Post by: Drew400 on March 29, 2015, 05:53:58 PM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6deA9X3ZCE
Thanks all for your considerable involvement in this project!
D.
Post by: Trigger on March 29, 2015, 06:24:50 PM
Post by: Orcade-Ian on March 29, 2015, 06:31:51 PM
Good on yer!
Ian
Post by: Frisky on March 29, 2015, 07:44:51 PM
Really neat! Well done - that smile on the first ride is priceless ;D
Frisky
Post by: hairygit on March 29, 2015, 07:56:42 PM
Post by: Drew400 on March 29, 2015, 08:16:56 PM
Indeed I am planning an oil change (and check timing, cam chain tension, etc.) soon.
Brought the keys in from the garage this afternoon for the first time in ages!
Cheers, D.
Post by: Tiny Tim on March 29, 2015, 09:22:36 PM
If mine turns out half as good as yours I'll be really pleased :)
Post by: Nurse Julie on March 29, 2015, 09:27:53 PM
Happy riding
Julie x
Post by: Drew400 on March 29, 2015, 10:36:02 PM
Just watched MotoGP too... what a day, what a race!
Cheers, D.
Post by: Binman180 on March 30, 2015, 10:21:25 AM
Ryan.
Post by: paul G on March 30, 2015, 01:11:52 PM
Post by: Drew400 on March 30, 2015, 02:46:44 PM
Now that the bike's pretty much finished (and let's face it, it's never 'finished') I can look forward to all those household DIY jobs that I've been neglecting. Oh joy!
Cheers,
D.
Post by: paul G on March 30, 2015, 04:42:50 PM
What you need now is another project. ;D
Post by: kenny1059 on March 30, 2015, 06:53:33 PM
Well done Drew,nice one. :) :)
Kenny.
Post by: Bitsa (Ralph Wright - RIP) on March 30, 2015, 07:16:42 PM
Bloody good job
Best of luck
Bitsa
Post by: Bodd on March 30, 2015, 08:52:23 PM
Post by: Lobo on March 31, 2015, 02:26:09 AM
Well done Drew.
Everytime I walk upto mine it's like being back in 1978, having just collected it from the showroom.
What a bloody dinosaur...
Simon
Post by: Drew400 on March 31, 2015, 08:38:14 AM
Thanks again for your kind words.... nearly in tears here!
Sadly, I never owned a SOHC in 70's/80's, but I admired plenty of them. Not least my mate's brown 550K that accompanied me and my Suzuki T500 to Land's End & J'OG. He got a lot more miles from his fuel than I did!
Anyhow, made up for that now and 'made up' too. Bike's starting its (long, dry) retirement before I do.
Next step MOT and then the open road..... (and maybe another project)
Cheers, D. (stands for Dinosaur)
Post by: ka-ja on March 31, 2015, 09:37:16 AM
Your grin can only get bigger-well done!---Ken
Post by: andut on March 31, 2015, 10:05:51 AM
The bike looks and sounds great definitely a source of inspiration for me !
Andy
Post by: Drew400 on April 01, 2015, 08:14:18 AM
Will get the insurance sorted soon!
Cheers, D.
Post by: Lynx on April 01, 2015, 12:26:04 PM
Post by: JamesH on April 01, 2015, 02:24:54 PM
Drew - you've done an amazing job on your restoration and should be rightly proud. Well done mate.
Go on then OddJob surprise us - what's your mysterious favourite?
Post by: Lobo on April 01, 2015, 03:31:55 PM
"Pesonally, I reckon Honda just about got everything so right on this bike."
I'll choose my words more carefully in future!
Simon
Post by: Drew400 on April 01, 2015, 03:38:15 PM
I have no expertise to discuss tensioner engineering, but I do agree with the general style comment that 4 into anything else usually looks better than 4 into 1 (sorry 750F fans). However, even though the the 400 design was apparently a correction for an engineering problem (apocryphal story perhaps?), the bike has subsequently acquired iconic status as a result. The beauty of the header pipes has defied the aging process of all other aspects of the bike and many other bikes too.
As mentioned it's my first SOHC, despite being a fan for a long time. Maybe one day I'll get a 4 into 4.
In the meantime, I did have a C50. Fond memories of arriving for my first date with my now Mrs. after the Yamaha XS1100 she was expecting (to impress her dad) rolled off the stand with a rear puncture. No chance of pulling it back up to effect a repair; especially with by best clothes & smelly on under my bike gear and after a bath too! Yup, the C50, ultra-reliabe, albeit after getting used to the front suspension-induced sea sickness!
