My new project!

[FLHGSRay]

Picked this up yesterday from a friend that's had it since his uncle stopped riding it in 1979. 1972 Honda CL350. Pretty rough, but it's a one-owner with a good title and only 2400 miles! Got the owners manual, tool kit and keys. Got it for a song, not sure of my plans for it yet. Seems a shame to not restore it, but the exhaust is toast and the tank is iffy. Both rims and all spokes are badly rusted. Thinking period dirt bike. Knobbies and no lights. Straight pipes and solo seat.

 

[allojohn]

Interesting find there Ray, a lot of work ahead of you. Good luck!

 

[Shwartz]

Cool little ditty you got there.....ya I said it.

 

[GSScoobie]

I would be looking for the stock exhaust and restoring it.
The stock exhaust is not impossible to find.

 

[FLHGSRay]

Yeah, I'm gonna do some searching and pricing on the stuff to restore it, but I doubt I'll be willing to put that much money into it. A full blown resto could easily run into $2-3000 if I do all the labor. It would be more feasible if the wheels weren't toast.

 

[chuck hahn]

Wheels and hubs....powder caoted and new spokes.

 

[FLHGSRay]

That's a thought. Black rims and stainless spokes would look good. I miss the days when I could go to any bike shop and pick up a new rim for $20. I'm thinking I could glass bead all the other chrome and leave it rough. Powder coat the frame. Spray bomb everything else. Wouldn't be a "resto", but it could be cool.

 

[chuck hahn]

Once you cut the spokes out, you can get one of those VERY corse knotted rope looking wire wheels and an angle grinder ( or one that will fit a bench grinder) and just litterally strip the chrome chipped area like noones business or do the miratic acid electrolosis removal...I will try to do a link for the chrome removal recipie...stand by.

 

[chuck hahn]

Heres the skinny on removal...and yes it works awesome. You need to wash the parts with some baking soda when done to stop the caustic effects of the acid though. AND then you have to deal with the disposal of the chromium at the bottom of the plastic bin youll use.


Found this method of removing chrome and thought some here may be interested.

The proceedure is very much the same as removing rust but with different
chemical. First, degrease completely and scrub thoroughly with detergent.
Mix 1 cup of Muriatic acid with 3 gallons of water in a plastic bucket.
NOTE; ALWAYS ADD ACID TO WATER. NEVER WATER TO ACID !!! (It WILL explode)
Hang two or three copper wires (#12 or larger) around sides of bucket.
Connect these to ground of battery charger. Hang item to be dechromed in
fluid with positive lead connected. Be sure part doesn"t touch ground wires.
Within a few seconds or minutes, depending on thickness of chrome, it should
come clean. More or less time as required. When finnished, wash parts in
mild soda water solution to nutralize acid. (Do this right way to prevent
rust) As with any caustic acid, handle with care.

 

[Big T]

Hmm. hate to be contrarian, but I'd part it out

CB 350s are a mediocre bike, but have a huge cult following for some reason

 

[Guest]

I'd cafe/rat it...
Would make a great cafe bike.

 

[FLHGSRay]

No way I'm parting it out. Besides, all the good parts are rusty. The cafe thing is overdone, IMO. Also, I have a CL450 in much worse shape than this that's headed in that direction. This is gonna go in one of three directions.

1. Dirt bike/desert racer. Big knobbies, no lights, straight exhaust and pods. Powder coat the frame and find some aluminum rims. Think 4 stroke twin Elsinore.
2. Simple clean-up with better wheels and exhaust. Boring.
3. Complete resto. Pricey.

 

[FLHGSRay]

Pretty sure these are past saving. PO tells me this thing was stored in the same barn they kept fertilizer in, and says it is highly corrosive. Got a line on a XL175 rolling chassis. If the wheels are good I may be onto something.

 

[FLHGSRay]

Well, I bought the bones of an XL175. The wheels seem to be straight. 21" front, 18" rear, both D.I.D. steel rims. Plan A for the front is to check the dimensions on the XL front tubes to see if they will swap to my CL triple trees. Plan B is to see if the entire front and will swap out. My guess is that it will. Plan C is to lace the 21 to my CL hub. For the rear I plan to either adapt the XL wheel to my swinger, adapt the XL swinger to the CL frame, or lace the XL rim to the CL hub.

 

[FLHGSRay]

Well, that was a bust. NOTHING on the front end of the XL is the same, except the top neck bearing. Who'd a thunk? So now I can either swap the stem from the CL to the XL trees, or just use the rims. there isn't much left of the XL, but if anyone needs a part, PM me. If I scavenge the rims, the hubs, tubes, trees, and a few other parts will go on ebay.

 

[FLHGSRay]

Unlaced both rims from the XL and took them to the powdercoater. Gonna strip the lights and do a '70s dirt bike thing. If I don't go original and skip the lights and guages and such, I'm thinking I can end up with a pretty nice dirt bike for about $1000. It won't be light or fast or stop like a new one, but it'll still be fun.

 

[bbjumper]

I'd cafe/rat it...
Would make a great cafe bike.

DITTO

Fun project

 

[Mad Mark]

Desert sled desert sled!!!

 

[FLHGSRay]

Desert sled desert sled!!!

DITTO!

I won't do any cutting on the frame, so it can go back on the street at any time. Just gonna leave off all the street stuff. Like we would have done back in the day. Ride it to work all week, strip the lights and go motocrossing on the weekend. The only thing that will be modified is the exhaust and front rim. But now, that rear fender looks kinda long, and all those tabs on the frame are kinda ugly............

 

[Toasty]

Make it a tracker!