Topic: CB400F Technical Help Needed

[Joel]

I took the ignition plate out to change the points and condensers.  A couple of the screws were stripped out in the process of removing them so I bought new hardware to replace all six.  Two of the screws are shorter than the other four.  The problem is I don't remember where the two shorter ones went.  I looked at the parts list but it's too blurry to identify the short ones.

[mattcb350f]

The shorter screws likely go on the 1.4 points, and the longer on the 2.3 points.

Just a guess, but if no one has the answer than I'll have a look at my plate.

 Matt.

[KingCustomCycles.com]

Condensors use the short and points the long?  Go Boilers!  (I teach there)

[Reverend66]

go to www.honda4fun.com they have pdf files of the parts list & technical manual on the 350f & 400f for free. There are a lot of good (exploded) illustrations and the parts list should show the dimensions of the screws in question.

[Joel]

I have a parts list I checked out first.  The screws are included in the points parts numbers and thus are not given a description themselves.  The diagram wasn't detailed enough to determine which of the six screws were the short ones.

[Joel]

I went ahead and put it back together the way that seemed most logical to me.  I used the two shorter screws for each of the points contact assemblies and used the longer screws for the condensers and the 2.3 subplate.  I fired it up and it ran with no problems so there must be enough clearance behind the plate that it doesn't matter.

[KingCustomCycles.com]

Why you would put the screws in the opposite way of what logic dictates is beyond me.  Thicker material = longer screws.  Not that it matters to you apparently, ride safe.

[Joel]

The shorter screws are long enough to pass completely through the base plate on both the contact points and condensers so strength shouldn't be a concern.  The 2.3 subplate obviously needs longer screws because it's thicker.  I was more concerned with clearance behind the plate.  I'm pretty sure one of the original short screws came out of the 1.4 point contact but couldn't remember where the other one went.  Anyone know for sure or care to pull theirs to tell me?

[Joel]

Yet another interesting problem.  The previous owner had a homemade headlight bracket bolted to the bottom triple tree.  Apparently they used whatever bolts they had on hand because the two I took out weren't the same pitch.  In fact, one of them didn't seem to match any pitch at all on my metric gauge so it may have been an inch fastener.  I looked up the correct size fasteners on the parts list.  The diameter and length are listed but no thread pitch.