Here we go - 1971 CL350 Restore

Cycleranger said:
Worked on the gauges today. New rubber all around.
As usual the old rubber "gaskets" were completely shriveled and hard, likewise the grommets.
And it looks like I need a new throttle tube.
Getting the control wires out of the bars is going to be fun. The vinyl covering the wires is completely petrified, far worse than any of my other bikes. Same for the gauge lights.
I'm going to look for some new sheathing for the wires.
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Where did you get the rubbers for the gauges? If OEMs are still available, do you have the part numbers?

The wire harness sheathing can be bought at sparckmoto or whatever their sister company name is. Was it vintageconnections.com?
 
RockReef said:
Where did you get the rubbers for the gauges? If OEMs are still available, do you have the part numbers?

The wire harness sheathing can be bought at sparckmoto or whatever their sister company name is. Was it vintageconnections.com?
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Yep, the "cushion, meter" rubber rings are still available from Honda. PN 37242-319-000
The "rubber meter, set" grommets are too. PN 37244-307-670
Yes, I'll check Vintage Connections, I've shopped them before.
 
RockReef said:
Where did you get the rubbers for the gauges? If OEMs are still available, do you have the part numbers?

The wire harness sheathing can be bought at sparckmoto or whatever their sister company name is. Was it vintageconnections.com?
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Use WD40 sprayed generously into the wire openings in the bars. It will assist with the removal of the existing wiring and petrified sleeves. No damage to the wiring or connectors and will assist with pulling the new sleeves and wiring back into the bar.
 
Flyin900 said:
Use WD40 sprayed generously into the wire openings in the bars. It will assist with the removal of the existing wiring and petrified sleeves. No damage to the wiring or connectors and will assist with pulling the new sleeves and wiring back into the bar.
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Oh yeah, I've been through this before. It's a pita even with more supple wiring.
 
I've taken to deburring the oval wiring holes in the bars, they're always sharp and snag eveything, with a tiny diamond bit on a dremel. Helps for removal or installation of wiring.
I think I saw repop meter cushions on 4into1.
I know you can take the top triple clamp off to put the ears on, with the bike on wheels, just don't move it a bunch so you don't tweak the lower triple.
 
Yeah ok that wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
But they won't go back in with that stiff vinyl covering.
71_CL350_119.jpg
The controls look pretty good inside. Strangely I couldn't find any trace of factory grease inside.
A couple of the screws were really tight. I had to give them a careful tap with the impact driver.
JIS bits FTW. I need to resolder that starter wire connection.
71_CL350_120.jpg
Aaand the bars are slightly tweaked. I couldn't really tell until I got them tore down. I think I can tweak 'em back...enough.
71_CL350_121.jpg
 
Someone has had those out before by the extensive use of electrical tape over the black plastic wire covering. WD really helps with the removal and install and also the internal rust build up. Which is quite normal on Canadian bikes.

No grease in the controls again maybe a sign of previous work by someone. Pretty hard to hold that tiny ball bearing in place though without some grease as a helper . ;)
 
I run those stiffy things under hot water and massage out the worst kinks then when it's still soft I pull it back through with a pull wire that gets left in there from pulling it out. I'm an old cable guy so it's kind of ingrained in me.

You can't have too big a vice and blocks of scrap wood and long heavy pipes around for bar straightening.
 
Flyin900 said:
Someone has had those out before by the extensive use of electrical tape over the black plastic wire covering. WD really helps with the removal and install and also the internal rust build up. Which is quite normal on Canadian bikes.

No grease in the controls again maybe a sign of previous work by someone. Pretty hard to hold that tiny ball bearing in place though without some grease as a helper . ;)
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Nope, there is no electrical tape. I'm pretty sure no one ever pulled the wires before.

Yeah, the vise and a pipe should straighten up the bars. I have an old Triumph fork tube I use for that sort of thing.
 
