[hysteria411]

This is my second time around on this bike, the first time was a bit of a trial run as this is my first bike. I cut a lot of corners to save money the first time, so I'm going a little slower and improving the quality for version 2. I'll try to keep this thing updated as I move along, but I'm a full time student so between that and work I can't move too fast.

Here's a quick history by way of pictures

 

[hysteria411]

01/27-08
I've slowly been sanding and painting some stuff in my spare time, as well as working on my carbs here and there-

I also started repairing my seat today, something fell on it while it was in storing and took a nice little slice out of it-

What do you guys think about the color of the frame and engine? I'm pretty set on a metallic blue for the tank/seat/swingarm, and I was thinking silver or black for the motor and frame. What color combo would you guys go with if it was yours?


2/2/08

Put the seat in the first coat of primer today(still wet if you can't tell). When I'm satisfied with my scratch repair I'll put some color on it.

I'm still not happy with the shine I'm getting with this stuff, but I think I'll be able to really get it to pop eventually. Until then I'm not going to paint anything other than samples.


2/3/08

The seat has some color, now I just need to smooth out that layer of clear on top.

3/1/08

About 1/4 of the way done porting the head

3/15/08

Tank is painted

3/16/08

Here's the color that the frame & a few other accents will be

3/22/08

Been working on the exhaust porting, here's a comparison of what I've done so far.

4/05/08

Polished up the tank today.

4/11/08

First layer of primer.

4/19/08

Decided on the engine color finally

 

[coolatula]

That's a neat blue. Silver in it? One of my favorite metallic Blue colors is what Dodge used to paint their trucks back in the late 80's or early 90's. It was medium-light blue with what appeared to be a a silver base. It was one of those shades/colors though that had to REALLY have a good wax job on it to look very glossy/shiny at all.

There's one a like better though than that and it's a cross between metallic blue and metallic silver(both with big,but not Bass boat big metallic flakes)which is what the last picture of your newly painted tail section looks like. Under a high gloss clear it looks awesome. It's a really cool color that I plan to use on one of my project in the future.

You can coat,wet sand,scuff,re-paint coat wet sand etc as long as the base/primer is smooth and then wet sand and buff the thicker clear coat to get a deep shine. Most people only wet sand the clear coat and the buff it out. That works too,but wont give you the best overall deep/wet look.

As you have already sprayed the base and clear,you can just concentrate on wet sanding,scuff re-clear,wet sand,scuff re-clear etc.. Each time you re-clear of course the surface MUST be absolutely clean.

I think it will look great when your done. Only thing I would have done is put knee indents into the tank. It looks too plain with out indents or at least a tank strap/racing stripe(s) or some sort of emblem. It's painted now,but old style/vintage(gold)Honda wing tank emblems would look very cool under the clear coated tank.

I love the shape,style and size of the tail section. You did a great job on it. I also think chrome,cone tip,cocktail shaker or Dunstall type mufflers would give it a little bit of flair since you went with a lighter color scheme this time around.

Don't forget small/tiny turn signals. When I see a bike for the first time my eyes immediately goes to all the external crap sticking out like turn signals,mirrors,reflectors etc.

I love it when I see a bike and think "That must be a track bike" and then "discover" that the owner actually did install that stuff,but you have to look for it for a minute to see it.

 

[Judeyramone]

Don't usually see too many sorority bitches in the project build section...


... or any other section, for that matter.

 

[danteinien]

Looks really good man!

I love the seat!

 

[hysteria411]

Thanks guys

I would have loved to do the Honda wings on the tank, but all of this stuff has been rattle can painted and I didn't think I would be able to pull off a mask job along with the clear and not have it lift either of the base coats. I don't know everything about spray paint just yet, but after I get all of the drying/recoat times down I would like to give it a shot, I just need to experiment a little more first. With some good polish I can get acceptable results after I wet sand the clear, I guess that will just have to do for right now :/

I would have liked to do the knee indentations, but quite frankly I don't know how and would like to get this done as soon as I can. The tank does look plain, and I probably made it worse by smoothing away all of the seams around the edge, but I kinda like the clean look and I wanted to practice my body work.

