Reb's Restorations - *not for hire*

[Reb]

I've been working diligently on the 72' CB350F I acquired over X-mas. Since most of the bike was in fairly good shape, I decided to just do a tear down and thorough cleaning of the frame, engine, wheels, forks, etc.

The frame does has some light oxidation, but not enough to warrant a blasting and re-paint. The 70's paint on the tank and side covers is in decent enough shape, It should come back to life with some compound and polish.



I put a new battery in just to make sure everything is sound electrically. All lights work except for the rear turn signals, where I find a mouse had chewed the wiring in half where the seat rests on the back fender (easily fixable).

-I decided to start on the carburetors first. I ordered a rebuild kit and some fancy stainless hardware for the bowls from 4into1.com. Simple Green, toothbrush, dremel, lots of elbow grease, and a Harbor Freight bench buffer are must have tools to restore old aluminum to a better than factory finish. The old Honda clear coat that covered the aluminum was pretty well shot, I decided to just polish the bowls and top covers to bring some luster to the old girl.






















With the carb's completed. I moved too the rear wheel. Since the spokes were rusted out, I went ahead and ordered a new front and rear set from 4into1.com. I was smart enough to remember to take a few photo's of the wheel before removing the spokes. Several family members of mine warned me about removing all the spokes at once, and how much of a pain it is to re-lace and true the wheel. After 4 attempts, a few f words, and some thrown spoke wrenches.... I got the replacing part down. (After polishing the rear hub and rim)













I spent most of the past weekend working on truing the wheel. It took a while, but finally got it running true within the 1/16 in spec.


Now i'm waiting on a new tube and rear tire to come in from Amazon before finishing up the rear end. So yesterday i moved to getting the engine in order. I removed it from the frame and gave it a Simple Green scrub down. Polished the drive sprocket cover, clutch cover, and rocker arm cover.










Waiting on a few gaskets to come in before finishing the engine and placing back into frame. Hope to get started on the front portion this weekend and rebuild and polish the front forks, front wheel, and handlebars......

More to come, I have two more classics on deck waiting  (68' CL175 / 75' GL1000)

[pocket aces]

  Wow that looks amazing 

[The emperor has no clothes]

Damn ! Superb work !  I wonder if some clear coat on those carbs and wheels would help keep them looking good ? (Nice post) 

[Reb]

Damn ! Superb work !   I wonder if some clear coat on those carbs and wheels would help keep them looking good ? (Nice post)  

I looked into that, a few vintage Honda forum users claimed you lose a lot of the shine with a clear protective type coating.

I'm hoping to just maintain it the old fashion way  

[Valkorado]

Whoa, Nellie, almost blinded me!  That's a labor of love and elbow grease right there.  Your Uncle is probably looking down and beaming.  

[Jess from VA]

What a great post and pics.   

Really nice work. 

Just 3 years of production (I think), and a real classic.

[signart]

Nice!
Love me some old rice

[Wizzard]

Great work. Looks nice

[old2soon]

      Long time ago in another dimension I had a 73 CB 500/4. Brindle kaka brown and black-until that first winter after I bought it. Some Custom paint and gold and silver leaf work and a Kirker 4 into 1. Lookin danged good there Preston.  Keep up that Good Work. Glad yer takin the time to restore a Legacy and add too yer collection.  Thanks for the write up and the pics. RIDE SAFE.

[RDAbull]

Back when I had my 750/4 I rode a lot with a good friend had one of the 350/4s.  It was a sweet running little bike.

I still have a 750 Hondamatic and my college roommate still has his 550/4 if you are looking at filling out your collection.

Great work, must be nice to be young and full of P & V.

[Reb]

Back when I had my 750/4 I rode a lot with a good friend had one of the 350/4s.  It was a sweet running little bike.

I still have a 750 Hondamatic and my college roommate still has his 550/4 if you are looking at filling out your collection.

Great work, must be nice to be young and full of P & V.

