Ok boys and girls, so at the risk of boring you , I'll give some background history and pics on my little cb400, some of wich will be repeated from high performance section.
I'll apologise in advance for the quality of some of the older photo's as they are from the seventies) and they are photo's of photo's (hope that makes sense).
Bought the bike new from Mocheck in London, early 1978 , it had a 460cc conversion,yosh cam, and gas flowed head.
The intention was to race in the Manx Grand Prix in the Isle of Man, wich I did and consequently caught the bug (ended up doing it 12 times)
Next year saw a 500cc conversion , bored out carbs and four pipe exhaust added, (what a glorious noise going through Kirk Michael during early morning practice).
That was the year the guy I shared the garage with (Terry Griffiths aka Biffo) had a
big 'off' at Ballaugh and wrote off the frame on his TZ350, he was ok but had no bike to race,we discovered a TZ full rolling chassis for sale on the Island ,which I helped him to buy ('cos he was a good mate) wich meant he could build a complete
bike and get to race.
In a nice gesture Biffo offered me the front and rear end from the original Yam wich were still in great condition and he reckoned would graft on to the Honda easily,I had my doubts, but he was right and it was a fairly easy operation to fit them.
So for 1980 we have same engine and frame as last year but with TZ front and rear
wich inc. both wheels,forks. swinging arm and AP brakes, also replaced the four pipes for a 4 into 1.
The bike was an absolute pleasure to ride, you just didn't want to get off the thing.
Next year I bought a TZ yamaha, as ,well, lets face it, racing what is basically a CB400/4 in a 1000cc race is not exactly competitive, albeit great fun.
the Honda was left in a corner of the garage and after a while was loaned out over the years to various lads to ride and as it was passed from one to another I gradually lost track of it but was too preoccupied with a growing business,a divorce,
partying etc. etc. etc. to even think about it
So we fast forward about 25 years when a friend tells me the little honda is in a barn in North Yorkshire, so I contacted the farmer who tells me it has been there about 10 years but if I want it back just come and get it.
It was a toss up between scrapping it or restoring it, it just looked so bad, anyway my mate Eddie convinced me it was worth rebuilding (thanks Ed), so we did and what you see in the pics is the result of many hours work.
inc,
500cc conversion
webcamm#69
1mm oversize valves (inlet & exhaust)
full gas flow By Jim Norman
lightened, balanced, polished crank
Robson conrods (similar to carillo's)
26mm CR carbs
close ratio g/box
dyna ignition & coils
the Yamaha cycle parts are still fitted but have been modified by Maxton eng. to bring them up to date.
the bike is still used for short circuit , post classic racing and last year also had a go at drag racing , I entered the Ramsey Sprint in the Isle of Man and won the 500 class by 2secs and the time was good enough to win the 750 class
So the old dear is still going strong and providing as much fun now as she ever did.
Specweld
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