[paleodad]

I was looking on Ebay and there's a seller who has the rollers made out of steel and fit's the CB350 and the CB750 sohc,same part.

Yeah I have seen the metal ones and that may be the way I end up going but the cost has me hesitating. Wife is already starting to look at me sideways with the money I have spent so far!

I was finally able to get the last compression ring out, only took a little more foul language, a hammer and a very small punch.

Disassembled the carbs last night. Have them both soaking in Pine Sol over night. Both carbs were in excellent shape and relatively clean as they were completely drained of fuel before bike had been stored or left to rot.

 

[paleodad]

This weekend my son and I started reassembly of the engine and are mostly complete. This morning I decided to sit and review the sticky note from Jphoenix on his SL350 engine rebuild while I was having my morning coffee. This is a perfect example of why us noobs make things much harder than they have to be. I realized in my review I did not get the two o-rings which go at the base of the cylinders in my gasket or o-ring kits I bought. I will have to order those this morning and wait.....

I was really hoping to get the motor installed on the bike today as I am having hernia surgery this coming Thursday and will be unable to lift much of anything for 5-6 weeks after that, very disappointing to say the least.

I do have a quick question though if someone with more experience could chime in. On my rocker valve arms, I noted when I disassembled the engine that one of the rockers has a different number on it than the other three. It has a 36. number where all the others have 42. on them. My son and I both remember noting this down when we took it apart so we would remember where it goes for reassembly but of course now we cant find our notes on this. In all the parts diagrams I can find and manuals I can find no difference in the arms. Is there any difference?

 

[paleodad]

Curious what my chances are of finding those two o-rings in stock somewhere in the Dallas Metroplex? Surely someone will have them, right? Parts diagram shows them as a 69.8 x 2.0. Any ideas what type rubber they should be made of?

 

[bilbikek411]

Curious what my chances are of finding those two o-rings in stock somewhere in the Dallas Metroplex? Surely someone will have them, right? Parts diagram shows them as a 69.8 x 2.0. Any ideas what type rubber they should be made of?

Paleodad,
Look for the old,established Honda dealership,they may have 2 in stock.

 

[paleodad]

We're do these go?

I found the o-rings in my stock of parts. They were hiding under a few things.

They were in a pack with the cam adjuster cover o-rings and 6 other rubber parts which I do not know where to put? Given the size and that there are 6 pcs, 4 of one type and 2 of another I think they might go on the main head bolts.

I guess I can't post pics from my phone. 4 of them look somewhat like cups. The other two are rubber sleeves, all about the same OD diameter. The sleeves are just open on both ends with both openings being the same size. The other 4 are open on both ends as well but one end is about the size of the main head bolts. I know the description may not help. Can post a picture later when I get home.

 

[paleodad]

 

[bilbikek411]

I'm glad you found those large o-rings The 4 rubber seals are valve guide seals,some bikes use them and some don't,check the online oem Honda parts description to know for sure.

 

[paleodad]

I'm glad you found those large o-rings The 4 rubber seals are valve guide seals,some bikes use them and some don't,check the online oem Honda parts description to know for sure.

Thats kind of what I was expecting to hear. The diagrams for the '72 CL350 do not show them anywhere. Thanks for the confirmation, reassurance is always a good thing.

 

[paleodad]

Mission acompished

I set out this weekend with the goal in mind to get the motor reassembled and back in the frame. As I posted earlier, I am having surgery the end of this week and after that I wont be able to lift more than 10 lbs for 5-6 weeks. This was a do or die weekend for the project!

This engine is the first I have ever torn down completely so there were lots of learning opportunities. All the seals needed to be replaced as well as a ring job and honing. I was a little nervous about tearing into the crank case and transmission but as everyone has stated many times it is a very straightforward engine and after going through all of it I can honestly say, if a person can turn a wrench they can work on nearly any part of this engine. It is a very simple design when you get right down to it. I am fairly well mechanically inclined and though I made plenty of noob mistakes I was able to finish all the work successfully and quite easily.

Yesterday we assembled the engine all the way to the point we had the cam in with rockers and all before it came to me I had failed to install the cam chain tensioner and chain guide. Dang it! How exactly does one forget that, especially when it is sitting right there on the bench in front of me?......Removed cam housing and head and started over.

