Post by: AndyD on May 31, 2020, 02:47:40 PM
It's been great fun working on the 400 but decided today that she's not going to get any more money or time spent on her as she clearly doesn't want to play along!
Bought her as a basket case with some (odd) work already done and wasn't really sure if she was original / complete / sound enough to warrant investing time and effort but thought I'd give it a go.
The plan was to get her up and running and assembled without spending too much and this has gone reasonably to plan.
If she ran and sounded good I thought I'd then treat her to the pretty bits and a second round of restoration including chrome, paint, etc. etc.
Enjoyed rebuilding the engine and she runs up well enough despite being only 'roughly' tuned on the bench but the final straw has to be the carbs - after many checks, tweaks and resets and new DS parts they still leak like a holed bucket as soon as the fuel is turned on and I don't have the heart to do much more on them.
Just deciding whether it's best to sell together or break for parts - probably more value in parts but always a shame and I guess takes a lot of time to clear the whole lot. Any views on this from experience?
The best thing about doing this one has been this forum - really nice, helpful people who clearly love the bikes they own / work on.
Cheers,
Andy
Post by: paul G on May 31, 2020, 02:54:28 PM
Post by: ka-ja on May 31, 2020, 02:58:06 PM
Post by: Bryanj on May 31, 2020, 03:11:30 PM
Post by: Nurse Julie on May 31, 2020, 03:59:54 PM
Post by: K2-K6 on May 31, 2020, 04:16:30 PM
Put the needle jet, orifice part, in a drill chuck, mount a wooden food/ kebab stick in a vice, and with a little t-cut or similar, polish the internal tapered seat gently by spinning the drill.
Usually this will give a very clean and smooth surface for the needle valve to close on, a little like valve grinding.
Or put the stick into the drill if feeling a bit cavalier ;D
Post by: MrDavo on May 31, 2020, 05:10:14 PM
When I’d nearly finished my CL450, I swung wildly between flooded carbs persisting out petrol, and horrible lumpy running, to empty carbs and a bike that didn’t want to run, and when it did there was either no tickover or one that went bananas without warning.
I kept trying trial and error bending the float tabs as I really didn’t want to take the carbs off again, but finally I pulled them off, replaced the new non OEM jets and needles with scrupulously cleaned originals, then set the float levels exactly as per the manual, using a card template and holding them at 90 degrees to their usual direction. Also new cables in case the originals were hanging up due to being 50 years old.
She now starts and runs like a new one, and ticks over at 1000 rpm solid as a rock.
Post by: Athame57 on May 31, 2020, 05:14:09 PM
Post by: AndyD on June 01, 2020, 09:45:37 AM
Julie - unbelievably kind offer
Bryan - likewise very kind
To be fair I always knew it was 50:50 with this bike as she had clearly had a very hard life and everything was tired, worn, damaged or replaced with non-original bits.
I set myself a target of getting her together and running and then assessing if worthwhile going for a fuller restoration with all the associated costs and time.
She is now in one piece (less tank / seat) and does start and run easily but the carbs yesterday were a real John Cleese moment when i could happily have beaten the little bugger around the garden with a branch.
The issue is that having a cold look at the bike she still needs a huge amount of work to get near where I would be happy with her and I think realistically it's simply a bad 'base' to start from with the amount of bits needed.
Will take a bit of time to decide what to do with her and in the meantime busy with the CB900 and CJ250t (don't laugh) restorations - both very original, low mileage bikes but needing severe tlc.
Cheers,
Andy
Post by: SeanFD on June 01, 2020, 10:23:33 AM
I went through a similar process; bought a bike, thought I’d just get it running and then worry about what would come next. My first description was “It’s rusty!”. Then I started the resurrection and very quickly she was christened “Rusty” after I discovered the full extent of the rust on the chrome.
After a bit more work and dismantling, I realised that whatever else the resurrection was, it wasn’t going to be quick. I convinced myself I’d not be happy with it if I just ploughed on, so I took a step back, took a deep breath and .... now the engine is out, the frame is stripped and well, we’ll see. I know it’ll be worth it in the end; leave it for a bit, work on the others and when you come back to it, I’m sure you will agree with me.
On the carbs: I recently rebuilt a 750K2 and had some difficulties getting the carbs right. I finally got it, I thought, and set out on a bit of a trip from Harare, Zimbabwe via Belfast, RSA to Belfast, N Irl. On my second day out the carbs started overflowing and nothing I could do would stop it. So I holed up for the night and took them apart, put them back together and all worked fine. The reason for the overflow?
[attach=1]
Well it was the only thing I found wrong, so the poor was got the blame. Hang in there!
Post by: SteveD CB500K0 on June 01, 2020, 10:41:48 AM
If you do sell, don’t go away as we love all bikes on here.
Personally I’d be interested in your CB900 story.
Thanks for the generous donation by the way
Steve
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Post by: Windycorner on June 01, 2020, 12:30:26 PM
Do post your progress on your CB900 project, as I have a CB750FA which I have had for 30 years and I am am about to start looking at getting back on the road in the next few weeks, if you haven't already done so take a look at the cb750c.com forum loads of stuff on there about our bikes, and I have got a set 900 carbs if you need them.
Post by: AndyD on June 03, 2020, 10:36:39 AM
Had a day or two away from the bikes - fixing leaky guttering and damaged fascia on house so a real treat!
The 400 is sitting in the naughty corner of the garage thinking about her dreadful behaviour and I'll have a calm look again in a few days.
As Bryan notes there isn't much that can be 'wrong' really - just frustrating, especially having fitted new float needles from DS which actually seem to leak more than the old ones!
Steve - the work you do to run the forum and keep it ad-free etc. is really valuable and appreciated.
I certainly won't be going away anytime soon and will detail the 900 restore.
Cheers,
Andy
Post by: Oggers on June 03, 2020, 08:30:14 PM
With carbs it can be a pain. Suggest if not float needles, then floats themselves - If hollow, do they leak, do they float correctly etc. Look at the float needle seats. Any slight scoring or wear here will pass gas - as we all do from time to time. Polish them up or buy new. Having the correct float level goes without saying, and aslo take a look at the float hinges.
If the engine runs pretty well, then great. Most of the other stuff is pretty simple to fix - except electrics of course :D - and parts are reasonably plentiful - but perhaps not cheap. Bolt on stuff mainly. Personally I also think they are going up in value - if you value that side of things, and the way the country's economy is falling apart, that may be no bad thing. Assets may become King rather than cash.
Post by: Bryanj on June 03, 2020, 08:52:35 PM
Post by: Oggers on June 03, 2020, 09:16:08 PM