[oldschoolchopper]

Can some one tell me how to identify the year on cb350 ENGINE? I bought a hard tail bobber style bike. Intensions are to build an old school chopper out of it. It has a custom frame with a solid type Harley wheel on the rear. It has a CB350 engine in it that is tore down on the top half. This number on it is all I can find CB350E-5062448. Do all CB350 engine parts fit the 68-73 years? I am missing some parts so I have to start hunting them down. Thanks and God Bless

 

[WintrSol]

By that number, it should be for a K5 (Honda used K numbers, not year, for models). Same as for the CB450, there are very few variations in hard parts between the years, but you have to be careful. There are parts sites that include the vintage Hondas.

 

[oldschoolchopper]

How can I find a year. I know nothing about these engines. I think the engine is the only thing Honda on this bike I am missing cam chain tension adjuster and there must be nuts that fasten the rockers to the case they pass through. Also the outside chrome covers for these. It was one of those everything is there in the box thing. lol

 

[WintrSol]

How can I find a year. I know nothing about these engines. I think the engine is the only thing Honda on this bike I am missing cam chain tension adjuster and there must be nuts that fasten the rockers to the case they pass through. Also the outside chrome covers for these. It was one of those everything is there in the box thing. lol

The K5 should be, mostly, '72 production year, but there is some overlap.A K5 could have been sold in late '71 or early '73, so you have to go by the serial number for parts. Parts sites know this, and often list the serial number range for the parts. Reliable sellers should be found on the site I sent you.

 

[bpe]

The year will only be found (by code) in the bikes vin number. Not on the engine serial number.

 

[WintrSol]

While engine numbers are usually different from the frame numbers, they are close. The year is NOT coded into the frame number, BTW. The first three digits of the frame and engine numbers are the indication of the K number; Honda didn't track models by year of manufacture.

 

[R&dcycles]

I have found that sites like Rocky Mountain which have an OEM lookup is the best way to get a feel for which parts are different and by what “K” number. Part availability is another story.
As others here have mentioned Honda wasn’t stuck on years as so much. The frame will have a year of manufacture but that may not be the year on the title. The year on the title for Honda’s before 77 are usually the year it sold not the year it was made. Those numbers can be up to 2 years after manufacture do to slow sales or just storage and shipping times. Also don’t assume that one K series is the same just because the only change was the color palette that year, and the following year has the same colors. Sometimes the paint schemes are all that change, sometimes it is a mechanical issue that is changed.