Topic: '73 cb350f siezed barn find!

[HondaMan]

Got her down to the frame!  Swingarm bushings are very tight and seam fine, but since I got this far and plan to powdercoat everything, I guess the next step is to remove them before sending to pc.  I will be getting the bronze bushings as replacements.  Is there any brand better than others to buy?

There are no swingarm bushings to fit this arm correctly. I'd recommend either leaving the stock ones in place and cleaning everything well, followed by liberal regreasing and reassembly, or send it to me for a proper bearing build.

[calj737]

A new guide requires the seat to be recut. Might as well do all of them while you’re at it (recut the seats).

[574hondarider]

Got her down to the frame!  Swingarm bushings are very tight and seam fine, but since I got this far and plan to powdercoat everything, I guess the next step is to remove them before sending to pc.  I will be getting the bronze bushings as replacements.  Is there any brand better than others to buy?

There are no swingarm bushings to fit this arm correctly. I'd recommend either leaving the stock ones in place and cleaning everything well, followed by liberal regreasing and reassembly, or send it to me for a proper bearing build.

I ordered some NOS ones from David Silver Spares, of course not copper.  Will these work properly?  If not, is it ok to leave them in during powdercoat?  I appreciate your advice!!

[574hondarider]

A new guide requires the seat to be recut. Might as well do all of them while you’re at it (recut the seats).

I might just do that, thanks for the advice!!

[Mark1976]

   +1 on touching up all the seats, its the right thing to do, while your at it give them the valves as well, nothing like fresh seats and faces.
   I don't know a powder coater who leaves the bushings in, I'm assuming these are plastic, they'll need a good clean swing arm for powder coating and to get the grease and other contaminants out, ya remove the bushings.
   The rockershafts and cover can stay as they are, the picture posted earlier shows a pretty clean cover. Just wipe it down well and relube it before reassembling it to the head. The rocker shaft springs are fine,

[574hondarider]

Got her down to the frame!  Swingarm bushings are very tight and seam fine, but since I got this far and plan to powdercoat everything, I guess the next step is to remove them before sending to pc.  I will be getting the bronze bushings as replacements.  Is there any brand better than others to buy?

There are no swingarm bushings to fit this arm correctly. I'd recommend either leaving the stock ones in place and cleaning everything well, followed by liberal regreasing and reassembly, or send it to me for a proper bearing build.

Well, I probably should have taken your advice and left them in.  I was able to get the bushings out, but to my surprise they were brass!!  Everywhere I have looked says the stock ones are either plastic or steel.  This was a 1 owner barn find and the widowed PO told me her late husband bought it new in '73 and didn't ride it since the early 80's.  No JIS bolt or any other evidence of anything ever been taken off this bike, so it has me wondering how these got here.  More importantly, did they make any swingarm adjustments to get these to fit correctly??  I have stock ones coming from David Silver, hoping they still fit!!

[574hondarider]

Well, I was able to get the gasket off the bottom and top of the cylinder, cleaned up the oil pan and oil filter housing, and....reassembled the carbs!  The carbs took me around 20 hours to complete, but I'm sure I could do it in half the time the next time around!

One question,  I set the floats all to 21mm as they were measured barely touching the needles as I used all old original brass (also used honda o ring kits).  I tested float seats and height with gas with the bowls off as in this video and they all shut off fine with no leaks.

I then put the bowls back on and filled them with gas from an aux tank.  All carbs initially leaked out of the overflows at the bottom, but then stopped leaking.  I moved them around and knocked on them a little and filled the aux tank again, this time they all tested fine with no leaks.  Do you think I should be concerned with this or is the initial peeing from the overflow to be expected on freshly cleaned carbs that havent seen gas in 40 years?

[calj737]

It was leaking because the float seats were dehydrated. Should be fine now.

[574hondarider]

It was leaking because the float seats were dehydrated. Should be fine now.

awesome, thanks!!  makes me feel better knowing that.  next up is front suspension and wheels....and getting the head over to the machinest...the fun never ends!!

[seanbarney41]

basically, any time the carbs are disturbed, you will most likely see some initial overflow

[574hondarider]

Christmas came early for me....my neighbor who paints for a dealorship collision center brought my tank and parts by today....the pics definitely don't do it justice, but here is a peak at what she's gonna look like!  It's hard to see the strip with the poor lighting, will take better pics once i get emblems on.

