Topic: 1973 CB350F - Sofia - future daily driver

[esquire]

I'm about to be a first-time motorcycle owner. I've had a couple of old Vespa Ps and a couple mopeds and have always worked on my own bikes, but I've never had a 4-stroke bike and certainly not a multi-cylinder bike. I've been reading these forums obsessively for the last couple weeks in preparation for my new baby coming home in a couple days.

Here she was on the day that I took a look at her and gave the current owner my first payment:


Once I get this bike running well, it's going to be a daily driver. I'm going to clean her up, but I'm not immediately going the route of cosmetic overhaul. I'm on a limited budget, but I've got a good amount of spare time and a lot of patience.

The bike runs very smooth and doesn't seem to have any serious mechanical issues with the engine.

The work I know needs to be done immediately:
1) Front brake caliper and master cylinder are gunked up and need to be cleaned or rebuilt.
2) The charging system is not functioning so the battery has to be charged between drives. -- luckily a member on here that actually lives in my town (fmctm1sw) has a both a spare rectifier and a regulator. I just hope it's not the stator...
3) One or more carbs is pissing gas. I assume this is from stuck float needles. I am going to try and rebuild the carbs ASAP, but first I'm going to try throwing some seafoam in the tank and an inline fuel filter to see if things clear up a bit.
4) New tires

I don't get paid until Wednesday, and I'll be picking up the bike and immediately getting to work on it. Any parts I need to buy won't be had until then, but I need to get it on the road as soon as I can since this is my only vehicle. Wish me luck, and please give me any advice for a novice you may have.

[scunny]

looks like a good start. just enjoy owning it.

[Cheffish]

Your cosmetic overhaul shouldn't take long. That's a great looking bike!

[esquire]

Your cosmetic overhaul shouldn't take long. That's a great looking bike!

The right sidecover is faded completely white, the tank is dinged up, and there is surface rust on most of the chrome. It's not a lot, but the bike looks much more rough in person. I think I'm going to end up going in a bratstyle direction with the styling that can easily go back to stock. I'm not cutting anything on the bike.

[fmctm1sw]

The work I know needs to be done immediately:
1) Front brake caliper and master cylinder are gunked up and need to be cleaned or rebuilt.

Is the master cylinder frozen?  If not, we should be able to pop out the piston with it.  If needed (probably) you can get a replacement piston from member kevin400F for around $35.

2) The charging system is not functioning so the battery has to be charged between drives. -- luckily a member on here that actually lives in my town (fmctm1sw) has a both a spare rectifier and a regulator. I just hope it's not the stator...

Yep, sure do.  I already bench tested the rectifier.  I still think I have a stator somewhere that I tried to sell a while back.  The wires were cut but I still had the connector so it would be an easy soldering/heat shrink job to fix.  I may have sold it...  or trashed it.  I should have another one with the other motors I have anyway.

3) One or more carbs is pissing gas. I assume this is from stuck float needles. I am going to try and rebuild the carbs ASAP, but first I'm going to try throwing some seafoam in the tank and an inline fuel filter to see if things clear up a bit.

There been discussion in the past about the rebuild kits, from Keyster in particular, regarding the needle taper among other things.  I recommend we check the float needles before you spend a lot of money on rebuild kits. 

4) New tires

My recommendation is to cut the tires off yourself and take the rims to Pensacola Motorsports.  Take them to the service department along with your new tubes and tires and talk to the big guy with the fake leg and glasses (sorry, can't remember his name).  I can't remember exactly what he charged me but it was far less than D&D told me and worth more in saved stress and rim damage trying to do it myself.  My tires are cheap Duros but I don't ride like a maniac and don't ride in the rain...

[esquire]

Awesome. Thanks. I know you're going to that rally this weekend, but when would be a good time to bring it over next week(end)?

[esquire]

She's home. I'm going to see what I can do with her tomorrow, but here's a picture that looks like a police photograph of a crime scene because my phone camera sucks:

[Danno]

a paintless dent repair tool should take those dents in the tank out thats a nice lookin bike looks like a diamond in the rough to me good find bud

[johnny]

Nice bike! Mine was the same color prior to my build.

[lucky]

Buy a workshop manual now.

[esquire]

Buy a workshop manual now.

I have a workshop manual on my computer and a clymer manual. I've heard the clymer manual has some bad info, but I'm not sure which parts of it are wrong.

[Donny_B]

Good luck on your project Sir.

[esquire]

I threw some seafoam in the tank and ran it a bit today, and the carbs didn't seem to be leaking any gas so hopefully those carbs got un-gooped. I don't have my tools at the moment so I didn't have a chance to take a look at the brakes. I charged her up for a few hours and took the lady on her first motorcycle ride around the neighborhood. She was terrified.

She rode damn well for a bike that hadn't been driven regularly since 1985. After the ride I checked the exhausts and they were all hot. I even got a nice blister when I got too close.

Here's to hoping it continues to be smooth sailing.