Thanks for the compliments on the tail, I pretty much just winged it and went with what came out on the first try, but I'm content with it.

I don't know what I'm going to do with the signals right now, I'm pretty much dirt poor and have been trying to fabricate rather than buy everything, and I don't know what alternatives are available. I cut some holes in my frame today to run all of the wiring internally, so I guess it would be a good time to move the lights huh? Maybe I can get some Wal-mart signals to match my Wal-mart tailight haha. Chrome mufflers are the plan btw.

I don't know what to tell you about the lack of young females around here, I kinda get the feeling that maybe I'm a little bit below the standard age for this forum though... And I don't know where she got that shirt, she isn't even in a sorority as far as I know.

 

[bcr]

Nice job for the first time through, but you lost me on the black carbs. Build some tire money into the student loan. bail on the grips. hang a number on it, race FCB. bcr

 

[hysteria411]

The carbs are in primer, i didn't want to send them off to get polished, so they will get painted instead. Believe it or not i'm actually not taking out any loans for school, thanks to my parents and a decent sized scholarship from my school

 

[catboy]

good job man!

...brace that fork!!!

 

[hysteria411]

Thanks, if I can find my front fender again I think I might chop it up into something a lot smaller and put it back

 

[hysteria411]

What diameter exhaust do you guys put on your 350's? I thought I saw that 1 1/4-1 3/8" was the ideal size, but I can't remember now. The motor won't be anything special, just some mild porting on the head and I'll probably mill it a little to get back any lost compression from deshrouding the chambers. Also, have any of you guys positioned your mufflers under the bike? I would like to put the mufflers underneath it partly because I think it would look cool, but also to give me a little more room to mount them since I will be fabricating some rearsets.

 

[craig641]

http://www.caferacer.net/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6782
I don't think we've come up with a definitive answer for the size of exhaust pipes for a cb350.

And how are you porting the head? Just making ports bigger?

 

[bcr]

hysteria411, I like where your project is headed, congrats on getting the school thing done without floating the note. Keep it rolling. cheers, bcr

 

[hysteria411]

I didn't really enlarge them much, the intake was already pretty well matched to the carbs. Most of the work has been getting rid of casting marks and I also cleaned up the short side radius by getting rid of the hump there. I'm not done yet, but when I get it all finished i'll take better pictures for anyone interested. Thanks for all the help guys, I appreciate it.

 

[CharlieH]

It was looking good after the first build if you ask me. Should look even better this time around. Ride it!!!!

 

[coolatula]

quote:Originally posted by hysteria411

What diameter exhaust do you guys put on your 350's? I thought I saw that 1 1/4-1 3/8" was the ideal size, but I can't remember now. The motor won't be anything special, just some mild porting on the head and I'll probably mill it a little to get back any lost compression from deshrouding the chambers. Also, have any of you guys positioned your mufflers under the bike? I would like to put the mufflers underneath it partly because I think it would look cool, but also to give me a little more room to mount them since I will be fabricating some rearsets.

When most people put on rear-sets and cone tip mufflers they usually have to add a short extension pipe to connect the header pipe to the Cone tip muffler to get it to clear the now rearward foot controls.

This extension pipe can have a built-in "kick-up" at the rear to angle the mufflers up or you can even buy some mufflers that already have this angle built in.

Usually when this extension piece is used then "shorty" style mufflers are used because the normal length(26-28") ones would now stick way out beyond the rear tail/tire/back of the bike and look too odd.

You can mount the muffler straight and right off the head pipes but be careful they aren't too large in diameter or they could scrape too easily if you don't have enough cornering clearance.

 

[hysteria411]

I know you guys will probably have to strain your eyes a bit to see the stock picture, but here's a comparison of where I'm heading with the exhaust porting.

 

[hysteria411]

I wet sanded and polished the tank today... I've been sick for a while so it's been going pretty slow for me.

 

[hysteria411]

I wet sanded and polished the tank today... I've been sick for a while so it's been going pretty slow for me.

 

[coolatula]

Looks very nice and will look good on the bike with the other painted body work.