Topic: Current state of affairs

[gaijin]

Hello all,
finally took some photos of my new old cb400f today to celebrate passing the MSF ridercourse. I've held off on asking a bunch of questions until I had a few stored up, so here goes.

• I'm sure the sidestand is non-original, but what about the mounting? The welds look a little.. I dunno. Plus it doesn't look like the diagrams in my parts manual. This stand is a lot shorter than the original so the bike leans over farther than I'd like. Do you think a stock sidestand would fit on this?
• I like the lower handlebars, but the filing into the clamp is kind of.. worrying. I guess the previous owner didn't worry much, should I?
• Lovely job the PO did with the electrics too. I just got a wiring harness on eBay, I hope these aren't TOO difficult to install. Cuz I'm doing it either way (left signals don't work and all the wiring is mixed up).
• I'm not sure what they're called, the spurs that keep the front end from turning too far and hitting the tank? Well they worn away on both sides. The tank even has a dent from the left controls, from when the bike was dropped. I remember reading a post where someone built the metal back up with welding. That seems much safer. Any ideas on how much that would run?
• And a "small" oil leak. I hope it's small, but there is/was a film of oil all down the front of the engine case. I'm pretty sure the source is in the photo. Any ideas on what it could be? The bike has been down on the left side (hard, I think). You can see the bent indicator and taillight assembly in the last photo.

Thanks for any info! I'm about to clean out the tank with POR-15 and try starting it up later this week (the PO assured me the motor was the best part of the bike) so I've got some time to think about stuff.

[bryanj]

Easier way with the lock stops is to drill a small hole and scre a self tapping screw in. Welding usually means a strippdown.

[gaijin]

Thanks, I'll look into doing that then. I do want to strip the frame down and get it blasted/repainted, but that's in the indefinite future at this point. And I'd feel safer with any lock stops than without.

[SteveD CB500F]

I had this problem on my 500. A broken lock stop is an MOT (Inspection) failure in UK.

I looked into welding and screws and stuff, and then called David Silver. He sold me a NOS lower yoke (triple tree) for a ridiculously low price (not much more than it would have fetched in the '70s) and a set of taper roller bearings (more £ than the yoke).

Moral: if you're going to take it off anyway, buy a new part and new bearings to go with it.

[Barrett99]

Looking at the picture of the lower tree the stops look fine.  The controls on the lower bars are hitting the tank before the stops come into play.  If you were to go back to the stock low rise bars that problem would go away.  If your intent on keeping the current bars a welder could build out the stops so that the turning radius is reduced.  This would require that you remove the forks from the tree and bring in the lower tree only for this operation. 

[keiths]

If your bike was wrecked, check you upper triple tree. I think its the weakest part of the frame if its the same as my 350. Mine was cracked but barely noticeable. I bought a replacement from a junk yard and it had been repaired in the same place.

[Uncle Ernie]

You must really have a tight cockpit there. It would help to see the front and side for a better idea of what the bars are doing. I think it would be a mistake to add tho the stops just to accomodate some bars. I have a bike with a reduced turning ability and it's scarey in parking lots and tight spaces.
Old alloy tanks used with clip-ons used to just have dents put in them to accomodate the bar ends/grips. Maybe you should just put matching dents on each side.
Don't know what you are worrying about as re the clamps. What am I missing? 
The oil leak I always figured Honda designed in to prevent jug rust... Brilliant. It works.

[gaijin]

Thanks for the help guys!

I guess I assumed the stops were worn because the bars could contact the tank, but since there's no lift to them it's probably just the bars themselves. Posted some more photos below (larger so you can see better if you want to).

I also checked the upper triple tree very carefully as Keiths suggested and found a crack on the left fork clamp. Damn.

Since I'll have to replace the triple tree clamp, the part that was filed down to make room for the brake lever assembly will have to go too. Which means unless I want to file down another one, I need new bars. Curses again. Maybe I'll look for some cheap clip-ons.

Here's better views of the cockpit and the filed triple tree. (Ernie, there's already the one dent so I guess a matching dent on the right side wouldn't be too hard Thanks again for the comments guys. I think I just need a new front end.  I think I'll start a wishlist in the Wanted page. 

[bryanj]

Those are definately NOT standard bars and way "Flatter" than standard which is why the switches conntact the tank.

[Bob Wessner]

I'm not familiar with your model, but I don't think Honda ever won any prizes for esthetic welding. As for leaning too far, check to see if the stand is bent or the splayed portion where it bolts to the frame is spread. This can happen if someone sits on the bike with all their weight while on the side stand I think. I was convinced the stand on my 750 was non-stock and too short only to find out it was correct. The top had been splayed wide. Some "vice time" corrected it and the excessive lean.

[low-side]

It looks like someone removed the stock kickstand mount, ground it down, and re-welded it to the frame so that the bike leans over farther.  That weld doesn't look pretty but it looks solid.  As far as the oil leak, a leak that far up could only be coming from the tach cable or the breahter housing.

[gaijin]

Again, thanks for the info guys. The kickstand welding does look solid, I'll see about getting a slightly longer stand to fit onto it. I'm going to try starting the beast tonight.

All right, I have a confession to make now. After digging into this first 400f and realizing I don't have the luxury of time for dealing with these problems (right away), I did the only natural thing. I bought another one. This is the bike I had been searching for a while now, and when it appeared last Friday I jumped on it. 9300 miles, runs beautifully, intact exhaust... blue!

So for now I do parts hunting for bike#1, try to get it roadworthy, and sell it. Maybe some cafe mods, who knows. At least now I have something to ride! Man it sounds nice.

[Uncle Ernie]

Man, those street shots sure look a lot like San Francisco... Whee do you live? I've sold a couple of those that colour out there.
Anyway, I have a feeling that that crack you mentioned is not all that rare on those bikes. If I remember right, finding another clamp is going to be really hard, but I think they can be welded up OK by a GOOD welder. If you live in SF, there are several out there.

[gaijin]

Ernie,
Right now I live in Daly City, so basically San Francisco. The awesome guy I bought this off of lives in San Francisco proper.
Pretty good, being able to tell locations just from street shots!    And what do you mean, 'a couple of those'?? How could you part with even one??

Welders you say... I'll start looking for welders. If I can get decent quote I'll go that route, will save me having to redo the whole instrument cluster.

The new bike is far from mint, hard to see from the photos; some dings in the fenders, a few scratchs on the engine covers, tank is a little faded with a few chips, but it's solid.  The previous owner really took care of it.

[jotor]

Here's another take on the sidestand.  I've seen several 400F's with rust through in the frame tube the sidestand tab welds to.  Water can get in an opening in the frame and collects on the low side (sidestand side).  Could be that happened and a repair was made but got the tab in the wrong place.  Are there any funky looking welds on the frame tubes in the area?