Topic: Can't just leave it alone - 400F

[tsflstb]

I'm losing a little steam on my latest efforts, so I figured I'd take a night off and post some progress.  Fear of public humiliation should keep me motivated now.  On the Gulf Coast, it makes more sense to take on summer projects as the heat, humidity and daily thunderstorms make riding miserable.

Here's what's done so far:

-Replaced fork seals with oem
-Fresh 15W oil (worried it might be too stiff - I'll find out)
-Billet preload adjusters from TTR400
-Smoothed and polished top clamp and modified to fit the small electronic tach.
-Re-worked my home-made headlight brackets
-Cleaned up some wiring
-Epoxy painted fork lowers, lower triple
-Re-finished switch housings
-Greased and polished brake caliper arm
-Mounted new low-profile master cylinder
-A bunch of little stuff







Left to do:
-Lace alloy rims to stock hubs.  A custom Buchanan spoke kit is on the way...I've got my fingers crossed on this one because I'm not sure what hub the front rim is drilled for.  It was too cheap to pass up though.  Judging by it's size, I'm assuming it's for the rear of a 125cc dirt bike with a disk hub and that I can make it work.  The rear is a shouldered Akront that was drilled for a drum hub very similar to mine.  It was pretty nasty looking, but I re-finished it to look good from 5 feet away.  I may regret starting this later, but I really wanted to lighten up the wheels.
-Install new surface-ground, cross drilled rotor and new pads
-POR-15 and paint that extra tank I bought about 3 years ago
-Finish wiring
-Re-paint exhaust
-Finish trimming off a few tabs on the frame
-Remove tachometer gear and install plug
-New front tire in proper size
-Keep looking for an aluminum swingarm that will work


I'll keep this going as I finish tasks...and probably discover new ones.

[BlindJoe]

Looking good,

where'd you get the epoxy paint for the forks and what kind of shocks are those?

[Bodi]

Shocks? What shocks?

[tsflstb]

That's "Appliance Epoxy" from Home Depot.  It's pretty tough stuff - I usually drop every part on the concrete at least twice before it's installed and I haven't chipped anything yet.  Shocks are from a CB900F.

Add to the "to do" list:
Cut up some old coils and see about replacing plug wires.

[tsflstb]

Small update...

I cut short some of the work and put the bike back on the road last last week.  With a hurricane in the gulf, I figured I might need some cheap transportation when gas went up.  Well, it hit our neighbors south of the border...sorry guys.

The front rim was a bust.  Spoke angle was all wrong.  Crap.



I'm going to bite the bullet and have Buchanans drill one custom ($$$) for the front.  Still debating whether to go with black or polished rims.  This is your cue to look at the for sale section.  I'm selling off some parts to fund that little endeavor.

Other than that...I've got the new tach working, took a couple pounds off the front with the drilled rotor, spacer to remove the speedo drive (from TTR400), and phenolic brake piston.  I also put on a low-profile master cylinder from Mike's XS.  I'm still bedding the system in, but it bites pretty hard.








Also got one of those pimpin' rear brake stays from TTR400.  I feel like a rock star now.




Next I'm going to get after that spare gas tank with the POR-15 kit and either black or silver paint.  Thanks for listening.

[stay youth]

wow that is one sexy machine, is that the original top triple tree that you just ground down? please please post more pics. I need inspiration, my 400f is in my garage with its guts wide open

[silver fox]

Those black rims will look awesome when you get them sorted. Where have you mounted your ignition key, is it just by the side panel? Keep up the good work, and keep posting the pics

Regards
SF

[mikedialect]

the 400f is one of my favorite bikes of all time. You've got it looking pretty good!

[wadarush]

Let's here a litle more detail on how you installed the speedometer.  You've got a digital gauge and some kind of sensor somewhere?

[tsflstb]

is that the original top triple tree that you just ground down?

Triple tree is stock with a few hours of grinding and filing on it.  Wish I had a milling machine at my disposal, but my set of Harbor Freight files work OK.

Where have you mounted your ignition key, is it just by the side panel?

It's a $6 Borg-Warner universal type that incorporates the starter, so the button is gone on the handlebars.  I made a little bracket to mount it where the seat lock used to be.

Let's here a litle more detail on how you installed the speedometer.  You've got a digital gauge and some kind of sensor somewhere?

It's a standard bicycle speedometer (I think the brand is Panoram V9).  The sensor is mounted on the left fork where the brake caliper arm bolts up (pics of the crude bracket I made below).  The wire is wrapped around my brake line up to the display.  There's a small magnet you clamp to a spoke, enter the size of the wheel in the display, and you're done.  I think it maxes out at 99 mph, so no "ton up" patch for me.

[c91x]

how accurate is your speedo? i wasn't going to run one but it'd be cool to run my tach and that small speedo in a fiberglass housing to look like one unit