Puncture was a good excuse to go back for a 2nd date on the following day on a pretty impressive big bike!
Cheers,
D.
Post by: kettle738 on April 01, 2015, 06:17:09 PM
That bike looks an absolute peach.....unfortunately I'm at the beginning with a rusty wreck.......but I'm already thinking about the finishing line.
What I would like to know though is.......what tyres do you have on your bike?
That front ribbed looks just right....along with the rest of it.
Mick.............kettle738
Post by: Woodside on April 01, 2015, 08:15:59 PM
Bike looks great by the way
Post by: Johnwebley on April 01, 2015, 08:29:23 PM
a new 400.or an as new s/h 500,off a close mate,
I decided on the 500,and still have it,
going on to the forks on C50,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_fork
are they modified Earls forks ??
Post by: philward on April 01, 2015, 09:52:01 PM
Only just spotted thread - really nice job. I remember that feeling and smile when 750 started after rebuild - wish I'd have recorded it for posterity like you.
Well done!
Phil
Post by: Drew400 on April 02, 2015, 08:05:49 AM
First proper ride is still over a week away, assuming she passes the MOT... looking forward to that!
Cheers,
D.
Post by: Drew400 on April 02, 2015, 11:51:28 AM
Both front and rear are from DSS:
F - https://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/CB400F-SUPER-SPORT-FOUR/part_190628/
R - https://www.davidsilverspares.co.uk/CB400F-SUPER-SPORT-FOUR/part_190645/
Total around £100 for both inc VAT & postage.
Cheers, D.
Post by: AshimotoK0 on April 02, 2015, 01:19:23 PM
I am going to fit them to my 400/4 and CB250SS and CB350K1 (all same size i.e 3.00x18 front, 3.50 x 18 rear) so that with be 3 sets so interested on a deal on them if anyone else knows the cheapest place. What does everyone use on early 750's as TT100's don't look 'period', as I also need a set for my K0 750 as well.
Ash.
Post by: Lynx on April 02, 2015, 01:39:32 PM
Post by: kettle738 on April 02, 2015, 06:46:03 PM
Thanks for the tyre info Drew......I'd seen those at DSS but never properly looked at them.
Re tyres for the CB750.......I used a set of Dunlop Gold Seals from Z Power on my K0.
https://www.z-power.co.uk/merchantmanager/product_info.php?products_id=1559
They are nominally the correct size and have the 70s tread pattern similar to the originals, but to my eye look slightly oversized.
Mick............kettle738
Post by: Green1 on April 02, 2015, 10:06:13 PM
I'm guessing James agrees as Iv noticed he's fitting them to that old kwaka ;)
Mick
Post by: DayvW on April 18, 2015, 08:25:11 PM
Dont suppose you were out on that lovely bike somewhere vaguely near Bampton in North Devon late this afternoon? I was out on my (red) 400-4 having a fabulous thrash and I'm sure a 400-4 was going the other way (I was heading westish so the other was heading eastish) and it looked awfully like yours.
Cheers,
Dave
Post by: Drew400 on April 21, 2015, 08:24:48 AM
Not me: been nowhere for a while as I have a small exhaust problem that I will publish on here soon. Probably be raining when I finally do get my MOT!
I did see a like bike when I was out on mine a couple of years back around the Chew Valley area. Was that you?
Let's make a pact: next time it happens, we'll flag the other person down and find out who the ghostly 400 rider is!
Cheers, D.
Post by: tom400f on April 21, 2015, 08:50:41 AM
Post by: DayvW on April 21, 2015, 08:56:36 AM
Agree need to flag down:)
Post by: Drew400 on August 14, 2015, 09:49:40 AM
Apologies for the elongated delay in updating this thread.
Some will recall I posted some pictures of my lovely newly re-chromed original headers/collector that I was delighted with. They looked good on my little video too.
A few days later I decided to warm up the bike to adjust the cam chain tensioner. After about 2 minutes I looked down the front to see if there were any gas leaks around the exhaust fins only to watch the header pipes change colour and bubble up liquid-like! The photo says it all. I wasn't happy.
I contacted Chromefix who explained that double-skinned exhausts sometimes have micro-pores that trap acids between the layers (if I understood that correctly) and that is probably what caused my problem. Naturally they agreed to do it again at no cost.
Whilst it would have been good to know the risks beforehand (or would it?) I decided not to post anything here until I got them back. As you may have gathered by now, they're back on the bike. It's passed it's MOT and after a 20 mile ride home again, they still look damned good!
