CL77 - Project Identity Crisis

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Sat May 03, 2014 10:44 pm

So, I bought this CL77 for a deal (or at least I told myself that)... I'm quickly finding out that it would have been less expensive and less hassle had I just spent more money on a bike in better condition.

But, I like working on bikes, and I like that idea of saving another piece of motorcycle history... oh, and my wife wants to ride this bike... so I'm on a mission to get this back on the road in a mostly stock condition.

Project Identity crisis. Bike is a Scrambler, but is titled as a Superhawk.
It appears a PO had an accident and replaced the frame. Somehow the frame has been stamped as a CB-XXXXXXX instead of a CL-XXXXXX, and it was re-titled as such. Gave me a pretty big scare:

http://www.honda305.com/forums/new-memb ... 34214.html

Ok, so the guy who sold it to me managed to get the title signed... and I officially registered/re-titled it in my name.... so the project can start.

Here she is:

I'm hoping that I can restore the bike without breaking into the engine if I can avoid it. My wife wants to ride the bike this summer, and I know if I crack open the engine I won't get everything back together in the next two months.

The engine has good compression (measured 135psi on each cylinder, cold, with a long hose compression tester). So, I consider this a very good sign. Some oil is evident around the head gasket... I'm hoping I can get away with this for the summer.

The PO replaced the original speedo/headlight with some 350 scrambler parts so I can't go off of the speedo for mileage. The bike was re-titled as recently as 2004 and the mileage is listed as 12K. I assume that probably about right as I don't think the bike was ridden since. So I'm a little nervous about the transmission, but again, I'm just going to try and get her running/roadworthy first before I just tear into the engine.

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Sat May 03, 2014 10:59 pm

The Tank...

Looks OK at 5 feet (except for the color), but it's filled with rust and has a "bubbling" bondo bump in the front right corner.

I filled the tank with some evap-rust, and it seems like it cleaned-up the OK, and didn't leak anywhere. I'm thinking another soaking and shaking with some small stones (or something) might make this tank salvageable.

So I figured I'd remove that small bump of flaking bondo... oh boy, there was a lot of bondo and what's underneath looks scary.

Not sure if I want to continue with this tank. I think the only thing that could explain this is the tank had a huge tear in the front. Not sure where to go from hear. I'd had to just try to fill in such are large area with bondo (like it was before).

Definitely open to suggestions.

garncarz · Post by **garncarz** » Mon May 05, 2014 11:10 am

If you were a fighter pilot, you would be hearing: Eject, eject, eject!

linmictil2 · Post by **linmictil2** » Mon May 05, 2014 11:39 am

If it were me, I would save it for a rat bike and get one a little more decent for restore

Just me talking------------ mike

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Mon May 05, 2014 9:58 pm

garncarz wrote:If you were a fighter pilot, you would be hearing: Eject, eject, eject!

Ha! ... yeah, the voices in my head are saying the same thing.

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Mon May 05, 2014 10:14 pm

Carbs don't look too horrible. I should be able to clean these up.

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Sat May 10, 2014 9:08 pm

Everything is now disassembled.

I'm fighting the urge to crack open the engine. I have enough work to do with the rest of the bike and I want to try and get the bike on the road this summer.

Picture attached. I can hear it now:

"What?... who tears apart a bike in their back yard... are you white trash?"

I guess I am. Never thought it would happen to me. Maybe I always was white trash... who knows... I'm too tired to care right now :)