1969 CL450 US Barn Find Restoration

[MrDavo]

I can put of jobs around the house for years, literally, but if my bike needs me....

Although my selector shaft is yet to be posted from Germany, the bike is in bits ready. I also need a new shaft seal, but at least I seem to have found my oil leak at last (it was a new seal, but is clearly oily on the outside).

The shaft was in worse state than I thought, underneath the splines were practically invisible!



Ashley may recognize the box I'm using to keep the bits together, I think its the one he sent me a CB750 crank in. Note the condition of the clutch parts, something else that points to this bike having done a stupidly low mileage.



Here's a good tip for anyone restoring a 450, and something I'd completely overlooked. I had wondered why, when I serviced the bike that the oil spinner was cracked, so I had a close look at the oil filter rotor once I'd removed it, using the same tool as I bought to get my CB750 clutch off.. I had just refitted it straight from the parts box, it turns out it needed a serious decoke! The ledges that the outer and inner parts of the oil spinner seat against were invisible, covered by gunk from the oil that had gone completely rock hard over years of storage, and was as hard to shift as anything I've ever scraped from the top of a piston. It explains why the spinner was so hard to seat that I actually broke it trying to get it in far enough to fit the circlip.

At least I have the Heffalump-Dumpaloon to go out and do essential booze shopping while I wait for the parts to arrive.

[royhall]

Glad to see your taking the time to repair it properly Dave. Hope the replacement fits okay.

[AshimotoK0]

Yea Dave always best to do a proper repair on a project you spent so much painstaking effort on. Next time I ship you something large I will put it in the full one of those containers C/W sealed lid... the crank one was cut down !

BTW only other person to call me Ashley is the missus .... and only when she's mad at me 

[MrDavo]

Sorry Ash (?) I know how you feel, I’m only ever called David on forms and in court.

Which reminds me of an old joke, apologies in advance to anyone from Liverpool:

Q What do you call a scouser in a suit?

A The accused

[JamesH]

Sorry Ash (?) I know how you feel, I’m only ever called David on forms and in court.

Which reminds me of an old joke, apologies in advance to anyone from Liverpool:

Q What do you call a scouser in a suit?

A The accused

Ha this made me chuckle

[MrDavo]

Well the shaft turned up from Germany, via DHL, on Friday. By Friday Tea Time I was out on an (essential Journey) test ride. Slight corrosin in patches, but nothing a polish didn't fix.



I got the verniers out and measured everything I could, as far as I could tell, the only difference between the 030 450 part and the 5T part was a different rivet where the selector pivots. The new oil seal for the shaft arrived via courier earlier in the week from CMS, It cost Eu 9 along with a new O ring for the oil spinner, the carriage was Eu14. Silvers had one of the seals on special order only and the other out of stock, so no choice really.

Anyhow, I think you'll agree this looks rather better than before. I had to use a small wedge to open up the slot in the gear lever to go over the new splines. Ash, thanks for finding me this part, really the chances of finding anything like that as NOS are getting exceedingly slim.



The test ride was a success, much easier to find neutral now, it must have been slipping around before. Nice evening and good to get out of lockdown for a quick spin.

[AshimotoK0]

Great stuff Dave ... My first port of call is always Germany now.. sad to say but they seem to be much more honest and generally have nice parts. Maybe they used to change their oil more regularly than us ... dunno.
A used parts dealer  in Germany just found me a lovely late and fairly rare 550 rocker cover last week complete with the rocker shaft retainer pin mods for about 2/3 of the price DK wanted for a standard 500 one without the modification.

Top Tip .. special order from David Silver  usually means they are buying it in from CMS on a mutual agreement to sell each others parts. That way you can save CMS's high postage costs for small items by buying from DS.  I know this because I got DS to ship me a nigh on £500 CB250 NOS exhaust from their USA outfit at the end of last year. It arrived and they had cocked up the P/N so it was the wrong side and I sent it back. So then I was chuffed when I found CMS  had one at about the same price and free postage, as it was over their purchase limit where you get free post. Girl from CMS then emailed me and said they had to 'locate' it in an external warehouse to photo it. Turned out it was in DS's warehouse .....  the one I had just returned and wrong side part number. I think CMS used to also buy in from Western Hills Honda in the States until they bought up all of their stock.

[royhall]

Your dead right about that Ash. I have had a lot from Silvers that turned up in CMS wrapping and also an item that was sent directly to me from CMS but ordered through Silvers.

[MrDavo]

Just a quick update as she approaches 1,000 miles since rebirth...

In case it helps anyone in the future, recently I've been sensing that she doesn't have the power I thought she had, and a definite 'fluffy spot' around 3,500 rpm, that was so bad the other day that I thought I was going on reserve. I nipped to the garage to find the tank was 2/3 full, so not that then.

Definitely carburation in my eyes, as it was only certain throttle openings and not all the time. Luckily nothing has been messed with since I had her running perfectly, so no sense in fiddling with any settings. A look on Google for CB450 misfires didn't achieve anything other than making me laugh, at someone who thought it would be OK to have ignition condensors that just flopped around between the coils, rather than being earthed. 

Anyway before I went out today I checked the filter in the fuel tap, by unscrewing the bowl underneath. A load of little flecks of rust from the bottom of tank in the bowl, being sucked up to partially block the gauze when the throttle is open no doubt, then settling down out of the way at lower openings. The brass mesh is very fine (OEM from Trigger & Julie) so I reckon nothing's got through into the carbs.

I cleaned the mesh and bowl out and went on my errand - problem fixed 100%, CL450 running as sweet as a nut. Time taken, 5 minutes, cost £0.00 - result!