[mountaingoat]

Continuing on from my member introduction..
This project has been a year in the making and I am about halfway through to where I want the bike to be. I bought my 1970 CL350 a year ago from a guy in Georgia. Got a notorized Bill of sale and took it to Tennessee where they issued me a title. Score! The whole idea behind this bike was to build a vintage bike into a tracker/ desert sled inspired bike that could be ridden on pavement and hit a few gravel roads in Eastern Tennessee.

The bike a year ago. Non running but solid bones. I didn't have a compression tester but it would kick over although the kickstarter was slipping. The exhaust had been cut and the previous owners already had VM30 Mikunis installed. They said they never could get the jetting right and as discovered later they were using way to large jets.


The bike as of two weeks ago .The motor is currently out for a rebuild as I stripped a spark plug and at that point I wanted to do it right and remove the head. I discovered heavy pitting on the right cylinder exhaust valve cam lobe and rocker arm. At that point I knew I wanted a rebuild and also get that pesky slipping kickstarter fixed while I was at it.

 

[mountaingoat]

If your interested in instant photo overload of the past year check out Flickr Project 70 Millennium Falcon

 

[mountaingoat]

The bones were solid on this bike but it had no turn signals and the wiring was chopped to pieces. It had a working headlight that was wired to a toggle switch on the headlight itself. 1st thing I did after checking the oil was head down to my local Auto store and rented a compression tester. 155psi + on both cylinders just doing a jump from my riding lawn motor battery and using the bikes electric starter. Awesome. That meant I could start on the wiring and cosmetics.







replacing the points JIS bolts with Allen bolts

 

[mountaingoat]

compression test from a year ago



a 1st box of many goodies from Dime City


cleaning up the side covers




Bobbing the rear fender

 

[doode]

That rear brake cam arm looks off. Are the punch mark dots lined up? There's a mark on the arm and a mark on the cam

 

[mountaingoat]

Hey Doode, Thanks for the heads up. The brake had been taken apart since that photo. Just double checked. It is lined up.

photo taken about a month ago when drilling holes.

 

[mountaingoat]

The original seat cover. It did look ok but it was torn at all the turns underneath the seat and the 40 year old foam compressed to the metal panel when sat on.



rebuilding a seat. When building a bike Han Solo would ride I had a vision in mind. Originally that was a silver painted tank and a brown seat that later became a bare metal tank with clear Por15. More on that later.

I stripped the seat down to the pan and repainted it.









Then the foam. I used a camping pad to build a backbone then layers of 7 lb carpet foam and Yoga mats up to 8 layers thick.






a final layer of carpet pad wrapped all the layers



Then the seat cover. My daughter has a sewing machine so I watched a few youtube videos on sewing. Its my 1st real sewing attempt and I'm super happy with the results despite a wrinkle.







my mother in law has an embroidery machine so I had to add the Millennium Falcon with the Rebel Symbol. The Nerdist is strong with this one.

 

[mountaingoat]

from there it was a fork rebuild. New seals. 10 wt fork oil, I'm 220 lbs at the moment, maybe one day I'll start riding pedal bikes again, drop this 30 extra lbs and be back to where I used to average 3500 miles a year of mostly singletrack and dirt roads with food as fuel and not gasoline. Check out the member check in for more details on that.



While fork was out I repainted the lower triple tree, fork ears and polished the upper triple and bolts



then I painted the spokes and painted the center of the hubs. Eventually the spokes and rims will be replaced. I've been looking at the rims on MikesXS unless there is other suggestions.

 

[mountaingoat]

at the same time I checked the wheel bearings and rear swing arm bushings. I'll eventually replace the steerer bearings with the All Balls solution but for now I just regreased the steering bearings and the wheel and swingarm bushings checked with spec at that time so I greased what was needed and moved on to painting.

 

[mountaingoat]

after that I stripped what was left of the wire harness and built a new wire harness. Keep in mind I knew I wasn't going for completely stock and was going for my own customized bike. I did this not only to have something uniquely mine but also to save some money. I tried not to cut any corners though and those that were such as just sanding down the fork tubes that had rusted beneath the fork ears will be eventually fixed with parts such as the fork tubes replaced in the future.

The wiring harness.



I didn't want a clustered handlebar and wanted it to be simple as possible. I used a Tricon switch for the starter, Lights on and kill switch on the right hand. And used a Vintage reproduction styled switch on the left hand for turn signals, horn and high/low beam switches. For the momentary headlight on and Hi/low beam I used interlock relays and added a brake flasher for my LED Lucas styled tail light. My Headlight is a H4 LED bulb.

 

[mountaingoat]

I changed the oil in the unit which included removing the oil slinger, clutch basket and oil pump. The engine was remarkably clean and honestly even the bearings I had regreased in the steering, wheels and rear bushings had shown signs of being taken care of. Even the brake pivot points had newer grease on them and the shoes had been replaced in 2011 with little wear. Other then a few nuances like the wire harness I knew I had lucked out compared to what I have seen out there.



The one issue I did find was a stripped bolt hole in the oil slinger cap in the right cover. I tapped it and used a helicoil and it has held great in 4 oil changes since.



Another issue was just older rubber that was to be expected. I replaced the rubber bushings under the handlebar clamps. The bars would rock and pop before.







