Let the games begin! (1986 350X project)

[Dirtcrasher]

What BOb meant was you can still buy a few OEM HONDA switches (and key switches) that just need to be repinned. Every single switch on Ebay, that costs under 300$, is aftermarket from China. Although they look nice appearance wise, often the wires will pull out of the connectors easily or you'll have some other sort of problem, even the ground is backwards sometimes. I have a rubbermaid filled with NOS light switches that I bought, some for the exact model, others that are a perfect match (like the 250SX, there are TRX switches with the cable choke, they're exactly the same aside from the pins or sometimes the plug). And you'll know it's good for 40 years. The other ones will absolutely work in a pinch, but there's a reason they're only 20$.

[J!m]

What can I say. If you have a suitable switch for the 86 please put it in my pile! I can adjust the wiring as needed- no problem there.

Some highlights from today: (before and after on the top triple)

[J!m]

It’s a pile of mini-restorations…

[J!m]

So, that pivot bolt is NLA and mine is worn. It threads into the bottom plate and then a nut locks onto the protruding stud to lock it in. I can get a shoulder bolt that will fit but the bottom threads will not poke out the bottom enough for the lock nut. Blue locktite should work fine if I go that route.

But what I did for now is to make a thin washer for under the bolt head. (You can see it if you zoom in) This causes the bolt to rotate to a different location and avoid the heavy wear area. I also applied some thin grease. I can see about exact replacement bolts being made but I don’t know what sort of market there is for them. But coupled with my potential arm Re-sleeving it could help some folks out…

[J!m]

Words of wisdom…

[J!m]

Another small victory:

[J!m]

Got a head pipe last night, rubber boot for the front brake lever and the nylon chain guide for the frame.

[knappyfeet]

Your motivating me to get to work on my pile that's just been sitting around way too long.

Nice!

[J!m]

I think they call that "an enabler" and, yeah, I do that.

[Red Rider]

Got a head pipe last night, rubber boot for the front brake lever and the nylon chain guide for the frame.

Slowly but surely, it’s coming together. Keep up the great work.

[J!m]

The nut and washer for the steering tube are NLA so I glass beaded the old ones and cleared them.





And the wheels have been bead blasted and cleared.

[J!m]

Finally confirmed: my engine is an 86 for sure and it and the frame are 73 digits apart from one another.

[J!m]

Got the front spindle apart. New bearings and seals going in. One brake disc stud seized in the nut and came out of the casting on me.






And this simple green coil cleaner is awesome! New trick discovered

I polished the axle and spacers. The spacers are what the dust seals seal on, and they’re not great… I may remake those.

Also pulled the fork tubes out. I’m going to ask a co worker what he thinks before I just tear them down blindly. They have new crap boots on them and don’t seem to leak so they may have been resealed.

The steering bearings? Yeah those are shot. With no fork tubes it feels like the bearing balls were replaced by rocks. I have new taper roller bearings for there.

[Red Rider]

Nice work. I think this 350X found it's forever home.

[J!m]

Thanks Red.

Interesting tidbit for the detail orientated... My front hub has studs and nuts for the brake disc. That is standard for 85. But this is an 86, and it has an 86 (black) hub with studs. I ordered the "correct" later bolts specified for 86, so the other two studs need to come out now. Build date is 3/86, so not a "late 85" build but I guess they ran studs for a while; perhaps into 87 even. Just found it interesting.