[lucasjgrams]

Hello all! Got my first Honda motorcycle in the last year or so. Well it was a project pair (turn two into one good bike) the CB being the bike with the intact body parts and frame. Maybe I heard white was rare somewhere. Did hear they made a lot of these, but fixing it has been a lot of fun this far too.

I'm intending to do a post project log here.

Both bike took up too much space, and the parts CL was rusty, so I began stripping all the usable parts. That motor I disassembled first, thinking I'd practice on the screwed one first. Got it turning over after removing the cam chain, cam shaft, and beating on the cylinders for days and applying penetrating oil. Broke one sleeve when they separated from the cylinders. Disappointed I moved on. I figured I wouldn't need the cylinders hopefully. Well I haven't needed them yet.

Stored the CL motor and parts and started in on the CB disassembly. The CB had been shipped at some time, and there was no oil in it. It wouldn't go into gear either.... Turns out I was wrong thinking the CB was the better condition motor there was considerable rust inside. Rusty shift linkage had made it necessary for me to split the case, intending to replace a shaft.

Had to ask for help from friend, who gave a pep talk and told me I could do it. He had done something similar with a 305 back in the day...

Next thing you know I've got two motors upside down on two separate carts.

My CL block went into the CB.

 

[lucasjgrams]

So I removed the starter block off, and installed the electric starter. New starter chain, and new used starter clutch. Between the two motors I didn't have enough viable starter clutch parts, cause the CL didn't have one of course! Was weird looking at all the space behind the rotor in the CL.

The shift linkage was rusted through on the CB, and bent on the CL, so on to Ebay motors for a good used linkage shaft with all the goodies. Used a grinder to cut the bent one out of the CL case half. I'll post a picture of the little rusted loose part from the CB. No wonder I couldn't get the CB to shift!

Wanted to watch the transmission shift before closing the case halves, but when I tried shafts wanted to lift out of their cradles. I got to the point where I am relatively sure it'll shift through gears, and closed up the halves.

Turned down a little cylinder of alluminum to help push the wrist pins in and out. Put .25 over pistons and rings in. Had to send out the cylinders for boring, you know like this build thread"boring"! Jim from Jim's cycles helped me a little bit discovering there was some rust in the cylinder... Good that the machining was done. No head work necessary according to Jim. Before long I only had one motor in the shop and had stashed the CB parts...

 

[lucasjgrams]

In that photo the CB motor has a clear yellow stain at oil level. Anyone have thoughts on the yellow stain? Overheating event? Lots of rust on the crankshaft in there. Motor was dry when i took possesion.

 

[lucasjgrams]

Familiarized myself with the cam chain while disassembling both motors. At least one of cam chains was rusted through... Bought a chain tool from common motor. Starter chain and cam chain are the same pitch. Went together fairly easy.

Lined up the timing marks between crank and cam thanks to instructions I found on this site.

Adjusted the valves according to instructions found on this site.

I mean to say thank you to this site!

Today I got the bike through all four gears for the first time... Fun!

Tinkered over the last three weeks with carburetors... Throttle slide wouldn't slide so I loosened the manifold screws. One carburetor leaked badly, reset the float level, and leak stopped. I considered soldering the overflow tube in the basin.

Slight timing adjustments, and now I think I can cover the distributor, put on the air cleaners, and side covers!