Another kick at the cat, 71 CL 450 restoration

I have RTW02 to thank for giving me the "hot tip" on this one Bought it from a nice couple in Kelowna who let me have it for a decent price for both parties, this is going to be a stock resto but not concours enough to break the bank.... a rider shall we say.

Let the fun begin.... caved in tank on this side, anyone have a spare getting in the way?






Luckily it's all there with relatively low mileage, but engine is seized $



This better reflects the general overall condition.

Those old 450's are cool bikes. I was looking at one, the CB model, a while back, but the owner was just asking too much for it so I walked.

Awesome, I have your bike's little brother - pic is when we dragged it out from behind a shed:

What year is that, I notice the paint is the same but my has chrome fenders. Are you doing anything with it? wanna sell the tank

Todays chore was to see why the engine was stuck, aaaha just as I expected



Top end doesn't look too bad





So after a few days soaking the cylinders were reluctant to come off.... time for some friendly persuasion



a flawless execution, took some leverage and tapping as the right piston was real bad




The helpless victim






The piston and cylinder fate will be determined with some measuring, anyone been able to reuse stuff that looked this trashed before?

It's a '71 CL175. ONE of your cylinders is bigger than both of mine together.... I don't think there would be too much parts commonality with your bike! But yes, the tank is in nice shape. I hope to just polish this thing up and not have to repaint much.

Make sure you come visit at www.hondatwins.net the source of all goodness for these bikes.

Yep.

Rods don't look too bad


Piston rings stuck big time, notice the bent oil control ring. Now how do you get the seized rings out? For the first time I broke a ring trying to get it out, this was the "good" piston (read less seized)



As soon as I can free the rings a friend will do some measuring for me.

Anyone know how to remove the crank drive gear?



bit of an odd design. :huh

It's been a long time since I tore down a CB/CL 450, but I believe you remove the inside snap ring and pull the cover out of the oil sludge trap. Inside is a nut (left hand thread?) removed by a special four pin socket after peening down a security washer. At any rate, pull that snap ring and cover and you can see inside. THANKS - Stan PS Those torsion bar valve springs were WAY cool for an everymans bike back then.

That's a pretty standard centrifugal oil filer design for the early Honda twins.

Once the snap ring is out, you can thread a long M6 screw into the inner half of the centrifugal filter to help pull it out. A 40 year old o-ring will be fighting you the whole way. Coming up with the special four-fingered tool to remove the filter nut from the crank will be the hard part. There should be a locking washer staked in place under the nut that will have to be flattened before the nut will come off.

You guys were right on the money, inside the centrifuge and no that is not my handy work


it gets better

oil drain bolt

and no again.... I cannot take credit for the alternative tool work.

But on the brighter side of things
Tranny looked good, bearings good... whew

Shift forks are decent


But the biggest prize is the crank looks good, bearings check out and I don't have to worry about sending it out and spending a ton o cash (I remember my Mach 3 costing $1000 for a crank rebuild)

It appears that a previous owner had 3 tools in the tool box: Vise-grips, a punch, and a big-ass hammer.

And no skills or common sense.

Looks pretty typical of lots of the work I've seen on used bikes, unfortunately...

I'd say the small-ends look scored?

Was just some light rust, here it is after a bit of polishing with scotchbright.... still need to spend a few more minutes with them.




Still not wine and roses (yet)

just 1 rocker is worn, guess it's not a surprise the last owner probably set them with playdo


Did a quick cylinder hone but just couldn't get some rust out, closer investigation reveals new pistons and a bore are in my future.... anyone have a source for pistons for these?

Last bit of news for the day, the rear brake looked suspicious and every time I pressed the pedal the centerstand would move.... after a lot of persuasion I got the rod out and you can see just how badly it's bent, anyone have a spare?

I get most of my parts locally, or my shop orders bits directly from Honda for me. When there is something I can't get, I turn to Ohio Cycle:
http://www.ohiocycle.com/

Enjoy! The 450s are fun!

Oil was crappy back in the day that bike was built. Those rockers probably looked like that decades ago even if they were adjusted properly...

HAHA! I know that pain in the A with a seized cb450 piston! I'm still thinkering with getting my rebuild tweaked just right. A couple of my favorite places for parts are:
www.dimecitycycles.com for your special little bits and parts you didn't know you needed to buy
http://stores.rustyriders.net/StoreFront.bok for most of your basic rebuild parts

I think Dime city also has the oil filter tool for like $8 (maybe a little more.)
Rusty Riders has the rings, but I think I got my pistons from ebay.
of course, there's always BikeBandit.com too.

Good luck! It's a super fun little two-wheeled critter!

By the by, if you weren't already aware, and I don't know that it's an all the obvious problem before a test run, pay close attention to the shifter rod and a follower that sits just behind the clutch canister. There is a circlip in a ridge at the end of the rod that, if worn, will give hell with shifting. Same with the follower that looks like little more than a washer on a short arm. The washer will bore itself out a bit and make for shifting trouble. I think one or both are what is causing my shifting problem.