A few notes on the CB350f restoration
I always wanted a CB350 four when they came out in 1972, but no such luck in the UK as they were not an official import, so it was August 2016 when I finally got my hands on one. The last picture above shows what I started with, bought unseen on e-bay which is always a risk. The paint was somewhat faded, usual Jardine 4 into 2 pipes for a bike of this age, but overall a fairly solid bike and I was well please with what I got. There was some rust, which is to be expected, but nothing too bad at all. The initial plan was to get it registered and ride it while there was still a bit of summer left, but it didn't run too well, so I decided to crack on with the restoration and dismantle it. Just as well really given that the oil pipes in the cylinder head were found to be missing.
It's been a fairly straight forward restoration job. Take it all to bits, powder coat and re-chrome as necessary and replace various parts with new ones from David Silver / CMSL adding to their already bulging bank accounts, but what would we do without them. A big thanks to both. Phil Denton also provided some lovely stainless components - Cylinder studs, axles and swinging arm pivot to name but a few. More of him in a moment.
The snags, well there had to be a few. On getting the bike I noticed a bent fin on the right side of the cylinder head, nothing that a gentle tap with a piece of wood and hammer wouldn't cure, but then I noticed some damage around the number 3 spark plug. A strange place to get broken fins and also the top of the cylinder stud in that area had taken a beating. Once the cylinder head was off it was easy to see why. It had obviously suffered a seized / broken spark plug at some stage and some clown had tried to drill it out going off center in the process. Part of the old spark plug was still there! Cost of repair, well north of 100 of your best British Pounds. Plenty of second hand cylinder heads on e-bay, all in the USA of course and cheaper than repairing the damaged one except that the cost of shipping was stratospheric. Fortunately DK Spares came to my rescue with a spiffing example, 80 quid all in, result. On removing the original cylinder head I also noticed that the oil feed pipes that distribute the lubricant to the camshaft and rockers were missing. Probably omitted by the same miscreant that damaged the head in the first place. E-bay came to the rescue.
The one thing that did cause a problem and delay to the restoration were the fork covers that sit on top of the bottom fork cases. They were a devil to remove, but thanks to those on here that came up with the solution and I got them off without damage. The snag of course is that these components are no longer available and are so thin that a re-chrome would probably finish them off completely. The odd second hand one appeared on e-bay in a far worse state that the ones I'd got. Enter Phil Denton into the equation and a commission to make a pair out of stainless steel. Very nice chap Mr Denton and he likes a challenge. Slight drawback in that he is a very busy man so the components did take some time to appear from his emporium, but well worth the wait and they wont rust. Hurrah!
So there you are, it's all tickety-boo, tip top and ready for the road whenever the weather decides to improve. Hmm, could be a while.
A special thanks to;
Terry Chambers (Racepaint UK) for the paint job
Triple S for powder coating.
My good friend John Edge for the chrome work
Phil Denton (see above)
Steve Lomas (5-one Wheels) wheel building and tyres
David Silver, CMSL and J. T. Marks (USA) for various new parts and DK Spares for the second hand ones.
Steve Smethurst for cleaning and treating the crank cases, cylinder block and cylinder head etc.
Peter Bond for the speedometer and rev counter restoration.
Rob Davies-Evans of Kernow Shocks for restoration of the rear shocks.
CC's for the carb cleaning.
John Kenworthy (FAB Fastenings) - stainless screw kit
John Kemp (Inox Fasteners, Southampton) - stainless nuts, bolts, washers etc.
plus my trusted friend Graham Wood for all the help with the spanner work.
Hope you like the end result
Cheers
Eric
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