Honda-SOHC

Very nice looking machine Mick - she'll be a peach when you're done.

Picked up carbs from the Post Office today - cheers Bryan, pleasure doing business with you! 

See - these are the kinds of questions that beer makes me ask! 

Well, the part numbers say 'no'.

Bugger...

I read somewhere that they're a straight drop-in on a 400-four, but as above I think the spindle diameter on the 550 is a bit beefier.

*update* - found a thread on the sister site...

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=34680.0

I was mooching around the web and found an article about a guy's '78 Kawasaki KZ650 rebuild - in it he mentions using a CB400F gear shift to accommodate his rear-sets, as the shift rod splines are the same. So I got thinking (the sound of grinding metal...)

Checked a few part numbers on http://www.motogrid.com/pages/OemParts?aribrand=HOM, and the selector shaftwas used in a fair few Kwaka's, so logically their spline patterns should also be compatible with the CB400 shifter too.  Here's the list -

KZ550 A1-A4 (80-83), C1-C4 (80-83), D1 Gpz (81), F1 Spectre (83), F2 LTD Shaft (84), H1+H2 Gpz (82-3) and M1 LTS Shaft (83)

KZ650 B1-B3 (77-79), C1-C3 Custom (77-79), D1-D2 SR (78-79), E1 LTD (80), F1 (80) and H1-H3 CSR (81-83)

KZ700 A1 (84)

KZ750 B1-B4 (76-79), E1-E3 (80-82), F1 Shaft (83), G1 LTD II (80), H1-H4 LTD (80-83), K1 Belt (83), L3 (83), M1 CSR Twin (82), N1-N2 Spectre (82-83) and R1 Gpz (82)

ZL600 A1-A2 Eliminator (86-87) and B2-B3 (96-97)

ZN700 A1-A2 Shaft (84-85)

ZR550 B1-B4 Zephyr (90-93) and C1-C3 Zephyr (91-93)

ZR750F2 (2000) and H1-H3 ZR-7S (2001-03)

ZX550 A1-A3 Gpz ( 84-86)

ZX600 Ninja (85-97)

ZX750 A1-A3 Gpz (83-85) and

XZ750 E1 + E2 Gpz Turbo (84-85)

Most of these won't do as a straight swap for the CB400F goodies but some will - but the others might come in handy for people building specials / choppers / bobbers absed on the little four.

Hi Folks,

I'm in the process of squirrelling away bits to bolt a CB400 together and have noticed that the standard carbs are as rare as hairy frogs.  Would 500 0r 550 carbs fit okay?  They're only 2mm bigger in choke diameter, so would a bit of rejetting do the biz?

(Sorry if this should have gone in the Interchangeability section, but that seemed more like a 'hints n tips' area than a place to post questions)

Cheers all,

Captain Snakebite

Welcome

The 550 rolling chassis is heavier than the 400.  Why do it, won't it be very underpowered?

I'd thought about that, but there's only about 14kg in it - according to wikipedia anyway - and I was planning on a bit of a lightening exercise anyway, with a nod to cafe styling and keeping unnecessary bits to a minimum.  I reckon that as I'm only 10 1/2 stones dripping wet anyway, 37 gee-gees should be plenty enough to play with.