Topic: GK's 75 CB400f cafe project/ UPDATED

[GK]

yes i polished the caliper parts while i had it apart, i have never been happy with paint and brake fluid on my bikes in the past, and i have always loved the look of polished alloy even after it dulls it still looks good and after a couple of seasons riding i usually redo all the polishing and fall in love with the bike again.

[bonacci01]

Your bike is looking really really good!  Nice work.  I have a 350f stripped down in the garage Im waiting on getting a compressor installed so I can start painting and putting back together.  Keep up the good work, I'll be checking back.  BTW - Did you relace your wheels yourself?  How does one go about making sure its true?  Im new at these old bikes!  Thanks much.

[GK]

yes i did relace and true my wheels, first time for me, took my time with help from guides found in this forum, buy a dial in guage and give it a go, you will never pay to have a wheel laced and trued again

[GK]

Hey guys, back on deck after having to build another drag bike, the little 400 had to take a back seat.
But back into it big time with lots on the go, pics to come 

Oh yeah, have to say owned's bike turned out awesome, was exactly the look I was after, will have to change a couple of things now
cheers for now GK

[jessezm]

Wow, I had this post flagged about 2 years ago to watch for updates and get ideas for my build, but my bike is long-since finished!  I guess I'll tag along anyways 

[MoMo]

Long work stoppage there GK.  I also like the blue frame, do you plan to leave the tank silver?  ...Larry

[Kwality]

Alright!  The 400 folk watch with interest!

Leigh

[GK]

heres a pic of two slides one ultrasonically cleaned one not, one of the best ebay buys ever, havent scraped, scrubbed , wire brushed, kero sprayed or simple greened a single part since getting this , the carbs in the background were caked in 30 odd years of grime and varnish all of it just melted away 

[GK]

Broke the little plastic part that goes between the carbs  was a little too hurried pulling the outer carbs off the rack, should have undone all of them so i whipped up a couple of these little ally ones tp replace them

[GK]

Downloaded tapatalk hoping to post pics with it , anyways if it loaded coz I can't see it here is the pic of my rocker cover after painting and baking


---

[Owned]

Glad to see you're still at the project!  Slow and steady is your SOP I see.

Project is coming along.

[GK]

Yeah mate lol, but I did build this in the meantime
I have to say your bike turned out beautifully mate exactly how I wanted mine to , now mine will always be an owned clone lol, well done

[GK]

Cleaned up the block in the ultrasonic cleaner and used one of my favorite tools to get a nice square look on the fins , this body rasp rather than a file shaves off the aluminum instead of filing so there are no file marks to sand down later on

[GK]

All taped up and ready to paint , will do it in black seeing as I am installing a 466 kit in it .
I am lucky enough to have quite large commercial ovens to bake in so the Missus doesn't crack the #$%*s with me

[knowsnothing]

Looking good gk!  What solution are you using when ultrisonic cleaning?

[GK]

It's called brulin ultrasonic solution , but I have since developed a eucalyptus based solution that strips paint in minutes

Meanwhile the barrels are painted baked and polished ready to fit , wonder how that Hydroblaster is going with the cases and heads ,I am itching to do a mock up

[GK]

Ok cases and heads are back from Woodys engine building and hydroblasting, I am extremely happy with the results 

After Woody (the blaster), had finished with each piece he handed it over to his missus, the other half of their two person team and she puts a tap through each threaded hole and meticoulously cleans out each and every gallery, nook and cranny
I could not find a single grain of media any where, the address I went to had 12 little workshops all specialising in rare stuff, Woody rebuilds the Mercedes alloy V8 engines with all work being done in house.
He took me next door where a father and son team were hand forming MG Bugatti replicas one of in a consignment of three which was nearly ready to be shipped to it's middle east destination, I had my iphone on me and didnt think to take some pics, due to my slack jawed fascination with the work or should I call it "art" being produced on all these old steel working tools.

[GK]

A quick mock up

[GK]

side view

[GK]

heads

[GK]

cases

[GK]

Nearly finished rebuilding carbs, thought I would give you guys a heads up if you havent had it already on an Ebay seller who sells rebuild kits.
Sigma6 rebuild kits are advertised as customised to suit your particular set up.
I told them I had a cb400f with a 466 big bore kit, mild head and a gs style filter all flowing into a 4into1 exhaust with aftermarket muffler, at 70 metres above sea level this is what I was sent, at US$70.00 it also came with about six pages of instructions all sealed of course, because when you open it up you find a whole lot of copy and paste photo copies of pages they have found on the net.

I will wear the 70 bucks, because it is too much hassle to be emailing and hassling someone on the other side of the planet for it, but be warned

[GK]

Carbs are now dipped,soda blasted, rejetted with new o rings, gaskets and polished,  just need to bench synch them and they are sweet to go on.
Just waiting on a new cam chain and the ttr cam adjuster horseshoe and the motor can go back together.

To the guys that have built these little sohc beauties over the years are there any pitfalls I should be on the lookout for as I put this back together?

[neevo]

What did you pay for the cam chain arm if you don't mind me asking?

[GK]

131 aussie dollars Neevo from phil denton engineering on ebay they are a TTR distributor