Now it's warm enough to work in the garage, I decided to get the project CL 350 advanced a bit. In the previous
post I'd taken the engine out, so now it was time to open it up.
Most of the LHS side casing screws came out easily with an impact driver, but a couple need a hammer and chisel, (they're getting replaced with stainless Allen screws). Then it was turn the engine over and out with the crankcase bolts. All of them came out easily, and I didn't forget the two that are fitted from the top! A gentle tap with a rubber mallet and the crankcases separated very easily, certainly easier than I thought they would considering they've been together for 41 years!
As you can see, everything look very clean inside and on closer inspection, there appears to be no noticable wear on the cogs and dogs. So this is all going to be left as it is and not disturbed. And no, that isn't rust on the flywheels, they're supposed to be that colour!
Crankcase bolts and the tools used to remove them. Some of the bolts are a bit rusty, but the heads and threads look OK, so I'll just clean them up and reuse them.
Bottom crankcase with the faulty kickstart mechanism. I'll take that out and see which parts are worn. Notice the black 'gunge' in the bottom of the cases. It looks like the bike hadn't been ridden for about 20 years (the registration document expired in 1993), so a good clean out is required.
My local council keeps changing the arrangements for recycling waste, so I've ended up with a number of no longer used collection boxes. Conveniently, this one is just about the right size for a Honda lower crankcase, so I soaked it overnight in 4 litres of paraffin (kerosene to our American readers), and that removed a lot of the gunge. As I'll be away working this week, I refilled the box with a solution of detergent and will soak the case until I come back.
Feel like I've made some progress and once I've replaced the faulty kickstart I'll reassemble the engine and it'll be ready to go back into the frame. Watch this space!
Looks good in there Norman. Yeah the cranks and rods have a copper plating on them that oxidizes to that color. When we did rebuilds at the shop some guys would shine them up with a light wire wheeling, totally unnecessary, as you don't see them later. One thing we did, on total rebuilds with the crank out of the cases,was to scrape the sludge that would accumulate on the crank throws. If you look down along the sides of the inner two, there is an area where sludge would collect. Don't know if you can see it with the crank in the case, as it might be covered by the outer bearing races.We made a special tool out of a fat welding rod with the tip flattened and filed to a suitable shape. You probably don't want to disturb it with the crank in place. Your bike probably isn't as high mileage as some of the ones we rebuilt.
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