Recommissioning of 400F2

[Laverda Dave]

After languishing in the garage unused for 13years I thought it was about time to give my parakeet yellow F2 some much needed love and attention!
I wheeled it out into the sunshine for the first time since the tax ran out in June 2006 and gave it a good clean prior to getting it on the bench to begin a strip down for a cosmetic (I hope) clean and refurb.
I'll need to strip the carbs and likely install new rubber etc. Thankfully all the zinc and chrome is reasonable to good condition (thanks to the previous excellent work by Gary the plater in 1991 when I originally restored the bike) and hopefully will come good with a heavy application of elbow grease and time. There is some pitting to the Honda chrome but I'll see if it cleans up. The powder coating on the frame is still good under the accumulated dust!
Unfortunately the engine alloy has suffered from the effects of condensation caused by a concrete garage with an cement board roof (the roof eventually caved in after leaking for years and I replaced it with insulated roof panels as was the floor and walls). The engine cases were vapour blasted and never painted so hopefully the 'furr' will be easy to remove. Has anyone painted an engine as a whole and how was it prepped prior to painting? If I use the silver VHT paint (I think Julie has recommended Simoniz before?) does it need curing in the oven, a bit difficult with a complete engine!!
The engine did turn over easily on the kick-start although I'll use a camera to look down the bores for any rust in the cylinders and take the rocker cover off to check the condition of the cam, rockers and valves. Should I remove the head or leave alone?
I'll post more progress pics as I go along.

[Trigger]

You can't just paint over corrosion on a cast alloy engine. All fur and impregnated oxidation has to be removed, if not it will just push the paint off 

[Laverda Dave]

Good point Trigger. I'll give using fine wire wool a go to get most of it off and then rub ACF50 into the alloy, it's magical stuff!
I don't want to end up with a full restoration on my hands this time, I'm saving that for the Rickman CR750 over next winter 👍 (I need to have a chat with you about that project!!!).
Dave

[TrickyMicky]

Hiya, I left my 400 for about the same length of time while I carried out some jobs on the engine which only took 2 days. No questions allowed!!!!! When I finally returned to the bike, the engine was fine. (It had been covered over with a cotton dust sheet, along with the tank and side panels). Over on the other side of the shed, where the rolling chassis stood, the felt had disappeared off the roof, the mudguards, handlebars, brake pedal, gearchange, and chainguard had changed colour! Toadstools were growing up the centre-stand and I had left the fully assembled exhaust laying on the floor. 1st step, new exhaust, fortunately OE was still available then, all the other bits still possessed good metal so were treated to a good helping of British chrome plating - Bloody Magic! Upon re-assembly safety then took over, the tyres had been on for 200 miles and then stood unmoved for 13 years. Off they came and a hacksaw put through them to stop anyone chancing their arm with them. Replaced with Dunlop K81's. All brake seals and pipes were replaced, bike started straight away using a car battery, and I was rewarded with fuel peeing out of the carb overflows. More swearing and grazed knuckles to remove, clean out, and replace all jets, AND! replaced the fuel pipe from tank to carbs. Purchased new battery, quick trip round the block and booked in for MOT. (This was in 2002). It passed with no problems! But the very nice tester told me to keep an eye on the front forks as there was slight pitting on the hard chrome, which he very kindly removed for me with a small jewellers file. No need to relate what happened about 3 weeks later, but by this time I had invested in a hydraulic lift to ease the job of replacing the fork tubes. The only other age related issue which caught me out a few times was its ha bit off blowing the main fuse, on one occasion it necessitated me having to use a PZ2 bit out of one of those screwdriver bit sets, they are a perfect fit even if it's a bit dicey, but the homing instinct was very strong. I looked everywhere for a possible short circuit until one day someone asked me had the fuse blown in the middle of the glass or at one end. When I said it was at the end, he said it was struggling to pull current through, and I should check the block connector behind the fuse box. Lo and behold, all the copper terminals inside the block were a lovely shade of green. It was my turn to go and purchase a set of jewellers files. All clean and shiny and replaced with some thin insulating tape round the block to weatherproof it. Has been ridden ever since, not a show model unless there is an award for best patina! Regards, Michael.

