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Another Honda 360 Restoration

8K views 75 replies 17 participants last post by  Sonreir 
#1 ·
Well, I jumped on the restoration bandwagon late last year. A friend from work had just completed a 1975 CB360T (mostly stock with the exception of CL exhaust, instruments, handlebars and side covers) and let me take if for a short ride. It was so much fun that I decided to restore one myself. I had been bike-less for a few years after my beloved Hayabusa pitched me off and put me in the hospital, so this would give me a good excuse to start riding again.

I’ve owned three Honda twins in the past, a new CB450 (my 16th birthday present), CB77 in the late ‘80’s, and a CL350 in the ‘90’s. All were original, not restored, and were a blast to ride. I will dig up some old pictures and post them. I remembered 360’s as being good handling, marginally faster than 350’s and fairly reliable. Parts seemed plentiful, and I have my friend as a resource, so all I needed was a starting point.

Looking on Craigslist, there were no 360’s in this area, so the search was expanded 300 miles up and down the east coast. My friend found my 360 in Myerstown, PA, which was about a six hour drive from Virginia Beach (ironically, I found his current project, a CB750K0 on Craigslist six hours from here in North Carolina). After a few emails and pictures exchanged, a deal was made and I jumped in my wife’s Honda Odyssey and made the drive to PA.

This is what she looked like when I picked her up. She looked pretty in pictures, but had quite a few warts in person.
 

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#5 ·
She was a good "20 footer", looked good from 20 feet away. However, the closer I got the more warts I noticed. The gas tank had a couple of small dings on top as well as being scratched pretty bad. The master cylinder was removed (though included), some of the chrome had some minor surface rust and it did not run. It had a new battery and the engine sounded good when turning over with the electric starter.

I got it home and checked the compression, both cylinders were right at 170 psi. Since she only had 4300 miles, I decided not to rebuild the engine, but to restore the rest back to factory original. Found a person online who could paint the tank and side covers the original color and tank graphics, and a friend recommended a local powder coater to do the frame.

Here are a couple of pictures I took during disassembly.
 

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#6 ·
Looks like the battery overflow was routed directly to frame :( Its always a treat to give em fancy new clothes hey. I can tell you're a bit fussy like me when it comes to 'cleaning 'em up' :D

Welcome to Honda360's.net :lol:

Lee
 
#7 ·
leethal said:
Looks like the battery overflow was routed directly to frame :( Its always a treat to give em fancy new clothes hey. I can tell you're a bit fussy like me when it comes to 'cleaning 'em up' :D

Welcome to Honda360's.net :lol:

Lee
Yeah, it appears so. . .Honda twins tend to cook their batteries from time to time. I made sure the overflow tube was routed correctly during re-assembly.

As far as being fussy, my wife as another less flattering term she uses to describe me. :D
 
#11 ·
Re-assembly. . .let the swearing begin.

I started with the swingarm. I replaced the plastic swing arm bushings with bronze bushings, something I learned years ago trying to get my '79 CBX to handle better (there's a story for you). Pretty straight forward, though a very tight fit.
[attachment=4:2zvrni9v]001 (2).JPG[/attachment:2zvrni9v]

I moved to the shock mounts. . .the new ones went in much easier than the old ones came out.[attachment=3:2zvrni9v]002.JPG[/attachment:2zvrni9v][attachment=2:2zvrni9v]003.JPG[/attachment:2zvrni9v][attachment=1:2zvrni9v]004.JPG[/attachment:2zvrni9v]

Time to move on to the frame.
[attachment=0:2zvrni9v]001 - Copy.JPG[/attachment:2zvrni9v]
 

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#12 ·
I notice you didnt powder the triple tree, front caliper, rear brake stay, air filter covers, chain guard etc...was that a budget thing or are ya gonna spray them yourself?
 
#13 ·
leethal said:
I notice you didnt powder the triple tree, front caliper, rear brake stay, air filter covers, chain guard etc...was that a budget thing or are ya gonna spray them yourself?
I was fortunate, none of these parts needed refurbishing. In retrospect, I should have included the seat pan and ignition switch bracket. The seat pan had a small spot of surface rust, so I sanded it and painted it myself. Though it looks ok, it would look better if it was powder coated. I had to buy an ignition switch bracket since the previous owner moved the switch to the handle bar bracket and threw the original away. Again, I sanded the one I bought and painted it, but it too would have looked better powder coated.
 
#14 ·
I was going to build a rolling chassis first, then install the engine, but a friend recommended that I put the engine on its side and lower the bare frame onto it (he did this with his 750). Sounds bizarre, but it worked great! Once the engine was bolted in, I simply turned the frame upright and it was good to go. No scratched frame down tubes, no busted knuckles and no swearing.

Installed the center stand. swing arm, rear fender, tail light and shocks. Installed the battery box and “tool box”, replaced the cam cover, right side engine cover, starter chain and dynamo cover with NOS parts. Ready to move to the front end.
[attachment=4:3a1tahjj]004 - Copy.JPG[/attachment:3a1tahjj][attachment=3:3a1tahjj]001 (4).JPG[/attachment:3a1tahjj][attachment=2:3a1tahjj]003 (4).JPG[/attachment:3a1tahjj][attachment=1:3a1tahjj]001 (5).JPG[/attachment:3a1tahjj][attachment=0:3a1tahjj]002 (5).JPG[/attachment:3a1tahjj]
 

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#16 ·
Well, being the old man that I am, I ended up hurting my back while being bent over working on her while she was on the garage floor. So, I took some time to do some small, detail work.

