Topic: 1972 CB350F Restore and More

[cleveland]

Love the paint job!!!

[keiths]

Nice job on the pin striping. That silver paint look awesome.

[Joel]

Nice job on the pin striping. That silver paint look awesome.

Absolutely.  That striping looks spectacular.

[strangedaze39]

Thanks guys, the striping took me a while. I spent a couple days learning, and banged it out. I was thinking about buying the decals, but my main motivator against that is they were something like $60. Hand striping it IMO turned out ever nicer and only costs a few bucks. One tip if anyone else wants to hand stripe there tank, you want to come at 45 degree angle with the striping material, and come with your free hand behind it to press it down. Don't pull to hard though, or you'll end up with varying thickness in the stripe. If someone needs some more info, let me know.

@cleveland: Thanks man, I had it painted at a chevy dealership after I found the color I wanted. The color is actually off an 06' Corvette.

Quick Update: Got a message from the Mivv distributor I know of today and they are sold out and don't plan on trying to obtain anymore. So I should have some serious info on muffler repair and re-chroming, unless the little chance I found a used set.

[Brownie]

Hey Strangedaze ya bike looks great mate...Love the paint work and striping,Excellent work.

                 Brownie

[strangedaze39]

@Brownie: Thanks!
-------------------------
Update

I just got back from WI a few days ago on a long needed vacation, I've been working like crazy on the bike and have found a few more parts.

-I finished lapping the valves and cleaning the head out. I actually ended up making a couple sad tools to help with the process but it turned out pretty good. The first tool I made is for removal, it involves a C-Clamp and a bit I made from steel tubing.

Basically it's a 2" cut of thick steel piping with a 1/3" slot cut in the side with an angle grinder to dump the keepers out, I used a tiny screwdriver with tack on the end to get any stubborn keepers free.

Sitting on the C-Clamp. Make sure to put the bottom of the clamp on the head of the valve your working on and center the top properly.

The valve lapping and cleaning of the head took longer then expected. About 5 min. per valve for lapping and 15 min. for cleaning, times that by 8 and it adds up. All in all it probably took 3-4 hours total to get it looking like new(almost).

For reassembly the homemade bit didn't work too well but you might have better luck, I ended up taking a car valve spring compressor that wouldn't work as-is, and temporarily modify it. This made things much easier for putting the keepers back in since I could access much more of the work area.

I had to use a washer since the prongs wouldn't fit on the retainer.

Here's the finished head:



-Clutch plates replaced and reassembled, I got a really great deal on the clutch plates. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll give you the contact info for the seller. I think it was something like $45 shipped.


-Picked up a full gasket set for $30! from cycle recycle. I think he's got one or two more, the site listed nothing but when I called he said he had one.

-Finished rebuilding the front end for the most part, the fork covers are in for paint right now(still). This is what the bikes been looking like for a while now.


-New handlebars  they're "Euro Cafe" style, somewhere in between the OEM and superbike bars as far as dimensions, you can see a bad pic of them in the picture right above this. When I bought them their were no holes at all in them, I ended up drill 2 holes on the bottom for the cables to exit. Each side near the grips has a single larger hole (roughly 1/3") and a smaller whole for the control pin to lock in, everything went really smooth with the drill press and turned out great.

-RK drive chain installed, the difference is amazing from that 35+ year old chain.

Thats all I can think of at the moment, let me know if you have any questions. Should have some more updates soon.

[hoodellyhoo]

looking good!

[Yaquina]

Beautiful work!

[cleveland]

WOW, those forks look GREAT!!!!  You cleaned them up so well I can't even see them. 

All kidding aside, it looks like your really coming along. 

[taymoor]

your 350f is looking like a champ.  I'm really impressed and inspired by your handy work.  I was gonna paint my 350f myself, but yours looks so good.  did the dealership really overcharge you?  how much was it?  also, impressive pinstriping.  if there is any other advise for that, let me know.  also, is that the same stuff that autoparts stores have?

thanks!

[strangedaze39]

Thanks guys!

@cleveland: I always had pride in my polishing skills  . $50 and I'll do yours, shipping them back should be really cheap also! 

@taymor: Thanks, it's awesome that I've inspired someone. About the paint, I was lucky enough to get the tank and side covers painted for $50 (really cheap) since I know the painter. You'll never be able to replicate a professional paint job unless you're a pro painter IMO, and the finished product is totally worth the extra money. Nothing like a durable paint job with a mirror finish. Do you have any friends of friends of the family that paint? If so and you know they're good that might be your best bet on getting a killer deal. If not I wouldn't be suprised if you went to a few different car dealerships and told them you were shopping around for the best price someone would give you a steal on a paint job.

Mini update on the project:

- Front end is back on
- Top engine is getting disassembled right now.

Quick Question:

I ran into a problem with the front end, I assembled it just like it was disassembled. Looks great with everything together except I think I did something wrong while filling the forks because the front end doesn't return when compressed like it's supposed to. I'm not sure what I can do or redo to fix that.

Any idea's? Why the springs aren't returning or how to fix it?

Expect another bigger update in the next couple days.

