Engine out waiting for a few more rebuild parts before I tear it down. Frame ready to sandblast and powdercoat. Some finished parts waiting to go together. It's hot in the garage so it slows progress a bit.

 

Hi captb,
I've always had a 'thing' for the SL350! I always have my eye on a good candidate. Seems they're going the way of the CB750's in price.
Do you have any photos to post of your 350 pre-tear down?

Tom

 

Hi, here's a pic when I got it... tank off and some finished pics, it was black with a few dents in the tank but very little rust as with the whole bike. It was strait not much ever tinkered with but very neglected and dirty. I got it running after carbs cleaned, points filed and a wire was unplugged to the coils, sounded ok but I'm rebuilding and replacing/restoring everything anyways, just fun to see if it would run.

Finished Pic. Rides muuuuch better than when new. Much time and many thousands in parts.

 

Some more progress, 1 fork restored, bottom end allmost ready for reassembly..just need to shine up the lower case. I need to get the cylinders back from 1st over boring to build the top end. It's hot here in the garage so doing most parts in the house. :lol:

 

This is looking good.. Is that the original rear rim and spokes? I've been waiting 4 weeks for spokes and wheels for my K2, since the originals were beyond repair. Now I wish I'd just sent them off to be replated instead. Are your handlebars powder coated? Is that 4 different engines? I've held off doing the engine work on mine because I can't make up my mind if I want to use large the large port heads instead of the small port ones.

 

Hi, yes it was a Arizona bike so with blood, sweat and tears I was able to shine up the rear..the front will be easier. I wanted to do new rims but these were strait with new but old tires so I went with them.

The handle bars are CR Hi Bend, I have them on my DRZ400E and they just feel right, I've rebuilt the rt. stock switch and drilled the new bars for the wires. I sold the stock bars they were like new but don't fit me. Waiting on a left switch to restore but there's allways other things to do anyhow. Finished the front brake assembly, I hope I remember how to dial it in, havn't rode one since 1973. :lol: pics below

I have a couple CBs a CL and 1-3/4 SL350 kicker engines, you can never have enough parts.
I kinda have the same delima on the heads but I'm going with the torque (k2 head) later I'll scrape up funds and build another motor.

Your SL looks sweet, I did a endo on a red K0 at 70 mph thru the whoops!

 

I think I'm going to have to do some more polishing after looking at your front hubs. Your forks look great too. Can't wait to see you start putting it together. You've given me so good ideas. The coils is something I'm definately going to do.

 

The coils are fairly easy there's a barb pin that shoves in the wire so it's just a matter of sealing them back up with epoxy after some dremel work cutting them open. I can't wait to start reassembly, I'm media blasting and powder coating the frame tomorrow. I tested the 3rd color of Powder paint on the swingarm and it looks decent, had a little metalflake sag so i'll spray it lighter on the frame, I wanted it thick on the SA.

 

I restored the Clocks after buying some more (ebay used ones) for extra parts, a pain but they're back to new again, put in new face overlays, cleaned, painted the black outer shell and white inner, lubed, sealed and reassembled. They run smooth and I hope they stay that way, I don't want to rebuild them again.

 

Well today I media blasted the frame, found a hairline crack starting in the outer SA plate, I made a ear and welded it on to reinforce it (see pic) cleaned up some crude welds. Powder Coated it and crossed my fingers, it came out super..no goo goos. I love when a plan comes together. If something goes wrong the Powder Coating is a real project to remove so you can try again. You can only hope it happens with a small part.

 

Very impressive work - you are going to have a very nice bike!!

 

The clocks look great. My wife, for some strange reason, had some florescent orange finger nail polish. She painted the ends of the little pointer on my Tach and it looks really good. It really pops out at you now. I wasn't going to rebuild my Speedo because it wasn't bad, but now...I just have too. I didn't redo the face like yours (Your's look like new). I'm just not too good at that stuff and didn't want to screw it up.