I started with the instruments, which were in terrific shape, but some of the hardware was showing it age and the covers needed polishing.[attachment=4:1fwcltb0]003 (2).JPG[/attachment:1fwcltb0][attachment=3:1fwcltb0]004 (2).JPG[/attachment:1fwcltb0][attachment=2:1fwcltb0]005 (2).JPG[/attachment:1fwcltb0]

Next I re-built the carbs using a couple of Keyster rebuild kits. I try to use only OEM parts when possible, but I know a couple people who used these kits recently with good results. I bought a gallon (actually 3 quarts with a parts basket inside the can) of carburetor cleaner from NAPA and soaked each carb for a couple of hours, blew them out with air and re-assembled them. At the time, both slides and diaphragms look fine (more on this later).[attachment=1:1fwcltb0]031.JPG[/attachment:1fwcltb0][attachment=0:1fwcltb0]002 - Copy (2).JPG[/attachment:1fwcltb0]

Time to move on the side covers.
 

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#17 ·
Since the side cover emblems are no longer available from Honda (though since then I was able to locate and purchase some NOS ones but haven't installed them), I used some Dupli-Color auto touch up paint and some good old Rust-Oleum to refurbish the originals.[attachment=3:2h05bu2m]DSC02063.JPG[/attachment:2h05bu2m][attachment=2:2h05bu2m]DSC02066.JPG[/attachment:2h05bu2m]

The master cylinder was a mess, by far the most corroded I have ever seen (take a look at the piston!) . I purchased a rebuild kit as well as some special snap-ring pliers to rebuild it. Lets hope it works.[attachment=1:2h05bu2m]DSC00062.JPG[/attachment:2h05bu2m][attachment=0:2h05bu2m]35-6892.JPG[/attachment:2h05bu2m]
 

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#18 ·
Time to get back to the garage and get some real work done. My priority was to get the bike off of the garage floor to keep from hurting my back again, so getting the front suspension and both wheels on were next. I installed the triple clamps, front forks, instruments, headlight bracket and handlebar.[attachment=3:yjuow05p]DSC02057.JPG[/attachment:yjuow05p][attachment=2:yjuow05p]DSC02059.JPG[/attachment:yjuow05p][attachment=1:yjuow05p]001 (7).JPG[/attachment:yjuow05p]

Next was the front wheel, (along with the headlight bucket and turn signals), so I could finally put it up on the centerstand! It’s starting to look like a motorcycle again.[attachment=0:yjuow05p]001 (6).JPG[/attachment:yjuow05p]
 

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#20 ·
I hate electrical work, but it won't run without a working electrical system. I got everything hooked up, but ran in to several snags (tail light, turn signals and no spark). Everything except the no spark issue was fixed when I finally figured out that proper grounding means tighten everything. I had the headlight mounting bolts finger tight, but they also have a green ground wire attached to them, so they must be tight to insure a proper ground. The no spark issue was traced to the kill switch. Once that was taken care of, I had a working electrical system (including a working starter / clutch interlock switch).[attachment=1:22ty4a2v]DSC02075.JPG[/attachment:22ty4a2v][attachment=0:22ty4a2v]DSC02074.JPG[/attachment:22ty4a2v]
 

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#21 ·
The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. . .

I rebuilt the master cylinder, and after installing NOS brake hoses and bleeding the system, the lever felt great. However, it developed a small leak on the lever side with fluid coming out of the dust boot. A working (though faded) master cylinder showed up on ebay, so I decided to buy it and work on the original (using NOS Honda parts this time) as time permits.

She started right up and actually sounded pretty good. Though I checked the valve clearances when I installed the new cam cover, it was on the noisy side when it got up to operating temperature (as Honda twins tend to do). The timing was spot on, and I got it to idle, but it is obvious that the carbs need to be synced. Also, the tach was not working properly. The needle would move, but was not responding to changes in engine speed. It was as the tach was filled with molasses. Maybe it will get better with usage.

Time to hit the DMV and get it registered.
 
#22 ·
She is now legally registered (and insured). After I had a friend sync the carburetors, she ran much smoother and idled better, though not yet perfect. A quick run down the interstate showed that she will indicate 95 mph on the obviously optimistic speedometer. She pulls cleanly throughout the powerband and likes to rev, though I don’t know how high since my tach has a mind of its own, It shifts smoothly, the clutch works well as does the front brake. The forks seem stiff to me, but do not leak.


It has been a long nine months, but it has sure been worth it. This was my first attempt at anything like this, and I know I had it much easier than many people who take on such a project, but I highly recommend it. I now have a unique motorcycle that should provide me with many “miles of smiles”. There will probably always be something to tinker with, and searching for those obscure, hard to find parts will be a fun challenge (like a NOS tach).[attachment=1:3m10el7s]009.JPG[/attachment:3m10el7s][attachment=0:3m10el7s]002.JPG[/attachment:3m10el7s]
 

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