Thanks for the welcome back and pointers!
FeelsGoodMan
So... Where are we now?
There are a bunch of issues I need to address before I stop fiddling with Claudia for good. However, my priorities are to get it back to roadworthiness first, which includes re-registration and an active insurance policy. I'll start with issues that were present at the time of acquisition, explain some of the things I did before it went non-op 7 years ago, and lead into recent work and what my plans are for its future...
The whole reason why I stopped riding it was because I found a small hole/puncture in the frame about the size of a small spitwad. This was there from before I ever owned it, and was likely related to many of the other issues that were caused by an accident.
At the time, I wasn't sure how I wanted to address it. Pipe dreams about sleeves and reinforcements and blah blah blah, which required me to remove the engine. At this point I just want to ensure that I can investigate the full extent of the damage, and prevent it from corroding further... For what I have in mind for this bike, the levels of stress wouldn't warrant me doing anything more than addressing it "cosmetically".
In addition to this, it's always had a problem holding oil. It doesn't hemorrhage it, but the location and severity of dirty grease spots requires that I overhaul the engine and replace all seals and gaskets... more of a time/effort issue than money, since I already have the parts and tools for this.
In terms of how it ran, things were overall good, but quite imperfect in other conditions. I was able to get it up to 100 on the speedo, but reliability was a concern.
I've experienced misfires at WOT when trying to merge into heavy traffic from a dead stop, which nearly cost me more than dirty underwear. This was after I switched to air pods, and suspect that a re-jetting might help remediate this. In any case, I've learned to wait for a much more assured opportunity to enter traffic. I don't expect I'll ever try to run at WOT again on a public road.
The Main Fuse would sometimes blow out with the engine cold and shifting into 1st from dead stop in Neutral. No issues after the bike's been running for a while. I have a spare Neutral Switch (and a bunch of spare 15A fuses), but still not 100% confident that replacing the switch will solve anything. I'd like to troubleshoot this more, so any pointers/guidance is appreciated.
Cosmetically, the original seat was torn and I had been running with duct tape to prevent it from getting worse. There are maybe 2 or 3 very minor dents in the tank. It came to me without turn signals, a poorly wired aftermarket headlamp, cafe bars, and cracked side covers. Aside from that and the Rear Shocks, it looks like you would expect for a 50-year old CB400F.
Things I've done after acquiring...
I cleaned up janky wiring at the Headlamp and Starter circuits. The previous owner had mucked with the Starter Solenoid wiring and added a relay that circumvented the OEM pathing.
I removed the OEM Air Box and clamped on some Emgo-type air pods.
Other than basic tune-up stuff (oil/filter change, spark plugs, timing adjustments), the bike is pretty much the same as when I got it 12 years ago.
After being non-op for 7 years, there's definitely some gumming within the carbs. When I opened the Petcock, fuel started dripping from the overflow tubes. I'm pretty sure it's due to the Floats being stuck in an open position, but I'll look into this more during my holiday break (by tracing the fuel from the tube outlet, backwards). Either way, I'll need to rebuild the carbs.
(cont'd...)
