Hello, I am glad to have found these forums, they seem to be full of useful information. I had a FL250 when I was a kid, it was a blast to drive and I have always wanted a 350 or pilot. I have finally moved on the idea after seeing all the cool after market stuff that can be done to these machines. I am hoping to pick up two 350s for both my wife and I to ride, but so far I only have one that is mostly a restoration project. I got it real cheap so it will be okay if it turns out to be a parts machine, but so far it is running so that seems like a good start. I am sure I will have tons of questions as I disassemble this thing, it seems every little part has been neglected. I'll try and post some pics of the starting point and you will see what I mean.

Welcome. I am an new FL350 owner as well. Actually I have 2 of them. I spent all winter restoring them and had fun doing it. Its a BIG step up from the FL250 IMO. I live in Oklahoma City,OK and just returned from a riding trip to Little Sahara here in Oklahoma. A lot of guys that post on this board were there,they came from all over like Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, the cars they brought ranged from FL250's, FL350(mine), a bunch of Pilots, Drakarts, a Tazcar. We had a lot of fun and the cool thing is that I was actually able to keep up with the Pilots and other buggies in my FL350,. If you can make it to a ride you wont regret it. Here is the link to some pics I took last weekend. Again enjoy your restoration process, trust me it will be well worth it.You should try to make a ride, we need some more folks representing the Odyssey FL350's. Take care. Click below to see some of the pics...

http://pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?t=4192

I am from NC, I went with the 350 for the project mainly over cost, I need to get two usable machines going and they seem to be great from what I have read. I have been working on this one constantly and I also think that fixing them is half the fun so long as you have access to a real shop and do not have to worry about paying someone else to do everything. I do not plan to do much jumping yet so the stock suspension should be ok for now. I am going to set both as liquid cooled and modded as much as I can myself. I am sure after doing all of this I will have to make it out to Little Sahara, those pics look awesome.

Here is what I am starting with, this is actually after about a weeks worth of work.

I have created a projects thread for this oddy locate here :

http://pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?t=4212

Sounds like you got a handle on some of the upgrades you want to do. Im happy with the water cooled head for my buggy. My sons buggy is not water cooled however he is not an agressive rider, YET, and we rarely let the Ody set in idle for any length of time,so the air cooled seems to work ok for him. Have you noticed when you stand on the back of your Odyssey the stock shocks don't give much if any? If you havent noticed when driving the Odyssey, it is a "rough" ride with the stock rear shocks.The best upgrade as far as comfortability and handling is upgrading the rear shocks to Works or Progressive brand shocks. Huge difference,I have heard that upgrading the rear shocks creates less wear on axles, U-joints,trans.... Yup they cost but are well worth it. Anyone on this board will tell you to upgrade them in the beginning of your restoration. I don't know why Honda let those stocks out of the factory in the first place, they are junk. Also wanted to tell you that I got most of my parts through Randy at Odysseysalvage.com, Randy is more than willing to answer your questions too. http://www.pilotodyssey.com/PO/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16721/ . Hope Im not boring you but...Also a Honda FL350 service manual is a big help,that way you wont have to wait for people here to answer questions although everyone is very good about getting back to your questions, of course there will be questions the manual wont cover.Also make sure you keep your balancer oil level just to where the oil touches the bottom of the crosshatch on the dipstick. This will keep oil out of the starter, thus prolonging starter life ( This was a Honda Technical Service Bulliten). I have a modification that will fix that if your interested. SOrry for the rambling I just like seeing the FL350's come back to life and thought some good info would help ya. Good luck with your gas tank...Marc

Thanks for the info, I have been following the honda manual and everything has been going smoothly so far. I have been reading a ton of info on these machines and the starter issue is one that I a m worried about. I haven't had a chance to inspect the starter yet, but the oddy had the correct low level of oil in the case. I changed it out also before even trying to get it running better. Now I am going to do a complete rebuilding of the machine. I will start up a project page for this machine in a few minuets. If all goes well I should also be picking up another nice 350 this weekend. I checked with hillside honda today too and they can still supply their liquid cooled heads so I am really happy about that, their heads look the best and seem the best designed as well. I keep hearing about works shocks, I do not think I will be doing much jumping at first so I may wait, but I am sure once I get a better feel for the machine I will pick up a set, which means my wife will have to have a set too. Your oddys look real nice, do you have works on the front as well?

Here is a good way to vent the crankcase to avoid getting oil in the starter. I ran the clear hose up to the tailight/airbox and fitted a small fuel filter on the end of the hose. Click on pics to enlarge

I see your going to split the cases. Forget about the dipstick vent tube mod. Just look for hosers mod. I think its under Mudbogger's CSI. Some good info there on a rebuild.

Thanks for the hint, that thread is a good read. I would like to add randys mod but I think I like your mod better, Its not as clean but I would hate to drill the case and mess it up whereas a dipstick it pretty cheap.

Dipsticks are hard if not impossible to find!!!

Service Honda still list them
15650-VM0-000 DIPSTICK, OIL $4.60

On my next order maybe I will try to order a few and practice modifying them..