The first stages of this project are to strip down the old bike. The wheels were off at the powder coaters getting ready for the final bike and this left a shell of a bike on my drive.
The wires were labeled so I can remember where they go upon the rebuilding process. and the engine was drained for removal from the frame after much persuasion.
After a short while, I retrieved the frame and wheels back from the powder coaters and had the tires re attached to them.
The frame was looking good, despite some corrosion along the sear mount area.
All of the old nuts and bolts and axels where removed and put into a bucket of rust removal liquid to try and break down the rust for easier cleaning.
You can see the nut in the last image, this is what it looks like before and after a polish with a Dremel and autosol.
I started to paint up the black parts of the bike and rubbed down the swinging arm and primed it with some high build primer. This took a few coats and I ran out so could not finish off that day.
Once the swingarm was primed, it was painted in chrome silver. and left to dry. and I moved onto the bodywork, sanding down all the panels and the tank and then using etch primer on the bare metal and then covering with high build primer over the lot. The underside of the rear had the mounts re fiber glassed for reassembly at a later date.
The rear-sets have been stripped down, and you can see here how bad they were behind. The rod was removed, straightened and cleaned up before repainting.
I made my way next to the carbs. Stripping them down before placing them in a saucepan with water and lemon juice to dissolve the crud and grease built up in them after the years.
More time for painting the rest of the parts and getting things back together for test fits.
Hi there,
I’ve just began the process of rebuilding a family members old CB350S, after it’s been sat motionless for the last 30 years, but having no previous experience on bikes I’m running into a problem trying to get the large bolts out that attach the front of the engine to the chassis and the swing arm bolt. The swing arm bolt turns freely but won’t slide out, regardless of what tools we use, is there some clip or anything holding that bolt in? The engine bolt I’m pretty sure is seized as its not turning at all.
Any help would be appreciated!
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Steffen
Hi, What happens is that the ally and steel react to each other and cause chemical welding. I had to cut the frame of from the new engine as all the bolts had seized in, I then had to drill out the rear bolt as this would not move at all. There is nothing holding them in, so if it turns, then more then likely there is a small burr on the end of the bolt stopping it from coming out.