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CM400/other headlight mounts on CB350G

toomanybikes

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Aug 11, 2020
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Location
Medfield, MA, USA
Does anyone know if headlight mount / fork ears from other Honda models, such as an '81 CM400, can be used on a '73 CB350G? My basket case 350 didn't include mounts so I'm scouring ebay to find alternatives.

I assume any replacement would need to be the same fork diameter and distance between triple trees. I haven't yet investigated that, but thought someone might already know.

Thanks
 
If you're not concerned about having any OEM parts, there are polished aluminum mounts from Emgo at 4into1 that work well and look good. They're universal and come with different plastic spacers to fit a fair variety of forks. I used a set on my 450 and I like them. Know that I tried the satin black ones first, but when they arrived in the box, bubble-packed, they had abrasion scratches on them from not being packed tightly enough and moving around during shipment to them (they checked others on the shelf for me after I contacted them about it and said all the others looked that way too, so I took the polished ones in exchange).

https://4into1.com/polished-aluminum-headlight-brackets/
 
Thanks. I've used aftermarket brackets and signals on other projects. I'd prefer to have something closer to original since the fork tube tops are horrible and would be better covered. if I can't find that for a reasonable price, I'll go aftermarket.
 
Yeah, my upper tubes were rusty too but not horrible like some I've seen. I opted for cleaning them up and painting them Hammer silver, then slipped the Emgos on afterward. I understand how you feel about using a more stock-looking bracket, on my bike they don't look out of place at all... now the headlight is another story :dizzy:
 
Those are difficult to find.The only exact match is 1973' CL350K5:the same as the 73' CB350G,they're both chrome.
 
thanks all. Given the scarcity of an exact match, i'm going to try the silver hammerite suggestion to cover these scars. This is after multiple passes with abrasives. Fortunately, the corrosion goes inward, so they slide in and out of the clamps easily without widening.

If they look decent i'll get some aftermarket clamps, which will be ok since I'll probably after aftermarket signals as well. Looks like the goal is a resto/mod rather than pure resto.

IMG_20200906_112720.jpg
 
Did you try Evaporust or other product to get as much of the embedded rust off it as possible?
 
I've had really good rust removal experiences with Metal Rescue. It looks like they make a gel (that I haven't used so I can't vouch for) that may work well in this application...
 
briandel said:
I've had really good rust removal experiences with Metal Rescue. It looks like they make a gel (that I haven't used so I can't vouch for) that may work well in this application...
Click to expand...

I haven't used evaporescue on the forks yet, but will do so before painting. I have gallons of spare, but still effective(?), leftover evaporust from de-rusting tanks.
 
After today's effort, the evaporust offered little improvement, either because it was spent, i had abrasived the rust off, or it wasn't truly rust. In any case, I painted the corroded areas silver with Rust-o-leum's hammerite wannabe, replaced the bottom triple tree, painted the top one, and cleaned/semi-polished off the fork lowers. Good enough for now.
IMG_20200906_172401.jpg
 
Well, the paint revealed how much worse yours are than mine were. A lot more deeply pitted for sure. I slid my forks up in the clamps because I lowered the rear 1.5" so the remaining section below that wasn't chromed from the factory got painted and is covered, fortunately for me. If only chroming wasn't so ridiculously expensive anymore.
 
Like mentioned earlier in the thread, the ‘73 ears are unique to that year and hard to find. The headlamp brackets angle up slightly. It may be possible to fit an earlier year CB or CL ears on those ‘73 forks as long as you can source a decent pair. Do you have to have chrome or are you willing to use a painted pair of ears?
 
thanks all for the info and LongDistanceRider's confirmation on fork tube source. Now that the triple tree has been replaced and fork tubes are as good as they're going to get, I've got to switch to mechanical side and replace the shift shaft.

I'll return to lighting and possibly new fork tubes once that's resolved.

You'll probably see a few more questions pop up on this project, such as replacing a few spokes and nipples that rusted.
 
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