*hey guys…so here’s the deal…this guy i work out with at the gym has a starter bike he bought before he bought his yamaha…its a 1972 honda cl350…just what i was looking for…says he bought it for $1500 and needs to get it fixed, then he would sell it to me for $1000…which still sounded like alot to me…so i said what if i take it as is, he said i could have it for around $500…so i think imma do it, maybe even offer him $400 or less bc here’s the problem…
*it’s air cooled and got too hot i guess and the bolts that hold one of the pipes to the head broke off in there, he for some reason tried to drill em out and made em worse…however i think i could still use my in and out tool to fix it but might need it re-tapped/threaded…would this be safe to do?..that should be fine right?..i know its aluminum, but so are honda motors in cars, and thats what im used to working on, and i know that you can re-tap a d-series honda motor no problem, i’m just kinda of a motorcyle noobie.
*well, here’s some pics(sorry for the bad pics,his garage was kinda tight):
and it only has 11k miles on it…
…and the damage
…dont know if that helps, i know the pics suck
sorry forgot to mention that…besides that problem…yea it runs, runs good, he just changed the oil, the tires have alot of life left, the chains good, upolstry and paint are excellent for being a '72…he even took the battery out for the winter and put it in his house so it wouldnt die, so i know he cared for it…i gues it has an automatic start as well as kick start
really?..ok wasnt sure…how mcuh would you pay for it and is it safely repairable?
both of the exhaust bolts snapped off in the head, guess he tried to drill them out but didnt work…dont really know if its safely repairable…dont think you could just swap the head on this, they dont seem that readily available
worst came to worst, you COULD just swap the head…but thats a gamble and you will have a really tough time finding one. before you consider buying it, have him take it to someone to get an estimate for the repair…cause then it will be a professionals opinion on the matter on whether or not it is safely repairable. if the answer is yes, buy it as is.
thats what i was thinking…there must have been something causing the overheating…i was just thinking though if i talked him down to a very low amount (only bc i really wanted one of these bikes and cant cant another around here) i could take it somewhere and fix it for cheap, hopefully…but i might just have him get the estimate first…i just really want a '70 something cb, or cl 350/450…what usually causes an air cooled bike to overheat?
If the bike is overheating its lacking proper lubrication…the oil passages to the head could possibly be clogged and starving the head and jugs of proper oil flow/cooling. or the idiot previous owner could have used a detergent based oil which causes dirt or what have you that could be in the cases to curdle up and clog things. (these old CB’s and CL’s require a very specific grade of oil)
If it runs, you can try changing the oil religiously for a while and see if stuff comes out. Ideally, you would want to purchase a gasket set and tear the motor down to clean it and reasemble with new gaskets. (check compression first to make sure the rings are good otherwise your better off with a replacement motor)
ahh…i see…im use to tearing apart honda civic motors…but should i stay away from this then if im a noobie to bikes?..anywhere else to pick up one of these older hondas?..and thank you so much for the input guys, very much appreciated
you could still drill tap that even though it is aluminum. Me and a friend recently did one on a 3 wheeler into aluminum. what a whore it was. Didnt look pretty but the new stud screwed in tight once we drilled it out and tapped it.
Couldnt you just find a nice runner for 500 or a little more that doesnt need anything?
