Topic: 1975 Honda CB400f... Tidy up and restore....

[Rich361]

I've started stripping down my Carbs to clean and replace seals etc.
I don't know all the names of the parts, but have been following the Honda Manual....



















I need some advice, Is there anything else I need to remove??  I was looking in the Honda manual and there are some other needles or something that can be removed??

I have to get carb refurb kits as all the rubbers are hard as rock...

I see that other people have soaked the parts in Simple Green, does any one know how much and for how long??  or any other ideas would be great!!  Also I've got a can of CRC Carb Cleaner... would this work??

[jessezm]

Make sure you blow out all the passageways in the carb bodies as best you can with brake parts cleaner and then hit all the little holes with compressed air.  I bought one of those gallon dip buckets full of carb cleaner, which is a lot stronger than the spray stuff, and dipped everything for a half-hour each. 

Also, yes, you may want to take out your slides and inspect your needles.  if they look to be in good shape (round and not oblong, no grooves or scoring) and are the original Honda needles, just shine them up and reinstall.  I will warn you, though, until you have done it a few times, removing the slides and needles is a frustrating pain in the arse.  Lots of little moving parts and springs in the arm, and getting the screws in and out of the plate that holds the needles in can be tricky.  But you can do it.  Take note of what position the needle clip is in--it should be in the middle.

Oh, also, make sure to set your float height (manual says 21mm, but many here go to 24mm), and then bench sync the carbs before installation.

[Rich361]

Hey,

After saying I've only seen a couple of CB400f in the skin, today I saw 4, all in the same place.
They were in various states but all complete. I Stopped by a car wreckers, he had a few old motorbikes parked in his front window. Closer inspection a few of them were Hondas and he also has Honda CB parts!! and here I was thinking there were no parts available in New Zealand!!

Got myself a Brake Caliper for $45NZ... all pipes and bleeders were able to be removed with no problem. I think the piston can also be re-used... not too many holes!!
He said he has alot of bits and pieces lying around, so might make a list of things and go and see him in the near future.



Popped the old brake pad and piston out with the Air Compressor... I know a greese gun would be safer and more controlled but this way is more fun!! Ha Ha



Surface of the piston looks OK??



NO BROKEN BLEED SCREW!!!! 

Have already stripped the old chipped paint off and have cleaned the inside with dremel tool, cleaned out rubber seal groove and have replaced it with a new seal.  Going to look in the FAQ section to find out how to properly rebuild the caliper so I hopefully won't have to touch it for a while.





Also got my engine back in the frame, the engine paint hasn't had it's final cure yet, so it's very easy to scratch.  Got it in with only a few little dings, but you have to look real close to see them, I'll wait until the bike is back on her wheels to see if I need to touch them up.



Has any one ever seen these LED brake lights before? They fit into the existing tailight, saw them on a New Zealand auction site (Trade Me).  $10NZ for two... brought them... Will see how they go??  Will hopefully put less strain on the old charging system??



Also got a 35W headlight to fit into my old lense... Not sure if the lense is the original on my bike, But this seems to fit... so all good  $15NZ Cher Cher

Hopefully tomorrow (during my sons afternoon sleep) will try the get the brake caliper painted and make a start cleaning up the chrome fenders, I hear diet coke, Aluminium foil and elbow greese works well??

Cheers

Rich

[Rich361]

Having some free time in the garage is very hard to come by these days... Being an Old Man to two awesome little kiddies really takes up a lot of time!!! 

Have been squeezing a very hours here and there to work on the bike.

Have been reading on a few posts about boiling hard Carb Boots in Wintergreen to soften them up... having a tighter budget now, I decided to give it a go....


Boots were like rock... couldn't squeeze hard enough to get them to squash...



Used a baby formula tin (have lots lying around) to act as a double boiler, so the boots weren't getting the full grunt of all the heat, It kept the water at a very slow bubble...  Put in the Carb Boots, 10ml of Wintergreen and enough water to cover the boots which was probably about 2 cups and left it boiling for about 2.5 hrs.  This is an outside activity pretty wiffy... The smell reminds me of the old Rugby League days, covering ourselves in the stuff to stop all the aches and pains after the game.  I don't mind the smell but not sure the wife would be so keen for out kitchen to stink like a Rugby League changing rooms!!   



The next day after the boots had cooled down, they still were very flexible... and a week later when I got back in the garage they were still the same...



I know this is only a short term solution and I will have to get some new Carb Boots in the future, but they will do for now....  Bike stinks of Wintergreen a bit... oh well... as I said don't mind the smell!!

Carbs slipped on real easy!!!



Got my new handle bars from "The Handle Bar Company" in Nelson.  Old ones were bent and uneven...  PO had chopped off one end of the bar for some reason??  It was about 20mm difference....  One longer arm maybe??   

They are a wee bit wider than the old ones, But will wait until bike is back together before I make any changes too them... I'll see how it feels....



I have a bit of a decision about what I am going to do for Wheels and Fenders.  Due to the new addition to the family and a South Island Motorcycle trip to save up for, the budget has taken a bit of a hit...     So will have to look at "cheaper" alternatives to get the bike running and will look to do more in future...

