CL450 Complete Rebuild to Cafe Racer

[DHolbrook]

Well I've begun a project to tear into a cheap and dirty 1969 CL450. My goal is to revive it as a cafe racer. It ran on one cylinder when I bought it and it was is in rough shape.

Here it is when I first got her home...

Began to pull apart the engine...

The bike had unknown mileage and was run in the desert without an air filter. I figured a total tear-down was necessary.

 

[DHolbrook]

My question is that one: i don't think I took enough photos/notes of the position of the cam/timing before tear down, what am I in for? I plan to send the cams out to get reground anyway.

My valves look like so... Do these merit replacement? Seems like the more I clean the shinier they get, but not any smoother.... advice?

 

[Flugtechnik]

Hahahaha, seriously?, There was a washer stuck to the piston?

Are the cams out of spec? Why do they need to be reground?

As long as the valve seats are good and they are straight, then the valves are fine. Check to see if they slide in the valve guides smoothly.

 

[DHolbrook]

Maybe it is a crush washer! I guess I was getting higher compression in that cylinder.

 

[Flugtechnik]

Was the washer stuck to the piston? It looks like the valve hit it. You should inspect that valve closely to make sure it is not bent.

 

[DHolbrook]

I think I need to regrind the cams because I only know if they are exhaust or intake side and my rockers are not labeled. I now know that I should have kept them separate, I figured the only fix is to regrind fresh and start over. Thoughts? Oh, and I DO have a factory service manual but it seems to leave a lot desired. I end up just searching for everything here anyway.

 

[DHolbrook]

I'll check all the valves for bends, but is that pitting normal?

 

[DHolbrook]

Another question I can't seem to answer is are these rollers pressed in? They won't budge at all. Do they need to come out if I'm going to soak my entire head in a simple green solution?

 

[Tim]

Those look like hex-head 'nuts' holding it to the head. Have you tried backing those off?

 

[DHolbrook]

I removed the bolts, the shape is the wear impression they left behind, see additional pic. Can I soak them anyway in a cleaning solution?

 

[Tim]

If there aren't rubber bits then sure - clean away. Anything in your service manual about removing these?

 

[sean_mccarthy]

That's a hott bike! Looking forward to seeing it all done up.

 

[teazer]

Rollers should come out.

The valves are coated in burned on carbon that you are polishing. Take the valves and get them cleaned and ground or replace them. You can put the valves in a drill press and carefully machine off that carbon with a utility knife and I stress Carefully. You don't want a knife in the face (or anywhere else).

 

[DHolbrook]

Ok so I got the cam rollers off.

I'm waiting on DCC to send me the oil filter nut tool so I can split the case.

Today I was just cleaning. Soda blasting with my little pancake compressor, removing gaskets... still haven't been successful cleaning valves or finding replacement ones...humm...

 

[Flugtechnik]

The valves aren't pitted, they are just dirty. As long as they are straight and the seats are good, you are fine.

Inspect all the parts you take out. One of my cam rollers had a broken pin.

 

[Flugtechnik]

I think I need to regrind the cams because I only know if they are exhaust or intake side and my rockers are not labeled. I now know that I should have kept them separate, I figured the only fix is to regrind fresh and start over. Thoughts? Oh, and I DO have a factory service manual but it seems to leave a lot desired. I end up just searching for everything here anyway.

This doesn't make any sense to me. I think the cam followers (rockers) are interchangeable between intake and exhaust. As long as there is no excessive wear on any of the parts, what would regrinding the cam do?

 

[DHolbrook]

Ill put some pics up of the cams and rockers, I don't see any need to regrind (minimal wear), but since my rockers got mixed up I figured I have too. If not then GREAT!

At any rate, I began making a fiberglass seat. I used the green floral foam and followed the process many others have forged before me. I just used the Bondo brand fiberglass kit with cloth fiberglass.

 

[DHolbrook]

layers of fiberglass and a little body filler later....

ok, three days in total...

 

[DHolbrook]

Spent today popping bearings out and ordering new ones. It was a real pain in the butt. Take a look at my rear hub...can I just clean it up and keep it??

 

[DHolbrook]

More work progress finally...