Topic: CB400 Four resto/mod----done and on the road!!

[spuds]

Well, the engine's back in.

Ended up taking the breather cover off after a couple of careful unsuccessful attempts, with that cover off we gained a little more wiggle room.

Feels good to have that step behind me!!!





I did not go all in with the cleaning/polishing....cleaned up the cases, jugs and head as good as I could, took some AutoGlym (love this stuff!!---crappy that one can no longer find it Canada any longer!!) to the tappet covers, breather cover, points cover etc..   The bike's gonna be a rider---so I don't want to be constantly hung up on keeping it "showroom clean'---as beautiful as that may well be.

[marccrabtreee]

Just spent the last hour going through your thread, excellent project and so well documented, nice work.

I once had a '77 400F. biggest mistake was when I sold it.

Fellow Canadian from Toronto.

[spuds]

Thanks Marc,

Some progress (albeit including the usual discovery of a "must take one step back to deal with a forgotten item") since past post.

With the engine back in, dug out the coils and installed them, and dug out the wiring harness.   

Cut away all the old tape / sheathing, and cleaned everything up a bit.   It's all pretty much going back in as removed except that I will use a combo rectifier/voltage regulator unit and some mini blade fuses (original wiring to/from original fusebox had already been repaired prior, so took the opportunity to clean that up a bit too).   

Apologies for the fuzzy pics - relegated to using the cell phone camera...ick!







Then figured I'd get the exhaust headers back on----





Sorta starting to look like a motorbike again!

[spuds]

It's been a while!!

Not sure why, but progress on this sorta took a back seat to other things.

Got the bike started/running....I think there's still some fiddling I need to do, but I was absolutely thrilled to have it start and run!!!!

Other tasks:
Repaired a small crack in the headlight bucket, used an existing hole and drilled a second one for some idiot lights, painted it up.   




Got the gauges mounted and rigged a set of brackets to hold the ignition switch. 





Have been poking away at getting all the electrical bits tested and working.....everything's up and running except for the right rear signal light not actually blinking....somewhat perplexed, but I'm sure I'll discover that I simply overlooked something (everything worked prior to dismantling).

Tank got cleaned up and painted in Honda Milano Red some time ago, but got the decals on



Started thinking of the front fender.   The front end is from a CB500F, with fender mount holes placed for a 19"wheel, which then places the fender way too high.   I may end up having to splurge bigger time to get something much more slick, but figured some time tinkering is never wasted (part of why we do these things right?).   Pulled the 400Four fender mount and fender apart.   Modified the mount to fit around the second brake caliper mount.   Thought--what if I ran the fender BELOW the mount------paint them up in two different colours even to not make it look like I'm trying to hide something----make the fender mount a bit of a focal point.

So, some sanding, some drilling of new holes, some filling of redundant holes, some fender cutting, some more sanding, some primer, and some paint.   The mount is painted with some Buell XB9 silver frame paint that I had (had painted the brake caliper brackets in this colour too), and the fender is high gloss black.   Still debating on whether or not I might try to fill that airspace between the fender and mount with something (?) paintable.   May not be to everyone's taste, and I'll install it and sit back and stare at it all for a while to see if it grows on me.

[Don R]

looking good, let's just bump this one up with the other 400 threads.

[spuds]

Hey thanks Don.

Timing's kinda funny for your post too----that DSS seat cover you sold me finally got used!!  Somewhere back in the previous posts there are some shots my stock seat reshaping antics, and I got the call the other day that my seat was ready to be picked up.

Stock 400F seat, couple of inches lobbed off the back, and the foam reshaped.  Keeps all the original mounting/latching points. DSS 400F seat cover, replaced the rear part (backwards from the original's seam location) with a new piece that would follow the seat's new lines.   The guy filled in the areas where the strap buckles had been applying some 40ish years of pressure, and used some gold thread to hopefully pick up the yellow in the decals.   Allows me to maintain the 400F set top pattern...ideally we would have figured out a way to only have the rider's portion have the pattern, but......it kinda works.

I see a couple of little "I wish that was better" spots, but overall....I think I'm close to the look I was going for.   

Being able to have the tank and seat on now allows me to start exploring the rear fender length, and filling the void between seat and fender with a tail light.  I have a couple sitting around, and will start experimenting.

[spuds]

Great hearing the growl!!

cold engine started nicely on choke, then settled (finally, with some idle speed fiddling) into a nice burble.    Video is of a warm engine start up.

stock carb jetting, original air filter (new one is on the "final" shopping list), and this alternative muffler off a ...... harley (HD OEM take off, bought a pair of them for $90, almost brand new)....     Hopefully it will all work on  the road---time will tell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-zLafTvBng&feature=youtu.be

[spuds]

Couple of more bits tackled.

