Very first Cafe build! 1970 Honda 350

S

scooter3865

New Member
Hey guys, New to the forum and the cafe scene. Been wanting to do a build like this for a few years but between school and work I find very little time. Decided to make the jump yesterday and purchased a 1970 Honda 350. Working with a local shop down here in San Diego and starting the project on sunday.

Here she is in all her glory. Nice and dusty and needing a new home!

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Me happy as a clam. As you can tell.

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And Photoshopped this photo a bit to show the color scheme and look i'm going for.

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More updates and pics to come. Any input is greatly appreciated.
 
Don't wear sandals in a shop

Welcome. That looks like a cool place.
 
First day working on the project and got the whole bike stripped down and detabbed. I have a few imperfections left on it that I need to grind down and then off to powdercoat.

Where I started the day.
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Most of the extras removed and wiring harness.
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Grinding down tabs and mounts I didnt want on there.
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End of the day.
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Very nice concept. Nice shop too. I need to find one of those and sort through parts bins and look for little bits and pieces.
 
Been at it on the build for the last month. Lots of good progress. Sorry for not being able to update, so I'm about to lay some stuff down right now.

Started tearing down the engine for paint prep and rebuild
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Nothing looked too bad inside which made me a bit relieved and my wallet sighing with ease. Next it was off to get steam cleaned and get all the gunk and crud out of it. As that was out I started on the tank. Stripping it of its paint and starting the bondo process. By far the most nerve racking process for me, being nit picky on the final paint result.

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Still working on it but taking a little break to start with the engine being painted. I'm using a texture black engine paint from Harley Davidson. It definitely has a great look to it and hides alot of imperfections and water damage on the low end.

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Started cleaning the valves and making sure they seat properly. Which is where I currently am at. I did recieve my tires and have a set of mikuni vm30 carbs on the way. Also my frame came back from powdercoat and I am more than happy with the results.

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Any questions on the build please ask away. A lot of the building process is new to me but I'm learning a lot also.
 
Tremelune said:
Did you blast the engine before painting or just clean it up a bit?
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I cleaned it up. It went through a steam clean they do at the shop here and got most of all the crap that was left on it. I had to scrap off some bits of gasket left and a bit of water damage on the bottom but that was it.
 
Looks good so far. Shouldve taped off the drain plug hole in the bottom case and replaced the old plug with a new one though. You'll destroy that paint first oil change unfortunatly. I really love the look of the HD wrinkle black though. Keep at it man.






Ok...



I wasn't going to do this to ya, but you should really swap those VM 30s for 28s. It will make your life much easier in the long run.
 
VonYinzer said:
Looks good so far. Shouldve taped off the drain plug hole in the bottom case and replaced the old plug with a new one though. You'll destroy that paint first oil change unfortunatly. I really love the look of the HD wrinkle black though. Keep at it man.






Ok...



I wasn't going to do this to ya, but you should really swap those VM 30s for 28s. It will make your life much easier in the long run.
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Yah I've heard that somewhere before. What exactly is the reason behind 28's being better than 30's for the 350? Sorry, still new at this. I got for a deal being new so I decided to go with the 30's.
 
All about airflow and fuel delivery. There are a TON of writeups here on DTT that explain it better than I can. Basically, the 30s are too "big". Helpful, huh? Haha...
 
That said, you'll have no trouble finding a buyer on DTT for those 30s if you'd like to switch to the recommended 28s.
 
Been awhile since I posted last time. Took a little vacation to Missouri where I'm from.


Re did the front forks completely. Sand blasted the spring and threw a new coat of paint up on them. I sandblasted the base and instead of painting it I just threw a clearcoat on it. I really like the way it looks.
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Next I started assembling the rest of the frame. I put new tires on the rims and after I did a full rehab of the rims. The tires are Battleax Bt-45's in 100/90-19 front and 120/80-18 rear.
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I ordered this headlight from ebay. It was a bit pricey for what it is but I loved the look of it and the fact it was a Led light.
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I put clipons and made custom brackets for the headlight mount rather than using the old factory ones. I really like the way it turned out. I also received the seat and mounted everything up to make sure the look and feel was where I wanted it to be.
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So how did you make the headlight brackets? I'm new at this too, I still don't even have my own bike, but I plan on getting a cb350 and i'm only 16 going on 17 only any money I can save through self fab is great.
 
alex2445 said:
So how did you make the headlight brackets? I'm new at this too, I still don't even have my own bike, but I plan on getting a cb350 and i'm only 16 going on 17 only any money I can save through self fab is great.
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I used a 33mm pipe that fit around the forks w/ some rubber o rings on the top and bottom. I'll try to get a close up shot of it for you. You'll see the custom brackets that are welded to those pipes.
 
Lincoln Ellsworth said:
What did you use as your guide for tearing down the engine?
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I did not use a guide. If you've never torn down an engine before I would use one but the cb twin is a pretty simple engine to take apart. I'll let you know what guide I use when I put it back together though which I will use one.
 
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