Author Topic: CB400 Four resto/mod----done and on the road!! (Read 15033 times)

spuds · « **Reply #25 on:** November 16, 2017, 02:14:50 PM »

Quick update.

Applying some colour to the seat foam did in fact show me that the left / right rise to the rear portion could be more symmetrical....so that's on the to do list.

Seat pan got painted.

Played around with some 0000 steel wool and some metal polish to see where the header pipes could potentially go...

And in other news, took a few things off the frame.

That battery tray / air filter box is quite the little work of art isn't it?

spuds · « **Reply #26 on:** November 18, 2017, 03:29:31 PM »

More bits removed-----but nothing here that I'm sure MANY of you have not already seen...

Drained the engine oil and removed the oil filter.

Oil filter cover as removed

and after a short soak and scrub

Sprocket cover....should clean up nice

This area will need a little more elbow grease

And the sprocket area will need some cleaning, but it isn't that bad

Also poked away at the swingarm that I'll run. Had bought a spare unit, and I had already shaved off the passenger peg mounts, but after deciding to run without a chain guard, I shaved off, and filled in the area to smoothen, the guard's mount bracket stuff, and filled in the bolt hole at the rear of the swingarm. Have some sanding to do, then will respray with primer.
Stumbled on the shock bushings that I had bought, so tried my hand at installing those via the bolt/washers/nut method. Worked pretty well. I will mask these off when it comes time to paint...figured I'd get them installed prior to paint to avoid having to repaint afterwards 'cuz I know darn well what will happen!! Will sort through the pivot bushings/ etc parts next and get those installed. Then paint.

Thanks for reading along....!!

spuds · « **Reply #27 on:** November 23, 2017, 07:46:37 PM »

Quiet, "little job" week.

Engine is ready to come out - just waiting to finish up a table to sit it on.

In the meantime, shaved the chain guard mounts and guide off the swingarm I'll be using, and got the shock and pivot bushings in. They'll be masked for painting.

The dust covers were black----would they have been black from the factory? The paint was coming away, so got rid of it all.

Cleaned up the sprocket side of the rear hub...it will be disassembled to lace it to the 2.15 rim I bought.

Also drilled out the lock key switch from the lower triple (so now have a bolt hole for a bottom mount headlight bracket), cleaned up the surfaces a bit and did the satin black thing to it.

spuds · « **Reply #28 on:** November 25, 2017, 11:11:41 AM »

.......and we have an engine on a table and an empty and scrubbed frame

Pulled the front wheel, forks, triples and center stand, and knocked out the original steering head rearing races.

Also got a call Friday that my powdercoated front rim is ready to be picked up, so dug out the hub and gave it a little polishing

Gotta clean up/replace that rusty side stand spring too.

When I look at the pics of the frame, I feel so "this isn't ready to bolt things back on to" yet.... I'm leaving the frame as is...not powdercoating/painting...'cuz once that's done you can never go back right? Need to be firm and convince myself that "it'll be fine once it looks like a motorbike again!!" So many little scratches though....

spuds · « **Reply #29 on:** November 30, 2017, 05:23:16 PM »

Got the front rim back from the powdercoater, ready for lacing and all laced up.

That's a KZ400 18x1.85x40 rim and spokes (new) on a CB500 Four's bub.

Tackled the steering head bearings and triples. All Balls Tapered bearings, CB500F stem and triples (using the shaved and polished top triple until a stock one arrives (decided against clipons...will run a handlebar instead)), and ran the 500F's forks in as well. Had to reshape the lower triple to clear the 400F frame's steering lock tab too. The 500F's stuff does "swap right in" to the 400F's frame, but the tapered bearing outer covers could not be used....a couple of washers take up slack and seal up the bottom though, and the OEM stem nut and a washer round out the upper pieces. Tightened everything up and it all feels real nice.

The 500F's forks have been serviced/rebuilt and have emulators installed (thanks Fantino!!).

Also got the swingarm painted up (after shaving the passenger peg brackets and chain guard tabs etc).

spuds · « **Reply #30 on:** December 06, 2017, 07:58:06 AM »

Some small tasks tackled:

Had bought a can of CRC heavy duty degreaser which tackled the material build up on the rear of the engine cases quite nicely. Spray it on, it pulls up the material, turns it all into small little clumps that simply wipe away.

Got the swingarm pivot bits greased up and installed, and installed the swingarm on the bike. Original shocks there just until new ones arrive. Can certainly tell that the swingarm's been painted and the frame not....again---hoping at all blends into the background as the frame becomes a motorbike again.

Also cleaned up and repainted the three engine mount brackets

And....I think my journey here requires me to get at the gasket under the cylinder head-----I know there's word of these engine's allowing some oil to seep through (them they're somewhat porous?

?), but I think I should get in there and replace some gaskets.