They keep me out of trouble 

[DDT (12)]

Rob,

Most impressive, my friend! WOW! You certainly have more ambition than I, and way, way more energy!!! Nice job... Now it's time for some BBQ...

DDT

[Thunderbolt]

Most excellent work there Reb.  Yep, three of those should keep you out of trouble for some time to come.  Keep up the good work.  El Cheapo soap impregnated steel wool pads from your favorite dollar type store work well to get surface rust off stuff.  Just wet um and scrub.

[hal47]

Looks great,how many buffing wheel have you wore out?

[henry 008]

  BRAVO 

[Reb]

Looks great,how many buffing wheel have you wore out?

Not to many buffing wheels, but have gone through a lot of scotch bright buffing discs

[Bigwolf]

Very nice work there Reb! 

[Rams]

Truly a Labor of Love there.   

No doubt about it, that's some fine looking results.   

Rams

[76450]

Kudos sir 

[Ken aka Oil Burner]

Nice work 

[robin]

Awsome job reb!!!!!!!

[Charlie McCready]

Lookin good Reb !!

[Reb]

Rear wheel and chain installed, along with the engine back in the frame.





the before and after of extensive aluminum cleaning and polish




I ordered a Delkevic 4 into 1 header system. I haven't decided on a muffler type just yet. I may run it open for now just to annoy the hell out of the neighbors.






I decided to take yesterday off from work since the weather was reaching mid 70 degree temps, with the focus of hearing it run finally. I ran into a no spark issue and spent a majority of the afternoon with the voltmeter tracking down the problem. Finally found the kill switch was not making contact, I sprayed the hell out of it with contact cleaner and still nothing. Decided to just bypass the connection. After that it fired right up.

I have some throttle, choke, high idle, and carburetor tuning to finish up on, but it's at least it's ALIVE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MizkFcygS8&feature=youtu.be

[Valkorado]

Turning into a damn pretty machine.   

[f6john]

Loved that sound and it looks sensational!

[Willow]

Reb, you do good work!   

[old2soon]

          Maybe a megaphone collector ending near the center of the rear axle? When I had that 73 one of the guys I rode with had a 900/4 Kaw. He had a 4 into 1 into a megaphone. Lets just say even if he left after me I KNEW When he left!  B T W-it sounds Good!  RIDE SAFE.

[Reb]

*UPDATE*

Front end completed. Polished forks, new fork seals, new steering stem bearings, new brake fluid, new spokes.















At this point I call it pretty much completed. I have some new turn signals and missing hardware coming in this week to button the remaining touches up. It won't win any races, but sure is a ball of fun to ride around.


The Before and After

[Chrisj CMA]

Wow, just wow!

[MAD6Gun]

Damn ! Superb work !   I wonder if some clear coat on those carbs and wheels would help keep them looking good ? (Nice post)  

I looked into that, a few vintage Honda forum users claimed you lose a lot of the shine with a clear protective type coating.

I'm hoping to just maintain it the old fashion way  

 Looks amazing Reb. I repolished the wheels and all the rest of the aluminum on my Valk again this year. I'm tired of doing the wheels so I looked into a way to clear coat them afterward. I spoke to a friend of a friend that powder coats. We discussed powder but it has a tendency to orange peal and does take away some of the luster of polished aluminum. Then he said he has a new procedure using clear carakote. He's never done it before so I'm the "guinea pig". The wheels  look good but i realize I should have spent more time polishing. It didn't loose luster but we will see how they hold up. If you want to see them I will be at inzane.

[The emperor has no clothes]

You did awesome Preston ! She's a beaut. 

[Reb]

Damn ! Superb work !   I wonder if some clear coat on those carbs and wheels would help keep them looking good ? (Nice post)  

I looked into that, a few vintage Honda forum users claimed you lose a lot of the shine with a clear protective type coating.

