Parts for Days
Over the last month or so I've been starting the journey of sourcing parts for the CL175 rebuild. I've included a few pictures below of the awesome pieces I've found on EBAY so far. There is a guy out of Minnesota that has been parting out what seems to be a pretty sweet bike that is the exact same year and model as the one I'm working on so, he's definitely been my business. I got a nice set of wheels, shocks, brake arm, headlight bucket and fork ears, as well as front and rear brake hubs.
I will say, I've been pretty lucky so far. I got a killer deal on this 1970 HONDA CL175 gas tank that one other guy had a bid on, but didn't end up putting up a fight for it. It's in great condition and only had a few minor scratches. All the other tanks in this condition that I've seen on EBAY are listed around $200 - $400 dollars. I got this one for $50 + shipping. Not bad!
My buddy Chad Williams, who I got the frame, forks and some other parts from also had a nice set of high pipes that I ended up buying off of him, since those are also very hard to find and expensive on EBAY. They cleaned up nicely, but I will still have to find a heat shield in the coming months as the ones for this set didn't make it.
The engine is going to be a major project. And by major I mean expensive. I need the entire head, as well as new jugs, pistons, crank, timing chain, oil filter and seals at the very minimum. The rest of the bike is otherwise in pretty good shape right now, so the engine will most likely be my winter project.
The oil filter was a real pain to get off the engine. I'm 99.9% sure that had only been taken off and cleaned once or twice in it's life. There was a wall of 1/2 inch thick of oil that had become hard and almost mud like. The screw that holds the oil filter on gave me a good fight, but the impact tool once again came through for me. I will be dropping all the engine cases off this weekend as Sihilling Metal Polishing, as they have done all my metal polishing for all my bikes. Can't wait to get these all looking pretty! I'll be sure to take a before and after picture to post.
I also stopped by Mission Motorsports to have a new pair of shoes, bearings and tubes put on the wheels I mentioned at the top of the post. I went with the Shinko SR241 Tires, since I already had a new rear tire kicking around my garage and buying a whole new pair didn't make sense when I could just order a matching front tire from Motorcycle Superstore. They have pretty amazing prices but what I didn't know was that Mission Motorsports charges you more to put tires on that you buy yourself than ones you order through them. I believe it's $18 dollars a wheel for the tire install if you bought the tires from them, or $33 dollars a wheel if you bring your own. That is kind of lame if you ask me but I get that they are trying to get people to start buying tires from their brick and mortar stores rather than online, since they are getting killed by those online prices.
I was able to get the wheels installed this past weekend and it's definitely starting to feel like an actual motorcycle rather than just a brown box of parts. I'm really excited to have a rip-a-round motorcycle that isn't a show bike, but will still be fun to scoot around on. The great thing about projects like these is that you can take as much time as you want, especially when they have fallen off of the DMV system...ha! Check back soon for more posts on this project.
