Another one followed me home (but not an xs650)

[Shadow24v]

Well, I now find myself in posession of a 1970 CB350 for my wife's motorcycle!

While home in CT for vacation last week, my neighbor was cleaning out his garage again. He had a really nice condition 1970 CB350 sitting in his garage that one of the other neighbor's son-in-law (or something) was interested in buying. Day before we left to drive back to Ohio, my neighbor asks me "so-and-so didn't want to buy the bike, you want it for $200?".

My wife sat on it and was very comfortable with the dead weight and frame sizing of the bike. Even at $200, we both agreed to find SOME way to get it home to Ohio. We managed to make room in the van (along with all our stuff and wedding shower gifts). Gotta love my wife, the master Queen of packing!

So we lug this new aquisition home and the day after we leave, my neighbor emails me with the following: "keep the $200, i'm giving you the bike. Just use the money to make it safe for your wife to ride". So now it went from a $200 bike to a $0 bike. Can't complain as it looks GREAT! will need a little bit of work, hasn't been ridden in 2 years and has some varnished fuel in the tank (which was coated by my neighbor a few years ago). a bit of elbow grease, new tires and a little bit of work and she'll be just fine. not to mention the bike doesn't even have 6000 miles on it. And yes, 6000 is NOT a typo!

BTW, anyone have any parts sources for these older CB's? i've looked and didn't find any good forums or parts suppliers as we have here for the XS650. Comments and all welcome as usual

Had to take the seat off to make sure it was strapped down securely.

 

[Shiffty]

Looks cool. Good find.

 

[gggGary]

Looks great should clean up very well. Fleabay and boneyards for parts, want ads on craigslist work too. Do a very thorough job on the front brakes. full disassembly, lube all pivots and cables, turn the shoes??? Those old drum fronts are marginal on a "good" day. Especially with a non "masculine" hand grip.

 

[Shadow24v]

Thanks, I was thinking of trying to find a later front disc setup to add. the CB350s had disc brakes in 71 or 72 through EOP in 74. Probably a direct swap... (although makes me wonder if i should keep it 100% original...)

going to make sure i put good new rubber on the rims as well, you can have the best brakes in the world but with crap tires you'll still be screwed.

 

[junkshow]

First off, I cant convey how jealous I am. I love and have been rebuilding old CB's for some time now and those small displacement twins are fun.

Secondly, visit the www.SOHC4.net forum site. There is so many good people and a wealth of info on that forum that you could rebuild it with one hand tied behind you back. Those things are ridiculously easy to work on.

Keep us updated on the build, I would love to see that little CB when she's all shined up.

Posted via Mobile

 

[cmattina1]

My buddy has the same one, same year, painted cherry red, he paid a 1000 and it was barely running. Super fun bike.

 

[Shadow24v]

Well, spent a little time on the CB this weekend. Went through it and it'll need a bit of work, even with only less than 6000 mines. Going to put new brake shoes in, new cables everywhere (If i can find em, Iron Pony can't get the brake cables...). Need to find some replacement coils/plug wires as honda had the BRILLIANT idea of casting the plug wires into the coil casing making them non replaceable separate from the coils. Probably going to try and find something aftermarket. Was thinking of doing a wasted spark setup with spare parts lying around, but the firing order is not a 360* like the XS, its 180*/520*.

Did get it to run by rigging up some hack plug wires using spare scraps of MSD auto wire butt-connected to the coils using regular resistor caps. Surprised it ran with them, but its not a premanent solution for sure.

*

Carbs are f-ed up though. Fuel sat in them for who knows how long. jets, float valve, needle and such were corroded all to hell. Got them cleaned up enough to run, but the needles were so pitted, the bike wouldn't rev over 5000 as it was going WAY too rich (black smoke out exhaust). fuel petcock also needs rebuilt as it was gummed up and after cleaning, leaked fairly badly (hence the paper towels on the trans case...).

Probably going to modify the charging system as well, got an old selenium rectifier and who knows what for a voltage regulator. I'm thinking something similar to the solid state mods for our bike would work...

Going to try a couple of the cycle dealers around town to see if they can get parts that Iron pony can't for the CB350. Seems odd that such a mass produced bike has no aftermarket supplier like we do.


Any input on coils, parts suppliers etc would be greatly appreciated.

 

[XSLeo]

I have an 80 Honda CM400E. It has the drum front brake and works very well. I was very surprised by them. It takes a bit more finger pressure on the lever to get them to work, but they work well.
On the Honda Twins forum they replace the stock coils with the stock XS650 coils that Mike's sells, the ones that have the wires held with the o-ring and screw on cap. They say it is an excellent upgrade from the stock coils.
I think Pamcopete has adapted his ignition for the old Honda twins.
Check at www.cb750ignition.com
Leo

 

[angus67]

part number 17-6803 is the hi-perf coil peeps are using on the 80's cb 650. mikes charges 5 buck more, but always has them

 

[XSLeo]

Bike Bandit list a front brake cable from Parts Unlimited for $11.66.
In there parts fiche they don't show brushes for the alternator. It must be a pm type alternator.
Hard to tell in the pic, looks like three wires come up from the stator, two for charging, one for ignition, maybe?

 

[azman857]

I had a '71 CB 350 and it was a blast to ride. Brakes were adequate drum, front and year. I would suggest a major rewire. Turn the PM into a 3 phase alt, use the Radio Shack rectifier and another regulator. I typed in CB 350 in my search engine and found a website for raceing those bikes. Honda didn't sell a bizzillion of these because they are a bad bike! Marvelous machines!

 

[PhatTony]

I have 2 of these Hondas and they are a lot of fun. Check out Hondatwins.net Pamco Pete is an active member over there as well. Great Info for updating the charging system, ignition, brakes, a good resource, just like this place. Parts are tougher to find than the XS but there out there. I use eBay for a lot of the cables and carb parts

 

[ReycleBill]

Those were great bikes. And while not as fast as the CB750, on a crooked road the little twin could eat the Four's breakfast and lunch. I've got one old CB450 that I'm dreaming of restoring... someday.