Sunday, November 27, 2016

Kickoff - 1973 Honda CB350 Café Racer

A few years ago, I purchased a 1973 Honda CB350 with the intention of turning it into a café racer. I've been working on it slowly and sporadically since then, so it's time to start a blog. Here's what she looked like upon purchase, before disassembly:













After a complete disassembly, the frame looks something like this:



I'm in the process of removing all the unneeded tabs and mounting points from the frame and cleaning it up. Then I'll cut the rear of the frame behind the shock mounts and install a hoop to match the café seat.

Several purchased parts will go into this build, including:
- Clubman handlebars
- Fiberglass café seat/tail
- High-mount pipes
- Lots of stainless fasteners

I had planned to re-use the forks, but found the fork tubes so severely pitted where they'd been encased by the headlight mount shrouds that I had to find an alternative. eBay to the rescue, where I found a great set of forks from a '74 CB360. They are the same 35mm OD, so the triple trees are reusable.

I completely rebuilt the carburetors, with new jets, floats and other parts, and they're ready to reinstall. I'm looking to get the engine running on the stand in the near future.

More to come, and your questions are welcome.

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