My 1975 CB400F US

[petermigreen]

Back in May, fresh on a high after completing my Yamaha restoration, I gave in to a whim and bought an imported CB400F on ebay and then drove 240 miles round trip to pick it up. With thanks to some of you on here I established it would go in my tiny van.

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I was hoping it would be a bit of a tidy up to get it through an MOT so that I could start the registration process but on inspection of the bike in the cold light of day I soon realised that I had a bit of work to do to get to that stage. With this in mind I decided that I didn't want to throw money at a full on restoration (i.e. chrome/paint work) so have sorted the essentials at this stage and will probably do the paint and chrome in time.

[petermigreen]

As soon as I got the bike in the workshop before I started the strip down, I thought it prudent to see if it would run as it was sold as a non-runner although it had not been attempted to start it since arrival in the country. To my joy and relief it started fairly easily (with some carb cleaner squirted in the carbs) and eventually ticked over ok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoWYXYRW070

It didn't sound great and I've since discovered a big hole in the silencer and the carbs were flooding/leaking so understandable.

I have to say that the bike was sold as a low original mileage (11k) bike and being a natural sceptic I was nervous of the claims and prepared myself for the work however, various signs have been found during the strip down have convinced me of it's authenticity.

[petermigreen]

So the strip down commenced and right away I started to find signs of bodging/butchering that had me worried.

The first was that the start button was missing and what I thought was a bicycle bell had been substituted on the opposite side as a starter. Just 'why'?

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I was pleased to rip that out, but now I knew I definitely needed a new right hand switchgear.

Next big shock was the airbox which I can only guess was attacked in a tantrum as it was completely stoved in. Very strange.


My overall assessment of things that needed sorting before an MOT was viable was:
New tyres (possibly originals still on)
Fork stanchions re-chromed
New Shocks
Rewiring of loom to eliminate US spec front lighting
Repaired or new Silencer

In addition, whilst stripped, I decided to bring the following up to scratch to eliminate more work later down the line:
Repair rusted tank/pet cock
Refurb carburettors
Sort airbox and missing associated parts
Remove engine, strip top end, inspect, address requirements, paint
Replace heavily rusted wheels/Restore hubs
Powder coat frame/parts

[petermigreen]

I decided that to expedite the rebuild and hopefully get some miles on the bike before the end of this season to press on and get it stripped in quick time and get the out sourced parts off to the suppliers in order to get them back whilst I completed the bits I could do at home.

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No hanging about.

[petermigreen]

First big job I set about was strip and ultrasonic clean the carbs. Inevitably I found a broken float post in no. 3 carb.

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Bummer. Still, I managed to source a second hand carb body and rebuilt carb bank. Bit of a step up for me from my experience with a 2 stroke twin. Much labelling and photographs taken.

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[petermigreen]

As the clocks were in a bit of state

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[petermigreen]

I know my limits and this was a job for someone with special skills, so I was very pleased to discover this forum has an extremely valuable member whom I contacted and was very impressed with his work.

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Massive thank you to Kent400, and for the lifting handle also 

Very nice work and a true gentleman who gave me the impression that he just really enjoyed restoring clocks and his immaculate original condition 400.

[petermigreen]

I fear I cannot hope to match Peter's craftsmanship with the rest of the restoration but I had a benchmark to live up to.

With all the parts back from powder coating and a couple of repro parts from various suppliers, I started bolting things back together.

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Clocks look nice!

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[petermigreen]

I made some pretty quick progress at this stage

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[petermigreen]

The original wheels were pretty badly rusted so I'd decided to buy some stainless rims and spokes and I polished up the hubs as best I could.

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I enjoyed building the wheels and tensioning and truing them after having done many bicycle wheels. Same principle and technique but far sturdier.

[petermigreen]

I'd been putting it off but had to strip the engine down if I was to repaint it. I initially stripped the top end only on the proviso that I'd strip bottom end only if necessary.

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There was a sign that it had been run with a loose cam chain during it's life but otherwise all signs were good that the claimed mileage was genuine with very little wear and no nasties in the sump or oil. Result, so I set about cleaning the parts and repainting as polishing was out of the question.

[petermigreen]

Quite laborious but ultimately satisfying to get finished and slide it back in the hole.

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[petermigreen]

So that's it, up to date. I now await cables and the tank to finally cure and am hoping to start and run very soon. Then I'll book an MOT and start the registration process. Looking forward to taking it for a cruise before Autumn. Wish me luck!!

Thanks for the help I've received with the few questions I've asked and had replies.

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[petermigreen]

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[Nurse Julie]

Well done Peter, its looking really great. I hope you get it on the road soon. I must say you have a very tidy workshop and I bet you wish you had completed all that work in the same short time it took you to post that lot on the forum tonight