Topic: 1973 CB350F "Modest Original" build

[iiAtlas]

use a cut-off wheel and slice that tire into pieces. Makes removal a lot easier. As for the brake/rear rebuild, go as far as you can to insure best results.

That's the plan!

[zammykoo]

Looking good! This is helping me with my tear down process. Can't wait to see it finished 

[iiAtlas]

Looking good! This is helping me with my tear down process. Can't wait to see it finished 

Thanks for the motivation!  Tear down is just about all I can do thus far...hah  will start trying the inverse soon enough here.

[MoMo]

Take the brake completely apart.

[iiAtlas]

Take the brake completely apart.

Deal! Taking apart...I can do that...

[MoMo]

Confucius say, better to not cut corners rather than have corner cut you when brake fail

[iiAtlas]

Confucius say, better to not cut corners rather than have corner cut you when brake fail

Hah..one of his many great philosophies.  Goal wasn't necessarily to cut corners but rather to avoid opening up a can of worms if possible.  Haven't messed much with drum brakes so I wasn't sure if it we're some sort of spring loaded disaster waiting to happen!  Will follow the manual and crack her open.  Expect some shots of that soon

[MoMo]

You'll most likely find the pivot cam needs a good cleaning and polishing and then a bit of lube before reassembly

[zammykoo]

Hah..one of his many great philosophies.  Goal wasn't necessarily to cut corners but rather to avoid opening up a can of worms if possible.  Haven't messed much with drum brakes so I wasn't sure if it we're some sort of spring loaded disaster waiting to happen!  Will follow the manual and crack her open.  Expect some shots of that soon

My thoughts exactly when I took a glance at my brake last night. I imagined myself in one of those snake-in-a-can scenario, haha.

[iiAtlas]

Hah..one of his many great philosophies.  Goal wasn't necessarily to cut corners but rather to avoid opening up a can of worms if possible.  Haven't messed much with drum brakes so I wasn't sure if it we're some sort of spring loaded disaster waiting to happen!  Will follow the manual and crack her open.  Expect some shots of that soon

My thoughts exactly when I took a glance at my brake last night. I imagined myself in one of those snake-in-a-can scenario, haha.

Yes! I thought better to ask than to enter.  Snake-in-a-can was totally on my mind too...hah

In other news, got half of the rear wheel spokes off.  The other half are blocked by the brake drum "cover" ... this thing here



No worries, off she comes!  Thoughts on these spokes?  They look pretty rusted.  Far worse than my front.  After prep for plating I will know more.  They may not be salvageable.

[calj737]

Replace the spokes. Stockers, or if budget permits, Buchanans has stainless spokes.

[grcamna2]

Replace the spokes. Stockers, or if budget permits, Buchanans has stainless spokes.

Those old spokes might snap,they're too rusty;I wouldn't get china-spokes either.

[MoMo]

I may have a set of spokes to donate for the cost of shipping .  Far better than what you have there....Larry

[iiAtlas]

Replace the spokes. Stockers, or if budget permits, Buchanans has stainless spokes.

Replace the spokes. Stockers, or if budget permits, Buchanans has stainless spokes.

Those old spokes might snap,they're too rusty;I wouldn't get china-spokes either.

Deal.

I may have a set of spokes to donate for the cost of shipping .  Far better than what you have there....Larry

Wow Larry, thanks for the offer!  I'd be happy to take you up on that + some $ for you time.  PM me!

[iiAtlas]

First off, thank you MoMo for so generously offering to send me your set of rear spokes.  I truly appreciate it, and I'm sure my ol' gal will too!  The current ones are pretty rusty.  I'm happy to pay-forward the favor and send this to whomever free of charge, though fair warning they may not be salvageable.

Anyways, the rear brake drum, as you all predicated, was laughably easy to remove.  After getting that crown not on the axle off a few taps with the mallet and she was free.  The rest came apart easy.



I feel appropriately embarrassed for making such a fuss about it  but thank you all nonetheless for the encouragement.  Luckily, the brake drum is not the snake-in-a-can I envisioned.



I'd like to give this a rebuild while I have it apart.  What are the serviceable items?  What would the recommended service be?





I've also heard something about this rear bearing retainer being reverse thread...or maybe it was the front.  Can any of you verify that off-hand?  I'm sure a quick google search will do the same if not.



I also had a go at removing the rear tire.  Somehow I managed the front one okay with this tool but I'll right that off as sheer luck...



This rounds not going as smoothly...hah...I suppose I will need to change tools or at least methods.  Don't want to end up sawing through my rim!

[MoMo]

the shoes look good but...........? Remove the cotter pin then stretch the brakes by pulling at the center. You shold be able to pull them off.  Then remove the brake cam(one with the green stripe) and thoroughly clean it and the hole it goes into.  Add a bit of waterproof grease on the cam before reinserting.  Also, clean the stationary pivot post.. And.........buy a good set of tire irons and use spray nine or something similar to remove the tire.  You're welcome, glad to be of assistance...Larry

[iiAtlas]

the shoes look good but...........? Remove the cotter pin then stretch the brakes by pulling at the center. You shold be able to pull them off.  Then remove the brake cam(one with the green stripe) and thoroughly clean it and the hole it goes into.  Add a bit of waterproof grease on the cam before reinserting.  Also, clean the stationary pivot post.. And.........buy a good set of tire irons and use spray nine or something similar to remove the tire.  You're welcome, glad to be of assistance...Larry

Will do!  The tire thing was a random attempt...did what I could with what I had.  Will get a set of tire irons.  Thanks for the steps on the brake work, I will do that!

