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Restoring a 1971 Honda CL350

Though it is somewhat of an indicator, sparking at the points is not the tell-all for spark at the plugs. There will be some spark activity at the points but the condenser's job is to help keep it minimized so if you have strong arcing then new condensers are in order.

If you wired the new points as the old points were, you'll want to rearrange the connectors on the ends of the points wires. When positioned this way as on your old points, the connectors are turned toward the metal points cover and can contact there and ground out the flow of current to the coil causing loss of spark. Also, both connectors are very close to the metal frame of the points itself as it curves toward where it is soldered.

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This is better orientation of the connectors at the points. Different engine but the same idea, relocated and turned away from the cover

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This is a really helpful explanation. I haven't had a chance to work on the bike since this last post, but when I have some time next I will definitely take the cover off again to check if I need to readjust these. When I take the tank off, I am also thinking about checking out the condenser and will report what I figure out afterward.
 
Yep, orientation of the connectors seems like a simple thing but given the lack of excess clearance behind the metal cover it can be critical, as well ass turning the ends of the terminals so their curvature doesn't cause them to come close to the grounded frame of the points themselves.
 
One thing I have been playing around with is trying to address an issue I mentioned before where I lose acceleration at around 55 mph. I am not sure if this is the cause, but I noticed that my right cylinder does not seem to be firing. Checking and replacing the spark plugs didn't seem to resolve the issue, so next I checked the points. My left point was sparking pretty consistently, but the right was not. I went ahead and replaced both points while I was in there and measured both at about .014 in with a feeler gauge before closing it up.

Simply setting the points at .014" is not the same as timing them in......
 
Simply setting the points at .014" is not the same as timing them in......

Thanks 66Sprint - to be honest, I didn’t know about this so I’m going to do some research before attempting to take this on. Adding it to the list!


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Well, you have a few things going on there. Mikuni carbs, CL exhaust that is pretty far gone, and a set of gauges that have stacked brackets - one style bracket mounts into another style, something I've never seen done before. And what looks like a tach drive seal leaking.

The gauges are mounted that way because that's a K3 or earlier front end. Notice the upper triple doesn't have the 2 gauge mount ears and no pinch bolt.
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The gauges are mounted that way because the rubber ring that holds each gauge and fits between the two metal rings has deteriorated and crumbled away. Partzilla has two of them left in stock, at $17.50 each (plus shipping, of course). Those would make the gauges fit like brand new. See item #7 below:

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Honda 37242-319-000 - METER RUBBER | Partzilla.com

I suspect the whole bike is a K3, but has a later (K4, I believe?) fuel tank on it in that picture.

Edit: Reading further, I see you have the original tank.

. . . Some new shocks that I ordered arrived and I was able to get those installed with relative ease.

stclairjohnd, can you tell us where you bought those shocks? Brand? Cost?

If you still have that old upper muffler that fell off, it would be great if you could cut the back out of it and post of picture of whatever is left of the baffle inside the can. A common fault of these mufflers is that the baffle will come loose from rust and then start rattling. I think a fix for this would be to drill and tap the outer skin of the muffler and run in a bolt or two in a strategic spot(s) to push the piece of baffle such that it would not rattle. It would help to know the shape and location of the baffle. Your rotten muffler would be a good candidate for this, if you don't mind doing it.
 
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