Hi Everyone!
I have lurked on this board for sometime and have admired and drooled over the fine restorations on this page. But, since I just required my own "barn find" CL77 I decided I should join and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge and wise advice this forum has to offer. A huge "THANKS" in advance for that! I will try to include pics of my bike, but first I would like to share what I know abut the bike.
-It is a '67 with some 5000 miles.
-Best guess is that it has been sitting for close to 35 years, but it has been stored indoors.
-It was parked for a reason, that is, something was wrong with it but nobody remembers what.
-The motor will not turnover. The owner (my girlfriends father) thinks it is from sitting and not the reason it was parked. However, as a disclaimer, I must say that his teenage son (now deceased) was the last to ride it, so who knows.
-It appears to be complete, although obviously repainted.
-Some one had tried begun to remove the engine but did not successfully complete the task. So some parts/bolts are off the bike and in boxes.
-I cannot remove the gas cap from the tank. I tried to remove the petcock but the mounting screws are seized and currently soaking in JB80.
I already have purchased an original Clymers manual as well as the factory Parts Catalog. I have tried to purchase Bill Silvers books on this website but the purchase page does not enter a price that I will be charged---not sure whats going on there.
One question I do have is that I am trying to remove the left side engine cover. My manual shows the whole kick starter coming off with the cover, but in reality it seems to be preventing removal and I can't figure out how to remove the "knuckle" from the shaft. Can anyone advise me on this?
In closing, I just want to say that I am glad for the resource that this board is, I hope I haven't rambled on, and am thankful for advice that anyone has to offer. I will now try to attach a couple of pics.
Paul
Sorry, it will not let me attach pics. I will try the alternative method later. Thanks!
New Member
Barn findHi Paul,
Welcome to the Forum. No doubt you'll find over time there is a wealth of knowledge here, so don't hesitate to ask. Word of caution; when removing the covers, you'll find the "Phillips looking" screws deform easily from too much force upon removal attempts. Apply your favorite breaking free penetrant, and simply ping the screw heads with a driver tip (not a screw driver) and a ball peen hammer a few times and let them sit overnight. Wailing with an impact driver will cost you believe me. When the kick side cover comes off, the kick lever will want to fling CW, so be careful, have your thumb over it when wiggling the cover off. Also, some here may offer advice as to what concoction they prefer to pour into the cylinders to try and "unstick" your pistons ( which may or may not work). Take pictures of things that look tricky to remember for reassembly. Have fun with your project! https://www.flickr.com/photos/133631774 ... res/J85NWU
Hopefully the above link works for photos of my project bike. So, I did get the right side cover off and it was the alt cover holding it on. Again, not what the Clymers manual was showing---guess I can't believe everything I see in there. Thanks to all for your advice. Also, I was able to get an order placed for Bill Silvers manuals. Looking forward to his words of wisdom! This is going to be along journey for me. My goal is to first get it back to being a reliable daily runner, then evaluate whether to go whole hog on a total restore. I look forward to working with all of you and contributing when I can! Paul Paul
Looks like you have an excellent project there. Nice to see both fenders, seat and gas tank intact. If you proceed cautiously, apply liberal amounts of patience and as little force as possible, you will learn how the bike works before damaging anything. :-) Take plenty of pictures and post them here. You can actually embed the Flickr photos in the page by clicking the little arrow in the bottom right of the border of the pic and selecting the "BBCODE" option, then pasting it right here. Like this.....  G
'60 C77 '60 C72 '62 C72 Dream '63 CL72
'61 CB72 '64 CB77 '65 CB160 '66 Matchless 350 '67 CL77 '67 S90 '77 CB400F Welcome. If that is a '67 model year, you should find chrome under the paint on the fenders. Under the seat area you should find a white tag on the wiring harness. It will say Sumitomo and have a date. That date is a good indication of the year of manufacture. Although as others have observed, leftover bikes were sold as new in subsequent years with titles reflecting the year of sale and not the model year. Actually, there were no hard model years. Changes were cut in at certain serial numbers as you will notice in the parts manual.
Regards, Rob
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