First, let me say that I am almost there… Then, let me add that it is one thing after another! The bike is almost ready to hit the road. Until yesterday I had power to all systems and it was turning over and idling nicely. I had gas overflow running out of one of my carbs so I started the day by adjusting the float to limit the gas inflow. It all went downhill from there. Prior to messing with the float the bike would idle nicely and would rev, but not beyond about 2800 rpm. I thought this was a timing issue but wanted to stop the gas overflow prior to adjusting the timing. Once I adjusted the float I stopped the overflow, but then the bike was not getting enough gas to rev at all. Instead it would die every time I gave it gas. I checked the float bowl on the suspect carb and it was not getting gas at all so i readjusted the float and tried again. Same situation. I put it down and tackled the turn signal wiring to clear my head. I had power to all turn signals but they would not blink. They are on steady. I switched wiring around and around with no success. The headlight works perfectly bur no signal blink. The other problem is that the tail light is on but the brake light will not register. If I turn the key to position 2 then the brake light is on all the time. Something in the wiring is not right. Frustrated I turned back to the carb problem, I was just beginning to mess with the air gas mixture when all power to the bike was lost! The battery has juice but I get nothing anywhere. I checked the starter solenoid with my continuity tester and it is completely dead. I now have to swap out the solenoid from the parts bike to see if this is the culprit. Meanwhile here is what the bike looks like before I start beating on it with a hammer…
Vintage OCD 
September 27th, 2013 at 6:43 pm
The tail light should stay on when the key switch is in position two and the key will come out. It’s meant as a parking light if you have to leave it say on the side of the road when you go get help. If you lost all power and the battery is good then it’s probably the main fuse that is blown.
September 27th, 2013 at 6:52 pm
Another thought, on the blinkers there is a flashing unit that makes them blink, mine have started working on and off sometimes as well, I was going to check the flasher unit to see if it was dirty or bad. The carb overflowing when it shouldn’t could be a hairline crack in the overflow tube, a known culprit. The floats are suppose to be set at a certain height, I think 26mm but don’t quote me on that, I’d have to check my manual. As soon as you changed the float level to correct the overflow problem you messed with the balance of the system. Change it back and you should get your smooth idle back. If you do then look at your overflow problem again and see if you can adjust it some other way. Don’t get frustrated, it will come together. Good looking bike by the way.
September 30th, 2013 at 1:31 pm
Thanks for all of the info. I have the floats adjusted now and the overflow has stopped. Now the problem is a bad ground somewhere that has killed all of my electrical. Wish me luck in tracing it back…
February 3rd, 2014 at 11:19 am
I have a ’73 CB350 and had similar issues with both the carb and the blinkers. The carb issue was because the needle came loose and was plugging the hole instead of coming up when revving. When I got the carb apart, it clicked back into place, and hasn’t come out again since. The blinker issue, I had one light out and the rest wouldn’t blink. I replaced the bulb, but that didn’t fix it. It turned out to be a loose connection in the wiring harness inside the headlight assembly. If you do pull all that apart, the headlight must be bolted back on the forks to complete the circuit, so don’t panic when nothing works till you get that back on. I hope that helps, but now that I see your post was way back in September, you’ve probably already got it fixed by now… 🙂
February 3rd, 2014 at 11:41 am
James, Thanks for the heads-up. I actually don’t have it resolved. I am tracing back the wiring harness and think now that I have a short in the starter button. I will check the headlight ground, as I hadn’t thought of that. It might have pooped off. The headlight bucket is bolted on but I have all the wires hanging out as I trace back. Since it is totally dead I cannot troubleshoot the carb rev problem. Stay tuned for progress reports, but it might be a couple of months while I deal with winter and a full garage…
July 10th, 2014 at 8:48 am
What headlight is that? Front signals? Lighting looks tight.