I'm hoping to just maintain it the old fashion way  

 Looks amazing Reb. I repolished the wheels and all the rest of the aluminum on my Valk again this year. I'm tired of doing the wheels so I looked into a way to clear coat them afterward. I spoke to a friend of a friend that powder coats. We discussed powder but it has a tendency to orange peal and does take away some of the luster of polished aluminum. Then he said he has a new procedure using clear carakote. He's never done it before so I'm the "guinea pig". The wheels  look good but i realize I should have spent more time polishing. It didn't loose luster but we will see how they hold up. If you want to see them I will be at inzane.

Mark,

I'd be interested in checking that out. I'm probably going to leave the 350 as is and maintain the aluminum the best I can. I have a 68' CL175 next on the list to restore as a retirement gift for my pop. I might invest in something that will protect polished aluminum better for that project.

[Jess from VA]

Very nice.  

I wouldn't mind hearing that exhaust.  


My folks rode a pair of the more common CB360 inline twins:  I wonder how much more push the 350 4-cylinder had?

[msb]

Out of all the Metric 70's bikes, the classsic looks of the 4 cyl (and the CBX too I guess) Hondas stands up the best in my mind. Love seeing them on the road now in decent shape...and especially love seeing ones that have been brought back to their former glory from a state of disrepair like this one. Nice job...nice post

[Ramie]

Beautiful

[Bighead]

  Great Job Preston.

[Dave Ritsema]

Damn ! Superb work !   I wonder if some clear coat on those carbs and wheels would help keep them looking good ? (Nice post)  

I looked into that, a few vintage Honda forum users claimed you lose a lot of the shine with a clear protective type coating.

I'm hoping to just maintain it the old fashion way  

 Looks amazing Reb. I repolished the wheels and all the rest of the aluminum on my Valk again this year. I'm tired of doing the wheels so I looked into a way to clear coat them afterward. I spoke to a friend of a friend that powder coats. We discussed powder but it has a tendency to orange peal and does take away some of the luster of polished aluminum. Then he said he has a new procedure using clear carakote. He's never done it before so I'm the "guinea pig". The wheels  look good but i realize I should have spent more time polishing. It didn't loose luster but we will see how they hold up. If you want to see them I will be at inzane.

Beautiful Work Preston!!

Mark, Regarding Cerakote I have had some firearms use this application with good result but had no idea they offered it in clear. Good to know!

[MAD6Gun]

Damn ! Superb work !   I wonder if some clear coat on those carbs and wheels would help keep them looking good ? (Nice post)  

I looked into that, a few vintage Honda forum users claimed you lose a lot of the shine with a clear protective type coating.

I'm hoping to just maintain it the old fashion way  

 Looks amazing Reb. I repolished the wheels and all the rest of the aluminum on my Valk again this year. I'm tired of doing the wheels so I looked into a way to clear coat them afterward. I spoke to a friend of a friend that powder coats. We discussed powder but it has a tendency to orange peal and does take away some of the luster of polished aluminum. Then he said he has a new procedure using clear carakote. He's never done it before so I'm the "guinea pig". The wheels  look good but i realize I should have spent more time polishing. It didn't loose luster but we will see how they hold up. If you want to see them I will be at inzane.

Mark,

I'd be interested in checking that out. I'm probably going to leave the 350 as is and maintain the aluminum the best I can. I have a 68' CL175 next on the list to restore as a retirement gift for my pop. I might invest in something that will protect polished aluminum better for that project.

 I can get some more information from the guy that did it for me.

Dave from what he told me is the clear is new. That is why I'm a guinea pig. He told me it sprays on like water it's so thin. One coat. I know it's very slippery I also dropped the wheel when I picked it up.  It supposed to be very tough. Time will tell.

[Reb]

Very nice.  

I wouldn't mind hearing that exhaust.  


My folks rode a pair of the more common CB360 inline twins:  I wonder how much more push the 350 4-cylinder had?

If they could scale down an indy car to the size of a power-wheels.... I image that would compare in sound to the exhaust 

[_Sheffjs_]

Hats off to the ones that do this!