1971 Honda CL350 rebuild project

A few months ago I was reading about a couple of guys that had embarked on a cross country journey on 40 year old Honda motorcycles. They had bought these old scooters and fixed them up good enough to attempt a cross country trip. As you can imagine keeping old motorcycles running with very little part or dealer support has to be a daunting task. I followed their journey with a bit of jealousy, I want to do that also.

It got me thinking, Hey I'm a pretty fair mechanic and I was a motorcycle/mini-bike enthusiast in 1970 I should find a old motorcycle. I shared my excitement with a friend and fellow rider and he promptly sent me a link from E-Bay for a "nearly complete" 1971 Honda CL350 Scrambler.The bike was literally in milk crates and cardboard boxes. My brother and I went to pick it up on the day after the now famous 2009 Oklahoma City, Christmas snow storm.

As we drove through the icy, snow covered roads I was having second thoughts about this project, was I up to it? did I really have the time or money? what makes me think I will even finish this? well second thoughts and buyers remorse soon faded as i stood looking at boxes and boxes of motorcycle parts. I had no idea how they went together. Holy shit what have I gotten myself into.

I was excited none the less, I was gonna have a vintage motorcycle for only $300. We pushed the skeleton of a bike on 40 year old dry rotted and cracked tires to the truck, I carried the engine to the truck and kept telling myself this was gonna be fun. I made notes in my head, need tires, need seat cover, rust on fender and the list of notes continued for the an hour then the next. OK maybe not a $300 motorcycle after I get everything I need but I will still have a very cool old scooter.
My brother took the frame to Tulsa along with my Dunkin Donuts coffee( another story) I took the box of engine parts and motor with me to my house. I was gonna put it together and the next weekend, go get the frame , put the engine back in the bike and go for a ride. Boy, talk about eyes bigger than your stomach. I spent a whole week just getting the 40 years of dirt and grime off the cases, I am suspecting that this bike must of had a oil leak for 20 years or so. Honda must have shared Harley technology back then.

I started on the engine, ordered new rings and gaskets and did a test on the valve seats, Low and behold problem number 1. 2 bent exhaust valves, no worries replace them with new, lap them in and all is well, so how do I get them out? Honda made a valve spring compressor so a quick call to the dealer to see if I could borrow one was met with laughs, seems the oldest mechanic at the dealer was born 15 years after this bike was made and had no idea how to remove the valves or where I could find said compressor.
Again no worries I've watched enough chopper shows to know that I can just build one. kinda looks like a big C-clamp with a doohickey (correct vintage motorcycle builders term) on the end, we finally found a clamp and put 2 open end wrenches on the spring, compressed it and then...wait for it... you guessed right, promptly watched 2 spring keepers, 2 wenches, 2 springs and a washer thingy fly in 5 different directions. you knew it was gonna happen, it always does.

We found all the pieces and took the first of the bent valves out of the head. A quick call to my parts supplier and 2 valves at $14 each were on the way. Oh wait, this is in fact a 40 year old scooter and the message from my supplier stated that the 14 dollar valves were no longer available but we could get a new and improved set for $199. I did a online search and found a low mileage head with good valves on ebay and so a new head is on the way, we all know this will work out, it is ebay.

Saturday 2 Jan.
Drove up to Tulsa with Jackie,Melissa and Ruth in tow, today was the day to bring the Honda(and my coffee)home. We arrived to a HUGE breakfast and a fresh pot of my coffee.Always good to see my brother and his family, not sure if Kris is to happy with us invading.
The streets in Tulsa were still covered with ice but we were able to get the scrambler loaded on the trailer, funny I thought it was in better shape, the doubts are really starting to sink in now, Jax reminded that I have been fixing airplanes for 30 years and an old scooter should be easy. well, see how it goes tomorrow.

Sunday 3 Jan 2010

Got started stripping the Honda down to the frame, really cold out in the garage, had to use the heat gun to warm the wires up enough so they would bend, the more parts than came off the better I felt about the build, no broken bolts or stripped screws so far. the cables are old and rusted and will need to be replaced. I removed the nut holding the forks on and poured out a quart of what smelled like cat pee and fork oil, must have been the original oil. I was able to get the frame stripped and ready for sand blast and paint. i made a list of the parts I would need and the list is not as long as I thought it would be. The cat have been sitting by the heater all day watching and from the looks on their faces I am pretty sure that if they could speak they would say I was crazy for this, or maybe they are just pissed that I am bringing this old smelly thing into their garage.

I will get the frame stripped this week and hope to have the parts I need by the weekend. I will start putting it back together then.


Sunday....
I had planned to have the scooter back together today. However a few minor setbacks have left me lacking in the build. First a major blast of arctic air has invaded Oklahoma and it it too frosty to paint, so the frame and tins are still waiting for the paint booth.

Someday when i am wealthy I will have a climate controlled shop to take care of these things.(send donations to : The Trent needs to be wealthy fund.)


We tried to bead blast some parts and found the glass beads were frozen solid, hard as a rock, a couple of minutes with a heat gun and we were back in business, got a lot of the smaller parts cleaned up and ready for paint.
I tried my best to install the new piston rings and sure enough I got a little impatient when the oil rings did not fit and POOOOING,Yep, broke a ring. Living in Ada Oklahoma(very close to the middle of nowhere)we do not have the luxury of a motorcycle shop or even reliable shipping, The Fedex "early morning" before 8am delivery happens around 1pm and give it up..nobody delivers on Saturday. so we were at the mercy of the post office. rings were supposed, yes I said supposed to be delivered Saturday, I should have known the USPS could not get a 3-5 day package to Ada in 6 days.
I even had propane heaters in the garage so Kenny and I could get the puzzle, er, Engine together and have it ready when things are ready from the paint booth. Now i know why the folks on Orange County Choppers are always pissed off, waiting for deliveries and weather are frustrating.
I am hopeful that I will get the rings, get a package with some missing parts from the previous owner and the weather will warm enough to paint. I am asking for alot but I am confident I will be riding a beautiful Scrambler come March