JB's Other 350X Refresh

[jb2wheels]

In addition to my ongoing 85 350X refresh I picked upt another to feed my habit. This one probably won't get much love until after I finish the 85X.

Like many of you, I'm a Craigslist junkie. This was posted last weekend as a non-runner - make offer. 100 miles away. It's been outside for years and is rusty and even mossy in places. However, it's mostly complete - missing the mudflap, grab bar, and airbox cover.

On the plus side:
- Clarke tank
- Tool box with tools
- no friggen holes in the crank case (even has the case saver)
- good looking headlight
- all the 86 wheels

Minus side:
- rusty and mossy
- seat and fenders done
- chain and sprockets done
- rear axle bearings done
- throttle frozen
- rear brakes frozen
- front brakes no pressure
- leaky petcock

So, I offered $350 and picked it up.

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[jb2wheels]

After running out of daylight to paint the frame for my other X, I decided I HAD to know if this thing ran or not? You understand, right?

Pull plug and check for spark - YES!

Drain oil - black but glitter free - YES!

Check filter - installed correctly and glitter free - YES!

Quick trip to Advance Auto at closing time for ATV oil, NGK D8EA, Fram filter and a new can of carb cleaner.

The carb, was NASTY...

The throttle was frozen because both the butterfly and the slide were stuck. The needle was stuck, too. I had to use copper wire to push gunk out of the needle holder/emulsion tube. Two hours later, I declared the carb good enough and put the trike back together.

I flushed the varnish out of the tank and put about a gallon of regular in it set it on resrve and proceded to kick.
and kick
and kick.

After about 20 kicks I sat down to rest then checked the carb - no fuel. I did not clean the petcock. Since it was close to midnight, I yanked the tank and used a little funnel to fill the bowl through the fuel line and proceded to kick.
and kick

And then on a whim I kicked it once more and it STARTED!

And ran pretty good. No bad noises. And the lights work. So I rode it around the cul-de-sac at midnight annoying the neighbors until the bowl ran dry.

Clutch seems to work to.

Cool. I thought this would be a parts donor for my 85 but it's so complete and runs I think it's going to get a frame up refresh.

Drained the carb and put the beast up until it's turn in the queue.
Before I put it up, it got a bunch of WD40 and Deep Creep in the usual places. I hope the axle comes apart easier than my last one.

Pictures because I remembered to take some:
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[jb2wheels]

And six years later it's back on 3...

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[Aulbaugh]

Looking good JB!

[keister]

Wow! That's one heck of a way to bump a 6-year-old thread.

I guess I need to adjust my monitor though. The rear spring and fork boots look red instead of blue?? :shiftyeyes:

[jb2wheels]

It's alive.

Mostly stock other than what you can see.
XR400 header with internal welds cleaned up.
TRX 400EX carb
10.25:1 piston

Has tool box with tools, and all 3 86 wheels.
Even the parking brake works.

Very happy with results.

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[ironchop]

Looks great.

I wish I would've bought the desert seat foam too.

Is that a '66 4-door Impala I spy?

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[wonderboy]

What an awesome job! The starting point was so rough, but the nice thing was it looked like most of it was there. Did you clean up and use most of the original mechanical stuff that was there (aside from the parts you mentioned like exhaust and obviously plastics)?

That machine looks just amazing.

[keister]

86 350X Parts Spread Around The Garage

Turned out great!! Guess you can update your sig now.

[Aulbaugh]

Great work John! It is good to see another one that did not get scraped and brought back to life! Are you taking this one to little sahara?

[Stingray]

Awesome restore.

Best quote of your post, "Since it was close to midnight".
Mom used to yell at me about working on my R late at night. :rolleyes:

[jb2wheels]

67 Chevelle wagon.

Been in the family since roughly 1970.
I took my driver's test in it when I was 16.


Looks great.

I wish I would've bought the desert seat foam too.

Is that a '66 4-door Impala I spy?

Sent from my Z958 using Tapatalk

[jb2wheels]

Great work John! It is good to see another one that did not get scraped and brought back to life! Are you taking this one to little sahara?

Yes! Need to try it out in the real world.

[ironchop]

67 Chevelle wagon.

Been in the family since roughly 1970.
I took my driver's test in it when I was 16.Yeah that wraparound taillight and the grill were my clues. The quarter panels looked odd for Chevelle though but I never thought about the station wagon model....I had a '66 Chevelle (no wrap around taillights until the 67 model)

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[jb2wheels]

What an awesome job! The starting point was so rough, but the nice thing was it looked like most of it was there. Did you clean up and use most of the original mechanical stuff that was there (aside from the parts you mentioned like exhaust and obviously plastics)?

That machine looks just amazing.

Yes. Mostly.

The engine that came with this one is in my 85 now and running strong untouched for 5+ years.

My 85 had this 86 engine in it when I got it. I swapped them when this one started smoking.

I gave this one fresh rings, ball hone, valve lap, etc.

Rebuilt rear master but replaced caliper with $30 Ebay special. The original was wasted and $30 is dirt cheap.
Front caliper is original and was frozen to bracket. That took a lot of work but they're hard to find. Front master is a 400EX piece I think.

Chain & sprockets new.

Most bearings new.

Shock is untouched except for cleaning.
Forks have fresh fluid but bushings were good so the guts are unchanged.

[jb2wheels]

Yeah that wraparound taillight and the grill were my clues. The quarter panels looked odd for Chevelle though but I never thought about the station wagon model....I had a '66 Chevelle (no wrap around taillights until the 67 model)

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I know the 66 tail lights - my grandfather had a 66 wagon when I was growing up. We love our A-bodies.

[jb2wheels]

Some things I learned from this project:

350X rear master cylinder:
300EX rear master cylinder is the same size as the 350X.
So I used a 300EXrear master rebuild kit (Moose MD06051) to rebuild my 350X rear master.
The only difference is the boot.
I bought the right boot from Honda.
The 300EX boot could probably work.

XR 400 header
bolts on with a few notable exceptions:
- need to slot the mount holes at the head
- need to chop about 4 inches off the outlet - I set it next to the stock header and eyeballed it
- I had to lower my rear muffler mount about 2 inches
XR400 header uses same gaskets at head and muffler
I "ported" my XR 400 header - cleaned up the welds on the inlet side, a known issues with XR400 headers.

400EX carb:
300EX intake manifold makes bolting up a 400EX carb easy - at least on that end of the carb.
I had to trim the lip off the inside of the airbox to carb tube and then heat it a bunch to get it molded to the 400EX carb.
350X throttle cable bolts up no issues.

The rest of this thing is pretty stock. Just fresh.