[samw]

Hello all!

I picked up a 1975 Honda CB360T off of craigslist here in Atlanta a couple of months ago. The previous owner had started some very minor restoration on the bike. I bought it not running and with super dry rotted old tires. Nowhere near running and riding condition. It is currently up and running with just a few minor things to finish up before it will be truly road worthy. My current plan is to ride until the weather is too cold, then tear back down and clean/paint the frame and do some other repairs. I will do my best to outline everything I have done with the bike so far and successes/struggles I have had along the way.

From the Craiglist ad:

Day one when I got the bike home. Assessing the situation.

Soon after I got the bike a "helper" appeared!!!

So initial assessment was this:
Engine turned over fine. Assumed to be sound at this point.
Gear shift worked and seemed to shift fine.
Chrome.... so much chrome
Oil was drained (odd but just filled it up and it was fine, guess that was part of the beginning work the other guy did)
Battery dead, no surprise there
No air filters, again kind of odd but not a huge deal
Clutch seemed ok
Brakes worked
Tires super dry rotted, like ridiculously. Bike obviously hadn't been ridden in a long time.
Handlebars terrible
Mirrors terrible
Highway peg thing??? (Why???)

So all in all bike seemed pretty solid. Got to work right away with filling up and checking the oil (didn't want to forget that crucial step later down the line.) Took off a bunch of stuff I deemed unnecessary of just plain ugly.

What's this? Came with the original tool kit and manuals and all kinds of stuff to nerd out on!

 

[samw]

I've built/rebuilt a number of cars and trucks. I have this problem with trying to tackle too many things at once. No shocker here I did the same thing. As I was systematically taking off chrome I decided to go ahead and do a bar swap. Well, it would have made more sense to get the bike running and riding first then do a bar swap but hey, why do it in a way that makes sense. So I ordered some bars off the internets and figured, easy swap right? WRONG.

First of all, the wiring runs through the bars. I should have assumed that, but didn't really cross my mind. The wiring was a huge PITA... Anyway just fish it through the bars right? Not that easy.

Hey bars are gonna look pretty good!

Wait... WTH? Seriously? I guess they hadn't invented connectors in 1975.....

This is gonna suck...

So while I wrestled with the bars and wiring I figured I would take a break and finish running the fuel lines and filters to the carbs. All that went smoothly. Run to the gas station and get a gallon of gas. Pour a little bit in, everything seems ok. Start pouring in the whole gallon.... then realize it's pouring out the fuel valve as fast as I can pour it in. And no, not to the carbs, literally out the FRONT OF THE VALVE. Great...

So yeah. The seal inside had definitely failed. Ordered a new one and back to the bars...

Eventually after a lot or wrestling, fighting, cussing, and whiskey, I finally got the wiring out and the old bars off.

Got the new bars mocked up. Checked the angle. Liking the look!

So a couple of problems. The bars have a locating pin (sorry I didn't get a pic of this) that basically keeps them in place when they are clamped down. The new bars have no such holes, presumably because they are universal and the switches obviously would be different for different bikes. So after a lot (not really, like 5 minutes) of mocking up, I drilled the holes and lined the switches up. This brings us to problem-o number 2. The wiring is designed to go IN the bars. So you can't clamp the switch to the bars with the wires hanging out the side. So, trusty grinder/cutoff wheel to the rescue. Notched out the switch bodies to allow the wiring to come out the bottom of the switch and along the bars. (Sorry didn't get a pic of this either.) I opted to run the wiring on the outside. Not worth trying to drill and run through the bars like the original ones.

Jumping around again... Got the fuel valve fixed and gas was pouring out of the carbs... Great. Took them off and cleaned up the floats (they were stuck) and replaced the gaskets on the float bowls (if that is what its called...) Combo bar/carb pic:

Coming together on the hand controls.

I had ordered new brake lines as well because everything rubber on this bike had fallen victim to dry rot. Put those on around this time.

 

[samw]

Finally had the bars wrapped up aside from some new grips. Got the fuel sorted out (I thought at this point, wasn't completely sure) and had a new battery in place. Decided to try for a first start!!

Here goes nothin

It's ALIVE!!!!

Actually doesn't sound half bad either!

 

[samw]

After successfully determining the bike ran. I ordered some tires and some lights. I did a lot of research on tires and which ones to use. I ended up going with a cheaper road tire (as opposed to an off-road tire) and plan to run them for a couple of seasons. During my research I found that you can run a tube in a tubeless tire so that's what I opted for.

Tires, tubes and bands showed up.

Stripped the bike down. Actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Took time to mark everything for easy reassembly.

Installation in progress...

Well great... somehow lost the spacer when we mounted the tires up at work. Luckily was able to find it the next day.

Here she sits with tires and all installed!!!

However, I had a flat. ZERO miles since I put the tires on. We had checked the beads, spokes, etc. Seems like the band slipped maybe. Oh well, tire coming back off again. Got the tire back at work. Put a new tube AND band on, again... Got it home and was able to go for a successful test ride through my apartment complex. This past Saturday I was able to go for a legit test ride!!! Went to Brother Moto in Atlanta which is about a 7 mile ride. Bike rode amazing aside from a few quirks. Sometimes doesn't want to go into neutral, idle issues, etc. Brother Moto is an awesome coffee shop/clothing store/member garage and all around cool hangout spot. Lots of awesome bikes of all kinds.

On the way home from Brother Moto though... FLAT TIRE AGAIN. Jeez. So now I have the rear wheel in the back of my truck yet again. There is a motorcycle shop close by (Cycle Gear) that also does tires so I'm going to take it there and see if they can get me fixed up. Ugh.

Great weather to push your bike 2 miles

 

[samw]

Place Hold 4

 

[krukster86]

Looking good samw! I agree that the CB360 wiring harness is way more complicated (and strangely routed) than it needs to be. I encountered the same issue with aftermarket bars. Mr. Dremel Tool was my best friend for that!

I actually was running my bike with no air filters for a while and it ran pretty well I guess. This time around for my rebuild, I am doing everything correct and to spec for best performance.

 

[samw]

Hey thanks! Yeah initially I was kind of stumped by the wiring but eventually got it figured out. Haven?t made it to that part of the update yet but my turn signals and tail light don?t work. I suspect the harness may be the issue.

Also the bike won?t idle, tries to shut off, and is misfiring on the left cylinder. Needs a carb rebuild and I may try running it with no filters. It actually seemed to run better without them.

 

[samw]

I've put about 100 miles on this bike and I have a couple of issues. Tires vibrating pretty badly around 45 mph (especially the front). Also still cannot get the bike to idle. Any good posts, threads, videos, to get the idle sorted out? It runs ok but still backfiring a little as well.

 

[krukster86]

Combination of the bench synch:

and running synch:

SUCKS about the flat tires dude...