I am a complete NOOB at engine work...so am carefully and slowly taking the top end apart. Pulled the breather cover off the other day, and the valve cover off last night. Anything look obviously awry in the cover's internals?

...In the cam area?

spuds · « **Reply #31 on:** December 06, 2017, 10:49:08 AM »

Thanks!! Really appreciate you taking the peek at that stuff----I kinda have a sense of what all goes on in there, but have no reference points to know if something looks weird.

Will absolutely expose some bare metal on that bracket when the time comes, and thanks for the tip on the assembly lube..

Also got the front wheel trued up.

Gotta sort that noise out...internals likely needing some grease (

), but it was kinda therapeutic to go through the truing process. Will need a couple of spacers made up to shove the wheel to the (rider's) left by about 7/32" to center it in the forks (running a speedometer drive plate adaptor to allow for the second brake disk, which (unless I'm overlooking something?) must be a different thickness than the OEM part that it replaces....). I'll post more pics when that's all sorted.

Dropped my fuel tank off with the lad who painted my T500 tank --- he's gonna see what his dent removal guys can do with a couple of shallow dings ---the HOPE is that the dents can be removed without affecting the paint---if they can, we'll just "freshen up" the finish a little and call it a day.

spuds · « **Reply #32 on:** December 08, 2017, 03:43:18 PM »

Learn something new every day, they say!!

So that front wheel was not centered because after lacing I snubbed up the spokes by hand while the whole wheel was laying on its side----so, ya......the rim was not centered on the hub from the get go, and truing up the wheel didn't fix it. Thanks Rangelov for answering my general question on the use / installation of the adapter plate, and for asking me if the hub was centered.... that's what sparked the discovery.

With the front wheel now centered, I did a quick mock up of wheel/rotors/brake calipers to make sure there were no deal breakers hiding....there's clearance and nothing (to my eye) looks wonky!!!

Also got around to painting and installing the top triple I got from The Machine (thanks again!). CB500F forks are about 3/4" longer than CB400F's, so they're run up in the triples a little. Will fine tune as I go.

Also disassembled rear wheel to get it ready for the 2.15 rim. Ordered up some new spokes from the local dealer here...should be in early next week. In the meantime, cleaning up the hub...

So, I guess most of this thread is not that exciting....most of you have seen bikes taken apart into bits, and then the resulting bits cleaned up, and ya...bikes getting put back together. Thanks for stopping by and visiting the thread....hopefully it gets more oomph now that it feels like we're more in a rebuild mode.

Have a good weekend all!!

spuds · « **Reply #33 on:** December 09, 2017, 04:51:43 AM »

Will watch for that for sure.
thanks

spuds · « **Reply #34 on:** January 05, 2018, 07:48:41 PM »

Friggin' cold here the past couple of weeks---making it real uncomfortable to be in the garage for any length of time.

Progress?---seat bits are ready to go to the upholsterer (thanks again DonR for the DSS cover)

And the tank and side covers came back from the paint shop tonight...

nvr2old · « **Reply #35 on:** January 06, 2018, 09:48:29 AM »

Quote from: calj737 on January 06, 2018, 04:25:40 AM

Its hard for painters to leave that exposed metal because it looks unsightly, but it is in the best interests of their paintwork and yours for longevity. Be an absolute shame to see that paint spoiled from fumes $:-\$

I agree 100%. If it's not bare metal from the top of the neck opening to about a 1/4" down..I would sand it back to bare, then I always put an 1/8" wide swipe of JB Weld over that paint line. It will prevent it from ever peeling back from fumes getting underneath. Guaranteed. So many painters won't take this step, and pay the price down the road with angry customers with bubbled paint.

spuds · « **Reply #36 on:** January 06, 2018, 01:16:22 PM »

Thanks fellas for that comment----

Here's pics of what it looks like now:

Just so I'm clear - we're talking about sanding back a bit of the top rim and 1/4" down on the outside of the filler neck?

nvr2old · « **Reply #37 on:** January 06, 2018, 01:30:05 PM »

Yes. Exactly. Just sand it back to bare metal. Put a piece (or 2) of masking tape 1/4" down first to use as a 'stop' for your sanding and to create a hard line. Then mask 1/16" of an inch above and below that hard line so you have an exposed 1/8" total. Mix up some JB Weld, smear on with your finger just enough to cover the hard paint line. Pull the tape off immediately before it has a chance to kick-off. See that small chip it already has? That's where it will start bubbling and peeling back. All gas fumes need is the slightest invitation before it's too late. Believe me, I've done this many, many times and it really works.

spuds · « **Reply #38 on:** January 06, 2018, 01:34:05 PM »

Thanks!!

nvr2old · « **Reply #39 on:** January 06, 2018, 01:53:07 PM »

Here's a couple of pics of a Suzuki tank I did. It's not as tall as your 400 tank's neck, but it's a good example of what I mean. 1/8" or 1/4" masking tape is needed to be able to do the bends and to keep it clean. With the cap on, you don't even see it.