[grcamna2]

the shoes look good but...........? Remove the cotter pin then stretch the brakes by pulling at the center. You shold be able to pull them off.  Then remove the brake cam(one with the green stripe) and thoroughly clean it and the hole it goes into.  Add a bit of waterproof grease on the cam before reinserting.  Also, clean the stationary pivot post.. And.........buy a good set of tire irons and use spray nine or something similar to remove the tire.  You're welcome, glad to be of assistance...Larry

Will do!  The tire thing was a random attempt...did what I could with what I had.  Will get a set of tire irons.  Thanks for the steps on the brake work, I will do that!

iiAtlas,
What's your name?
 I think it would be good to buy a pr. of this style tire levers,they give you plenty of leverage(15" long)and are hardened steel & curved to keep from ripping the bead of the tire when you're using them.

[iiAtlas]

the shoes look good but...........? Remove the cotter pin then stretch the brakes by pulling at the center. You shold be able to pull them off.  Then remove the brake cam(one with the green stripe) and thoroughly clean it and the hole it goes into.  Add a bit of waterproof grease on the cam before reinserting.  Also, clean the stationary pivot post.. And.........buy a good set of tire irons and use spray nine or something similar to remove the tire.  You're welcome, glad to be of assistance...Larry

Will do!  The tire thing was a random attempt...did what I could with what I had.  Will get a set of tire irons.  Thanks for the steps on the brake work, I will do that!

iiAtlas,
What's your name?
 I think it would be good to buy a pr. of this style tire levers,they give you plenty of leverage(15" long)and are hardened steel & curved to keep from ripping the bead of the tire when you're using them.

Ordered this with an extra one of these .  Thanks for the recommendation!

[grcamna2]

Good choices Atlas 
I have also used a product called 'Murphy's tire bead lube',a type of special paste.I would get it from my local Goodyear automotive tire shop where i used to live.I finally ordered some and always keep it on-hand for applying to both sides of the tire beads on tubeless & tube-type tires to ease installation and allow the new tires to 'seat' correctly in the rim once you fill them up with air.

[iiAtlas]

Good choices Atlas 
I have also used a product called 'Murphy's tire bead lube',a type of special paste.I would get it from my local Goodyear automotive tire shop where i used to live.I finally ordered some and always keep it on-hand for applying to both sides of the tire beads on tubeless & tube-type tires to ease installation and allow the new tires to 'seat' correctly in the rim once you fill them up with air.

Smart!

[grcamna2]

When you remove a(old,etc.) tire w/ the tire irons it helps to put your knees/weight down to compress as much as the opposite side(180degrees)of the tire as you can at one time so you can get enough play in the bead for it to slip over the rim as you're prying it off w/ the two levers.Then just keep doing that all the way around and it works well when you're installing one also.

[iiAtlas]

When you remove a(old,etc.) tire w/ the tire irons it helps to put your knees/weight down to compress as much as the opposite side(180degrees)of the tire as you can at one time so you can get enough play in the bead for it to slip over the rim as you're prying it off w/ the two levers.Then just keep doing that all the way around and it works well when you're installing one also.

Tire irons arriving today, wish me luck!

///

After some debate I've decided to forgo the powder coat and simply spray the frame, headlight, and brackets.  With the right prep and patience I believe I will be able to get a good result, maybe even close to powder quality.  My initial fear was strength of the paint, but it sounds like if I let it cure for two solid weeks I should be okay.  I'm hoping this will give me the hardness I'm looking for, or at least close. 

My plan is as follows...

• Strip the frame.  I plan on using some simple green aircraft stripper, and paint thinner. Sand.
• Primer.  I've ordered two cans of Rustoleum sandable primer.  This should give me a nice smooth base to spray over.
• Wetsand.  300 grit.
• Spray.  I've chosen VHT Roll Bar and Chassis paint.  This should give me the durability I am looking for.  It is an epoxy spray paint which behaves somewhat differently from a traditional rattle can.  Oddly enough I've found someone using this exact method on his CB350F.  Check out his video here.

I'll apply this same process to the headlight bucket, brackets, swingarm, and any other small parts I've removed.  I'm still debating what route I should go for the rims as I would like those to really stand up to the wear.  I've switched over to the spray route for two reasons.  1) it's surprisingly expensive here in NYC.  I've seen people on other threads saying it was $150 for a frame, prep included.  Or $70 for a box of parts, it's nowhere near that here.  So far I've been quoted $500-700 for the frame alone.  Some people just flat out say "no".  2) the time.  If I hand this off to a powder coater I'll have to wait for their schedule to get it back.  I'm not in a rush, but I like to be working on my own time.  I'd rather wait two weeks for my spray paint to dry than 5 days with all my parts at someones shop.  Weird, but thats the way I am 

Hopefully this new course of action doesn't deter too many of you.  I'm confident with the right patience, prep, and paint I'll be able to get a quality finish out of this.

[grcamna2]

Atlas,
I wouldn't use Rustoleum primer if you're going to be using that particular VHT type of paint,I'm not sure it would be compatible and you might have issues w/ it;use VHT base coat/primer & top-coat all the way.I would look at the VHT top-coat cans and see what primer they recommend and use that. imo

[calj737]

For bare metal, an epoxy primer is best. It bonds chemically to the raw steel and has the protection you seek. Then cover with any appropriate paint you prefer.