I’m imagining or seeing things these days. It looked like loads of electrical tape until I expanded the pics.:)
 
I am convinced these were originally assembled by children with three hands and microscopes!
I imagine 50 years ago the wiring was bit more supple.
I had to replace the plastic "slider" part. The original was a bit melted and cracked as soon as I touched it.
Fortunately I had spare parts from a later control in my "junk" box.
71_CL350_122.jpg
71_CL350_123.jpg
 
Installing the coils etc. I see I need one of these.
Lots of them on ebay for the princely sum of ~$25 each shipped from Thailand or ~$50 for ten.
I think for the time being I'll just fab something and worry about it later.

cablestay.png
 
Yep, it's those little touches that get lost when a bike has been around 50 years and maybe hacked up to boot. Buy the 10 for $50 and sell the rest for $7 each plus shipping, make a little something back.
 
ancientdad said:
Yep, it's those little touches that get lost when a bike has been around 50 years and maybe hacked up to boot. Buy the 10 for $50 and sell the rest for $7 each plus shipping, make a little something back.
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That thought did cross my mind. :unsure:
The horn and the proper bolts to mount everything were missing from this bike.
I rummaged through my pile and found a single 80mm bolt. I had to make another one out of a 100mm bolt.
But then the shop day came to an end when I couldn't find two 6mm nuts. :(
So now it's time to make the dinner.
 
Cycleranger said:
I am convinced these were originally assembled by children with three hands and microscopes!
I imagine 50 years ago the wiring was bit more supple.
I had to replace the plastic "slider" part. The original was a bit melted and cracked as soon as I touched it.
Fortunately I had spare parts from a later control in my "junk" box.
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Another nice thing about the '60's bikes....They don't have them.
 
Well not much happening since I have still have yet to find a painter.
I had the roof on the my workshop replaced a few weeks ago.
It created an unholy mess in the shop with gravel and shingle bits raining down over every square inch.
I had the bikes and some other stuff covered but there was crap every where else that required several days of vacuuming. I needed a new shop vac anyway, my old one was almost thirty years old!

So today I stripped the paint from the chain guard. I used Klean Strip Strip X.
I like that stuff, very effective and cleans up with water.
I started cleaning up the seat pan. It's in good condition with just some surface rust.
Even the pointy tabs are intact.
The PO (badly) installed a new seat cover over the original foam and then painted the underside with white then green paint for some reason. So I need to strip that as well. I think I'm going to look for some new foam.71_CL350_124.jpg
 
Cycleranger said:
I think I'm going to look for some new foam.
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I bought replacement foam from SCI for my 350 project. I have zero time in the saddle (project awaiting free time this summer), but my first impression is that it feels overly firm.

Looks like 4-into-1 has something else. I'll be curious to see what else you find and compare notes down the road.
 
That roof fiasco would've been about the end for me. I've just got way too much just laying around to work on. (Note to self: Minimize)
4into1 has foam that looks pretty good, stl360+450 used it. Nice pan .
 
stl360+450 said:
I bought replacement foam from SCI for my 350 project. I have zero time in the saddle (project awaiting free time this summer), but my first impression is that it feels overly firm.

Looks like 4-into-1 has something else. I'll be curious to see what else you find and compare notes down the road.
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Same here;I want to know how it compares to good,OEM foam.
 
Talking about crap raining down from above and decrepit seat foam made me think of a few times working on car head liners. Not a fun scene. Or just being in an old car where the head liner is drooping and you push it up and the old plastic foam crap starts raining down. Ick. Almost as much fun as working on removing hanging ceiling panels.
 
ballbearian said:
That roof fiasco would've been about the end for me. I've just got way too much just laying around to work on. (Note to self: Minimize)
4into1 has foam that looks pretty good, stl360+450 used it. Nice pan .
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There were hundreds of splinters from the roofing nails punching through the 35 year old plywood.
Imagine shredding a sheet of plywood and mixing it with kitty litter then spewing it over your entire work space.
The best part is all the stuff up in the rafters is still covered in crap that will rain down on me whenever I disturb anything..
Oh well, with any luck this will be the last roof I ever have to buy.

As far as foam, I've looked at SCI and 4-into-1. I wouldn't be surprised if they both get their foam from the same source. Is the CB350 foam similar enough to work on a CL350 seat?
 
Maybe Brody knows. IIRC, Jim said the CL's are longer because the tank is shorter. I've got 73 CL and CB, and could compare/measure.
 
