[MaaseyRacer]

I have a 1968 CL350, that I am rebuilding. I almost done with the bits and peices, and now I need to get into the carbs. both of the carbs have torn diaphragms. The carbs are a mess, but slide freely. They need to be completely cleaned, but the floats look good. I have been reading about people putting Mikuni VM30 carbs on these 350s. It seems that along with a dyna coil and electronic ignition do wonders for these bikes.

My question is, is it worth it? Do I tarnish it being a K0 by replacing the stock parts?

 

[richa610]

I'd be interested in this too. What are the pros/cons?

 

[doug350]

The pros to the mikunis or any center pull carb is better throttle response. The stock carbs are a rubber diaphram that uses vacuum to raise and lower the slide. The mikunis also have a infinate range of tuning, needles, slides and a ton of varying jets. The electronic ignition for the 350's is really steep in price, dont get me wrong they are wonderful but I would go for the hondaman ignition. It still uses the points as a trigger to tell the amplified signal when and what coil to fire on and its only 70 bucks.The only wear you have on the points is the cam slide so keep it lubed up and she should run flawless. Its just my opinion, but most is based on experience.

 

[MaaseyRacer]

I was thinking about the Hondaman Ignition. Mark does some nice work, he did an amazing job on my CB500F swing arm. How does it compare in terms of power delivery compared to the one offered by Bore-Tech?

I am still not sure what I want to do about these carbs, as I would like to keep a stock look on this CL. Is anyone using Mikunis with the stock air boxes?

Also are all VM30s made equal as this is a killer deal:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VM-30mm- ... 2053wt_984

 

[doug350]

Marks ignition is warrantied for a lot longer, I believe they are basically the same, but im sure mark's are a little more well built. He does build them himself, which is perfect quality control. I would stay stcok on your carbs, mikunis are for performance gain and would not work very well with the stock airbox. If you need diaphrams let me know, i have a few spares already on the slides with new needles. The ones you buy online have to be installed on the slide, and that can be quit tricky. The diaphrams are pretty thin and puncher very easily. Send me a pm and we can discuss shipping and such.

 

[richa610]

If I were to use mikunis, I would use pod type filters- I already have deviated from stock on the exhaust. As far as the look goes, can you use pod filters and just put the side covers on there some how to keep it looking stock?
$49 is super cheap for the Mikunis, considering a VM30 kit (with filters and throttle cable, and some extras) is over $300 anywhere I look. Are they different carbs (from the listed ATV/snowmobile $49 ones)? Has someone done a conversion on a build and have some instructions/tips and tricks?

 

[MaaseyRacer]

Has any one used VM30s with the stock air filters?

 

[JBMorse]

I don't know much about those mikunis on ebay, but they wouldn't work unless the intake flange is the same size. If it was the right size, I guess it would work since you can buy all different jets and needles for Mikunis, meaning you could tune them properly.
Does anyone have or know the dimensions of the intake flange on a CB350? It would be great if they worked since that's a good price.

 

[richa610]

The mikuni's are nice, but one thing to note is that on one of them, the choke mechanism would be located towards the center of the bike (aka hard to get at), same with idle screw. The VM30's do not come (to my knowledge) as a mirrored pair (idle screw would be difficult to get at one one carb, same with choke) but the VM32's DO (again, to the best of my knowledge and research). VM32's are a bit large for a non ported stock engine. Not a huge problem if you have relocated the battery and are running pod filters, such that you can get at the carbs easily. Again, I'm waiting for advice here from someone who has been there.

 

[MaaseyRacer]

The guys at Bore-Tech have run VM32s on stock 350 twins, supposedly they work as well as the 30s, just with bit less bottom end and a bit more top end.

 

[richa610]

From what I've seen, VM30s (spigot mount) would mout right up to stock carb boots. VM32's would probably require an adaptor, and I think you'd get less atomization of fuel because the air flow would be slower over the jet opening. This wouldn't be a huge problem, but I can't imagine the engine would run as well in the lower end. I'm not racing so I care a lot about lower end power. If the option were to go with stock or VM32's, I'd stay stock I think. When I run out of things to tinker with though, I may have a different opinion.