New addition - 1963 CL72

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:38 pm

The enthusiasm and knowledge of folks on this forum makes the hobby of restoration so much more fun. I thank all of you for making this such an informative and interesting place to hang out.

I have only had my CL77 project since April and could not resist adding this CL72 to my stable. It looked lonely and needed a new home so I just had to have it. A local firm imports old stuff from California and the picture on their web site was dated 2002 so it has been hanging around for a while.

The numbers are:
Engine CL72E 311088
Frame CL72 311004

Bill Silver's excellent tome suggests that this is a '63 - is that right?

Although the bike has had a hard time and seems to have given up some of its parts to other machines the engine, in particular, looks like it hasn't been disturbed unduly. No broken fins and many undamaged fasteners. I'm interested to know what you think of the unions screwed into the front tappet covers. Breathers? Oil feed to the chain? Something else? I'm just curious.

This one will have to wait until I have got my CL77 up together but it's nice to know that it's there as my next project.

These bikes are extremely rare in the UK. I believe that Honda only ever imported 6 CL72s to the UK and that was by mistake.

Any thoughts, advice, comments gratefully received. The way my CL77 is burning money this one may take a while so don't expect any 'after' pics for a while....

Take care

G

davomoto · Post by **davomoto** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:20 pm

G-man tis indeed a 63. The unions in valve caps are for extra crankcase ventilation, common on hopped up bikes in the 60s. You may want to tear into the engine, and see if there are any performance goodies hiding in there. It looks like you need all of the spendy parts to finish, fenders, chain gaurd, exhaust, bars.

davomoto

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:45 am

Davo

Thanks for the comments. Not sure what to do with this one yet. I have side covers, toolbox, headlamp etc. that I have been collecting. The motor is seized from being standing. It did have some low-level (TT-style) pipes which I took off to get it into my car. The guys I bought it from had an ex-Gene Romero TZ700 at the back of their barn. Couldn't afford that......

Because of the state of the tank and the fact that I don't really want to spend big money on a second bike - I thought that a mini-flat-track bike might be interesting. If it does get to be a standard bike the fenders and chain guard will be home-made replicas.

I'll take a look inside the engine sometime soon to see if there is anything interesting in there.

G

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:22 pm

Davomoto

Finally got inside the CL72 motor. The pistons were stuck so I had to take my dremel grinder to the cam chain. With plenty of heat and some penetrating oil followed by judicious use of wood and a big hammer I got the barrel off.

There is nothing special inside the motor except for some +2mm o/s pistons. I don't think that the corroded bore will clean up so I either have to go to the Hap Jones +3mm kit I bought or look out for a barrel that is within a sensible o/s tolerance. Not decided yet but will weigh up the options.

G-Man