Yellowheader's CJ360

[yellowheader]

I've been lurking around DTT and other forums for a while, learning what I can as I work on my own CJ360 build. After almost a year, I'm getting into the home stretch, so I thought I'd put up a build thread to show some of my work. This won't be a step-by-step record because I couldn't be bothered to take that many pictures along the way, never mind post them to a forum. There are several excellent (current and past) 360 build threads that thoroughly document these bikes inside and out with workmanship and finishes far beyond my newbilities. In this thread I just want to highlight some mods and adaptations I did with original parts or inexpensive aftermarket stuff to make my old CJ even more my own.
First, a couple of before pictures. Here's my CJ in its original livery, about 1981 when I was in grade 11.

Here's the bike in about 1986 in what I thought was a cool paint scheme at the time. Definitely Aspencade influences going on.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

wow, it's great that you've owned it that long! I wish I still had my first bike (1992 Kawi Ninja in black and purple)

 

[yellowheader]

Design Decisions
From the beginning I had some definite ideas about how this project should look when it's finished.

• Keep the original CJ tank. I don't get why so many projects switch to a CB tank.
• Keep the "root beer float" color scheme and the rockered Honda wing decals (from the 86 Magna) on the tank.
  
• Get rid of the brown and cream everywhere else
• Keep the front and rear fenders but make them less visible
• Get rid of that massive stock CJ muffler
• Shorten the cockpit to a single seater
• No major frame mods

I also started out with plans for the typical cafe features -clubman bars, rearsets, and pod filters in an open triangle - but as I read the forums and thought about what I wanted this bike to be, I decided to make it as easy to ride and tune as I can. So I'm going with stock foot controls and air boxes, and superbike bars.

The other design element I grappled with was the CJ's seat cowl. It seems like a no-brainer for that piece to be included in any cafe treatment, but when I started mocking things up I felt the cowl would look awkward and out of proportion if it was moved any closer to that skinny tank. Not to mention the fabrication and upholstering challenges of shortening the stock seat while keeping it mated to the cowl. I decided to ditch the cowl and original seat pan and go with a generic cafe seat off of ebay. Among all the styles out there, this one had the measurements and look that would work for me:

It's not very comfortable or, I daresay, durable, but to me it looks just right.

 

[yellowheader]

Front Fender
I wanted a smaller front fender. The original CJ fender, a big plastic affair, was cracked down the middle of its length, so using it wasn't a viable option. I ordered another ebay special, this steel fender, supposedly for a Suzuki TN250 or some such.

Not surprisingly, the mounting brackets weren't even close to fitting my forks. Out came the cutting wheel, and I lopped the brackets off, leaving only the metal fender. Next I removed the steel brace from inside the original plastic fender. I attached the new fender to the old brace with 5 pop rivets, in the middle and each corner of the brace. I filled the holes in the rivet heads with body filler before painting the fender.

 

[irk miller]

Following.

 

[yellowheader]

Frame
I tried not to get too carried away with the angle grinder.
Kept:

• Loops on lower subframe
• Right passenger peg bracket/muffler hanger
• Shock mounts
• Airbox tabs
• Center stand brackets
• Swingarm and bushings
• Steering head and bearings

Removed:

• Seat lock and hinge brackets
• Left passenger peg bracket
• Chain guard tabs on the swingarm
• Back 6 inches of the upper subframe tubes (to make room for a rear hoop)

Added (by my good friend who's a great welder):

• A flat bridge across the subframe to mount the seat (shown with rubber grommets inserted)
• Arch across the subframe to support the seat hump
  
  
• Rear frame hoop with a little upkick. It wouldn't fit inside the subframe tubes so it had to be coped onto the ends with some extra gusseting underneath. You can see where the seat support arch covered up the fender mounting holes. I had to drill holes in each side of the arch to let bolts pass through. The 1/2" bit was dull. It was a painful ordeal.
  

I also had my welder friend add a tab to the bottom of the left subframe loop, close to where the original passenger peg bracket was. The new tab can be used for mounting rearset controls if I ever decide to add them. The right side already has that covered with the muffler mount.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

I wouldn't put rearsets on with any bar setup that wasn't a clip on.

I had them on mine, and traded them in for stockers. great work so far

 

[yellowheader]

I wouldn't put rearsets on with any bar setup that wasn't a clip on.

I had them on mine, and traded them in for stockers. great work so far

Thanks for checking out the thread. Clubmans or clip-ons would definitely go with any change to the foot pegs, but I doubt I'll go that route. I actually bought some clubmans early in the project, but after fitting them on the bike I could tell they weren't going to be at all comfortable. I ended up selling them and getting a pair of superbike bars on eBay. Much better.

 

[yellowheader]

Rear Fender
You can see in the first picture of the thread that the rear fender is an angular thing that wraps a long ways around the back of the wheel. I wanted tuck the fender up but keep the finished tail end. The rear section of the fender looks like this:

I cut about 6 inches out of the middle, then fitted the tip to the front section.

Here's the fender mounted on the frame. You can see I had to do some hammering on the cut edge of the tip to make it fit over the forward section.

I'm glad I left the fender mounting holes on the subframe, even if I did have to drill some big ugly holes to get at them. The overall fender is light and sturdy and has the same clearance over the tire as stock.

 

[yellowheader]

Instrument Cluster
One thing I was surprised by when I was dismantling the bike was the massive bracket mounted to the triple clamps. It held everything in front of the handlebars, including the instruments, ignition switch, headlight, turn signals and horn. That bracket by itself probably weighed a couple of pounds. I could see that the only thing I might need would be the instrument mount, so I cut that bit off and threw the rest of it in the scrap bin.

I spent hours going through the cheap speedos and tachs on fleabay. Some of them look pretty cool, but I'm leery of getting something incompatible. In the end I decided to stick with the stock instruments. I spiffed them up a bit by polishing the stainless bases and changing in brass acorn nuts on the backs.

I also wanted to move the ignition switch under the tank. I cut the switch housing off the big bracket and got a tab welded onto the base of the housing. I drilled two holes in the tab to line up with existing holes in the gusset at the front of the frame.

 

[LKS]

Nice work! I see you mention driveability ( not that I think it matters too much if the bike looks cool ). My son has a similar bike that he wanted to go the cafe route with, but changed his course and did a cafe/tracker styel bike instead. What he (or I)did was to make a comfortable tracker seat and mount motocross handlebars instead. Something like the picture I posted but with side covers. I know this is a cb, but yours look even cooler with the square tank. Just an idea Nevertheless, I'm exited to see the result no matter which route you take

 

[yellowheader]

Thanks! The look of my bike will be quite similar to that but with a humped seat and 70s style street tires. As for handlebars, what I'm calling superbike bars ( I think I have the terminology right) are pretty much the same as MX bars but without the brace across the middle, and maybe a bit narrower.

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

 

[Sderbyshire]

I have Renthal ‘superbike’ bars on my 390 project, with rearsets.

I tried clipons but my ageing frame hated it...... so tried the flat renthal bar and its perfect, really comfortable.

Here’s a pic, next to friends cb750.

 

[LKS]

Thanks! The look of my bike will be quite similar to that but with a humped seat and 70s style street tires. As for handlebars, what I'm calling superbike bars ( I think I have the terminology right) are pretty much the same as MX bars but without the brace across the middle, and maybe a bit narrower.

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

My bad.. I thought superbike bars was another term for clip-ons Then I agree with your choises