I originally painted the tank but I was unhappy with the color and I didn't use 2k clear so after about a dozen fill ups, a spill caused the paint to bubble. Knowing I wanted this bike to be a resemblance to a spaceship or at least something Han would ride I stripped the tank and used K&N filter oil to keep the rust at bay. It will eventually get Clear Por15 to seal the metal then use 2k clear to seal the Por15 as Por15 breaks down with UV rays from the sun.

 

[mountaingoat]

My original pipes were ok but also banged up. I though about buying original pipes with mufflers but I really couldn't find a pair for under $250. I know that's reasonable considering but my family is on a budget so I just welded on some extensions to lengthen the pipes and used vintage VW Beetle baffles to keep the sound down, a little, and make the tone slightly more pleasant. My father in law hated riding behind me and he rides a Harley. I also wrapped the pipes just to hide the blemishes on the pipes and I actually liked the look.



I couldn't find any brown knee pads in the states, only black ones. For the look I was going for I really wanted the brown so I ordered them from a seller in China on Ebay. It only took 10 days to get them.



1st ride. I live in Maryville, TN. We're about 20 miles from The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, The Foothills Parkway and the infamous Tail of the Dragon. Its an awesome place to ride motorcycles and imho there are better roads then the Dragon around but I still enjoy riding it early in the morning before the hordes. I know many will be unhappy with me but I rode those miles and a few more with the tires that came on the bike. They got replaced about 200 miles later.



Anyway the 1st ride was a 50 miler including the Foothills Parkway and lots of twisty backroads. My father in law rode with me and was surprised how the little 350 managed the roads especially with drum brakes vs his modern Harley.

 

[mountaingoat]

From that point the bike has been ridden on average 3 days a week with some longer rides of 300+ miles from Maryville to Cherokee, NC, the Blueridge Parkway to Waynesville out to Hot Springs, NC and back to Maryville through Gatlinburg. I installed some Shinko 241 tires and rode them up to a month ago when they were replaced with some favorites that will show in later post.





My father n law and I on the Cherohala Skyway









I also got to join in the local Distinguished Gentlemen's ride in Knoxville, TN. Loads of fun and I met a ton of awesome people while raising money for a good cause and looking good while doing it




I've tried a few muffler variations but these shorties just sucked in power and sound.



I've also found a ton of awesome gravel roads with Rich Mountain Road being a local Favorite and the Old Chattalooche Turnpike being my all day favorite.

 

[doode]

Nice work. Very thorough and great photos

 

[Rscottp]

Nice bike!

 

[mountaingoat]

Thanks doode and Rscottp. Its been a fun project. More photos and mods to come.

 

[mountaingoat]

The 2-1 exhaust. Let me preface this as I am a welding hack so please don't give me to hard of a time over my welds. I just started to learn welding with a mig welder in July of 2018. I've been brazing and soldering for years being in the refrigeration industry for 25+ years and residential appliances for 21 of those years, adding in TV's for the past 8 years. If I were building this exhaust for someone else. Lets just say, it wouldn't happen. I have no doubt that it holds but the welds are ugly so its a good thing I like my exhaust wrap. I also made this with stainless and a mig welder where I know a good tig and a man who can weld better then me would make this to be a beautiful exhaust. A project for me never truely ends though so maybe one day I'll build another with a tig after some experience.

Figuring out angles


There was a fairly big offset to account for once I cut the stock headers back. I almost let this be my hurdle.



I started out looking for the elusive Hooker 2-1 exhaust. I knew it was a long shot and it was part of the reason I held off on nothing more then the VW exhaust tips. Never finding one and knowing if I did it would probably be out of my price range. I looked at the Bengie's 2-1 and several times almost purchased it after a long night of drinking my Moscow Mules.

I readily admit these welds are ugly as hell but there was good penetration and they were being hidden by exhaust wrap. I'd never settle to buy an exhaust that looked like this but trying to do most of this on my own I was happy since I was wrapping it.


I finally settled on a Yokana 1.5, 1.5 to 1.75 collector and using the original headers to the collector. I wanted the Hooker look and while I know its not dyno tuned or whatever else you need to do to ensure maximum power output I started cutting and hacking. Worst case scenerio is I would ruin my headers and need to buy some more. Being a Macgyver I know and follow the saying of," If I broke it, I know not to do it that way again". Growing up poor and doing ok for myself now that was a motto in my household as a teenager.

 

[mountaingoat]

Adding my customized heat shields. I knew I wanted heat shielding for myself and in case one of my daughter's wanted a ride to school. They think its cool to ride with Dad on the motorcycle to school or to get picked up on it. I had the heat shield that came with my bike and a buddy had sent me an extra muffler heat shield he had but both were scratched and had some damage. So I made a 2-1 heat shield out of the original header shielding and bent the original muffler shield to fit my current muffler then I took the torch to both give a more distressed look and I am very pleased with the results.

 

[mountaingoat]

More details with Speed Holes. I know drilling holes may be considered a travesty but I dig them and its my opinion that counts the most on my bike.

 

[Alan F.]

Nice work. I was waiting for you to post about the 2:1 since you mentioned it earlier. It looks great from here, how's the sound and does it fit your riding style?

I really respect that you ride long days on this bike, anything can be comfortable between coffee stops or cigarette breaks.... Its only after some real saddle time that we can find the difference between our personal needs and the original Honda design. Most people never know that difference even exists, cheers to you for finding it.

How about some videos?