Chrome on Fenders is a bit scratched and swirly... not rusty but could do with a re-chrome... I haven't got any quotes but my guess is it won't be in my budget at the moment... Is there anyway I could buff the swirls and scratches out?? or at least make them better than what they are??





 So do I put the old fenders back on in current state, Go for a no fender look or maybe something else?? Any suggestions?? 

I have found my self looking at the bobber style of bikes which have grown on me a whole heap!!  But not sure if it would work on a CB400F with standard seat, Tank and Handle Bars??

A Triumph that I really like!!!   


Wheels....  Rims must have been replaced by PO as these look pretty good... no rust or marks that I can see, Spokes are rusty and need something done with them, Hubs need tidying up. Is there any way of tidying up the spokes and hubs without ripping the wheel apart??   Pics taken at start of build...




Bearings look good from what I can tell... Any way of checking bearing??

Any suggestions or comments about wheels and fenders would be a real help at moment as unsure which way to proceed.

Cheers

Rich
 

[Rich361]

It was late last night.... Forgot to add the last photo I took   

[RickB]

Rich,

Good to see you're making progress. You're going through a lot of the issues I've had. Not sure if it's any help to you, but I've kept a pretty detail build blog of my 400F here:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=51957.175

I just dropped my front fender (albeit, slightly 'bobbed') off for re-chroming. I'll let you know how much it cost. Otherwise, I've heard Autosol is a good polish to use.

Rick.

[Rich361]

It's been a few months, but finally got some motivation back to do some more work.
All be it small progress...  Polished up the front fender and rebuilt the brake calliper.

I brought a phenolic brake piston a while ago from a guy in the states.  I read the FAQ section on re-building brake callipers which gave me a head start.  They mentioned pure silicone brake grease. Couldn't track any down here in New Zealand, went around all the bike shops and I got a lot of blank looks and shrugs of the shoulders!!

Stopped in at a Speed Way race supplies store and the guy was really helpful and told me some PBR Rubber Grease (castor oil based grease) He said the guys use it when re-building all there brake assemblies in the race cars.  If they use it in Sprint Car brakes, I'm sure it will be good enough for my CB400F!!

The puck slid in with no troubles at all!!




 

[gerryw]

Really enjoying this thread, just started my (slow) resto of my '76 cb400f, keep it coming!

gerry

[Rich361]

Thanks Gerry,

There are a lot more interesting and entertaining threads around, I've never done anything like this before....hence all the random thoughts and ideas!!!  Need to keep focused!!   

I'll look forward to following your progress... Are you going to start a thread??

Cheers Rich

[Really?]

Nice resto work.  Tagging along.

[Tintop]

Nice start on your rebuild / resto.  I'd vote for keeping stock.  As others have said, 400SS's are getting harder to find, and you started with a nice one.

[fasturd]

All good things take time. My 400 took about 7 months but what a great spring I had when it was done!

Keep uo the good work.

[strynboen]

he he,, did nog get last spring..and dont think  i get this spring either..400 fours take the time 400 fours take. .damed gearbox

[Rich361]

Amazing enough my bike managed to survive two big Earthquakes now by rolling out of the way of falling objects...  Love the bike lift!!! I'm glad I never put the brake on!!  Left the bike at one end of the garage and then after the shaking had finished found it down the other end of the garage out of harms way!!!   

Goal now is to get it back to running ready for the summer months... Because we are now coming into our winter I should have plenty of time.  Still will need to keep to a tight budget but will tidy things up with the intension of doing it properly at a later date.  With this in mind I managed the tackle the wheels.

My rims were in quite good condition but the spokes were covered in surface rust. They are solid but ugly...





I decided to paint the spokes and centres to tidy them up

After a long time of taping and masking, I got the both the wheels ready





Etch primer and 3 coats of top coat black





I realise the paint probably won't last that long with stone chips etc but they look better than they did. When funds allow... I'll get some SS spokes and sort out the hubs.

Next couple of jobs is to locate a centre stand axle tube as I stuffed the old one when I took off the centre stand for powdr coating... Econo Honda in Waikato will get a phone call tomorrow

Also need set of new rubbers for my Speedo and Tach... hopefully Econo Honda will have them too??

Cheers
Rich

 

[Rich361]

Thought I'd take advantage of the high NZ dollar and buy the remaining parts I required for my bike.

Speedo Cable
Tach Cable
A & B Throttle Cable
Clutch Cable
Strainer Kit
Axle Tube for Centre Stand

Was going to buy everything from a on line shop in the states... unfortunately the shipping costs was almost as much as the items I was buying... The problem with living on the otherside of the world.

I contacted a local supplier and ended up buying the stuff from them... $7 shipping is more my style.

With the axle tube for the centre stand was holding me up with putting my bike back together, so now I have it, I was able to get a quite a bit done.











Just need to paint the front brake disk centre and then I'll be able to put the front wheel on and have it rolling again which will be nice.

Just need to get some rubber cushions for the speedo and tach, a new battery and do something with the idiot box... may have to buy this unless I can make one or sort something else out.

Will have to look around this site and see what other people are doing with the idiot box.