Topic: new 400f 1976 to work on

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so i bought this bike with 10,000 miles on it. looks like the original owner  rode it for 10000 miles and parked it, somewhere by san francisco. the tank is spotless, only faded barely, the pipes have no dents or scratches on the bottom or anywhere except where the master cylinder hung off the bars dripping brake fluid on the number 4 header pipe, for probably 20 years. the carbs are stuck. i'll check that out later. the master cylinder looks brand new but everything on it and wheel cylinder are stuck like i've never seen before. i had to use a grease gun to budge the mc piston, by drilling a hole in an oil bolt with a oakie zerk fitting that wasn't drilled or tapped by any size chart, i just guessed at it and got a couple threads to hold but anyway it moved but the zerk blew or fell out. the bottom caliper pad was even stuck, it came out and the piston is stuck severely. the manual under the seat is like new and the took kit looks like it never was opened. the oil was way low, and weird black looking. the tank had gas in it but there's only a slight tarnish film in it, no rust, the filter is still good. strange.

rode over on my 400 and got a flat at the guys house had to push the 5 miles on a rear flat. rode a little bit laying on the tank, i had to get a bus ride home, and got a oil leak somewhere on it. puddle under it. i have another 400 that hasn't done anything since the early 80s. and took the rear wheel off aired it up. valve stem was slightly leaking and the tire was rock hard. and put that on my bike 7 miles away and rode it home, tire and tube close to 40 yrs old, and they still worked, i remember filing the the strange wear pattern 20 years ago. i don't have any room to work on this new pile of parts so i'm clearing out the living room and i got some cree commercial leds ill hang, throw the couches out and hutch thing out on the curb. leave the carpet in so i don't have to wipe up any oil or dirt/grease, use it like a rag for now. the muffler is in excellent shape. other than that, everything is there, rusty. gonna be a beater. hopefully fast. front disc looks nearly new.

[Kevin]

Sounds like a great score!

I think you are making great life choices, couches are over rated  ;-)

Any pictures of the bike in the new work space?

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

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i'll get some pictures pretty soon. the couch cushions worked great. stacked 2 of them  together kind of stepped,  and i laid a square hospital bed pad over it, didn't matter they got poked holes in them, but the pads came up to the frame and barely leaning it over already had some preload on the motor bottom so i knew i was in business, went ahead and took out all the bolts and shafts leaving the front frame bolt, and the double nutted bolt on the top rear. went ahead and seen how it was gonna work out alone and it did fine, i did get a friend to help me lift it on account i had the triple clamps on with the forks and wheel, making it awkward to just lift off. so we got it off in few seconds and i got the motor on the cushions and by itself balancing upright but leaning way forward. walked out of the room for a second and good thing it was in the front room because the motor rolled off the cushions laying now nearly upside down on the carpet. it didn't get any freefall it was just resting. so now the front room has gotten a huge disaster with parts all over it. i stripped the frame to paint it, with an idea of making a sheet tent and do it in the house. white walls and all, i'll just try to find a windless day. rust is everywhere. and scotch brighted them the sliders on account of only having about an inch of finish holey strip on the inside of both, the forktube i aluminum foiled them to death, and part of the rust went through the chrome, i figured that chrome would be especially thick being a movable sealing part. but on the tops inbetween clamps were pretty rough. and when the chrome is completely ate through by rust, the foil just shreds so it is in much poorer shape than i originally thought. the motor is just like the sliders down to the bare case metal. i was gonna paint that. then was just gonna put it back together and now the frame is ready to paint. it's gonna look getto. i don't know if the orig owners ever changed oil. because they didn't do anything except put some huge tires on f and r. all the fasteners have no signs of ever being removed. i took pictures of most every thing, before it came apart. so got my fingers crossed to get it back close enough to run it around some.