[jgger]

Love that color,  always have. They look excellent!

[574hondarider]

Love that color,  always have. They look excellent!

Thanks! It's my favorite colors too.  I had him take the paint codes from my tacoma and match it....it will look pretty awesome being trailered to Deals Gap with my truck!!

[574hondarider]

Debating between using stock 350f bars or trying out the 400f bars, I understand they are a little straighter and lower.  I really like the looks of the 400 bars over the 350, my only concern is comfort.  I am 42 years old, 5' 10", 170lbs and not looking to build a cafe racer, but something a little more sporty would certainly be nice.  While this isn't 100% an oem restore, I do like keeping most things stock.  Suggestions??

[574hondarider]

Just a quick update:

I was able to score some gauges with 400 original miles on them!  A guy I know bought a cb350f from a friend in '76 who bought the bike new and dropped it, then had insurance buy him a new set of gauges and a new tank.  When my friend purchased the bike from this guy in '76, he gave him the dented tank and scratched gauges too.  They've sat in my friend's barn in a box since then.  I bartered with him for this so he didn't give me a crazy deal, but they will look good on the bike!  Just trying to decide if I should paint them or leave them as is for a little patina.

Also, a shout out to restocycle for quickly shipping my Ikon shocks!!  Getting excited to put this all together!  Going in for powdercoat next week and final engine machine work then I can start building her back up!!

[574hondarider]

Happy New Year!!  I haven't posted in a few weeks but have been busy working on the bike. 

I got the parts back from the powdercoater and very happy.  I also took the head to the machine shop and had him cut new exhaust seats, clean things up, and deck the mating surface.  I also purchased 4 new old stock exhaust valves and got the rings gaped and installed on the pistons.

I cleaned up the fenders and removed the rust from underneath and coated them with an automotive under body coating.  Got the rear light reinstalled as well as the turn signals.  I also rebuilt the master brake cylinder and the front disc brake pad/piston area.

I cleaned the rims and hubs and laced them and partially trued them, installed new bearings, then took them to a shop and had them finish truing and install the tires.  I also rebuilt the forks and did some polishing.

Hoping this weekend to get a roller up!!  Just need to install the swingarm bushings and the steering bearings and start putting on pieces!  I bought the rising sun tapered steering head bearings, I hope they are decent, kind of thinking I should have gone All Balls.

[574hondarider]

More pics

[Mark1976]

Looks great!!!

[MauiK3]

It will be great to see it together!

[574hondarider]

It will be great to see it together!

Thanks!  It will be great for my home life too, I think the wife is getting tired of me being in the garage all the time!!!   :-)

[574hondarider]

Spent most of the weekend working on the bike.  Surprisingly, the swingarm bushings were easier than I had anticipated!  Probably because I spent so much time researching that area.  Things that actually tripped me up were a spacer I forgot to put back into the front axle and a boogered up lower triple bolt thread.  Then, after having the front wheel off 2 times already, saw that I forgot the speedo seal!

[Mark1976]

It looks really great, keep at, but at a measured pace. Happy wife, happy life. Been there done that.

[574hondarider]

It looks really great, keep at, but at a measured pace. Happy wife, happy life. Been there done that.

Thanks!  Yeah hopefully now most of the grunt work is done.  I met my self imposed deadline of achieving roller status by mid January, now to get it all assembled and ready for Spring!

[jakec]

Looks really good. My bike is in a similar state (400F), roller complete and engine ready to be rebuilt. I'm jealous of your progress. You're moving faster than me!

[574hondarider]

Looks really good. My bike is in a similar state (400F), roller complete and engine ready to be rebuilt. I'm jealous of your progress. You're moving faster than me!

Thanks lol!  I've been pushing myself pretty hard, as I am OCD and don't like the thought of an unfinished project laying in the garage in pieces, with so much invested!  The sheer amount of time that I've spent on this blows my mind, this is my first full restoration and it is a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be. 

On a side note, I have most of the engine work done, just have to rebuild oil pump and clutch, assemble top end and engine should be good to go!  If you run into any issues along the way let me know, even though I'm fairly new to this, I may have recently experienced it too!