I think the tail section is all buttoned up.   Shortened and repainted 400F rear fender, tail light/licence bracket made up of some random bits I had in a box (including part of an unused chrome tail light bracket from the T500).....most of it gets hidden and it uses two existing threaded holes on the fender.




Took care of some of the front end wiring tasks too, and got the side cover decals on



...and started on the front brakes. Bought some banjo fittings/bolts/crush washers and a SS line to go from the master to the 3 way joint....some of it's arrived, some still en route. Once I'm happy with the top part, I'll measure up the SS lines I need to get to the calipers.
Step one was to get the fender mount on with the caliper arms lined up properly with the rotors.   Many more experienced folks warn of the moving pieces of running a second rotor, as well as with running the calipers behind the forks.    So, after much poking, trial and erroring (including putting the pistons and pads into the calipers (then having to load the outside caliper up to a master cylinder to pump the pad and pistons back out again (more on that later)), I *think* i have the caliper arms at a close enough angle.   I hope.    Ended up using two washers on the two fender mount bolts on the clutch side, and one washer each on the "front" fender mount bolt and main caliper mount bolt on the throttle side.

Getting that third caliper arm bolt in on each side required lifting the front of the bike, removing the axle clamps to drop the tire (which I had to deflate to squeeze between the caliper arm / fender mount), then buttoning everything back up.  So I REALLY hope my caliper arms are "close enough"!!!   




Now----on pistons/pads.....Like I mentioned earlier, I was able to push the phenolic piston and outer pad out of the caliper by pumping the brake lever on a master cylinder.....BUT....fitting the piston and pad-----they're a really tight fit?!?!?!    Hard to describe with a keyboard....but how "tight" should they be to go into the caliper?    I guess my worry is more about them being too tight as opposed to to loose....


 

[marting100]

Nice job man!!!..on my bike I used the banjo bolt at the Master cylinder and took out all that crap (3 way point) with a direct SS line. For the front brake I have also used a phenolic piston from power-barn.com. The 1st one I got was the wrong model (found out when installing it ;-)..you can take it out easily using the line intake and push compressed air in it, it will go out ;-) just don't put your face in front  ...got the good one later on and the fit was perfect. With new pads it's tight but when everything is button up your wheel should turn freely. Hope that help.
Cheers!
M

[marting100]

....maybe I did not understand exactly what you mean ... the pads I got (cant remember the brand) were tight but not hard at all to push in the caliper and the piston should slide easily in also.
Cheers!
M

[calj737]

If your new pads are really tight to fit against the piston, try gently sanding the edges of the pad especially if it’s painted. The paint can be just too thick for the pad to move freely within the caliper.

[spuds]

thanks all ----  I think this info will help.

Rod

[Don R]

 The piston needs to slightly retract on the o ring when the pressure is let off. Otherwise it will drag.

[spuds]

Some small steps for man today.   

Some random bolt torquing and some cable route tidying.   

Also got the chain on, which then turned into the sprocket cover going on and then the LHS rearset.




Really loving these rearsets from TTR400...

Also did some further cleaning on the calipers, put the new seals in, pressed in the pistons (those phenolic ones) and the outer pads.    Buttoned up the calipers on the brake arms.    Some new brake line fitting HW is due in tomorrow, so hopefully I can make some more progress there.

[spuds]

Woot!!!

Thanks to all here for everything---all the help, advice and encouragement!!    Still need to tweak the front brakes a little I think...but took it for a couple of shakedown runs today.

Will try to get some more "picturesque" pictures in the next couple of days.

But....without further ado....

[Don R]

 Man that thing is sweet! I'm especially diggin the front brakes.  The space under the rear of the seat is just begging for that tail light.
A couple years ago I had some carbon fiber and Kevlar left over from an alcohol funnycar project. I made a fender brace out of the leftover material, and promptly sold the bike. (cb900C) yuk. I'd love to try that again.

[Don R]

 And I'd love to hear that sportie muffler. I had two on a 79 gl 1000, it sounded awesome above an idle, at Idle it wanted to be a Harley. L0L! I got a DSS repro and it's REALLY quiet. I almost put the old generic one back on. 

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Is that a 17" front tire?

[spuds]

Nope----18" front tire.   It does look small though eh?   Never noticed that before.

The HD pipe makes a nice snarl.  Not crazy loud either.

[minimo]

A very lovely 400 build, spuds! The bike has a real nice grunt to it too, almost like it’s telling you, “Get me on the road, damnit!” Love these bikes. Well done!


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