New Dream 305 Owner

[jkjoller]

Hello All, found this site and hope its a good resource for my restoration project. I purchased a '62 Dream 305 CA77. Very nice condition but doesn't run yet.

Several questions if anyone can help:
- I've been looking for a manual. All I see are for 300's which I know there was a CA76 300. Is this the same as the 305? I need something to guide me.
- I believe the C77 is the same as the CA77 except for the handlebars. Can parts be used interchangeably?
- My bike is an early CA77. Can I use parts from the later CA77 model (except for the knee pads)?
- Looking for a speedo if anyone knows of one. Saw a nice one on eBay but they were asking $600. The others I've seen are non-working which I can fix but they couldn't guarantee they weren't rusted up on the inside. Thought it would be cheaper than that.

Thanks, Jeff

[Geoff Hastings]

A lot of the parts are quite reasonable price except for the hard to find parts. Speedo, chain guard, carb cover, all astronomic in price. There are lots of differences over the years, they look similar but won't fit. You are going to have to check carefully, ask lots of questions.

[the-chauffeur]

As far as manuals are concerned, it kinda depends what you're looking for them to tell you. If it's motor/drivetrain stuff, then the 305 engines are very similar. Any of the 250/305 manuals will probably be good enough (just make sure you don't get the 250/350/450 manuals). If it's guides to bodywork stuff you're looking for, I haven't yet seen any that deal with the CA specifically. Almost everything I've seen refers to the C versions.

Lots of folks will tell you to go for the original workshop manual and from a torque settings/clearances/tolerances perspective that's certainly the best place to start. Having said that, I've got the shop manuals for both the 250/305's and the 250/350/450 (I've also got a couple of later bikes) and frankly, the shop manuals are woefully poor when it comes to describing some of the disassembly/reassembly procedures. I made a very expensive mistake when pulling the 305 camshaft apart because I had no good guides. I also rebuilt a 350 recently and the shop manual is missing an entire section on how to time the engine properly when you haven't split the camchain. That's really kinda crucial information that I had to go to a Chilton manual to find.

FWIW, it's probably worth getting hold of the out-of-print Clymer manual for the 250/305's. It's a bit haphazardly put together because it tries to cover five or six different models, but I find it more user friendly than the shop manual. If you've got the money, you might also want to get hold of one of Bill Silver's guides (follow the Marketplace link at the top right of this page).

I'm still getting to grips with the interchangeability side of things. I'm working on the assumption that the C/CA 250/305 parts are largely interchangeable, but only to the extent that I'm not spending much on the bits that I'm not absolutely sure about. I would also add that if you look hard enough, you can still find a surprising number of NOS parts (inc. some of the bits G mentioned) at reasonable prices; I'm guessing that's news to the breakers who are asking some frankly laughable prices on eBay and others.

Sorry - can't help with the speedo; I've got to tear into mine as you'll probably have seen from one of the other posts . . .

[DJM]

If you want to buy Bill's excellent guides (and I'd recommend you do) then DON"T follow the market Place link on this site as I understand that it hasn't worked for years.

You might eventually get a guide or your money back but save yourself the hassle and order direct from Bill himself