Cycleranger said:
As far as foam, I've looked at SCI and 4-into-1. I wouldn't be surprised if they both get their foam from the same source. Is the CB350 foam similar enough to work on a CL350 seat?
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I'm pretty sure I bought directly from SCI, but looking closely at the photos on 4-into-1, I agree that they could be the same. It looks like 4-into-1 has a lower price.

ballbearian said:
Maybe Brody knows. IIRC, Jim said the CL's are longer because the tank is shorter. I've got 73 CL and CB, and could compare/measure.
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I'm not sure if the CB foam would be compatible with a CL seat pan. Texavina sells various complete seats, including a stockish one for the CL350. Their website says the CL seat is "a little longer" than the CB seat and give approximate dimensions of 10.5" by 25.5" for the complete CL350 seat. Strangely, the photo shows chrome trim rather than buttons and has the overall look of a CB seat cover.
 
I just looked and the CL seat has about an inch longer front (everything else lines up the same). I'd go for it and get a cover from gumtwo on ebay. If it did need a little extra stuffing in front, I'd get some quilter's batting and put a little roll in the front. Again, this is 73 CL compared to 73 CB. Oh, the back contour is slightly more rounded on the CB, whereas the CL is more flat or like a ships transom, but I think the vinyl would compensate or smooth out. If you want pics, let me know for later.
 
So I decided to reuse the original foam. It's actually in pretty good condition, all things considered.
As I mentioned, the PO replaced the cover on the seat, poorly.
However he pulled out some of the support foam then installed the cover so now that I've replaced that missing foam and the seat cover fits properly all the holes the PO punched for the buttons and the strap don't line up.
So if I reuse this cover it looks like poo because of all the extra holes along the sides. *sigh*
Which is a damn shame because it's a good quality cover, heavy vinyl with welded seams and the logo. I wish I knew where he got it.
So, I'm on a search for a new cover. Ideally I can find one just like ruined one I have.
Anyone have source for a similar quality CL350 seat cover?
I don't mind ponying up for a new cover but there's a lot of cheap covers out there and I'm interested in only doing this once.
 
Well, Cycleranger, those pictures sent me down memory lane!

I have that exact same tank on my '71 CL350. When I got the bike out of a barn, the tank was off the bike and was on the concrete floor about 30 feet away.



The bike wasn't in too good condition, either.



I could write a small book about my experiences with that tank and the solidified (yes solid like a paving brick) fuel that was still inside. I won't, though, because I am already walking on your thread here.

One thing I never did with my tank was to get it repainted. I was too hung up on the fact that it was original paint. I was also worried about reproducing that original black swoopy pattern on the side.

I actually put the tank on a sawhorse and shot pictures from various angles. I printed out those pictures onto 8 1/2" x 11" paper and penciled in dimensions wherever I thought it would help to reproduce that shape. I even went so far as to take the tank to a vinyl shop and see if they could make a painting mask for it. The guy had it for a couple of weeks before he decided that was too complex a shape!

As I recall, I emailed Randy Marbles down in Texas and asked how they were able to reproduce that shape so well. He said it was a trade secret, but he would be happy to paint my tank for me. ;)

I might have done that, but was leery of mailing it down to him.

Long and short of it, I touched up the worst areas and left it in original paint. I have been riding and enjoying the bike for a rather long time now as a 5–10 footer. It looks good till you get within that closeup range.



When I saw your picture with the stripper on the blue paint, I started wondering how long it has been since I have considered doing the same thing. I never did do it because I long ago decided to clean and polish the bike and use it as a (mostly) original survivor.

Yikes! I just looked in my folder for that bike and found that I picked it out of the barn fifteen years ago this very day, April 4, 2009!

I've run up 13,582 miles on it since then, so that is a conservative 905 miles per year as a sort of novelty bike. It has been a lot of fun over the years.

Anyway, I am enjoying your thread. Congratulations on the work you are doing with your CL350 project and for having the guts to go ahead and strip that paint!
 
fxray said:
Well, Cycleranger, those pictures sent me down memory lane!

I have that exact same tank on my '71 CL350. When I got the bike out of a barn, the tank was off the bike and was on the concrete floor about 30 feet away.



The bike wasn't in too good condition, either.

I could write a small book about my experiences with that tank and the solidified (yes solid like a paving brick) fuel that was still inside. I won't, though, because I am already walking on your thread here.

One thing I never did with my tank was to get it repainted. I was too hung up on the fact that it was original paint. I was also worried about reproducing that original black swoopy pattern on the side.