Thus, Chromefix's reputation remains in tact and they are clearly aware of the issue and how to correct it (they have a 400/4 on their website home page).
I created a couple of problems of my own too: after lots of messing about with the starter motor, I forgot to replace the oil seal. Also, got my copper head washers mixed up and managed to pinch the head breather pipe. Result = lots of oil all over the floor of the MOT place!
Any way, as mentioned the bike's now home, taxed, MOT'd, insured... and it's pissing down... what joy!
p.s. Now got a brake fluid leak, but that's under the category of general maintenance rather than restoration.
Post by: Chris400F on August 14, 2015, 04:33:50 PM
Where is the fluid leak - somewhere simple to fix like a joint or elsewhere?
Oh, and you will be able to change the 'Half way through renovating a CB400/4' bit of your profile now :) :)
Post by: Drew400 on August 14, 2015, 07:22:10 PM
Leak is from the brake light switch, I think... we'll see!
Cheers, D.
Post by: DayvW on August 14, 2015, 08:05:58 PM
I have just completed a (year long) renovation (my first complete one - my first anything was the 400-4 engine last year) of another 70's bike - Suzuki GT550 - and I've just got my MOT this week too .. feels sooo good to get to this stage (I too have had a few issues .. dont we always .. but pretty much sorted now) .. I guess if it was too easy it wouldn't be so rewarding (I keep telling myself that anyway!!).
Good luck with maiden voyages!
Cheers,
Dave
Post by: Drew400 on August 14, 2015, 08:38:44 PM
Empathy indeed!
Cheers, D.
Post by: hairygit on August 14, 2015, 08:45:47 PM
Post by: Drew400 on August 14, 2015, 10:15:42 PM
I'm well aware of that, but no harm being reminded.
Cheers, D.
Post by: Lobo on August 15, 2015, 12:58:35 AM
To this day I'd like to meet the git, and simply ask, "Why?" Arsehole.
S
Post by: AshimotoK0 on August 15, 2015, 08:00:15 AM
....back in the 70's I used to ride my 400F from 'alifax to Leeds / visit my g/f (= wife now) in St James Hospital, nurses home. Used to park it underneath a fire escape... one night got back to it and some effing low-life had cut the brake hose. Not a nice experience riding 20+ miles back on the M62; thence all the bloody hills abouts 'alifax...
To this day I'd like to meet the git, and simply ask, "Why?" Arsehole.
S
Same happened to me with my CD175 sloper. Once visited Durham with G/F (now wife), which I always thought as a nice quiet place. After owning the bike for two years and leaving it outside in the back streets of Hull, Newcastle and Sunderland nobody touched it,. On returning to the bike some lowlife in Durham had taken the side cover off, ripped out the battery and chucked it in the hedge. sadly, you would never leave a bike out in a back street all night any more and expect it to be there the next day.
Post by: hairygit on August 15, 2015, 09:49:17 AM
The good old R.A.C. took the bike back to Devon for me, but it took more tham 4 months to find a replacement caliper that was salvageable. A few weeks after I got it sorted D.S. started selling repro ones for the F1 ! This is certainly the impression I have of hasting and st. Leonards
Post by: Nurse Julie on August 15, 2015, 10:32:16 AM
Post by: Drew400 on October 08, 2015, 11:44:39 AM
It then took me until August to send it to the MOT chaps, after all the chrome problems previously shared.
A whole load of other priorities later (like buying a helmet to replace my 20 years old one, doh!) and here we are almost 2 years to the day that I started stripping her down, and I've commuted to work! She's parked outside the office in a motorcycle shelter looking very small, very clean and very classy (surrounded huge over-faired BMWs etc.)
Not much of a value-add in terms of this forum, but just wanted to share the love (especially for anyone else out there who's still working on their Jap money pit and a long way yet from their next ride).
All this just in time for winter! Hey ho.
Cheers all,
D.
Post by: Nurse Julie on October 08, 2015, 05:24:37 PM
Post by: Lynx on October 08, 2015, 05:27:13 PM
. Used mine a few times for work and always got some complements.Sent from my HTC Desire 510 using Tapatalk
Post by: Drew400 on October 08, 2015, 06:03:16 PM
On the way home I stopped by the chap who ground my crankshaft and bored my barrels. He was delighted (as he normally only sees the insides of engines rather than the finished thing... and never hears them running)!
All neatly tucked away in my garage now.
Next project, hmmm?
D.
Post by: Lynx on October 08, 2015, 06:09:44 PM
.Sent from my HTC Desire 510 using Tapatalk