P1010002 by Larry Pearson, on Flickr

P1010001 by Larry Pearson, on Flickr

Andych · « **Reply #40 on:** January 08, 2018, 05:25:11 PM »

Lovely build so far... I am picking up my 1975 400F project next week so I am keen to see how this one turns out.

spuds · « **Reply #41 on:** January 11, 2018, 08:12:58 PM »

Thanks Andy - when you dig into yours....start up a thread!! Love these little bikes!

Thanks Cal and nvr2old----I've got the tank sitting on a surface in the basement office....working up the nerve and courage to do some masking and gentle sanding to get rid of some paint around the top.

Realized too that some of my pics were lost when the server had its "episode" a while back, so will try to summarize some stuff here to get caught up:

The rear wheel got assembled and and trued. This is a powdercoated 2.15x18 ebay find, with new 400F spoke from the dealer. Mounted it up on the rear axle with some spacers to lock it into place and set to truing it up. It was a lot more persnickitty than the front one was....had to walk away a couple of times to clear the mind, but in the end got it pretty good.

Also received some bits and bobs from 4into1.com....most notably a rectifier/regulator unit, the valve cover "packing" (o-ring / gasket thingie), some oil filter stuff, cam chain tensioner bolt, and a few other little things.

Also started to slowly and carefully (don't laugh----last engine I took apart was a B&S 3.5 hp lawnmower engine in grade 8 shop class----that was more than a few years ago!!!) taking bits off the engine to change the head gasket. Can't help it....did some polishing along the way...

Having a little trouble getting the cylinder "jugs" to come away from the lower cases----tried some light hammering on a wooden block from below so far....need to keep at it I guess!!

spuds · « **Reply #42 on:** January 12, 2018, 06:06:06 AM »

I'll look for those bevelled areas and try shims....that sounds less "dangerous" than pounding from below with a block on an area of fin!

thanks

b1jackson · « **Reply #43 on:** January 12, 2018, 06:12:52 AM »

Fellow Canuck here will likely be tackling my CB400F restoration this summer. Thanks for the inspiration and photo filled postings. I definitely don't mind seeing the "tore it apart" and "cleaned it" updates. There is great pride in those important steps!

spuds · « **Reply #44 on:** January 12, 2018, 10:14:40 AM »

Hey fellow Canuck!! Hope your winter there has not been too nasty. I guess there was some recent talk about a major storm working its way up the coast?

We woke up this morning to lots of grass showing....lost a lot of snow through the night.

No robins back yet though.

Rob_D · « **Reply #45 on:** January 12, 2018, 08:12:56 PM »

Looking good from Oakville, spuds.

We should have swapped 400F's - yours looked cleaner than mine before you even started! I've got a cb350 that's been sitting in boxes in my basement for about a year now...so it's great to your progress.

spuds · « **Reply #46 on:** January 24, 2018, 09:05:51 AM »

More engine ....cleaning.....

Did manage finally to budge the cylinder block away from the lower cases, and carefully lifted the block off the pistons. Some major cleaning required under that block!!

Pulled the pistons, and set to work on cleaning them and the combustion chamber domes --- carbon buildup. I know it'll like build up some again, but seemed to me that these pieces should be cleaned up a little before being reassembled.

Currently working away at getting rid of all the base gasket material, and tending to those crusty cylinder studs.

Was over a buddy's place last week too....wanted him to go over my efforts on cleaning and assembling the carbs. I had cleaned interiors, jets, orifices etc, installed new o-rings and gaskets, we set float heights, and overall, we think they came out well. Ready for fuel lines!!

spuds · « **Reply #47 on:** January 27, 2018, 07:36:39 PM »

Cleaning up the bottom faces of the engine cases

And installed the battery tray/airbox and inner fender too...

Flyin900 · « **Reply #48 on:** January 30, 2018, 08:48:48 PM »

Since you have the motor mostly apart are you considering valve seal replacement and lapping? How does the cam chain tensioner look? The guide seems to wear less and the tensioner usually ends up with a grooved section. While you have it apart this far, you may as well do a little more thorough check on the wear items.

I am just working through a 1975 CB400F that is a full rebuild from the ground up of a 25K mile bike.

Gitano · « **Reply #49 on:** January 31, 2018, 06:18:23 AM »

I'm in the process of also rebuilding a '75 400F, my first one so I have a ton of questions that are being answered by this forum (thank you all!). One I've had and Flyin900 just mentioned, is how one determines if the cam chain tensioner and guides are too worn and should be replaced. The engine I'm working on supposedly has 26k miles on it. Any guidelines on assessing wear?

News:

Author Topic: CB400 Four resto/mod----done and on the road!! (Read 15033 times)