The Adventures of Lil' Blue

Hi everyone, and welcome to The Adventures of Lil' Blue! It's a 1965 Honda CL72 Scrambler. The backstory and lots of pictures are found here:  https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1965-honda-cl72/

This is my first motorcycle. The closest thing I've had was a Honda 200SX three wheeler, which I rode for two years like it was on fire and I managed not to kill myself, so maybe I can survive motorcycle ownership. 

My goal for this bike is akin to an art project - I'm very interested in finishes and textures for this build. It's going to look amazing when it's done. But I don't know where that path is, or where it leads yet. I will have to aquire some new skills as well.

The running and riding part I'll leave up  to Mr. Honda - everything I've read about riding one is magical - at least from the memories of distant past!

So, I need to get it running and rideable first and then consider the next steps. Oh, and a motorcycle license,  helmet, gloves, pants, boots, err... where's my build money going? 

Nice bike!  If you nee anything let me know, my friend Ron has 18 of them; from Scramblers to Superhawks.

I've looked into the bike a bit. All the controls were almost locked up, but with a lot of Aerokroll everything works! Both brakes work with no slop. Throttle works the carbs, but the return springs just don't have it in them to zero the throttle. Probably the cable on that issue. Clutch is stiff, but better with lubrication. Still a really good pull needed, though. Oil level is full and very clean! I'm going to change it anyway. You can't tempt the wrenching Gods - "I don't know what happened; it started great and then locked up!" "Did you change the oil?" "No, it looked ok though..." "Dude, really!?" (Thunders rolls in the distance)

I'm undecided on new tires.  /s

Check:  Standard issue janky wiring. Fortunately I don't mind dealing with it. 

Lol, it's like they were recovered from the Titanic!

This horked out.

Yeah, there's rust, but it's really not bad. I later dumped loose nuts and bolts and shook the crap out of it.  I discovered I am more out of shape than I thought.

Fine rust particles came out after rinsing. It's probably ok, but I think I will still get the Eastwood kit to de-rust and line the tank.

Tomorrow I'm changing the oil and and dumping in a gallon of gas and going to try and start it!  

Evap-o-rust works great in bike tanks. use a towel under the tank as it has to sit to work you'll need to roll the tank  an let it sit.

Always wanted a scrambler. Ill be watching!

Today's update.

Yesterday I went nuts and tried to start it. Two things resulted. One, gas started dripping from the petcock. Two, because I have directional dyslexia I had the fuel shut off. 

So, I've ordered a new ignition system (from the coils to the spark plugs), petcock gasket kit, throttle & clutch cables, an all important T-shirt, and a few other items I can't think of because of beer.

My quote of the day was: "I can't find one piece of this bike that hasn't been E36 M3 on!"

Starting cleaning things. It's therapy at this point.

I'm having a ball! 

This is glorious!!!

Among Things I Want are some variety of CL72/77.

Carry on...

I'm thinking of starting a fastener museum just from this bike. I was grousing to the wife today about 60+% of the nuts and bolts are not stock while I was removing the front fender. I was using an eight mm wrench on the left bolt. I moved to the right bolt - no, of course, it's a nine mm bolt - which has been shortened. Same threads, but it's actually just a friction fit - threads are stripped and it sort of pulls out.   <sighs> 

Good score.  The CL72 / CL77 were handsome bikes.

This is beautiful; I'm considering embarking on a similar 'first motorcycle' journey myself, and would like something of a similar vintage. 

Did you polish the 'clean' carb? It looks great! 

In reply to Gunchsta :

The carb on the right was "polished." I'm on a kick of "burnishing" parts with a rotary tool and then sealing it with a clear coat. I like how it's industrial looking and not all shiny.

I'm in a holding pattern for parts right now. So much stuff is sold out. I guess everyone who has an old bike has bought out all the inventory during the virus.

I did get new coils and had to make a bracket for them to be relocated. I need to post that adventure. 

Here's a sample of the "burnishing" I'm doing. It gets clear-coated so it won't turn. Whatever, It may be just a phase and I'll do something else later on.

So, I need new coils. You can get NOS pieces, but they are $200+ each and really, I'm not restoring this bike, so lets get something cheaper. I get modern coils, which are much fatter and shorter than the original. You can see the original coil location under the top tube. They sit between the gas tank sides.

Old coil and new.

I hoped the original coil bracket could be spread to accomidate the width of the new coils. Well, it did, but what killed that idea was the width of the channel in the gas tank for clearence. The wider coils were at least an inch wider than the tank, so that idea was out. I found an alternate location that would clear the tank.

I grabbed my trusty piece of Miata headlight cover (also featured in the Project Pooka build as a parking brake beauty plate. I guess I need to post that also!) and made a simple bracket to hold the coils vertically to part of the existing coil bracket.

The hot tip in the old days was to use a couple generic automotive ignition coils from K-Mart.  I can't tell from the pictures; the originals look like car coils, but are they smaller in size?

Part of the original coil bracket fit perfectly in this new location, acting as a new attachment bracket. I put my new little vertical limiter piece behind the old piece and did a test fit.

I modified the old coil bracket to fit the new wider coils. I had to cut the upper part of the bracket so the ignition wire outlet would fit.

During this process I noticed a cool little negative space on each side of the coils - a perfect place for a blind nut location.

Tada!

Now I need to make the rest of the bracket arms. Back to the trusty Miata headlight! The bondo on it makes me lol!

I got one side done. Because I don't have a welder yet, I decided to rivet it for now. 

I do a thing.

At this point, although I did a good check fit, the bracket was still to wide to fit. I ended up revising my method to attach the two parts together and had to make a new set of "wings" for the bracket. Although it looks very similar, I took about 7/8" in width out of things so it would clear the tank valley.

Sigh. One down, one to go.

Test fit #2. I'm making sure this time it fits.

You can see the nut to the lower left. It's clear like that on the left side as well. Success!

Photo of installed bracket. lol  You can't see it at all.

So, it's done for now. I soldered it to the frame. Later I'll weld it. All wired up with new spark plugs and ignition wires. Just waiting on my gas tank seal kit, a condensor and rectifier. Then we'll try another test fire.

In reply to stuart in mn :

They are smaller - a little taller I would say and thinner.

Good job! Anyone can go and buy the right stuff- it takes talent to find cheaper stuff and make it work out, of crap that's laying around.

I had a boatload of parts arrive today. I can now derust and seal the gas tank and replace my condenser and rectifier. Then it's time to try and start it again.

In other news I blew out my back this morning (when I was sitting down in a chair) and it hurts like a motherberkeleyer. I suspect that will impact my garage time tomorrow.