Topic: Noblehops makes a 400F pretty for his wife

[NobleHops]

Bummer on the brake stuff.    I'd be nice if people would tell the truth so you know what your up against! Hows the piston bore in the MC?

It was good Matt, looked smooth and shiny and it sealed up immediately and hasn't leaked. I think the metal they used in 1977 was a lot better then the potmetal my '80 CBX's MC was made of.  I ended up getting that one resleeved, by a bunch of blacksmiths based upon the condition it was in when I got it back.

[NobleHops]

Assembly is the yadda yadda yadda.

Dropped in a new seal and piston, replaced the bolts for good measure. Put a smear of brake grease on the rear of the pads. Chased out some overspray from the banjo and bleeder holes.

Found my upper brake hose had cracks and the paint was flaking off the spring, then found that everyone's favorite big bore piston guy Cruzinimage sells a beautiful complete replacement brake line set, including the outer coil spring and the grommet for the fender stay, for a whopping $30 shipped from Japan.

Cleaned up the splitter/switch assembly (before)




After - did not paint this (liked the patina), just cleaned it out and repainted the black bracket:




Reassembled and installed the caliper, kludging a spring out of my old rear brake spring, chopped in half with a cold chisel...



Reinstalled the master cylinder, finished installing the new brake lines:






And much to my surprise, it bled quickly and easily. I left it overnight with a strap on the lever held halfway, tapped the lines up and down with the handle of a screwdriver, and the next day the lever was rock hard and the lines and fittings had zero leaks. Better to be lucky than good

And so my 1 hour "install the brakes" project turned into a 3-day, "buy a lot of new parts and completely rebuild the brakes" project, but that's actually OK. These brakes need to be all they can be, and now they truly are.

[DustyRags]

A) That looks friggin' gorgeous.

B) My very hoppy beer (Ruthless Rye) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, because;

C) You have a way with words that had me rolling.

D) I'm in Oakland, my widdle brudder is a student at UCSC and I ride down there a lot- we should grab a super hoppy beer next time I'm down there. I'm buying.

[NobleHops]

OK, with the brakes done, next up was prepare to do the wiring, which I am dreading as usual. So I successfully stalled by cleaning and organizing everything, and cleaning it all within an inch of its life using a caustic solution that my pal Matt aka Thirsty 1 taught me about.

Get some peanut butter jars, fill one 3/4 with white vinegar and the other with water.

Add a half-cup or more of salt to the vinegar, stir till dissolved.

Add a half cup or more of baking soda to the water, stir till it stops absorbing it and let the rest settle to the bottom (that's what I did, anyway

Don't mix them up!




Now take your cruftiest electrical part, dunk it in the vinegar/salt solution, and swirl it around for a few minutes.






Pull it out and give it a scrub if you want with a nylon brush, then back in the solution. After a few minutes, take it out, and then dunk it in the water/soda solution to neutralize the caustic solution.

Pull it out, rinse it if there's any residue, blast it dry with compressed air. Presto.




Repeat with all of your other electrical connectors:




I will probably put a light smear of dielectric grease on the male side of these connections when I reassemble, but at this point all my electrical stuff is as clean and squared away as I can make it, and I got to put off installing it for another day. Win!

Matt, thanks again, this was a(nother) money tip.

[NobleHops]

A) That looks friggin' gorgeous.

B) My very hoppy beer (Ruthless Rye) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, because;

C) You have a way with words that had me rolling.

D) I'm in Oakland, my widdle brudder is a student at UCSC and I ride down there a lot- we should grab a super hoppy beer next time I'm down there. I'm buying.

Dude, it is ON. I usually have a spare motorcycle lying about and I live about 5 miles up the hill from W-B. Bring your helmet next time you come.

[NobleHops]

OK, last for tonight, as I am nearly caught up now and about posted-out for tonight.

I zinc replated all my old hardware that I intend to reuse, plus some I didn't, just while I was at it. Yes I did.

Not sure I'll do it again, but it was interesting and I got a lot faster as the day went on, can pretty much replate stuff at a rate of a (small) part a minute when it's all setup and rolling. Pics for now, more later if there's interest.

Made a spring out of copper wire to hold parts. Worked so-so.











More...

[NobleHops]

Bailed on that idea and scrounged some alligator clips, soldered those to another length of copper wire, and this worked much better.

[NobleHops]

Nutshell:

Wheel it:




Clean it, rinse it, degrease it, rinse it, then etch it in phosphoric acid, then rinse it again.




Clip it, wire it up to the negative, wire the zinc sacrificial anode to the positive, dunk it in the electrolyte.





Rinse it, dry it, polish it (quickly)

[NobleHops]

Kludged together a pipe tank to do the brake arm and torque arm, worked great:



Some 'after' shots.





More soon.

[Stev-o]

So, I take it you don't recommend the grease gun method?!

