[shortbusgangster]

Hello everyone! New member here.

I'm more of a sport bike kind of guy but I developed a new love for vintage motorcycles that is an entirely different world.

I bought a '73 Honda CB350G about 4 years ago in boxes in bins and in about 17 months, I built my first little cafe racer.

I can post pictures of the build process in there is enough interest.

The bike will be at the 2018 Cleveland International Motorcycle show from January 26th, 27th, and the 28th. Come say hi!

Thanks for looking!

 

[jcw]

Very pretty! Lovely!

Trailer Queen

 

[shortbusgangster]

This is what it originally looked like before I purchased it.

 

[shortbusgangster]

This was the day I brought it home.

Bought everything for $100.

It came with:
1 frame
2 sets of front forks
2 gas tanks
2 seats
2 engines
1 drum wheel
pamco electric ignition
woodcraft clip ons
emgo slash cuts

It sat like this for a couple of months before I dug into it.

 

[miniman]

Even though th finished article isnt my thing, i can appreciate the fact that you actually got that basket case back together.

 

[shortbusgangster]

Even though th finished article isnt my thing, i can appreciate the fact that you actually got that basket case back together.

and that's entirely okay! I'll slowly add content and explain things! Even if people aren't a fan of it, I'm sure they can appreciate the processes.

 

[shortbusgangster]

The first step was to take everything down to my work space and organize it to see what I had.

- - - Updated - - -

Few more pieces.

 

[shortbusgangster]

A look at the motor originally. Fortunately the previous owner disassembled it to this point and labeled everything and put it away neatly!

 

[shortbusgangster]

For whatever reason, the picture is turning sideways. If someone can point me in a direction to fix that, that'd be great!

The processes I took to get it to this point was:

Aircraft grade paint stripper which takes off the layers of factory clear coat and paint.
400 grit sand paper sanding in one direction
600 grit sand paper sanding in a 90 degree direction. The purpose of sanding two different directions is so you can see how far the sand paper cuts into the material. When it forms new sanding marks in the direction you're sanding, you know you've sanded enough and it's time to move onto the next grit.
800 grit sand paper
1500 grit sand paper. Once you start getting into the finer grit sand papers, it's okay to jump up to a high grit since the metal is pretty smooth at that point. Keep sanding in a different direction for each of these steps.
2000 grit sand paper
Mother's Aluminum Polish and a buffing wheel. For the buffing wheel, I bought a buffing disk at the hardware store, all thread, some nuts and washers and I used it on a drill press instead since it gave me more room to maneuver my parts.

 

[shortbusgangster]

The head was decked 30 thousands to bump a little compression.

Cylinders were honed and in great shape!

Valves and the mating surface was cut at the machine.

Pistons were in great shape and new rings were installed.

When gaping the rings, you will want to put the piston rings down in the cylinder, use your piston up-side-down to square the rings up and use a feeler gauge to measure the gap. If the tolerances are too tight, use a fine file to file the gap down and measure again.

 

[TrialsRider]

For whatever reason, the picture is turning sideways. If someone can point me in a direction to fix that, that'd be great! ...

Only the preview is, don't worry about it, once you click on the box to view in full scale it works fine.
It's an incompatibility between Apple images and this site's inability to read the image orientation code.

 

[shortbusgangster]

Only the preview is, don't worry about it, once you click on the box to view in full scale it works fine.
It's an incompatibility between Apple images and this site's inability to read the image orientation code.

Ahh, okay. That makes sense. Thank you!

 

[shortbusgangster]

At this point the motor was more or less ready to go into the frame so I put it in a plastic bag and set it aside.

 

[shortbusgangster]

I moved onto the frame. I knew i wanted to move the rear sets to the static tabs that were already on the frame so I just these off.

I used a cut off saw for this and then used an angle grinder with a sanding disk to smooth it over.

 

[Geeto67]

I'd love to see how you did the bodywork.

 

[Integra99]

I really like that.. how did you do the front mudguard.. it looks lower that standard height. I'm having trouble using the OEM brace to sit the fender any lower without modifying the brace.

 

[miniman]

I really like that.. how did you do the front mudguard.. it looks lower that standard height. I'm having trouble using the OEM brace to sit the fender any lower without modifying the brace.

Just modify the brace, there are plenty about for most models even if you fuck it up...

 

[shortbusgangster]

I really like that.. how did you do the front mudguard.. it looks lower that standard height. I'm having trouble using the OEM brace to sit the fender any lower without modifying the brace.

The reason it looks lower is that i'm running a 100 series tire on the front. It's a touch taller, thus taking up the gap.

I suppose if there is still interest, I can finish the post!

 

[ghetto_racer]

BUMP...
Let's see the body work.