 

She rolls again! The All Balls stem bearing were a Ball buster..shimming to get the stack right, getting lower seal in a good position and grinding the nut cap for clearance but it's tight and smooth. I decided to true the wheels and all spokes adjusted easily (amazing) . Installed new Continental TwinDuro's and balanced them, should ride sweet! Installed my Ebay rear shocks and adjusted rear ride height up 3/4 of a inch, spring rates seem high for the lightweight SL, sag is only about 10mm when I sit on it but we'll see when it's all together and I let out a bit of Nitrogen pressure. I installed all the bits and pieces that were on the shelves and new hardware. Only glitch was the new EBC Brake linings, rears fit perfect but the fronts have too thick of lining, they're the correct ones, I put the original front Honda oem linings back in... they were like new, the po must have been a rear braker. Made another Kickstand to account for the new static heaight. Now waiting for cylinders to get bored.

 

Do you mean Continental Twinduro? What size are they?

 

Yes TwinDuro's, I fixed it!
90/90-21 and a 120/90-18 , I had bought them for the DRZ as backups for the D606's so I decided they would be good on the SL. They look decent I've never tried them, I had Trakmasters on the DRZ and couldn't wait to get the rear off of it...it was painfully loud on the hiway, the D606 is great but the 120 is a gigantic tire for a 120, I had to change gearing (again), the Trakmaster ran small but the Twinduro seems true to size.

 

How are the coils since you rebuilt the wires?

Have you done any testing of them yet.?

 

Hi, no testing yet waiting for bore job so I can reassemble the engine. Should be no problem as the coils are the same as most with the only difference being the wires are sealed with epoxy. You don't have to cut into the coil part only where the coil wire plugs on to the barb pin. I did the same on old outboard coils with no problem in the past.

 

Oddly, the Twinduros aren't listed on Continental's website. I suspect they've been replaced with the TKC80 tire. Dennis Kirk and other places still show the Twinduros. The TKC80 looks the same to me. They are a 60/40 tire which means 60% offroad and 40% onroad. I like them too and they're are available in 3.00x21 and 4.00x18 if I want to get them shipped from the UK.

Do you do your own media blasting and powder coating?

Are you planning on doing anything else with the exhaust? I was just browsing eBay and someone has used K0 original exhaust for a Buy-it-now of $2800 and a starting bid of $900. I'm betting no one is willing to even pay the starting bid.

 

I got my TwinDuros off Ebay, I guess they're replaced like you said with the TKC. I wanted to try these next.. http://www.fullboretires.com/adventuretouring.html

I'm in a retirement community..we have rec centers and a full metal shop, sheet metal, welding, lathes, mills, a cnc vert mill, sand blasting and powder coating with a walk in size oven. It's handy I made all sorts of stuff when I restored my Interceptor.

I saw the ones on Ebay...there will be some sniping at the end. I still havn't decided on the exhaust and I don't see any deals... so I may mod something. I kinda hate to spend a fortune even thou they're nice mufflers but I would need to make them a bit louder, not something I would want to do to them after spending a fortune. I modded the stockers on my Interceptor they sound decent but look stock.

 

I finished the Seat restoration, media blasted, I spot welded a reinforcement in a weak spot, spot welded about 20 triangle (tack strip) material hold downs around the edge... so it could be fitted without the usual wrinkles, powder coated it and new hardware. I bought 10 feet of door edge guard and ran that around the sharp edge of the pan so it would have a smooth rounded edge. Ordered a cover and new foam from Viet Nam..pretty nice workmanship..after a previous cover I recieved from another company was a turd (good for a riding lawnmower at best). The foam is a little on the hard side but fit only required shaving out where the fender bulge is in the pan. You may notice it's a K1 cover, since the bike is going to be a K1 with a 21 inch front wheel, that's my favorite SL.

 

Resto moving along, some more bits and pieces off the bench and back on the bike.

 

Assembled the trans and buttoned up the cases. Had been waiting on a NOS countershaft seal, there well made, the aftermarket ones are pretty crappy compared to the oem seal.

 

This engine does look amazing!! I paid to have mine vapor blasted and they dont look nearly as good. Last time I do that! Do you use sealant on your crankcases?

 

That's like the cleanest looking engine ever! Couldn't have been that good from the factory. How'd yo do that?

 

That's like the cleanest looking engine ever! Couldn't have been that good from the factory. How'd yo do that?

It was decent to start with, not much rust or corrosion in the desert here. I pressure cleaned, soaked it a week in Purple Power and scrubbed/shined up the outside with Scotch pads and Purple Power. I didn't want to paint the main cases.

 

I'm impressed!