Honda-SOHC

SOHC.co.uk Forums => CB350/400 => Topic started by: Deano400 on February 12, 2018, 12:25:12 PM

Title: Usable or not?
Post by: Deano400 on February 12, 2018, 12:25:12 PM
This is the centre journal. Looks marked compared with all the others. Is this usable or should I try and find a replacement? Having said that I can't find any of the letters and numbers yet!!
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: Laverda Dave on February 12, 2018, 12:44:16 PM
it appears to be scored on one side with what looks like some heavy wear on the other side.  I don't think I'd want to use it again but how deep is the damage, can you feel it with your nail, look at it with a magnifying glass, any deep marks will significantly reduce the oil pressure between the shell and bearing face.
First thing I would do is measure all the bearing clearances with plastigauge to see how much wear is in the crankshaft.
The shells have colour codeings and not numbers/letters.  The numbers on the back of the shells mean nothing. You need to use the letters stamped on the rear of the crankcase half together with the markings on the crankshaft, these are very difficult to see.  You need to clean the crankshaft first and using a good light you should see the etched markings (don't be fooled by the 'printed' markings on the web, these are easier to see but also mean nothing! The numbers on the crankcase combined with the crankshaft lettering will provide you with the shell colours you need.  You may be very lucky and find some paint still on the shell (the paint normally wears off in service), use a strong magnifying glass.
There are a few threads on here about bearing markings.
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: Deano400 on February 12, 2018, 12:52:06 PM
Thanks for the advise Laverda. I will set up a good light and see what I can see.
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: Deano400 on February 12, 2018, 06:03:27 PM
Yes Laverda, I can feel it with my nail. A couple of the others are worse than I thought and all have shiny patches to some extent. Now I suppose I have to look at the big ends as they could be as bad. Not a good weekend, looking more expensive every day.  :(
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: philward on February 12, 2018, 06:39:16 PM
Projects ALWAYS go that way Deano - when you strip them, you don't want to take the chance and the price of the the refurb goes up - happened with all the rebuilds I've done. Good thing is that the bike won't depreciate when you've spent all that cash!
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: Nurse Julie on February 12, 2018, 07:11:03 PM
Projects ALWAYS go that way Deano - when you strip them, you don't want to take the chance and the price of the the refurb goes up - happened with all the rebuilds I've done. Good thing is that the bike won't depreciate when you've spent all that cash!
Never a truer word said Phil. I had a tot up of what the cost of my CB400/4 engine rebuild would have been if I had been a retail customer, dropping the engine off with Trig and saying 'Mend it and make it look nice'. Luckily, I wasn't a retail customer and I did as much work as I could for myself but taking into account all the strip, assessment, prepping of cases etc, machine work and parts and labour, I wouldn't have got much change out of £1600, and Trigs prices are very competitive. But, hopefully the 'do it right, do it once' philosophy will pay off in the end.
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: Deano400 on February 12, 2018, 07:41:18 PM
Your right Phil. Deep down I knew there would be hidden costs.
Julie, I was keeping a record of my costs but I think I'll just put the receipts in a tin and forget the totting up. At least that way it won't feel too bad. Don't wont to cut corners, like you say 'do it right, do it once'.
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: philward on February 12, 2018, 08:02:14 PM
Projects ALWAYS go that way Deano - when you strip them, you don't want to take the chance and the price of the the refurb goes up - happened with all the rebuilds I've done. Good thing is that the bike won't depreciate when you've spent all that cash!
Never a truer word said Phil. I had a tot up of what the cost of my CB400/4 engine rebuild would have been if I had been a retail customer, dropping the engine off with Trig and saying 'Mend it and make it look nice'. Luckily, I wasn't a retail customer and I did as much work as I could for myself but taking into account all the strip, assessment, prepping of cases etc, machine work and parts and labour, I wouldn't have got much change out of £1600, and Trigs prices are very competitive. But, hopefully the 'do it right, do it once' philosophy will pay off in the end.
And that's just the engine Julie - imagine if you are out sourcing all the rest!
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: Nurse Julie on February 12, 2018, 08:10:01 PM
Yes Phil, bikes can be very expensive things to build if you're doing it yourself and even more expensive if you get someone to do it all for you. If I didn't have Trig building bikes for me or doing the work I couldn't do on my 400 engine, I would have to go back out to work to pay for it all and I'm not doing that, so I would have to go without  ;D ;D
Title: Re: Usable or not?
Post by: philward on February 12, 2018, 08:15:55 PM
Good old Trig!
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