[pistonbroke 66]

I'm liking the workbench that the bike is on laverda, is it something you constructed yourself?

[Laverda Dave]

Thanks for all your advice Michael and especially about the tires, I'll have to get some new ones as they are rock hard!
Pistonbroke, no I didn't make it but bought it about 20 years ago. It has a SWL of 350kg and easily lifts the Jota without bowing. I have added a photo of the manufacturer details although I don't know if they are still going?
I've made some progress today and for the first time ever I struggled to get the carbs free, if it wasn't my bike I would have bet they had been glued into the mounting rubbers!
The state of the carbs inside the bowls was something else!
I have cleaned the first of them in the Ultrasonic bath using a carb clean chemical and so far I've had to give the carb two treatments.
I need to order the carb o-rings although I've read on here the cruzinimage rubbers are not good, does anyone know of any other suppliers, I need all the rubbers including the ones on the fuel line T-pieces and the link tubes between the carbs. I don't really want the full jet kits as hoping to clean the jets I have as they were replaced with genuine parts when I restored the bike erm....27years ago, its only done 6000 miles since then😳.
I took a photo of the sticker on the rear mudguard when I entered the bike in the VJMC AGM show, it didn't win but got a mention in dispatches!

[Nurse Julie]

Contact Gerben about the O ring kits...he does them for all the other SOHC/4 carbs so I'm sure he will be able to help.
 gerbenhilly@hotmail.com

[pistonbroke 66]

Thanks mate, I’ll have a look for that

[TrickyMicky]

Hiya, meant to say that while you've gone to all the hassle of removing the carbs, (full set of knuckles and clean vocabulary?), the items which gave me the most problems were those tiny little spindles that the floats pivot on. What with modern fuels and having stood so long, mine were all gunged up meaning that the floats were sticking. Remove them and give them a good polish. While you have them out, it is well worth replacing the jets which will have suffered the same fate. Hopefully then, you can fit and forget!! One of the modifications which I purchased, but haven't used yet until the carbs have to come off, is a set of small allen headed bolts for the float bowls, which means they can be removed/replaced without too much heartache. I have a good memory, but it's very short, which means I cannot remember where I bought them, every chance it was someone on Flea-Bay. Regards, Michael.

[Laverda Dave]

Thanks Julie, I'll drop Gerben a mail later. Hopefully he will also have some JIS screws for the  choke butterflies as 4 of mine were chewed up (memories came flooding back when I rebuilt it last time and the problems getting them back in).
Michael, lucky for me all the spindles are OK on the floats 👍.

[Laverda Dave]

Has anyone ever thought 'I'll just give it a quick service and clean' and it slowly turns into something much bigger!
This is the 400 this afternoon, the service and clean has turned into a full strip down. The carbs are now fully rebuilt and bowls polished (thanks for Gerben's details for the tiny screws Julie), the master cylinder has been painted (baking in the oven now and before the o/h gets home  ) and overhauled along with the brake caliper getting a new S/S piston. Just stripped the front forks, gez the old fork oil pongs! New tires to be fitted on Friday although I couldn't get Conti's or Mez in the right sizes so had to go with RoadRiders this time.
Until you start delving into individual parts of the bike you think it's all OK but there's lots of small jobs that need doing whilst you are in there, how many of us change our fork oil?
Hopefully it will be back together and running next week..... 🤔

[K2-K6]

Looks like good progress Dave.

I suppose since you last completed the work on it you've acquired more knowledge about the type in particular, and with that it also pulls along your eye for detail too.

[Laverda Dave]

All finished. As always on these bikes the carbs were a royal pain to unblock🤨!
A shame time was against me getting it completed before the DSS anniversary today.

[Nurse Julie]

She looks lovely 👍👍👍

[Laverda Dave]

Thanks Julie. I have fitted one of your oil pump o-ring kits so hopefully no more leaks (I also installed a new o-ring to the starter motor just in case).
Obviously being a yellow one it looks like it's going fast even when standing still 😉.