Topic: Tom C from Delaware - 1972 CB350f - my first ever restoration

[Tom C]

Hi all!
Well, I suppose it's about time for me to introduce myself. 

I've been scouring this forum since mid January 2019 when I purchased a 1972 CB350f from a local guy who had a barn full of restored 60's and 70's era Japanese and British bikes.  I got in touch and asked if he had any project bikes that he had not yet gotten around to. He had bought the CB a few years ago  - she had been drained of fluids and prepped for storage, with 6800 miles on the odometer.

Here's what she looked like once I got her home:



I soon had the motor running after installing a new battery, rebuilding the carbs and installing a fresh a tune-up kit.  Once I was satisfied that she would start and run, I began disassembling, which was so much fun I decided to do a frame-up rebuild.  This being my first ever restoration, I thought I'd keep it simple (ha!) by leaving the motor alone - at least for now. 
 
Here's what I've completed so far:
Frame powder coated
Wheels re-spoked, trued and balanced
Tires and tubes (Shinko SR210)
Steering head ball bearings upgraded to All Balls roller bearings
Carbs rebuilt and synched
Control and instrument cables replaced
Tach and speedo faces replaced
Front disc resurfaced and drilled by Trudisc
Front brake master cylinder rebuilt
Front Brake Pads
Forks rebuilt with new seals
Rear Shocks replaced with replicas
Swing arm and shock mount bushings
NOS Honda mirrors
Rear brake light switch
Coils, spark plug wires and caps,  points, plugs, condenser
Battery
hours of plating and polishing

An ADV buddy of mine owns a body shop in VA, he has the tank, side covers, headlight bowl and fork covers, which he is prepping for painting to as close a match to Flake Matador Red as he can get from the paint mixing system at his business.

As of this writing, here's the state of things:







Not much left to do except wait on my buddy Steve to get the painting done!

A couple of little issues I thought I'd ask while I have your attention:

First - I can't understand why the turn signal indicator light only blinks when the right turn signals are operating.  The left turn signals function and blink, but the indicator light does not come on at all when the left signals are flashing.  Strange. Works fine on the right turn signals.

Second - I've had to remove the center stand because the aftermarket 4 into 2 muffler on the left side of the bike gets in the way of the center stand.  It looks like I will have to extend the "extension" of the center stand 2 or 3 inches to get it out of the way.  Too bad I didn't notice this before I had the center stand powder coated along with the rest of the frame.   Has anyone else here modified their center stand to accommodate aftermarket mufflers? 
 
Anyway, this forum has been immensely valuable to me during the restoration process - thanks to those of you who have contributed to the forum over the years. 

I've been documenting my build on an advrider.com thread:
https://advrider.com/f/threads/1972-honda-cb350-four-project.1362596/

Pictures can be found here:
https://tcasti.smugmug.com/1972-Honda-CB350-four-restoratio/i-kVkdmWL

Thanks again for all the help!  I'll post up some pictures of the finished project as soon as she is complete! 

[MD]

Welcome from NE MN,

Glad you started it up before starting the frame restore.

-MD

[WhyNot2]

Welcome from Georgia. Got my first CB from a doctor in Laurel, and it happened to be a CB350/4.

Good looking bike.

I'm originally from Delaware but, much warmer down here.

[Tom C]

I've answered a couple of my own questions:

First off the issue of the turn signal indicator light only working for the left signals - with the help of this forum I figured out that the reason why I replaced the incandescent indicator light with an LED light, which, because it is a diode (hence the "D" in LED), it only works when current flows a certain way - the way that it does when the left turn signal is activated.  Current flows through the right turn signals in the opposite direction, therefore the LED doesn't work.  I've simply put an old school incandescent bulb back into the turn signal indicator light socket, now it works fine for both left and right. 

Secondly, the issue of the center stand clearance with the aftermarket 4 into 2 exhaust system - I bought one of these MAP gas torches at the Home Depot:


...to heat and reshape the center stand foot thing:
From this:


to this:


I wish that I had seen this issue before the parts went to the powder coater, but I did find a close enough match to the satin black of the powder coating.

Now waiting on the painted parts. My buddy was going to try to find a close match to Flake Matador Red with the paint system he has at his body shop, but we decided to simply bite the bullet and go with VMR Paints, which I will order today as soon as he tells me how much to buy.