This morning I was reviewing the sticky note post and realized I had missed the two o-rings at the base of the jugs. Double dang it!! I did a quick tear down this morning before church and had it ready to reassemble when I got home. This time I had lots of notes and took my time to get it right. I have a few other pics I will post later but for now the final pic is what I have ready. My son wanted a little character to the paint scheme so we went black. i think so far it had turned out nicely. I will get the clutch and the few of the other heavier parts installed this week. After Thursday I will have lots of little stuff to do to it and plenty of time.

 

[paleodad]

All the small stuff!

Lots of the fasteners, from bolts to screws and nuts had fairly bad corrosion so I decided to replace all of those which could be sourced locally. Fortunately for me local is very local, our neighbor at my office, Metric Nut & Bolt here in Irving TX. They are a wholesale supplier but have counter sales as well. I made a list of all the fasteners I needed from the Honda diagrams and gave it to them to fill it. The next day they had everything packaged up and ready for pickup. Easy Peasy!



This bike is missing the air intake parts including the side covers. I stopped by a local parts shop to rummage around to see what I could find. The owner did not think they had any CL350 parts but I am not exactly sure how in the heck he would ever know what he has. They buy wrecked and non-running bikes and then part them out. Side covers are removed and stuck up on shelves. There are shelves holding hundreds upon hundreds of carbs, seats, wheels etc.... So if you are looking for something you have to wade in waist deep to find it and I do mean waist deep. Its probably in there but.....and you better know exactly what it looks like as well as you are on your own.




After digging through the piles of parts I found 6 right side covers and 1 left side. Made me wonder where all the left side covers went to. Having a CB450 as well, I made mental note of all the 450 parts I found...just in case you know.

So for now, the parts I am still searching for are the air filter boxes and filter frames themselves and the small side badges which go on the side covers. The cycle shop did have a very large bin of Honda badges which I dug through but no luck, several CB450 badges though. I'm sure I will find some other little part I am missing but for now I am not aware of any.

We are really down to just installing parts, torquing all the bolts and double checking that we have everything set right. My wife helps out where she can and is really good at polishing the aluminum engine covers. It usually cost me a trip to fill her wine glass in the evening which is a good trade off if you ask me.

I had purchased a replacement wiring harness from one of the members here a couple of months ago. This weekend, if I am feeling up to it I will disassemble it, clean and restore it. I replace the covers on my wiring harness with a woven heat shrink material which remains pliable after it has been shrunk and is very tough. I like the look and the protection it gives. From 4 feet away you would not know it wasn't original. After cleaning and restoring all the fittings I will use dielectric grease on all the plugs. I did this on the CB450 when I restored it and it was amazing. Everything electrical on that bike work correctly the first time I tried it. This recommendation was from the members on this site and it works very well!

That's the update for now. Will keep you posted...

 

[paleodad]

Lots of work done

With time off from work yesterday I spent the majority of the day putting on parts and pieces. Bike is coming along nicely at this point but will slow down considerably after today. The tank we have for this bike is a rusted mess. I had used vinegar to clean all the rust out initially and it worked fantastic but it also exposed the fact that the rust had eaten a couple of small holes out of the metal on the top side of the tank. Our plan is to cut out the area of the tank that has the holes, welding in a new piece to replace it. This is just a tad bit out of my area of experience but I figured i would give it go and see if we can fix it. At my place of business I have a welder who works for us and is pretty handy. I know he can do the welding if there is enough metal left to weld to. The only back up plan is to find a replacement tank which I know is costly.

This build has been pretty simple and straight forward without anything special to report. We made no modifications to the frame or other parts. The only stock differences will be we are adding the Pamco ignition system to aid in starting. We replaced all the Japanese Phillips heads on the engine with SS allen heads and most all of the other fasteners were changed out as well. All new black cables instead of the original grey and of course the black engine casing. 20 years from now this bike could be put back to original condition.

I do have a problem with the Pamco ignition system I have to resolve. Seems the small hole in the back of the aluminum part is either not big enough or not located exactly where it should be. The piece will not drop down over the small pin on the cam which drives it. I have a drill press but not sure I can drill out this hole with the precision required so i think I am going to have to send it back to get replaced. Has anyone else had this problem on their 350?