[NobleHops]

So, I take it you don't recommend the grease gun method?!

LOL! Actually I DO recommend the grease gun method when all else has failed. Works perfectly, slowly and safely, when all else does not. I do NOT recommend my first method of priming my grease gun though. Definitely not

[thirsty 1]

I'm blinded by SCIENCE!!

[iron_worker]

This build is really starting to move along. I'm stoked to see it done. 

IW

[DustyRags]

I'm blinded by SCIENCE!!

That ain't science in your eye.

[DustyRags]

A) That looks friggin' gorgeous.

B) My very hoppy beer (Ruthless Rye) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, because;

C) You have a way with words that had me rolling.

D) I'm in Oakland, my widdle brudder is a student at UCSC and I ride down there a lot- we should grab a super hoppy beer next time I'm down there. I'm buying.

Dude, it is ON. I usually have a spare motorcycle lying about and I live about 5 miles up the hill from W-B. Bring your helmet next time you come.

Thanks, but if I'm coming down, I'm riding my own bike! 

Wouldn't say no to a go on that DRZ, though... 

I'll let you know.

[thirsty 1]

I'm blinded by SCIENCE!!

That ain't science in your eye.

Yes it is.

[NobleHops]

A) That looks friggin' gorgeous.

B) My very hoppy beer (Ruthless Rye) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, because;

C) You have a way with words that had me rolling.

D) I'm in Oakland, my widdle brudder is a student at UCSC and I ride down there a lot- we should grab a super hoppy beer next time I'm down there. I'm buying.

Dude, it is ON. I usually have a spare motorcycle lying about and I live about 5 miles up the hill from W-B. Bring your helmet next time you come.

Thanks, but if I'm coming down, I'm riding my own bike! 

Wouldn't say no to a go on that DRZ, though... 

I'll let you know.

The DRZ is in dirt trim, but you're welcome to have at it. It's about to get some suspension work that ought to be vurruh nice. Welcome anytime!

N.

[tweakin]

Your a man after my own heart NH, love the detail work.  Also love Santacruz, last time I was there I was visiting Santcruz bicycles when I raced downhill for them a few years back.

[NobleHops]

Your a man after my own heart NH, love the detail work.  Also love Santacruz, last time I was there I was visiting Santcruz bicycles when I raced downhill for them a few years back.

Dude, you saying this is like Elvis telling me he likes my singing. Come on back to Santa Cruz and we'll terrorize Wilder Ranch. Thanks for the good words!

[NobleHops]

Sorry for the double-post, but just in case...

Hola lads,

Ran out of opportunities to stall any further, and so finally tore into my wiring harness today. As usual, it was no big deal, although there is still plenty of stuff still yet to do.

Have a conundrum at the end of that stub of the harness that goes down to the alternator and oil pressure and neutral sensors though - the wire to the neutral switch ends in a stub of tinned wire. It looks like some sort of 'thing' is supposed to be on the end and somehow clip onto that little brass stub with a little spring.



Does anyone have a photo of what is suppose do be on the end of this wire, or failing that, does anyone have a spare of that sub-harness they'd be happy enough to part with?

[NobleHops]

Stand down gang, Dave500 came to my rescue with the needed clues. Thanks again Dave.

[NobleHops]

OK so the main loom is on and I am piecing it together, but without reference photos I'm flying a little blind and could use some help, with photos of the question areas ideally, but just advice or info is certainly most welcome too.

This photo - I think that white tab is called the datum, and it references where the harness goes in relation to the frame. Is it in the right spot? Too far forward or backward?:



Likewise, is this in the right location?



Everythign here look OK? I have the two wires piggybacked on the right post of the solenoid, the left going to the starter. Where does that green ground wire go? Under that bolt at the top? Somewhere else? Plug to the fusebox look OK there?



Where does this part go?



Seems like a lot of excess wire to the rectifier on the right side. I have it run behind the battery box and in front of the fender, up high. Wrong route? Should it go low and use up some of this slack?



Is this bracket on the correct side? Almost looks like the throttle cables are to run through it. True?



TIA for your help, I will study the wiring diagrams some more as I continue to put the wiring back together.

[nvr2old]

Where does this part go?


That attaches to the front tank mount on the left side.  It goes under the rubber bumper that the tank pushes onto.  It holds the wiring harness.





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[NobleHops]

Where does this part go?


That attaches to the front tank mount on the left side.  It goes under the rubber bumper that the tank pushes onto.  It holds the wiring harness.

Cool, thank you. Got a lot of intel from inv3tiv3's thread as he posted some photos that had a lot of detail for me, but by all means, keep the clues coming.

[nvr2old]

That green wire you pictured attaches to the top of the left outside carb top.  Remove the rear screw on the small cap on the top of the carb, and attach the green wire to that one.

The rectifier wires are correct.  The excess is just pushed between the battery box and the subfender and just sorta floats there.