drill. you can find it at any walmart at the automotive section where they sell touch-up paint, fiberglass, bondo, etc. i think i paid around $8 for it and it's been great. i usually set it so the wheel spins horizontally and then clean small pieces as if it was a polishing wheel.

 

[JRK5892]

i first want to say WOW!!!! i am in the process of bobbing out a CB350! have not got to the paint part as of yet but you and i have alot of the same ideas going! one ? i do have... can you explain a bit more on the knee dents andhow to smooth it all out? i woudl LOVE to know how to do this! thank you!

 

[beli]

i first want to say WOW!!!! i am in the process of bobbing out a CB350! have not got to the paint part as of yet but you and i have alot of the same ideas going! one ? i do have... can you explain a bit more on the knee dents andhow to smooth it all out? i woudl LOVE to know how to do this! thank you!

after marking the tank with a marker, i used this guy http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItem.do?itemid=39646&CategoryName=&SubCategoryName= to hammer in the dents. i started in the middle and had to hit it about 20 times before it started caving in. i didn't use it as a regular hammer would be used at first because i was a bit afraid of caving it in too much. so, i held the hammer by its rubber end and started hitting the tank as if i had a stone in my hand. after i realized that it wasn't caving in too much, i started holding the hammer properly. when the middle caved in, i started working the edges. a lot of small bangs and dents started taking shape. as i said, i was scared i was going to ruin the tank, but in retrospect, it was easy and you should not be afraid of ruining it with a first hit.

as you can see in the picture, it was not smooth at all and it had a lot of small bumps.

after i got the shape that i wanted, i prepared bondo and used an old credit card to put the bondo on the tank. the card did not work great because of the shape, so when i put bondo on, i used my fingers to smooth it out.

bondo on:

when it was dry, i used 100 and then 200 grit paper to completely smooth it out and blend it with the rest of the tank.

as i already mentioned, don't be scared. it looks more intimidating than it really is.

 

[beli]

after painting the engine, the results were quite surprising. i honestly did not believe that it would turn out that nice.

here is the engine set so i can put it back into the frame:

i used newspaper and wrapped it around the frame so i minimize scratching. in retrospect, i should have used something less thick and more durable than newspaper, but hey, you learn after the fact:

engine in the frame:

i got a small scratch on the frame (in the front) and a small scratch on the engine as a byproduct of mounting the engine. but, that's nothing that cannot be fixed with a small touchup.

 

[JRK5892]

wow man! thank you so much... great write up... i am on it this weekend! i will post how things go!

 

[beli]

glad to hear that you'll do it. post some pics when you are done.

as for the progress....

cleaned the rear shocks with wd40 and steel wool:

fork bolts got a first layer of paint. i am using metalcast yellow paint and this is the ground layer. yellow coat will come on soon:

i guess i should have done this before, but forgot. the wheels were not completely trued, so i figures i try it. i used a car bike rack as a truing stand and a piece of cardboard which showed me which parts need to be pulled. since the wheels were painted already, i did not want to use a spoke wrench, but i used a hex screwdriver to tighten and loosen spokes. since i had no previous experience with truing wheels, i followed this guide: http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=485208 and it turned out fairly good.

i decided to replace the original engine screws with stainless allen screws. i took out one screw at a time, measured it and created a list. then, a trip to the hardware store and the screws are in. as it turns out, it was fairly expensive to buy screws one a time and i guess i should have simply bought a kit on ebay. but hey, what would a life be without mistakes.

 

[JRK5892]

looking great! good link! i am way behind you i have to get on the ball! i am going to do my knee dents and prep for paint this week... thanks man

 

[beli]

finally caught up with posting pics, so from now on pics are in real time.

did some painting last night:

rear shocks with only the ground coat and with the final coat:

paint i am using:

and the final result:

looks great and i hope it will not chip for a while.

 

[JRK5892]

looks awesome!!! how is the sparkle on that gold? I was going to mix my own for my gold racing stripes... but hell if i can get a decent sparkle (flake) out of a rattle can i will def do that!

 

[sclay115]

Just curious, is that paint on the fork caps not going to come off when you tighten those puppies down?

Paint looks tits though.

Steve

 

[JRK5892]

wrap them in painters tape, then duck tape... dont know why it works to protect when you tightem them down but it does!

 

[beli]

looks awesome!!! how is the sparkle on that gold? I was going to mix my own for my gold racing stripes... but hell if i can get a decent sparkle (flake) out of a rattle can i will def do that!

not sure whether those are flakes or not, but they it looks like it. if they are flakes, they are small, but it still looks great. at least i think so. i also plan to paint the tank stripe in the same scheme.

thanks for the tip on screwing in the fork caps. will definitely apply your method.

 

[JRK5892]

ha ha ha our bikes are going to have basicly the same paint! only mine is a bob... i have a hand stitched black and heavy gold flake seat... you got a cafe goign though i have a bobber... can not wait to see it man... looking gooD!

 

[brewtown16]

ha ha ha our bikes are going to have basicly the same paint! only mine is a bob... i have a hand stitched black and heavy gold flake seat... you got a cafe goign though i have a bobber... can not wait to see it man... looking gooD!

hey jrk, where did you get your metalflake material for your seat uhpolstery?! got any leftover?

 

[beli]

ha ha ha our bikes are going to have basicly the same paint! only mine is a bob... i have a hand stitched black and heavy gold flake seat... you got a cafe goign though i have a bobber... can not wait to see it man... looking gooD!

hey, looking forward to seeing your bike complete as well. good luck on it.

got new rubbers - avon's:

i painted the rear shocks once before, but put too much paint on and the adjusting ring did not want to go in its place. so, i stripped the paint and repainted it this time with less layers of paint. rear shocks painted half way:

time to tackle smaller pieces.....

the horn was in a pretty bad shape:

some miscellaneous parts after washing and degreasing....awaiting an additional wipe with acetone before painting:

 

[Kuyarico]

Great looking project you have going on over here. Can't wait to see the finished product. Keep up the good work!

 

[SilentStrike]

Really nice going project, will keep up with your posts to see the final product, excellent work and greetings from Puerto Rico.