1970 Honda CL350 project

[leprecaun jon]

As promised i am posting about my Cl Project.
A littke background on the bike:

my old boss purchased his house 15 years ago, with it a 1970 Cl350 was foubd in the garage, the old mab he purchased the home from said he had bought the bike in hopes of fixing it up, but told shawn (my old boss) to keep the bike. Shawn moved the bike to his horse barn where it sat for 15 years till i purchased it for $200.

Upon cleaning the bike and inspection once it was in the garage i found it had been in some sort of minor accident, the upper fork has a dent, the exhaust has scarring and the handle bars are slightly bent. The bike was ladt on the road in 1981. The seat was qrapped in plastic and in perfect shape. The exhaust had been off for years and the left cyclinder is siezed. And i have no keys ATM

So far whats has been done: the tool box removed, the carbs removed, the fender, tailight, battery box, gear shift, fuel lines, cables and what not removed, all chrome bitz are being restored. The fuel tank is off!

So far the rear end is torn down, i need to removed theold tires, remove and restore the rims and tear down the front end.

The plan: to tear down to the frame, remove and investigate the motor, re powder coat the frame and swing arm, rebuild the motor, update the charging system , uodate the points ignition to an electronic system, upgrade the carbs, re paint the bike, update all cables and hoses, in summary to just get the thing on the road again.

I know this is a big project and my first kf its kind and age but im confident and excited!

 

[leprecaun jon]

Forgive the spelling my mac crapled out and im on my phone. But here are some pictures of the chrome restoration

 

[leprecaun jon]

And the rest of them!

 

[leem00]

that's a heck of a project...love it though....once you get it restored I bet it will fetch a premium if you decide to sell.

 

[leprecaun jon]

that's a heck of a project...love it though....once you get it restored I bet it will fetch a premium if you decide to sell.

I hope so!! Im thinking about blacking it out like the triumph bonnevile black

 

[leprecaun jon]

I forgot about this picture!!

 

[Blue-Sun]

Does this one have a clear title??

I remember the difficulties you went through with the title on your FZ6R...

 

[leprecaun jon]

Does this one have a clear title??

I remember the difficulties you went through with the title on your FZ6R...

Hahaha funny you should mention, over the years the title got misplaced, im doing the same process i did with the 6r, however there isnt the same pressure because i have a bike to ride in the mean time. A clean and clear title will be in my name in 14 days im already 3/4 through the process.

 

[leprecaun jon]

I failed to mention that in the future whenever i part ways with this project bike all proceeds will be donated to the CCFA to raise awarness and find a cure for Crohns disease ( my girlfriend and childhood friend was diagnosed when she was 12) i actually started a gofund me to raise money for the charity and bike project.

 

[Superzoom]

that's a heck of a project...love it though....once you get it restored I bet it will fetch a premium if you decide to sell.

I would say that projects will almost never make you any money, once you consider all the man-hours and frustration and costs that go into them. You gotta do it just because you love working on bikes.

I do love reading threads on old bike restorations. Advrider has lots of them. This one jumped out at me because the guy is doing a great job and doing it really fast. Some of these projects can end up taking years.

1968 Royal Enfield Interceptor barn find | Adventure Rider

 

[leprecaun jon]

I would say that projects will almost never make you any money, once you consider all the man-hours and frustration and costs that go into them. You gotta do it just because you love working on bikes.

I do love reading threads on old bike restorations. Advrider has lots of them. This one jumped out at me because the guy is doing a great job and doing it really fast. Some of these projects can end up taking years.

1968 Royal Enfield Interceptor barn find | Adventure Rider

The idea isnt to profit, in full restoration they fetch about 5k. Im restoring it because of my passion fof motorcycles the go fund me is simply to help raise money for the charity and anyone willing to help with the build cost, otherwise its coming out of my pocket regardless. And regardless on if i make a profit its all being donated.