Today the plan is to disassemble the controls on the handlebars, clean, restore and reassemble. Rebuild the carburetors and install them. Carb bodies are already cleaned, just waiting on parts so that should be fairly quick operation. My son wants to tackle these so they are just sitting until he gets going. He's a teen so it will be a late morning start on those I a sure! The wiring harness we had was in bad shape so I sourced a replacement harness from another member and will strip it clean and get it ready to go today. We will be adding a SAE two prong plug to the harness to serve double duty as a connection point for the trickle charger as well as a place to connect a phone for GPS and phone charging. This will be added in up around the handle bars so the wires will need to be incorporated into the harness before I re-sleeve it. Also need to source new coils. The originals are in very bad condition so i don't think they are worth messing with.

 

[JHunt90]

I'm interested in that harness you're going to mod. Would like to see how that works out.

 

[paleodad]

I'm interested in that harness you're going to mod. Would like to see how that works out.

Will take some pictures of the harness as i put it together. Might be next weekend before I get around to that.

 

[paleodad]

Progress update

Well as things often go with Teenagers my son got distracted yesterday by X-box and spending the night over at a friends. No work on the carbs yesterday. I did get the controls mostly disassembled cleaned and ready for paint. The left side controls had a little more corrosion inside and the small screws do not want to give it up. I have saturated them with PB-blaster to hopefully free them. The handle bars had a little bit of rust on them but not bad at all. After cleaning with Coca Cola and a steel pad they are very shiny and will be just fine. No money in the build to have them re-chromed so they will have to be good enough.

I cut open the gas tank yesterday to get rid of the section which had the pin holes. Fortunately it is in the area of the tank which has the least amount of curve to it. Should make it easier to form the new piece to weld in. This will be the first time for me to tackle this kind of work. Wish me luck!

I have emailed Pete with PAMCO about the ignition issue. I am sure that will get resolved soon enough. Need to order a new battery today.

I decided to take another look at the coils which were on the bike and after cleaning them up I may be able to use them. The mounting bracket they sit on broke when trying to remove the bolts but that will be easy to replace with some aluminum. At this moment I cant remember the member who posted about building replacement aluminum brackets for aftermarket coils but I will most likely replicate his work as it turned out very nice. Will give him credit when I find his post again. That will save a little money on the build which is much needed at this point.

 

[dtsmjr8dan]

Just a tip I'd like to pass on.... don't use steel pads on chrome.... use aluminum foil. Steel wool leaves iron particles on/in the surface of the chrome which will rust again. The aluminum foil leaves no iron particles to eventually rust. You might even go as far as re-polishing the bars with the foil and coca-cola.

 

[paleodad]

Just a tip I'd like to pass on.... don't use steel pads on chrome.... use aluminum foil. Steel wool leaves iron particles on/in the surface of the chrome which will rust again. The aluminum foil leaves no iron particles to eventually rust. You might even go as far as re-polishing the bars with the foil and coca-cola.

I think I knew that at one point and forgot. I have some stainless pads which are not like the steel wool but with larger strands so they don't fall apart as you clean. I will go back over those parts again. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[bilbikek411]

Jerry,
When you form new custom coil brackets(you might consider repairing/tig welding the old ones..)be sure that the coils don't move outward to the left or right,etc.as the clearance under the tank is very close.

 

[dtsmjr8dan]

I think I knew that at one point and forgot. I have some stainless pads which are not like the steel wool but with larger strands so they don't fall apart as you clean. I will go back over those parts again. Thanks for the heads up!

Once they are up to your standards, I do them again with Autosol (Mother's if that's not available in your area), to give them a 'protective' coat ,plus it gives the chrome more lustre.

 

[paleodad]

Jerry,
When you form new custom coil brackets(you might consider repairing/tig welding the old ones..)be sure that the coils don't move outward to the left or right,etc.as the clearance under the tank is very close.

As I was looking at the coils yesterday I was wondering to myself just how much room they have down there. Thanks. I will make sure I keep within the original dimensions.

 

[paleodad]

Once they are up to your standards, I do them again with Autosol (Mother's if that's not available in your area), to give them a 'protective' coat ,plus it gives the chrome more lustre.

We do have Mothers here and use it judiciously. thanks.