[cleveland]

That sounds odd to me.  Did you blow the fork seal?  May be time to rebuild the forks?

[strangedaze39]

Thats a very good possibility, I actually never pulled the springs from the lower forks also. Is there a good way I can easily test if that seal is junk?

[cleveland]

If oil is coming out of the seal, it's trashed. 

Did you change the fork oil, or pull the drain plug for any reason?

[strangedaze39]

Changed the fork oil but didn't pull any drain plug. Hm, I have a full gasket set I wonder if that will have fork seals in it.

Quick Question:

Ok the head is totally swapped all I need to do now is put the valve cover on. The last thing I did has me waiting to here from you guys though. I basically just put the Cam Chain Tensioners in again. The front one went in easy. The back on has quite a bit of tension on the cam chain (it's pressing against it so its tight) now I think it's working how it's supposed to but I'm not positive and would hate to have something astray on that part of the bike.

How tight are these cam tensioners supposed to be? and how do the sit in there(manual sucks at describing this)?

[strangedaze39]

Here's a picture of the cam chain tensioner I was talking about in the post above.
*Solved

[hoodellyhoo]

The cam chain is actually arching the chain tight which i think is right,

Yes, that's right.

If you loosen the chain adjuster bolt (and possibly give it a shove, if it is stuck) and remove the cap above the tensioner, how high does the tensioner blade go? This is how high my blade went when I pushed the adjuster bolt down.


I can understand your concern. I think that things are designed so that the rubber puck thingy on the end of the tensioner blade get guided down into it's spot in the horseshoe.

[strangedaze39]

Thanks hoodellyhoo, the blade went a lot higher then yours before but it's sitting almost the same now. I actually got it when I pulled the entire cam out again and used a mechanics mirror to watch it slide perfectly into it's shoe. Thanks for the reply, I'm glad I ended up getting it since there was no way I could tell if it was in right or not with the cam first.

[strangedaze39]

We'll this whole head swap thing has taken longer then expected hence lack of updates. I've pulled and reassembled the head 3 times now due to different hang ups.

The latest being cylinder 1 sparkplug seat is stripped out. I'll be taking it to the shop today for a change and having them rebuild the threads. A little pissed the guy that sold me a head must have known about this, and according to him "it's like new, everything's there"

Hopefully this head will be done and on tomorrow for real!

[hoodellyhoo]

Sorry to hear that And I get pissy  when I have to take my carbs on and off a few times. Guess I shouldn't complain.

[cleveland]

"it's like new, everything's there"

If I had a buck every time I've heard that or something similar, I'd be rich.  Any updates?

[strangedaze39]

 The thing runs! Strong and on time. Couldn't be happier with the engine rebuild. I also ran into some problems with the forks but just got that sorted last night. This things going to be on the road with in the week. Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy banging my head on the wall trying to figure the small details out on the head and then front end. Anyways I posted this in a question thread earlier about the forks, figured I'd share this how to in the build thread. Hopefully I can do some more how to's soon  they're pretty fun.

@cleveland  We'll I think it was less confidence in my work and more finger crossing.

How To Remove Forks The Easy Way:

Note: Before you start you must remove all the cables, brake lines, fenders, wheels that will obviously be in your way. No need to unplug any wires on the harness or upper brake lines.

How to remove the fork cover/boots, the easier way without potentially damaging the seal:
1) Loosen the 4 bolts on the triple tree clamps (2 on each side)

2) Jack the bike well off the ground make sure you have a strong friend or family member balancing the bike

3) Hammer and pull that fork out completely. Make sure it's jacked up high enough to slide it completely free.

4) Pull the fork covers out sideways.


This is how you do it if you want to rebuild your forks:
1) Loosen the 4 bolts on the triple tree clamps (2 on each side)

2) Remove the top cap completely

3) Jack the bike well off the ground make sure you have a strong friend or family member balancing the bike

4) Slide the lower part of the fork off with the spring still attached, don't force it if it wont pull through before it hits ground just jack it up more.

5) Take a ball hammer and place the ball on top of the inner fork at the top of the triple tree clamp. Hit the hammers flat side with another hammer (you can use other things for this, the ball hammer is the easiest way I found to do it)

6) If you want to remove the fork boots/covers you can slide them out the side now.

Hope that helps.

Feel free to pick those apart.

[hs2k007]

Did you rebuild the motor on the bike?  I am about to replace the valve cover seal and the head gasket, but I do not want to pull the motor.  I can get the valve cover off while the motor is on the bike, but I was not sure about the head. 

On the timing chain, removing the tensioners is the way to get the chain off?  How did make sure the timing was still correct when you put the motor back together?

[strangedaze39]

Thought it'd be fun to give a update on the bike.

It was crashed twice since I've been in this thread. Once  T-Boned because I misjudged a speeding truck on a 2 way stop, another was a hit in run at 30. Since the crashes trashed it up I cafe'd it in order to sell it.

Here's some pictures right before it was sold.





Goodbye CB Happy Trails.

[Kemp]

Very nice cafe job! What exhaust did you end up using, it looks the part and seems to tuck in nicely.