HONDA CL350

He’s a Honda man through and through is our Mark. Here he begins his CL350 refurbishment

Mark Haycock on his new project

Ido admit that my first allegiance is to Honda, and a couple of years ago I was thinking back to a time (about 1990) when I had seen a small ad in the local paper where someone was advertising a small collection of Hondas he wanted to sell. The seller was only a few miles away and it turned out that there were three similar 1970s twins: a CB250K4, a CB350K4 and a CB250G5, in various states of completion. We agreed on £280 and I was able to ride the CB350 back later that day as it was pretty much complete and actually working. In the end, I sold the G5 as it was in pieces and was able to make one decent bike out of the other two Unfortunately, the 350 engine was a bit knackered, whereas the 250 was pretty good, so I ended up with a CB250 and lots of parts. I really liked that bike as everything worked fine and it was reliable, economical and pleasant to ride, although there was one crucial point: it was a bit sluggish. Compared with the CB72 I had owned nearly 20 years previously it was definitely lacking in performance, which was a mystery as it should have been faster, boasting no less than 27bhp against 24 for the CB72. I later sold it, but I can certainly remember my last ride on it, wondering why I was selling. I still do, particularly when I look at prices as they are now. All that made me start thinking about a new CB350 project. Then it occurred to me that maybe I should explore a slight variation: how about a CL350, which is broadly similar, but I suppose more interesting, as not only was it not available in this country, but it was also an example of that rather daft, but fun late 1960s fashion known as a street scrambler. I confess I have a bit of previous in this field, in that I owned a Norton Commando S back in 1975, which evidently had not put me completely off the idea. I probably should have hung on to that too, despite the fact that it was a little unreliable. CL350S are becoming more common now – on ebay, that is – and it did not take too long for me to become the proud owner of a piece of junk! (Photo1). The bad points were that it looked a bit of a mess, with some bits missing, others broken, and it didn’t run. It also lacked a US title document, which proved not only ownership but also the date of manufacture. The great thing, though, was the fact that it had done less than 6000 miles, so surely it could not be that bad? Let us take a look at what I had bought. The engine looked ok from the outside apart from needing a polish (Photo 2) and had compression on both cylinders, so there was hope. There was a ‘No Oil’ marking by the filler (Photo 3), so why was

that? Probably because the shipper demanded that all fluids had to be removed, as there was no sign of oil on the outside from a major leak. The headlamp unit and indicators were missing and the forks would benefit from a little attention (Photo 4), though they did work. The headlamp shell was broken and one bracket was bent (Photo 5) and the tank had quite a big dent (Photo 6), so maybe this might explain why the bike had been put out of action years ago, i.e., after the accident? With this sort of project, you must expect to replace the tyres, but it was a pleasant surprise to see that those fitted seemed to be the original pattern of Japanese Dunlops, so the mileage seemed genuine. Good points were the exhaust (Photo 7); the seat, which was nearly as good as new (Photo 8); and the inside of the tank (Photo 9), which was almost rust free. So there it was, but as I had other projects on the go the CL350 got shelved for a couple of years and had to sit outside under a tarpaulin because I had no room for it inside. Eventually the day came for work to commence, so let me remind you of my approach to this. I am not interested in winning prizes for the shiniest or most original bikes ever. Consequently, I want to keep expenditure in control and be satisfied if I end up with something which looks ok, if not immaculate, with the emphasis on making it safe, legal, reliable and pleasant to ride – which means that everything should work as the manufacturer intended. On with the work, and my usual starting point is to see whether I can get the engine working, as that will determine whether or not it needs to be extracted from the frame or not. I start by removing the spark plugs to see what sort of state the engine might be in, and I was surprised to see small droplets of a transparent liquid on the electrodes of the left-hand plug. It looked just like water, and by putting in a piece of rubber tubing attached to a syringe I could check if there was any liquid inside the cylinder. There was, and it really did appear to be water. It seemed that somehow rainwater had made its way inside the engine, which was not a great discovery. It must have been because I had the bike on a slope and the rain must have worked its way down and into the cylinder. The plug had been tight, so perhaps it had gone through the air filter? Somehow though, the engine still seemed to turn over ok, and after giving it a few good doses of WD-40 and lots of kicking over with the spark plug still out, I was pretty sure that all the water had been blown out and the internal surfaces were now being protected. After a bit of thought, I decided to carry on and see if I could get the engine working as it was. Next time we shall see whether or not I can!