Author Topic: Restoration of a 350 four update: Back from the Dead (Read 66228 times)

Johnie · « **Reply #100 on:** February 07, 2009, 05:57:40 PM »

Why wait until spring man, fire that baby up in the house. What the heck...just a little exhaust.

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #101 on:** February 07, 2009, 06:03:31 PM »

Quote from: Johnie on February 07, 2009, 05:57:40 PM

Why wait until spring man, fire that baby up in the house. What the heck...just a little exhaust.

Not gonna lie, I keep thinking about it

Johnie · « **Reply #102 on:** February 07, 2009, 06:58:41 PM »

Quote from: hoodellyhoo on February 07, 2009, 06:03:31 PM

Quote from: Johnie on February 07, 2009, 05:57:40 PM
Why wait until spring man, fire that baby up in the house. What the heck...just a little exhaust.

Not gonna lie, I keep thinking about it
[/quote
Maybe just for a second...I don't think I could wait either.

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #103 on:** February 19, 2009, 09:35:43 AM »

Yesterday I finally took the time to trim my header pipes so I could test fit the new exhaust. Unfortunately the only cutting tool I have is my rotary tool. It was working so hard that I had to stop a few times because it was starting to smoke. Also, the #2 pipe had a bend towards the end so I had to cut as much of the bend out as I could so that it would fit into the muffler. All those pipes sure looked puuurty all together

Can't wait to hear what they sound like.

mystic_1 · « **Reply #104 on:** February 19, 2009, 04:46:16 PM »

Well done, pipes look great!

mystic_1

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #105 on:** February 19, 2009, 04:55:48 PM »

Thanks!I really like the way the original headers curve and hug the motor. Much better looking than what was on there (not that they were ugly).

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #106 on:** March 26, 2009, 07:15:32 PM »

I just couldn't wait any longer....

This week is my spring break and the plan was to spend all week finishing up the polishing and other work that I wanted to do before I started riding again. My goal was to get the bike on the road by sunday or monday. Yesterday morning when I looked at the weather I saw that next week was going to be snow and crappy. Today was going to be the only day with decent riding weather for over a week (and that was too long to wait). I made the decision to forgo a lot of the detail work I intended to do and just throw everything together and go for a ride. I stayed up till 3:30 this morning to get everything on the bike except the body and exhaust. My roomates helped me get the bike out of the house around noon. I got the exhaust and body on and was rinding by 1:00

It may not be as shiny as I hoped it would but damn it still looks nice. Those MIVV pipes look and sound awesome, noticeably louder than the 4-2 system that I had before.

On monday I tried to get the clutch cover off for polishing but was stopped by the dreaded "screws made from butter". Every one I tried just stripped. So on the bike it sits

Johnie · « **Reply #107 on:** March 26, 2009, 08:49:06 PM »

Looking good for sure...love the pipes.

BlindJoe · « **Reply #108 on:** March 26, 2009, 08:56:40 PM »

Looking good man.

cben750f0 · « **Reply #109 on:** March 27, 2009, 04:24:22 PM »

Man you have something to be proud of there, well, done

you need to post a vid of it so we can hear those pipes=)

congrats again....

peace

loonymoon · « **Reply #110 on:** March 28, 2009, 05:52:38 AM »

Looking great! Enjoy!

mystic_1 · « **Reply #111 on:** March 28, 2009, 06:42:54 AM »

4 individual pipes may or may not be the "best" exhaust in terms of performance specs, but as far as I'm concerned they give the very best exhaust tone on our inline fours. There's just something about the tone and the cadence of the pulses that's very appealing to me.

Re: rushing to ride, you have an entire summer's worth of rainy days to do detailing work. Congrats on getting it on the road!

mystic_1

Jheart · « **Reply #112 on:** March 28, 2009, 01:03:04 PM »

mystic, any chance you have a full size version of that honda ad?

mystic_1 · « **Reply #113 on:** March 28, 2009, 03:31:44 PM »

Sorry, no, I got it from here:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c130/toycollector10/VJMC%20Blenheim%202008/750_rear_med_full.jpg

That's the biggest version I have.

mystic_1

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #114 on:** March 28, 2009, 05:50:01 PM »

I can email the ad to you if you want

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #115 on:** March 28, 2009, 06:13:29 PM »

Quote from: mystic_1 on March 28, 2009, 06:42:54 AM

4 individual pipes may or may not be the "best" exhaust in terms of performance specs, but as far as I'm concerned they give the very best exhaust tone on our inline fours. There's just something about the tone and the cadence of the pulses that's very appealing to me.

mystic_1

Besides the great sound, in my opinion these bikes just don't look right unless they have 4 pipes. It just fits the personality of the bike (4 cylinders, 4 carbs, 4 pipes).

mystic_1 · « **Reply #116 on:** March 28, 2009, 07:31:13 PM »

Quote from: hoodellyhoo on March 28, 2009, 06:13:29 PM

Besides the great sound, in my opinion these bikes just don't look right unless they have 4 pipes. It just fits the personality of the bike (4 cylinders, 4 carbs, 4 pipes).

Precisely. I've seen some nice looking exhausts in all configurations, but nothing says SOHC4 to me like 4 pipes.

If you've got it, flaunt it.

mystic_1

Jheart · « **Reply #117 on:** March 29, 2009, 07:23:36 AM »

hoodellyhoo, I'd appreciate that. my email is jackson.haskell(at)gmail(dot)com. Worried about spam, sorry.

