Topic: 73 350 Four

[MarkVMod0]

Haven't accomplished much lately but did get the engine in the frame.
I'll be going to Tucson Monday to hang out with Nils, learn a few things and to pick up the hardware I had sent to be zinc plated. Might get the body work then too as it is with the painter Nils uses for his restorations.

I buffed the alternator cover and painted the black background, just a better contrast. The covers are just set in place as I await new seals and gaskets. The engine is incredibly clean inside and very little to no varnishing.

[MarkVMod0]

Have been gone for a couple of weeks, one of them with Nils at Restocycle and as always its a blast to work there and see the bikes he is working on. It's been cold in my shop so my project is going wee bit slow but I did get some of the painted bits and parts that were zinc coated installed. In regards to having old nuts and bolts redone in white zinc I am not so sure buying new ones from Honda wouldn't be a less expensive alternative, large items like swingarm bolts, axle shafts and nuts that are NLA are the exception I believe

[MarkVMod0]

Been off the air for a bit. Had a 76 CJ5 to work on and it was no less fun than working on the 350 Four.
But it is done and I am back on the 350. Been searching for a NOS rear wheel and got excited to see one on an overseas website, a well known and reputable supplier of vintage Japanese parts. So in my excitement I bought the rim. The rear wheel on this 350 Four had a 1.60 x 18 rim and I searched to see if the 350 four ever came with that size rim. Needles to say I couldn't find anything to suggest the 350 came with a 1.60 x 18 rear rim.

So....I get the rim and lo and behold it does not have the proper DID stamp and the big giveaway was the made in Indonesia label. Went back to the website and the pic clearly showed the rim with the correct DID stamp in the center, then I saw it, the dreaded superseded part number, clicked on that and a whole new set of pictures...Arrgghh. I wrote the business but after three days of no reply I figured I wasn't going to get one. Needless to say I decided to lace it up until I could save up enough to get the right rim.

This brings another interesting issue. This rim while not having the correct stamp marks does look nice but once laced it became very difficult to get runout and wobble to specs. I studied the wheel and pondered some thoughts. First is the runout, I have it pretty close but there is an area where the wheel was butted together and welded, poor machine work here as there is a positive deflection of the dial indicator at this spot every time, the only way to fix this would be to machine the wheel true and re-chrome.

Wobble, close as in hand grenades, that's as close as I could get. I managed and overall average of .0025 deflection on the dial indicator. Studied the wheel and discover specific points that deflected the dial indicator, they were definitive points that did not change no matter how I adjusted the spokes. looked closer at these points and found dips in the lip. I suspect this is due to old dies used to mold the rims, I have no idea of the quality control there at the factory but it is not as good as when DID was making rims for Honda.

I spoke to a few others who restore bikes and their opinion mimics mine in regards to these Indonesian made DID rims.

Beautiful looking chrome, overall an okay rim but I would choose differently and had the rear rim been the correct 185 x 18 I would have had it re-chromed.

[MarkVMod0]

Today was a good day! Finished truing the wheel, installed brake shoes, rim tape, new tire with tube and new sprocket.
NOS sprocket was to expensive for my taste so I found a JT sprocket, confirmed the sprocket would fit and ordered it but once here found it did not fit. So after many measurements, fittings and some hand machining it now fits as it should and I was able to mount the wheel in the swingarm.

Then it was on to the carbs. Originally the were cleaned just to see if the bike would run, once that was confirmed they were taken apart and really cleaned up. Today the felt seals for the choke shafts came in and the assembly began.

[bek1966]

Fantastic project, thanks for sharing your progress.  I recently picked up a 74 CB350 Four with 10,500 miles from the original owner.  They're great little bikes!

Regards,
Brad

[carnivorous chicken]

The Indonesian stuff is a roll of the dice. I'm in Indonesia now on a work trip, and come here pretty often. I used to by (and make) stuff here, and they have a lot of old Japanese stuff that is marked OEM but manufactured in Indonesia. Some good stuff, some... not so.

I bet you could find a used OEM rim in good enough shape (or if you wanted to, rechrome it). In AZ some of the bikes' chrome was pretty much immaculate despite 40+ years of sitting.

[markreimer]

This is such a satisfying project to follow along with. Were those carbs vapor blasted?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk