1970 T350 Restoration

[mike1161]

I was originally looking for a T500, but I also really like the '69 and '70 T350s, so when I saw this one for sale in Iowa back last August for $400, I had to get it. The 1st photo below is the day it came off the truck in late Sept. I've been taking pics all along, but just got around to posting this. The guy I bought it from had started to convert it to a cafe, but stopped after partially taking it apart. Anyway, I got the bike as you see it, plus a huge tupperware of parts that were off the bike already. I started teardown right away, and at this point, I'm most of the way finished with the rolling chassis, and I just finished spraying the clear coat on the tank, oil tank, & side cover. I'll post photos of that later, once the badges are all on. The other 2 photos show the bike on its wheels. I just cracked open the engine cases last week, it looks pretty good in there. This should be a fun one, since I discovered that someone had already done some porting work & bored it out to the 2nd oversize when I pulled the heads & barrels off - and I've also got a set of new expansion chambers on order with JEMCO, so that will be pretty cool. More updates later....

[Jon49]

That looks like a great restoration. i am currently restoring a T350 also and am at a similar stage to you. I have the bottom half of the engine in the frame and have got all my chroming away so should have that back in a few weeks. I need to get my wheels built yet and have decided that anything that can be stainless will be. I am also going for expansion chambers but am looking at Higgspeed in the UK which look stunning. I need to find a front mudguard and sort out some clocks so not too sure when it will be on the road but am really enjoying my first resto.

[mike1161]

Thanks, nice to hear someone else is doing one of the T350s also! What year is yours? I also did look into getting the Higgspeed chambers, they look really nice, but decided to try the Jemco's instead. I had lots of re-chroming done, and expect the last 2 pieces (front & rear fenders) to come back next week. It will be mostly done except the engine & some of the wiring / electrical at that point. I've got the engine cases, barrels, and heads blasted clean now, and am getting ready to paint them an aluminum color, with high-temp paint. Then just re-assemble the engine; I already have almost all the new seals. Just missing an o-ring or 2.... Also just finishing up with the oil supply lines, the little check balls & springs looked good. I'm hoping to be done in another month or so, just depends on whatever else pops up. Will try to post some more photos once the fenders come back.

[Jon49]

I think its a 71 but not too sure. It was imported to the UK from Colorado and looked like it had been ridden around a field for most of its life so there was a lot of cleaning up to do. still got some bits to find and money to put into it so dont think it will be ready for a few months yet. I too went for high temp paint on the bottom half but need to get my heads and barrels vapour blasted. I had to go on the 1st oversize as it was left without a spark plug in the right hand head and the barrel was totally seized up so i got a Wisco piston set to go in and got it overbored. cant wait to see it all come together.

[sjwhopper711]

I'm also restoring a T350! Mine is a 1969. I see y'all decided to go chrome. I went flat black because I like the military look. Where are y'all finding your electrical parts. I'm having a hard time finding the main wiring harness but am set on almost everything else.

[mike1161]

Cool, another one!! Besides the wiring harness, are you missing any other electrical parts? When I got my bike, it was mostly dis-assembled already, and there were 2 wiring harnesses, both in pretty rough shape. I think the other one is actually from a T500 (I would have to look at the PN label on the harness to be sure). I picked the one that is for the T350, and am mostly done restoring it (there's a really good thread on this forum about how to do that). I compared the 2 harnesses, and it looks like they are really similar. Let me know if you're interested in knowing more about it, like PN and photos, etc... and I could do that.

[mike1161]

OK, I've made some progress.... See below, took a few photos of how it is right now, it's coming together. Right now I basically have the motor done except for waiting for the crank to come back from getting new middle seals. Still waiting for both fenders to come back from re-chroming, too, they ran into some issues with the front one. Hopefully won't be too much longer...

[mike1161]

Another quick update, got the motor all back together, and back into the frame! Getting close now.... But still waiting on getting back both fenders and the new JEMCO expansion chambers, they said maybe a couple more weeks Anyway, I got the entire wiring harness (restored) back in too, and hooked up the battery. All electrical systems are good, except a bad turn signal flasher (ordered a used one from eBay which they say works), and no spark on one cylinder. Could be a bad condenser or points, but I ordered a kit for that which I can swap in if needed. Anyway, heres a few photos below.

[T350guy]

Looking really good .haven't even start our 69 T350 yet..hopefully this winter we start.

[GTDAVE]

Nice bikes guys, I've always had a soft spot for the T350 as a mate had one and I rode it a fair bit while my T500 was out of action and he'd lost his license. Did you know that back in 70's and 80's here in Oz we had a production race called the Castrol 6 hour, and in 1972 the T350 won against all the other bigger bikes including Kawasaki's H2 750, bloody amazing, but was disqualified, on a technicality I think. Anyway it has had a bit of cult status since.

[mike1161]

Thanks; yes, I'm pretty excited to get it on the road. I talked to the chrome plate guy yesterday, and he thinks my fenders will ship back to me this week, so that would be great - then just missing the pipes!
I have read somewhere about that Castrol 6 hr race back in '72, but can't remember where; thanks for jogging my memory of that. It must have been quite an upset, I guess for it's day, the T350 was a pretty good handling little bike. I will find out soon - when I got mine, it was already mostly in pieces, so I've never actually ridden it.

[GTDAVE]

Found a link to "that race"http://www.bikeme.tv/bm_articles/riders ... ry-vii.asp

[mike1161]

Just read that article, that was really awesome! Thanks for looking that up.

[joethebike]

With respect to the Castrol 6 Hour T350, I am a member of this group and am happy to say I have kept my race bike having used it for many years as my road bike before retiring it from active duties in 1984.
It was given a major facelift in 2000 and has now covered about 95,000 miles including the 2 Castrol 6 Hour races - 1972 and 1973.

The gearbox is still original despite all the hard work done and the bike stills runs well, being taken out on Queensland Historic Motocycle club runs and the odd run to the shops.

Joe Eastmure
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Qsid ... uzuki3.jpg

[mike1161]

Wow, Joe, very cool. Your bike looks fantastic. 95xxx miles, that's impressive! Gearbox still all original? Well I guess that's why all of my gears looked like they had very little wear when I had it apart (only about 11xxx miles), so I guess it will be good for a while? Thanks for the reply!