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #118 on:** March 29, 2009, 11:31:52 AM »

Quote from: Jheart on March 29, 2009, 07:23:36 AM

hoodellyhoo, I'd appreciate that. my email is jackson.haskell(at)gmail(dot)com. Worried about spam, sorry.

email sent

keiths · « **Reply #119 on:** March 29, 2009, 02:13:40 PM »

The bike looks awesome. And the pipes really makes the difference. Great job.

Ecosse · « **Reply #120 on:** April 02, 2009, 04:31:53 PM »

to be honest i had forgotten about this bike. glad i popped in. i love this kind of family heirloom and you've done such a great job.

thanks for the video installments too.

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #121 on:** June 19, 2009, 03:41:16 PM »

Unfortunately this next update is more setback than progress. On my way home from a vintage bike auction on the first Saturday in may I laid the 350 down in some grass. I was approaching a turn when I noticed it was covered in sand. I was unable to slow down enough in time and crossed over the road, laying the bike down in some grass and gravel at about 10mph. Other than some soreness, I was ok (I was wearing my jacket, helmet, and gloves). I was able to ride the bike home but things are deffinitely in need of repair.

I was debating weather or not to write about this but I figured someone might find the information useful. The damage to the bike wasn't too bad but I will probably end up doing a complete front end rebuild (steering bearings, wheel bearings, fork seals, etc) And also rebuild my master cylinder again with a better quality rebuild kit since it's leaking again.

Some pics after I got the bike home:

Anyone have a matador red headlight ear and original blinker lens in very good condition?

This is how the handlebars were in order to drive the bike home. Not fun.

I think I can polish out the scratches on the alternator cover but the "Honda" plate will get replaced since it already had scratches from a previous owner laying the bike down on the same side.

My new exhaust has some scratches but nothing too bad.

Today I finally began to tear into the bike for repairs. I bought the "compact" bike lift with wheels from harbor freight so I could move it out of the way when I wasn't working on it. For 80 bucks I figured I couldn't go wrong.

I forgot to take pictures as I removed the headlight, handlebars, and gauges so I hope I remember how it all goes back together.

Whoever invented those magnetic parts dishes was very very smart. They even have a rubber botton so I won't scratch the paint.

Forks Removed. They don't appear to be bent. I think they just twisted the triple trees.

Headlight ears and fork covers removed. This is as far as I went today since I didn't want to deal with steering bearings quite yet. With the font end removed the bike went from being slightly front heavy on the jack to slightly back heavy but it seemed to be okay, especially with the ratchet straps holding it down.

keiths · « **Reply #122 on:** June 22, 2009, 06:53:57 PM »

Hoodellyhoo,

Sorry to here about your spill. Glad you are OK and soon your bike will be too.

Good luck,
Keith

hoodellyhoo · « **Reply #123 on:** June 29, 2009, 07:21:40 PM »

Over the past few days I have been taking my forks apart. Since the forks on the 350 seem to be slightly different than the other sohc4's I decided to chronicle the disassembly process.

Here's where I started:

With the fork oil drained, the first step is to remove the chrome upper guard. This chrome piece is pressed on and must be carefully coaxed off. There is a small opening on the inward-facing area of the lower fork leg. Insert a flathead screwdriver into this recess and carefully begin to tap the chrome guard off. Be careful not to gouge the fork leg or the chrome. Once the chrome guard has slightly moved away from the lower fork leg you can begin to tap around the guard so that it moves away evenly.

Pop the dust seal off with a screwdriver.

Using a snapring pliers, remove the circlip that holds in the fork seal.

Now the fun part. There is a hex head bolt at the bottom of the fork that holds the tube, spring, and dampening system to the lower part. This bolt requires a 6mm hex wrench of some sort to remove. I was (barely) able to remove the first bolt using a a plain hex wrench and some extra leverage, but the second was much more difficult. I would recommend purchasing a hex bit set for a socket wrench.(http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=35183) After wrestling with the second bolt using heat, penetrating oil, and an impact wrench I broke down and bought the bit set and the bolt came right out with my socket wrench. Learn from my mistake and don't let the fork internals drop down onto the concrete floor because you weren't holding on to them as you loosened the bolt. $:-\$

With the tubes and internals now removed, the fork seals can be removed. The preferred method seems to be heating the seal end of the fork in boiling water for a few minutes to loosen things up but I didn't have a pot of boiling water. I used a heat gun to heat the area of the case around the fork seal (didn't want to melt the rubber of the seal). Then I used a long flathead screwdriver to carefully pry out the old seal. I used a piece of old gas line between the screwdriver and the fork case to protect it from gouges.

With the cases now dismantled I sprayed them with aircraft stripper and have begun to polish them with the good ol' harbor freight buffer. Tomorrow I hope to finish buffing the fork lowers and grease my steering head bearings.

Johnie · « **Reply #124 on:** June 29, 2009, 07:39:06 PM »

Nice detail T. Be sure you have the correct count on the ball bearings as there may be a difference from top to bottom. Probably tells you in your service manual how many should be there. A hemostat is great for removing them and putting them back into place. I put a nice batch of grease on the race and then set the bearings in place. That will help keep them on the race while you push the triple tree back into place.

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Author Topic: Restoration of a 350 four update: Back from the Dead (Read 66228 times)

Jheart

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