Honda CL350 - CL450, show us yours..

my very first bike was a CL175..

Got it for half that and will pass on the hippie tank.... always liked the red white combo. Pipes will need some love, someone welded (more like goobered) some rust holes and the exhaust outlets don't look symetrical and like someone has welded them too. Exhaust will take a bit of clever work to sort it out but I believe I can do it.

This followed me home the other day. a 68 CL350 Scrambler all original even down to the tires. 3200 miles. It is not perfect by any means but a good starter project.



Marc

It might be registered as a '68 but that is a '69 model.

Please school me on the differences. Inquiring minds want to know.

http://www.motorera.com/honda/h0350/scram350.htm

Marc

Front fender struts is one difference.

OK I am seeing it now. Front fender and reflector, Head light ears not black, Rectangular tail light, Pleated seat, tank stripe, indicate it is a 69 CL350K1 instead of an 68 model K0. Hmm wonder how it got titled as a 68 ? Maybe it got shipped over in advance ??? Who knows. But it is good to know the difference.

Thanks.

Marc

Back in the old days... It was common for the title to match the year it was sold not the year model of the bike.

It wasn't uncommon for Honda (and others of the day) to title the bikes during the later part of the year or sell the next year models early but assign the year as the year it was sold.

Your's looks like a great example to keep original but it's important to know what year you're working with. Virtually everything other than what's listed below will interchange.

The first two things that are obvious,, since you stated it was all original is the front fender and the tank. The '69's had the stripe on the tank and, in fact, the tank is a little larger volume but you wouldn't notice that unless you measured it. The later '69's had the reflector on the front fender.

Another thing that is tough to see is the rear tail light. The '68's had a rounded feature as opposed to the more square shape of the '69 (and you can see the obvious difference in the first picture below). The seat cover was different too. The '68's was a textured finish that is tough to duplicate while the '69's had pleats (also visible in the pictures).

Not as obvious was the front fender. In the website you referenced, the '68 in the picture was a prototype and I've never seen another like it other than that picture. The front fender braces were not production pieces nor were the "stinger" tips just aft of the muffler box. Also, the headlight brackets on the production '68's were not black. Rather, they were just like the '69's, the same color as the bike.

The front fender on the '68's had a sharp edge and the '69's had a rolled lip if I recall.

You can see the sharp front edge of the front fender in this picture of my '68.

Yeah, my '69 was sold and registered as a '70. After it was off the books for a number of years, I re-registered it properly as a '69. Mine looked like this when it was new, except it had the front fender reflector...



Here's a factory picture of a '68...

Mine, stuffed in the lineup. 68' needs work but complete.

The same goes for yours, It might be titled as a '68 but it's probably a '69 model. Additionally, I'm going to take a guess that it's actually a '69 CB350 that has been had 1970 or later CL pipes installed. Check the VIN on the head stock and it'll probably start with CBxxxxxxx

I'm pecking away at it, wanted to have it done by fall..... aint gonna happen.

Here is mine. I bought it last winter. It was stored in a basement for about 15 years before I got it. It had a think film of dust and dirt on it, but cleaned up nicely. The frame paint is some of the best I've seen, as most of these old Hondas' frames seem to rust at the welds.

Sweet 450 JAS. Curious, did you just wash the bike a few times to bring back the shine or you spend a lot of time detailing all the nooks and cranies? I may detail my Bonneville so am wondering what techniques/products you used to detail.

The frame paint came back by washing it a couple of times.
The chrome was polished with Quick Glow, then waxed with Maguire's liquid carnuba wax. The fuel tank and side tins were polished up with Maguire's liquid paint cleaner, then polish, then liquid carnuba wax.

I probably have about 12-16 hours into the detailing the bike.

very useful tips, thanks!

Though not 350 or 450cc here are some of my other Honda scramblers.

My '68 CL175 K0:




And CL175 K4 (pics taken the day I bought it home, in the rain):




My CL160 project thread: http://www.hondatwins.net/forums/1-project-logs/17957-1967-cl160-restoration-project.html

I hope to actually getting working on it sometime this year. I have bought a few too many bikes to fix up and resell -- need to do those first.

jas- all very nice bikes, you using good old elbow grease for polishing chrome and engine cases or some type of a wheel/drill combo?

On these couple bikes, good old fashion elbow grease That said, I didn't do anything to the engine cases on either bike, as they already looked decent.
On some other bikes, where aluminum parts had oxidation, I've wet sanded those parts with 320, 400, and then 600 grit to get a nice satin finish. If you want a mirror finish, you can keep going up through 1000, and then polish compounds, either by hand, or with a buffer.