'73 CL350 Cafe... in 11 days.

[BANDIT]

Hey Starfire, seeing as you are making use of the school shop to do machining why not take the finished seat into the girls class to get them to re-upholster it. Back in the day they called it home economics, not sure what it's called now. Plus it'd be a great way to meet some hotties, that just might think what you are doing is really cool too!
Bikes and chicks, what more could a guy want!!

 

[Starfire]

That is an excellent idea but there are some small problems. I am having the work done at the high school machine shop but I am in college 40 miles away. The other problem is that I'm 23 and 1/2+7 means no high school girls. I will look around on the college campus, I'm sure we have someplace that can do some of the work for me.

You are right though girls + bikes is about all you need.

 

[BANDIT]

OK, no high school girls. :'(
But what about high school teachers?

 

[Starfire]

Closer, but there is something in the middle. We call them college girls, they are good.

 

[Starfire]

Ok, I went down today and got the bike to run. I don't have a seat or lights yet so I couldn't ride it but it sounds AWESOME with no mufflers. I couldn't paint today but hopefully tomorrow or Saturday I can. It's looking like I can get it all wrapped up and ridable in 2 weekends. The weather has been great the last few days so I want this done before it snows again, which around here could be in the next 20 minutes or in 6 months.

 

[Starfire]

Well it's been a long time since I posted an update so I guess it's time to get you guys up to speed. I got really busy with school and the weather has not been cooperative so I haven't spent much time on the bike.

I got the bike running and ridable, the Mikuni carbs work way better than the Keihins it had before. The intake manifolds are not exactly right so I have a set of Mikuni manifolds coming.

There's still some touch up I need to do to make the bike look decent and my charging system doesn't seem to be functioning properly. Luckily the harness consists of about 8 wires so it can't be too hard to work out.

33mm clip ons are hard to find for a decent price, I have been keeping my eyes open on eBay, hopefully something shows up there. Anybody have some suggestions there? I'm also still kinda looking for a better fork, the one I have is slightly bent and a disc brake would be really cool.

I moved into a house for the summer and my shop is about 35 miles away so I still only get to work on weekends when I don't already have plans. If I can get the bike mechanically reliable I can move it up here and work on little things in my garage. With the 3 day weekend coming up I am hoping to have the mechanicals sorted but that will be dependent on parts.

 

[rudy]

I gave up looking for 33mm clipons. I went with 34mm and just clamped them down a little more. They work just fine. If you really wanted to, you could put a little bit of sandpaper in between. This would take up the extra space (not much from 33 to 34mm) and wouldn't slide around. just some 400 to 600 grit would do nice.

You'll have to fix that bent fork before you get it on the road. You don't want to hit a bump, or brake real hard just to find out that your fork is stuck in the compressed position. And if it let go at an inopportune time while you're limping home, you wouldn't be a happy camper.

 

[BANDIT]

Go to this link and ask about the 33mm, I'm sure I read in a forum that he sells them, plus a lot of other stuff.
I know some guys in the VRRA have bought from him and I'll be looking into a set soon.
http://stores.ebay.com/Vintage-Motorcycle-Spares

 

[chrisf]

I have a set of forks for a CB360 that I'm pretty sure will work on the 350s. If you're really interested, I can measure everything up to make sure. I also have a front wheel with a disk brake. I do not have the caliper, MC nor the brake line. However, if you're interested in the setup, please PM me an offer.

--Chris

 

[Starfire]

I have a set of forks for a CB360 that I'm pretty sure will work on the 350s. If you're really interested, I can measure everything up to make sure. I also have a front wheel with a disk brake. I do not have the caliper, MC nor the brake line. However, if you're interested in the setup, please PM me an offer.

--Chris

What diameter are the 360 forks? Are they in good shape other than the missing parts? What size is the front wheel?

 

[chrisf]

33mm as measured by my calipers--exactly the same as my cl350 forks. They are 1/2" shorter. The wheel is 18". I'd personally either strip the anodizing off the forks and paint them or sand them and polish them. I'd also change the fluid. Other than that, the look fine. The wheel just needs some cleaning.

I can't find my digi, so an iPhone pic will have to do.

--chris

 

[Starfire]

Thanks for the offer Chris but by the time I find calipers and the rest of the parts for those forks I could just find a heavier setup. If they were heavier than 33mm I'd take you up on it for sure.

 

[BANDIT]

I found these for ya on evilbay, go take a look!
http://cgi.ebay.ca/CLIP-ONS-33MM-HONDA-CB400F-CB350F-CAFE-RACING_W0QQitemZ320254523155QQihZ011QQcategoryZ35581QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

 

[Starfire]

I found these for ya on evilbay, go take a look!
http://cgi.ebay.ca/CLIP-ONS-33MM-HONDA-CB400F-CB350F-CAFE-RACING_W0QQitemZ320254523155QQihZ011QQcategoryZ35581QQtcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

I saw those before, I think the price has come down. I will keep an eye on them, they look pretty good.

 

[Starfire]

Well they sent me the wrong intake manifolds so I have to wait a couple weeks for that to get sorted out. In the meantime I picked up a 500 twin front fork and wheel as well as some 35mm clipons. Hopefully the tapered bearings from my 350 front end will fit.

I still have some charging problems to sort out and there are always little things.

 

[Starfire]

I got all the parts for my front end last week and put it together, it looks really nice. The triple clamps and tubes from the 500 are way stronger than what was on the 350 originally, plus the disc brake is sweet. I was relieved to find that my tapered bearings fit the 500 triple tree so its nice and tight.

