CA77 and CL77 ProjectsCA77 and CL77 ProjectsHi all. Here are a couple of pictures of two new projects I picked up recently.
The 1965 CA77 is in pretty good shape and runs well with over 30K miles on it. I'm not sure if the engine has been rebuilt or not but I suspect it has. This one's going to stay together for a while until the CL is finished. The 1967 CL77 looks pretty good from 30', but the closer you get, the more you notice that things aren't quite right. The 9K showing on the odometer might be a little off. After a little research, it looks like the fenders should be chrome (frame 1062xxx), the side cases are missing chunks, the swing arm is badly cracked, every part that has a fin has one or more broken, the chain guard is missing... and so on. On the bright side, the headlight works. I have a few other projects in the works so these may be a little slow, but I thought I'd get started anyway. I don't think it has been raced but you never know. It was definitely ridden hard and put away wet.
I split the engine this evening and didn't find anything I wasn't expecting. The internals look pretty good and there weren't any parts flopping around inside. There is a large chunk missing from the lower case half that looks like a lot of work to weld so I'll have to replace the bottom half. The top half seems to be ok, thankfully, as that's the one with the serial number. The piston wrist pins are worn which I'm sure means the small end of the rods are worn. I didn't notice if the rods are bushed or not before I left the shop but hopefully they are and that will be an easy fix - unless wrist pins are hard to find. I got a call from a guy nearby who has a seized 305 engine for $25 - I said of course I would take it. Hopefully it will have enough good parts so I can end up with close to a complete engine.
I do have another lower case half from a CA77 but it's still in a parts bike. Once I get the engine out and dismembered, I'll check the fit. If the case halves can be intermixed, I'm assuming they were machined as a pair at the factory but close enough tolerances were used that they could be swapped out. I spent the evening ramping up with a shipment of zinc plating chemicals from Caswell. So far, so good. I'm impressed with the results. I'll share some pictures soon.
The cases were not made as a matched set. .................lm
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