Honda-SOHC

DS has the front disc brake cover in stock. Genuine part, he only has 2 left, £78 each, a bit step but S/H ones are normally chipped or the metal parts are covered in rust due to the part location. I took mine apart for replating and riveted it back together after making a jig to hold it.

I thought this may be of interest to anyone who started their riding life back in the 70's and didn't want to be seen riding a stinkwheel!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132009110874

1978 400/4 Bryan.
I found a photo of an early 400/4 with the exhaust warning sticker located on the swingarm between the pivot and the pillion footrest. I'm not sure if this is the correct location for the F2?

You appear to be getting somewhere with your carbs Dave.  I thought I was getting somewhere with mine as well having made up a float height gauge similar to the one Chris described in an earlier post.  I set the floats to 21mm, checked, checked again and once more for luck, all in order, bowls were re-fitted (a number of the screws had to be helicoiled as the threads felt 'weak').  I bench tested the carb bank with fuel and still two of them leaked!!!!  I took them apart again and rechecked.  I blew out all the airways with compressed air and checked each fuel valve with a magnifying glass.  I must admit the quality of finish on the new valves looks a bit rough, not the smooth finish I would expect for something that is supposed to seal against fuel.  I fitted the two 'best' of the old valves as these looked in better condition then the new ones!  Carbs back together, bench tested and all was fine, happy days  .
I refitted the carbs back on the bike on Saturday having bench sync'd with a 1mm drill bit (fiddly!). Everything connected, all cables lengths correct, idle screws set at 2 turns, fast idle clearance set, all good.  Morgan carbtune connected and I started her up. I was greeted with very rough running, carbtune only registered a reading on no.3 and no amount of adjustment brought the other three carbs to life although the engine note improved.  By now it was getting dark so I gave it another go yesterday.  I took the carbtune apart and re-polished the stainless rods and brass guides in case they were sticking (it made no difference anyway).  Yesterday was going well, the engine was sounding better but I could only get a reading on the carbtune if I turned it upside down??? Reading was 20hg, and was in the range stated in the manual. I balanced all the carbs to the same setting +/- 2hg.  Problem I have now is the engine races to 400rpm if the throttle is 'blipped' and it feels 'flat' when slightly revved. Just to add to the frustration no.2 carb became incontinent and gushed from its overflow. I also noticed exhaust no.1, 3 and 4 are yellowing at the head, is this a sign of running hot and a weak mixture, no.2 header is fine. Just a note, as the carb balancing was taking a while I stopped a few times to let the engine cool down. The bike was also a pig to start from cold on both days.
Any thoughts would be appreciated, I noticed I have a lump hammer in the toolbox, it might come in useful soon......

Bryan, The float valves are from the Keyster (?) kits I bought and do not have a viton sealing rubber on the tips as the old ones did. I'll give it another go maybe over the weekend when I get the helicoil kits (thanks for the tip Chris, the kit is on order). I will test the floats to see if any are punctured.
Its only the carbs that are stopping progress and the MOT 

Well, I made the gauge from some ali sheet to 21mm. All floats carefully reset and checked over and over just to be sure. I set the carbs using Bryan's recommended technique and all was good. I thought I'd bench test the carbs before putting back on the bike and placed them very gently in the vice, connected the bottle of fuel and waited. Everything as great for 5 minutes and then petrol poured from 2 of the overflows and also the central overflow pipes between carbs 3&4  . Am I doing something fundementaly wrong?
To cap a bad afternoon, I got that horrible feeling when one of the float bowl screws just kept turning, undoing the screw pulled out the tread with it! I need to get a 4mm helicoil kit now although opinion is timeserts are a better option (I've never used one). At least it's winter and I'm not missing out on any sunshine  .

When I torqued the head down on my 400/4 I used a calibrated torque wrench. A couple of days later when I came to fit the rocker cover I thought I would check the head bolts one last time and found I could get another 1/4 turn on the torque wrench!  I put this down to the copper washers under the bolts having a bit of 'give' in them as I had annealed them before reusing.