I actually put the tank on a sawhorse and shot pictures from various angles. I printed out those pictures onto 8 1/2" x 11" paper and penciled in dimensions wherever I thought it would help to reproduce that shape. I even went so far as to take the tank to a vinyl shop and see if they could make a painting mask for it. The guy had it for a couple of weeks before he decided that was too complex a shape!

As I recall, I emailed Randy Marbles down in Texas and asked how they were able to reproduce that shape so well. He said it was a trade secret, but he would be happy to paint my tank for me. ;)

I might have done that, but was leery of mailing it down to him.

Long and short of it, I touched up the worst areas and left it in original paint. I have been riding and enjoying the bike for a rather long time now as a 5–10 footer. It looks good till you get within that closeup range.



When I saw your picture with the stripper on the blue paint, I started wondering how long it has been since I have considered doing the same thing. I never did do it because I long ago decided to clean and polish the bike and use it as a (mostly) original survivor.

Yikes! I just looked in my folder for that bike and found that I picked it out of the barn fifteen years ago this very day, April 4, 2009!

I've run up 13,582 miles on it since then, so that is a conservative 905 miles per year as a sort of novelty bike. It has been a lot of fun over the years.

Anyway, I am enjoying your thread. Congratulations on the work you are doing with your CL350 project and for having the guts to go ahead and strip that paint!
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Beautiful CL350!
I hear you about original paint. I hated to strip the paint off that tank but it's the only blue piece I have.
I had to replace all the rest of the body work.
When I got the bike the side covers were missing, the forks ears were bent, and the headlight bucket was broken.
It just didn't make much sense to paint everything but the tank. Plus I really want the dent fixed.
(While I'm at it I'm going to change the color too.)

As far as the stripe, well, I have friend who owns a sign shop and his guys are very skilled with Illustrator and assure me they are up to the challenge.
I gave them my other, crappier '71 tank to use for a template.
Looking at the stripes for the '71 CL350 that are available for sale I have no doubt they can do better.

For all the effort I've put into looking for a painter I would have just used Marbles but I understand Randy retired a couple of years ago and sold the business and I've read reports since then that the level of service isn't the same.
I guess I shouldn't have taken almost nine years to get around to restoring this one. :rolleyes:
 
I figured you had a plan to recreate the stripe. What could be better than a second original tank? (y)

I read the same reports about Marbles Motors, and recently found a local painter for my SL350K0. My SL350 was missing the side covers, as most of the K0 bikes are, but I bought some repops from Randy Marbles, along with repop badges. I got those several years ago, because I didn't know how long they would still be available. This local guy has a good reputation working on Corvettes, so I figured he could handle the plastic side covers.

At least your CL has chrome fenders, but, as you say, there are still six other parts to be painted. Chrome is kind of a trade-off. If you are trying to go first class, it may need to be replated. That, by the way is a dying art. Hexavalent chrome is being mandated out of existence all over the world. Look at the new cars and see the painted door handles, bumpers, etc. That isn't by choice.

I will be anxious to see what your friends can do with your tank. Are you going with an original Honda color, or something totally different? Your plan to recreate the stripe indicates that you want to keep it with stock appearance.
 
fxray said:
I will be anxious to see what your friends can do with your tank. Are you going with an original Honda color, or something totally different? Your plan to recreate the stripe indicates that you want to keep it with stock appearance.
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I have a non-stock but "period" color in mind, with the stock stripe. Hopefully the stripe will be ready next week.
Grumpybugger said:
Will you do the dent removal yourself Cycleranger?
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No, I'll let the paint/body shop do that. I don't have the tools do it properly and they are far more skilled.

I spent today sloshing solvent around inside the tank to remove the old liner. It looks like it was "kreem" or something similar. It's coming off pretty well. (MEK, deadly but effective..)
There's a bit of rust under the liner, but not too bad. It should clean up fine. Last time I had to de-line and de-rust a tank it was far far worse and I had to protect the paint. It's a luxury to not have to sweat damaging the paint.
 
Cycleranger said:
I have a non-stock but "period" color in mind, with the stock stripe. Hopefully the stripe will be ready next week.
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So, your sign shop friend is making a vinyl stripe (or decal) to be applied over the painted tank and then have the clear coat over the stripe? I was envisioning the painter painting the black stripe onto the base paint. Will the shop make some kind of water transfer decal? Whatever it is, there may well be a market for the stripe beyond just your tank.
 
