Topic: 1975 CB400f (First bike build)

[Shade Tree]

And the closing of the night.

[Shade Tree]

Thanks for staying with me. I am having some problems get the screws out of the engine covers, any Ideas? They want to strip out...

[RickB]

Impact driver is the only reliable way to go as far as my experience goes. I squirted some penetrating fluid around the screws, let it sit overnight then hit them with the impact driver.

Also, considering using a photo service like Flickr to host all your photos. It makes it much easier to manage all your photos (you can browse them all in once place) and they provide some fairly robust image resizing and embedding features which makes it easier to embed larger images in your forum posts.

[Vbled1]

For the forks id go with paint stripper spray from walmart. It has a wooden chair leg on the label with the paint peeling off. I used it on my tank and forks, saved hours in regards to polishing. The spray paint will come off the forks in about a minute, use it on the lowers too. I used that, then i use buffing wheel with compounds- Black then brown then white, no need to go to red. I just did this process and in total spent about an hour per fork. Stay away from fork seals with the stripper. Its a foam type spray and not very messy.

[Tews19]

For the forks id go with paint stripper spray from walmart. It has a wooden chair leg on the label with the paint peeling off. I used it on my tank and forks, saved hours in regards to polishing. The spray paint will come off the forks in about a minute, use it on the lowers too. I used that, then i use buffing wheel with compounds- Black then brown then white, no need to go to red. I just did this process and in total spent about an hour per fork. Stay away from fork seals with the stripper. Its a foam type spray and not very messy.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Shade Tree]

So last night I was going to break the carbs down and have them cleaned but I am a little intimidated about reset up of them. Is there a "dip" or something I could submerge them in while leaving the sync bracketry in place and in tune? I setup my appointment to pick up my first pile of parts and drop the frame and the next off at the powder coating shop this Sat. Can't wait to start the build up process and leave the tear down behind.

[MoMo]

Jason, there are dips but the carbs must be taken apart so all the orifices in the jets and carb bodies can be cleaned. At least that has been my experience on the half dozen or so 400fours I've redone in the past couple years...Larry

[Shade Tree]

Crap I don't think I can put them back together. Kind of frustrating.

[MoMo]

Crap I don't think I can put them back together. Kind of frustrating.

Take photos and notes, download the manual from this site and go to it.  It is a good learning experience and you have a great resource here for any questions...Larry

[RickB]

Jason,

I found the carbs the most rewarding thing to rebuild. Very clean work, intricate but it gave me such a good understanding of how they work. Beforehand, I thought that whole area was voodoo. I took plenty of photos of when I did mine, plus you can get the 40 page walk-through that Timbo wrote about rebuilding the CB400F carbs. With that, it's just 'follow the photographs and instructions'. Couldn't be easier. Just don't loose the spring and ball-bearing behind the choke lever on the number 4 carbie like I did!

If you need parts, ask here or this website is great for used bits and pieces, albeit across the pond from you.

I would highly recommend electroplating the appropriate bits too (great listing of the correct parts here). Also, save yourself the issues and only buy OEM Honda jets, needles, tubes etc. The kits from DSS are nothing but headaches.

If you get stuck, we're here for you!

Rick.

[Shade Tree]

Sorry for the lack of posting. Havent had any time what so ever. Ok now to tackle the carbs, And rick thanks for the info about the tutorial I couldn't have done the job without it.
I wasnt hard just time consuming. So here are Some pictures of the process.

[Shade Tree]

[Shade Tree]

[Shade Tree]

All Nice and neat for the Powder Coaters

What happened to my garage?

[Shade Tree]

Sorry I haven't posted in a month. I am working incredibly difficult hours because of the Nuclear Outage. I will continue this Outage until 27th of this month. After that my schedule will go back to normal I hope. But I'm slowly gaining ground on the bike. Frame, exhaust and all little pieces back from the powder coaters.
Disassembled the upper engine and had the pieces sent off as well. Found a goal picture I am gonna strive for. I know its the twin but I like it alot
but ass you can see my tank will look nothing like that..
I want the lines on the bottom of the seat to match the bottom of the tank. Does anyone know how to do that? Here is the length of my seat
This one is not so bad, But he has clippons to lower the bar hieght..
Next stage my Tank, seat and side covers get sent off to get painted. I want to go with the "Light Ruby Red" but I like Black or Gray(Charcoal).. Any input would be a great help. thanks in advance.. -Jason

[Tews19]

Looks good. How did you mount the seat?

[Shade Tree]

It's just sitting up there. Not mounted yet.