 

[leprecaun jon]

I am well aware of how long they can take, however am confident in this project, i have estimated about 8 months to get her back on the road. However that all comes down to $$$ parts for this bike arent expensive ( i own a ducati...those parts are expensive) but there are a few things ill need to square away but also there were over 500,000 cb/cl 350's sold in the 70's there is no shortage of them, or parts for them, they were popular, reliable and widespread. HONDA, was at one point the best selling motorcycle in america thanks to these bikes.

 

[Superzoom]

Sorry, hope I didn't offend with any of my comments. I just know from my own experience that old bikes can be real money pits. My '78 CB550 had endless problems.

 

[leprecaun jon]

Sorry, hope I didn't offend with any of my comments. I just know from my own experience that old bikes can be real money pits. My '78 CB550 had endless problems.

No,no, not at all, but id imagine building the bike up from the groubd woukd help with dependibility. I didnt mean for any of that to come out defensively just explaining my self. But to be fair the 550 and the 350 are quite different. Also ownership, where a bike has been riden and how it was riden by previous owners contributes to any bikes reliability. My 6r had some painstaking issues that popped up because of the original owner, nothin.mager but just anoying.

 

[Superzoom]

No,no, not at all, but id imagine building the bike up from the groubd woukd help with dependibility. I didnt mean for any of that to come out defensively just explaining my self. But to be fair the 550 and the 350 are quite different. Also ownership, where a bike has been riden and how it was riden by previous owners contributes to any bikes reliability. My 6r had some painstaking issues that popped up because of the original owner, nothin.mager but just anoying.

Cool. I'm glad you're not offended, because I realized after I posted that I might come across as one of those "it can't/shouldn't be done" types who are so annoying.

Many of my old Japanese bikes had serious problems, and can probably be traced to the previous owners, as you allude to.

I think you will get a lot of pride of ownership out of that 350. Plus small bikes are a total blast, both in the city, and on tight, windy roads.

 

[leprecaun jon]

Cool. I'm glad you're not offended, because I realized after I posted that I might come across as one of those "it can't/shouldn't be done" types who are so annoying.

Many of my old Japanese bikes had serious problems, and can probably be traced to the previous owners, as you allude to.

I think you will get a lot of pride of ownership out of that 350. Plus small bikes are a total blast, both in the city, and on tight, windy roads.

Well im glad there are people here i can talk to and possibly seek insight from. Im excited about this bike! I have an 803cc buckets of fun motorcycle so a little motorcycle will be an interesting toy. I have experiance working on more modern cb250s so its not all unfamiliar territory, but some of the outdated tech is a first for me. I am a researcher though and i do have the clymer manual for it, i dont know much about engine internals so im thinkibg about removing some of the pieces like the stator and case covers and what not then taking it to a professional to have all thr valves and bearings checked out i know all the gaskets will be getting replaced.

 

[leprecaun jon]

The carbs

Just an update, i pulled the carbs and some other misc parts out of the pin sol cleabing solution last night and there was this white goop, almost like white lithium greese in the carbs and on the rear shocks, the shocks were seperate in a isolated container and also had this goop... any guesses ob what it could be?

 

[leem00]

I am thinking shock oil that got wet...oil does dome weird things over time...the carbs I would guess same thing...oil/stabilizer that got wet

 

[leprecaun jon]

I am thinking shock oil that got wet...oil does dome weird things over time...the carbs I would guess same thing...oil/stabilizer that got wet

Thats what i was thinking, ill prob dump the mibey in some mikuni carbs and hogan shocks and just rebuild the forks. Right now money is tight so im doing what i can.

 

[leprecaun jon]

Heres an update on what i did over this passed weekend, most of my posts have been outside of thid thrrad, for that i apologize for anyone not in the VIP lounge.

I finished painting and put the final touches on thr plasti bits and tank, they are a matte obsidian pearl.

Removed the motor and mounted it to the stand.