Cycleranger said:
While I was hanging on the edge of heat stroke I decided to knock out the bearings from the rear wheel. The sprocket nuts are pretty chewed up from a chain break/jump. I guess I'll get some new ones. Surprisingly the studs slipped right out of the bushes.
Wasn't expecting that.
The retainer was barely staked, I didn't even have to drill it, which was nice and it came right out with the pin spanner.
I had a heck of a time getting spacer far enough aside to get a bite on the bearing to punch it out. But it all worked out in the end.
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Sorry to keep bugging you, but I was looking back through your thread, and this just occurred to me. When you were inside the back hub, did you find the bearing spacer that is shaped like a top-hat? It would be the front-most piece in this picture:



It fits inside the inner race on the big bearing shown right behind it. PO's are notorious for leaving that piece out and throwing it away with their old bearings. It is not part of the bearing; it is a Honda distance piece (bearing spacer) that is to be reused. If that was missing, the rear wheel could have gone "walkabout" and mangled the heads on the sprocket bolts by rubbing on the shock mount. That part was missing when I took my SL350 apart, and the sprocket bolts looked just like yours.

It is item#11 below:

 
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fxray said:
So, your sign shop friend is making a vinyl stripe (or decal) to be applied over the painted tank and then have the clear coat over the stripe? I was envisioning the painter painting the black stripe onto the base paint. Will the shop make some kind of water transfer decal? Whatever it is, there may well be a market for the stripe beyond just your tank.
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Yes, a vinyl stripe can be applied to the base coat and then cleared over.
They make vinyl that can be painted over. That's generally a lower cost option for a respray with graphics.
However I'm going to have a stencil/mask made of the stripe so it can be painted on the base coat.

Yes, the spacer was there. The mangled sprocket bolts were likely the result of a jumped or broken chain.
 
So I did this today. Looks pretty good. It will probably explode when I actually sit on it. :rolleyes:
71_CL350_128.jpg
71_CL350_129.jpg
71_CL350_130.jpg
Those split rivets were a kind of a pain. Very hard stainless. Tricky to bend the legs properly. I only broke one. Good thing I had extras.
I'm sure Honda had a special tool for quickly installing those. (And the original ones were softer steel.)
If I had to do it again I'd probably use something like these.

Flathead screw rivets..jpg
No, I didn't use a gumtwo cover. I'm sure those are better but I wanted the top pattern heat-sealed and it had the logo so I didn't have to mess with that.
We'll see how it holds up.
I need to clean up the hardware and get it back on the seat. The PO buggered up the strap buckles.
I have some of the later, larger ones but I might try to make some that resemble the the '71 pattern.
 
stl360+450 said:
I had the same feeling when working with them. Your seat turned out very well. Nice work!
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Thank you. It wasn't until I got a half of them in that the idea to use the screw rivets came to me. Wish I'd thought of it before hand. I still might see if I can source some in the correct dimensions.
 
Cycleranger said:
It wasn't until I got a half of them in that the idea to use the screw rivets came to me. Wish I'd thought of it before hand. I still might see if I can source some in the correct dimensions.
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If you source any, I may follow suit. I still need to work on some stubborn tabs that are a bit loose on my seat.
 
Cycleranger said:
Yeah I saw that too. I've never heard them called that.
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Nor had I, until I went looking for them years ago. I got mine from Tandy Leather, who used to have a store near me. I see that I am still centrally located for their stores; I only have to go about 160 miles in any direction. Looks like you can still order them on-line. It sticks in my mind that I had to alter the ones I used with some selective grinding or filing to shorten them, so choose lengths wisely.

Yeah, I just found my old post from 8 yrs ago on the old site, where I wrote about these. I just now went over there and replaced the corrupted links from the evildoers at Photobucket:



So, it is safe to view it now. I see that Outobie posted right after I did over there that Sirius has (or had?) the original style split pins if you prefer those.
 
On a side note:

As I understand, Tandy Leather purchased RadioShack way back and kept the Radio Shack name in the US but used the name Tandy Electronics for the other stores world wide.

I grew up in Australia and Tandy Electronics was my favorite hang out store as a young kid.

Shortly after arriving in the US at the age of 21, I landed a job at the local RadioShack service center as a bench tech and I stayed for 13 years because of the high commission pay and the the awesome stock purchase program.

I ended up working at the last SoCal location in 2000.

OK... back to regular broadcasting.
 
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