I still need to work something out for a seat, I'm not really happy with the one I made, I could do a better job on another one but at this point I just want something to put on so I can ride the thing. A stock seat would be fine but if anyone has something that might fit let me know.

 

[Starfire]

Back from the grave! So happy I was able to find this post and that the pictures are still here, I forgot all the details of what I did back then.

Things are a little hazy that far back but after my last update in 2008 I did get the bike on the road and rode it through the spring and summer of 2008. I had an internship in the spring of 2009 but got the bike on the road for a short time.

I rode it to a friends place to say goodbye as I was leaving the next day for Seattle. When I pulled out of the driveway the bike went sideways on me so I stopped and looked it over. The bike had dumped a significant amount of oil on the rear tire so I nursed it home. I spent the rest of the summer in Seattle and then returned to finish school. Life went on and I moved to Seattle permanently which meant I had no place to store or work on the bike.

It has been sitting under a tarp behind my dad's shop since 2009 but luckily my uncle pulled the tank and carburetors off and stored them at his shop so they did not waste away. I sold the VM32s that I had on there to my uncle because they seemed to be a bit much for the stock motor and he has a CB450 which should be a perfect application. I'll pick up a pair of VM30s because I think that's going to be a better fit for my setup.

I never did figure out where the oil leak came from. I seem to recall thinking that it was leaking from under the cylinder jugs but I haven't done even the most basic checks like clearing the breather tube. Hopefully there is no significant engine problem.

A good friend of mine moved to the desert, purchased a Triumph Thruxton and has recently moved back to Seattle and got me excited about riding again. I worked out a deal to rent a friend's garage so now I have a place for my tools and bike. I moved the bike and tools out two weeks ago and I got my Washington state motorcycle endorsement last weekend so now all I need is a bike that runs!

As is the tradition with this bike I am on a time crunch. There is a monthly meetup of cafe bikes in Seattle starting in the spring. I have 6 weeks to get this back on the road if I am going to get it to the first meetup. If there is no significant engine damage I think that will be doable. One great development over the last 8 years is the amazing aftermarket for these bikes. I remember what a headache the points always were and now there are bolt on electronic ignitions! Along with lithium ion batteries and LED lighting the electrical system may not be a constant pain.

Here are some pictures of the bike in its current state, I'll be up at the garage on Saturday and I'll take some more:

Overall it is actually in pretty good shape. I need new carbs before I can start the motor and see what's wrong with the engine. The tank is awfully rusty inside so that needs to be cleaned and sealed, somehow it picked up a new dent as well. The rattle can paint job I gave it did not hold up to fuel spills and needs to be redone. I need a proper set of rearsets and to ride around Seattle blinkers and mufflers are going to have to be added. After pricing out the parts it doesn't look too bad, I can get all the parts to trick this thing out for less than a used dirt bike would cost me, even in winter.

I'll keep the thread updated with my progress, glad to be back!

 

[adventurco]

Back from the dead is for sure. Glad to see you're back at it


Sent from my iPhone using DO THE TON

 

[Starfire]

Got my work space sorted out a bit, I'm really excited about this:

How did I make it this far in life without an impact driver? Getting those stubborn side cover screws out is a snap with this thing, it's my new favorite tool!

The clutch was sticking and there was no oil on the dipstick so I decided to pull the side cover and see what I am dealing with. I drained what small amount of oil was left in the crankcase and scooped the goop out of the drain plug sump. It looks like there are chunks of aluminum in there? The small amount of oil seems to have so much metal suspended in it that the threads are full of junk and the plug wont easily thread into the case. I'm going to try and track down a large tap to chase those threads and clean it up so I don't ruin the case.

This stuff all looks like metal as far as I can tell. Doesn't seem good but I'm not sure what's real bad and what's normal for an abused 44 year old motor.

After that I pulled off the side cover with the impact driver and took a look at the clutch.

The friction plates look to be a bit rusty but I'm not sure if that's actually bad. One thing that does seem out of the ordinary is the evidence of rubbing on the clutch basket.

There is also evidence of rubbing on the outside of the clutch mechanism.

I took a closer look at the side cover and noticed something I never saw before. There is a sizable dent in it:

The dent is severe enough to cause some cracking inside:

There is also some evidence of rubbing inside the clutch cover:

This seems bad and I want to get another side cover to replace the one I have but I'm thinking maybe I should just start looking for another motor that runs and do a full tear down and rebuild on this one. Considering the bike had been wrecked hard enough to break the steering stop off the original triple clamp I can't say I am surprised there is damage to the case. As I recall one of the foot pegs was torqued pretty severely too.

I don't know if these clutch plates are serviceable either:

I opened up the oil spinner and found what appears to be fine aluminum, like a paste:

This seems bad but I don't know if I ever pulled the spinner apart so this could be many miles of accumulation. Is (fine) metallic debris in there normal?

So here are my questions:
1) Is my clutch any good or should I just buy a new one?
2) Is my motor shot or is all that goop and debris normal?
3) Can I squeeze a summer out of it or is this thing a ticking time bomb?

 

[Starfire]

I also forgot to mention last night that I did check the breather tube and it was clogged so hopefully that was the cause of my leak and there is no permanent damage to the seals. No matter what happens with this motor I need to get a set of VM30s so I'll just fire this thing up and see what it does. If it blows up then I can buy more go fast parts.