My New Project arrives after a 44 year wait!

[Bryanj]

Used to be very common Ted as when people fitted the small crankcase crashbars they came with a longer bolt to accomodate the steel bracket, then later on a "new" owner would remove the damaged and bent crashbars and just screw the long bolt back in cracking the crankcase, cant remember how many i had to repair

[Laverda Dave]

Used to be very common Ted as when people fitted the small crankcase crashbars they came with a longer bolt to accomodate the steel bracket, then later on a "new" owner would remove the damaged and bent crashbars and just screw the long bolt back in cracking the crankcase, cant remember how many i had to repair

Guilty as charged Bryan  . I did the same thing with my first 400/4 in 1981. When I bought the bike it had crashbars fitted that were rusty so I took them off and put the bolts back in. I went out for a ride and when I came back to the bike the tell-tale oil mark was bellow the r/h side of the engine, I'd cracked the casing  . I bought a s/h engine for £50.

When I was checking the inside of the lower crankcase after the outside weld repair I noticed what I thought was another crack in the oil gallery. I used a bit of fine grade wet & dry and rubbed at the 'crack' hoping the damage on the outside hadn't come right through, luckily the 'crack' rubbed out and it was just a casting mark. Once you start looking though the cases are full of these marks especially inside.

[andy120t]

Long bolts?
On my first 500/4 (which was a bit of a mongrel with a non-standard/Comstar front end), I had long disc bolts  and put them in the wrong way round so they fouled and cracked the speedo  drive.

Being young, silly, unaware...etc..I didn't think why it was cracked, just replaced it and soon found it cracked again. I think in the end I replaced ithe drive four times before I worked out why!

[AshimotoK0]

My worst one was on a CB72 when I was 18. I fitted a mudguard bolt that was too long into the fork bottom and when I tightened it,  it distorted the tube and locked the stanchion to the fork lower. My mate Graham Curtis has seen a lot of forks damaged like that
 The fork bottom has an inner tube welded inside and no way to get at the distortion to try to fix it. That is after you have got the forks apart, which is very difficult and also trashes the bush as the damaged fork lower gouges a deep groove into the bronze bush. Graham  told me he was going to devise some sort of special reaming tool to fix the damaged ones he encounters but not sure how far he got with it.

[Laverda Dave]

The silly two minute mistakes are always the ones that cost a lot of time and a small fortune to fix not to mention the embarrassment when you ask a pro to fix it and tell them how you bodged it in the first place!

[Laverda Dave]

Having dropped the engine cases in for vapour blasting last Friday I took the frame and various brackets to Mircoblast in Windsor on Monday for blasting and powder coating. They are going to coat the rear sprocket chain guard in a dark olive colour. 

It is surprising how many parts there are that need powder coating, you tend to think of a frame, swing arm and a couple of stands but my blasting  list added up to 34 parts!

I have used Microblast for the previous 20 years, always great quality work, never any runs, they protect the threads (although I normally do this before I take the parts in using old bolts etc) and they only blast the parts on the day they are going to powder coat and bake them to prevent any potential corrosion.  They operate a 4 week turnaround. I found out on Monday they now also offer Cerakote so I’ll be taking the exhaust collars in for coating in a silver/chrome finish.

Whilst all the parts are away I’m getting on with other jobs, the forks are stripped and I began cleaning up the parts to inspect. One bit of confusion is the fork springs. According to Mr Haynes the close coiled springs sit at the top, well mine don’t have any close coiled springs so maybe they have been replaced with aftermarket items as some point?

Next up will be cleaning up and prepping the chrome parts and trying to find a decent chrome plating company within a 50 mile radius!

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Your frame looks in good condition even before it's been powder coated so a good baseline to start with.

[Johnny4428]

Nice work there Dave! I always enjoy the cleaning off of the muck and old grease, oil etc. very satisfying although can be messy for me without the luxury of a parts washer. Mines a basin with parrafin and a brush.😜

[Oddjob]

This may sound odd but I actually prefer them not to protect the threads, maybe exposed threads yes, like the top damper mounts but internal threads I prefer to be left exposed. The reason is that I've had some where, when you remove the bolt etc that's in there the paint can crack around it, sometimes there's a small area around the bolt hole left bare due to the way the powder has been applied, to avoid this I just blow compressed air down the hole and jiggle a small drill in there to loosen off any solidified media and then retap the hole. I find it a better finish this way, maybe I'm odd. Oh, hang on that's my name, that's why I chose it (not really, that's another story)

[Rozabikes Tim]

Dave that list of items to treat is fab, might have to pinch that. I was actually going to do a post asking exactly what I should be doing and finish needed. Sorted now! Ta

[Oddjob]

Not sure if the 400 is different from the 500/550 but a part I can't see listed is the bracket that the speedo/tacho mount to which then fits onto the top yoke. Plus ignition switch bracket, does it have the switch below the tank like the 500? Edit: no it doesn't, it's on the top yoke.

[Laverda Dave]

Not sure if the 400 is different from the 500/550 but a part I can't see listed is the bracket that the speedo/tacho mount to which then fits onto the top yoke. Plus ignition switch bracket, does it have the switch below the tank like the 500? Edit: no it doesn't, it's on the top yoke.

Arggghh! That is something else missing Ken, the bracket between the Speedo and rev counter! When I got this bike these items were not fitted. I'll have to see if the bracket is hiding in one of the cardboard boxes I got with the bike as I definitely need it! I'm going to Microblast tomorrow to drop the exhaust rings in for Cerakote on my way to Sonning (a birthday treat from my O/H to celebrate my birthday 🎊). I'll have a rummage in the boxes in the morning before my birthday breakfast of kippers on toast😋.
Well spotted Ken👍

[Oddjob]

Have it done in satin black to match the top yokes and if they are correct the speedo and tacho dishes.

[AshimotoK0]

Not sure if the 400 is different from the 500/550 but a part I can't see listed is the bracket that the speedo/tacho mount to which then fits onto the top yoke. Plus ignition switch bracket, does it have the switch below the tank like the 500? Edit: no it doesn't, it's on the top yoke.

Arggghh! That is something else missing Ken, the bracket between the Speedo and rev counter! When I got this bike these items were not fitted. I'll have to see if the bracket is hiding in one of the cardboard boxes I got with the bike as I definitely need it! I'm going to Microblast tomorrow to drop the exhaust rings in for Cerakote on my way to Sonning (a birthday treat from my O/H to celebrate my birthday 🎊). I'll have a rummage in the boxes in the morning before my birthday breakfast of kippers on toast😋.
Well spotted Ken👍

I may have one .. also if you can't get the sprocket ring olive drab passivated I may be able to do the one I am trading with you for the 250RS one.

[Laverda Dave]

I found it Ken . It was in the cardboard box of items yet to go through the fumigation process! I’ll drop it in later today for powder coating with a satin finish as you suggest (and as it is currently finished). Thanks for being so eagle eyed with my list, Tim take note on your items, there should be 35 and not 34

Going through the box I have found two idiot light pods so that was a result. I also found what appear to be two NOS rear indicator stalks in sealed Honda bags. They are not 400/4 stalks and have part number 33607-377-670 are they for the 500/550?

Thanks for your offer Ash, the powder coater has matched the colour quite well so I’ll go for a powder coat finish and see how it looks on the guard I have given him.

I attach some photos of the frame when it was on the alignment jig. You can see the frame is 100% spot on, strange as it is the first frame I have ever had checked that isn’t at least .5 deg out (even the featherbed  frame I had checked was out but that was over 60 years old at the time so had a right to be a bit bent up I guess!).