Topic: 1973 CB350F "Freakshow Build" completed! Stay tuned for updates...

[hoodellyhoo]

I've always read that you shouldn't be worried about having your vacuum readings within a certain spec. All that matters is that they are the same.

What does your float height read in the middle of the float? I had an issue similar to yours in that depending upon where on the float you put the ruler, you would have a different height number. I ended up just leaving mine alone because when I measured my floats in the middle of the float they were all pretty much 21.

[Tim in Ohio]

Hi Hoodelly,

I would say that regarding the floats, if I just went with the middle of the float like you suggest, it would be right on the money at 21mm.

With regard to the carb vacuum readings, I have seen similar info with regard to the most important thing is that they are the same.  Mostly, I was just trying to think thru the motorcycle mechanics to try to interpret what might be going on at an intellectual level.  In a way, I'm thinking... "hey! she runs... don't sweat it."  But then I'm also thinking, could I squeeze out more mpg, more top end speed if I achieved perfection (theoretically) with the setup of the carbs, etc. 
And also regarding the "all the same is all that matters - vs falling within a spec range..." idea: I am sure that this is true to an extent, but it must be true that if they were all the same but with "whale turd low" vaacuum readings on each...  there must be a point where that isn't acceptable.  Ya know? 

[Tim in Ohio]

I went ahead and set those float heights to the proper 21mm.  Then I dialed in the carb synching with the Morgan carbtune.  (I promise to post pics and highlights of that process at a later date... when weather curtails riding time  )

  Nice weather in Dayton this weekend. 

I put 200 miles on my bike in the last two days.  It is running great!  I got 50 mpg out of this last tank, but I was riding it pretty hard.  I think a little milder riding will bring better fuel economy.  I did push it a little harder today and got up to 80 mph.  I think under the right conditions, it could approach 90mph but to achieve the 98 mph that it is spec'd at I think it would take a little tuning.  Could that gaping hole in my exhaust be affecting performance?

[kghost]

Maybe but I doubt it's enough for you to notice....

Ya have to be pretty streamlined to hit 98.....

[Tim in Ohio]

Hi guys.  I have been riding my bike all over the place when weather permits.  It is running great.
So far EVERY trip I have taken, I have gotten a thumbs up or some positive feedback from somebody.  How fun is that? 
Now, here in Ohio, during the Fall season, even on the "nice days" that have a high of say 74 degrees (Fahrenheit)... the day begins at around 49 degrees.  So anticipating nice riding conditions on the way home requires riding to work in some discomfort.  For me, keeping the wind off makes a HUGE difference.  The temperature is not a problem when sitting at a traffic light, but once I get going about 40 mph, the bones get a little frosty.
SO...  hence the reason for my picking up a nice vintage Vetter-like fairing in great shape:



I think it is going to look good on the bike.

[Tim in Ohio]

The thing is this... the fairing came off of a early 80s honda (DOHC) that had two down tubes in the front of the frame so the mounting bracket is wrong for my application:



I need for the bracket to be along the lines of:



I need some input from you guys who do fabrication.  Can the bracket be converted from one to the other with some welding?  Spikey?  Others?   I am interested in adding welding to my repertoire at some point anyway because I would like for my next bike project to be a bobber or a chopper.  Maybe this will be a start for me.  What kind of welding machine is good for a home project shop?  Again...  is conversion of the bracket a viable option?

[Really?]

Now that you have the Vetter, ya can't leave out the tunes.  No sense in adding the head unit, yer better off with an mp3 player and headphones.  

Just a note to save you some hassle and a lot of money is you decide to go that route.

The fairing will hold off plenty of the cold.  Vetter also had lowers to keep it off your legs too.  You would be surprised how cold your legs will get without them.  Adding the circle vents to the shield will help on the hot days.

[Spikeybike]

i think that bracket is totally convertible, that's the beauty of metal, damn near anything is possible.

as far as a welder, i wouldn't use anything that wasn't a Miller others are good, that's just were my loyalties are 

get one that runs 110 house current, thats plenty for anything on a bike (pretty much all the tube on these bikes is no thicker then 1/16")   

my advise is to leave flux core wire alone until you've had some practice, i use it (at home) because it's cheaper, because then you don't need gas cylinder/flow-regulator/and related hoses ...
   but there is no way your gonna wanna learn to weld with flux core, it's a serious pain in the ass for me , and i actually know what i'm doing

so if you wanna learn, don't half ass it :
good welder (a reputable brand so you can find parts for it easily)
gas cylinder (argon works best, but for MIG, CO2 is fine and a little cheaper i think)
flow-meter and pluming
a helmet with a dark lens ..say shade 12
thick gloves and lots and lots and lots of different clamps

i like my miller because it can run gas or flux core (not all of them can do both,look for "switchable polarity")  so once you master it with gas , and feel like being a cheap ass, you can switch it over and use fluxcore

[Tim in Ohio]

Giga- I completely agree on the cold leg thing... from firsthand experience.
That is why I was happy that the guy threw in some Vetter lowers:


Spikey- That is what I was hoping you would say.  When I find a possible Miller welding machine (eBay?Craigslist?...) I plan on running it by you first to make sure I'm going to be satisfied with the setup. 

[DarkRider]

All i have to say is this................(wait for it.....)









CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad to see you made it through the process of rebuilding your bike and now starting on getting it set up for its intended role. Soon i will be doing much the same thing with your 350s much larger brothers...the CB550K and the CB750F

[Tim in Ohio]

Hey everyone.  I'm getting restless.  Need to get started on the bike some more (but it it SO darn cold!).
Can anyone provide some input on what I use to fasten the fairing to the bracket?  I'm thinking some nylon washers might be in the picture to reduce creaking, etc but honestly I just pulled that one out of my...

Hope all of my friends on here are doing well.  I look forward to hearing from you guys. 

[mattcb350f]

Hey everyone.  I'm getting restless. 

Aren't we all.....at least those of us in snow country 

I'm guessing you're going to want to use some sort of metal collar in the holes on the fairing like the ones used inside the headlight bucket.

Maybe do some 'googling' about fairing mounting while you're at it.

...man I miss riding my lil' tree fitty 

 Matt.

[fishman_Phil]

Are you cold? I am out in the hot sun sorting out my wiring on my CB350F sidecar project bike, melting my brains and scorching my feet on the black asphalt driveway.

[Cowboy]

Tim,  I just finished fabricating a new bracket to mount Hannigan fairing to my Cb400 twin. Like you, I had to convert it to work with a single downtube, instead of two of them. I was worried about how flimsy the mounting would be if it simply attached to the downtube with hose clamps, as my old vetter did on my CB550. It was a solid mounting method on the 550 with two downtubes, but with only one, is seemed like it might want to pivot around the tube.

I decided to build a more substantial bracket that would use through-bolts through the frame tube. They would still be a weak point, but with large enough bolts, running through a heavy guage steel bracket, and reinforcing tubes running through (and welded to) the frame tube, I thought it might be solid enough.  Now that I see your post, I'm wishing I had taken pics of the process. I didn't think anyone else would ever be silly enough to try such a feat. Welcome to the club!

Here are a couple pics of my bracket mounted to the bike. you can click the links, which will take you to photos where you can zoom in a bit. I wish there were more light so you could see the close-up of the bracket better.





http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/waterlaw99/Motorcycles/closeupofbracket.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y93/waterlaw99/Motorcycles/017.jpg

I've just taken a couple rides to test the bracket, and concluded that the mounting is solid. Now I plan to pull the fairing off and make a couple minor additions, then clean it up and paint it. When I do, I'll take good photos to document the design better.

[Cowboy]

Here are a couple diagrams to help illustrate what you see in the photos above.

the first is a cross-section of the downtube and bracket, looking down from the top. The light grey part you see in the photos is the heavy u-shaped bracket. The angle iron is welded to it at its top, to form a T:



The next is a view from the front, looking back toward the downtube, with the heavy bracket and angle iron T that attaches to it. The rails that attach to the underside of the fairing are welded to the angle iron, out near each end.



This set-up allows you a very solid attachment point to connect the bracket to the downtube, so that wind doesn't tend to make the fairing sway from side to side.

You will notice in the photos that I also used braces that clamp to the exhaust pipes. That may not work so well with a 350 four. You could get close to the same stability, though, if you can extend a brace down from the end of the angle iron T to an engine mount bolt farther down on the frame.

[HavocTurbo]

OOOOFFF!!!!

Don't ever hit a car with that baby....

Poor car won't stand a chance!! 

Nice work! I'm envious!!

[Tim in Ohio]

Cowboy.  That is good stuff!  Glad to have your input. 

[Tim in Ohio]

Hey Cowboy..  enlighten me on the hardware/fastener arrangement you used to attach the fairing to the bracket you fabbed.

[Cowboy]

Tim,

you can't make out the attachments from my photos, so I've made a couple sketches to help explain the attachments. Basically, the upper-most portion of the bracket, welded to the top of the angle iron I described earlier, is a couple of pieces of flat stock, an inch wide, and they are bent to conform to the underside of the fiberglass fairing. I think, (if I remember my old Vetter) that the underside of your fairing is simply flat where it attaches to your bracket.  The two flat-stock pieces form a sort of skewed H shape, with the angle iron forming the cross-bar between them. Here's a diagram from the top:



From the side, it would look like this: (I forgot to label the flat-stock platform. It is the portion shown in black in the sketch.)



In the end, the bracket attaches to the bike in three places: 1) the u-channel which bolts to the frame down-tube. 2 and 3) the braces on each side, which attach to the exhaust down-tubes with hose clamps. There is simply a half-round piece of steel sheet welded to the bottom of each brace, and the top is welded to the rest of the bracket.

The bracket attaches to the FAIRING in four places, just a single bolt through the flat stock, and through the fiberglass bottom of the fairing in each corner of the H-shaped platform. I used 6 mm bolts with nylock nuts, so they wouldn't vibrate loose.

My guess is that you can simply use the existing platform from the bracket you have, and build the rest of your bracket under it. That's how I started mine. I simply cut apart the old bracket, kept the platform portion, and ditched everything else, building the lower portions from scratch.

[Tim in Ohio]

Thanks Cowboy.  Gonna get started soon. 

[Tim in Ohio]

Hey folks:  This bike is now for sale on eBay... You've seen the TLC that went into it!  :

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170468463918&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT