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Messages - marineboy
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« on: August 06, 2010, 06:26:50 PM »
Hi everybody, After going onto reserve the other day whilst out on my 400/4 it wasnt long before I was sitting at the side of the road awaiting the arrival of the RAC, the problem you see was fuel starvation...... Once the kind RAC man put in enough fresh petrol for me to return to the normal "on" posistion I was merrily on my way home. Removing the petrol tap from the tank all became clear, the petrol strainer had broke off in the tank allowing all the crud to block the hole in the petrol tap when reserve was needed..... A quick look on Dave Silver website and a brand new genuine part winged its way to me.... Easy I thought, five minutes down the line and I will be back on the road.. or so I thought. Right, this is where you come in...... The replacement strainer wasnt a tight fit, in fact it was quite loose to be honest, the rubber washer that sits inside the big nut seemed oversize to me and didnt sit comfortably anywhere? anyway I fitted the strainer into the tap & tiny flimsy washer at the bottom with the 2 holes in it(it can only sit in one way as there is a cut out for it to sit in, I then put the big nut over the top and finally eased the washer into place inside the nut as per Haynes manual,this did seem to steady the strainer in its place somewhat, when I put it al back together it didnt leak anywhere and all seemed well again..... The bike ran fine for a road test of about 5 mile My question is this. It just doesnt seem like a Mr honda fit to me, yes it all works fine but why wasnt the strainer a tighter fit & also why is the sealing washer so big?  lastly, have I assembled it right or not??? It seems like I have as it all works ok Regards Marineboy
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« on: July 29, 2010, 10:08:48 AM »
Hi,
If my memory serves me correct (and it probably does not!) Dave Silver does a complete float needle valve for about
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« on: July 22, 2010, 04:39:23 PM »
You are most welcome, I do like reading stories in motorcycle magazines where someone states " its been laying in my garden uncovered for 20 years, I put fresh petrol in it & charged the battery & away she went third kick" yeah right o!!!!!If mines been laying around for 20 minutes it doesnt go third kick!
From my experience as you can see,what I did for one carb I ended up doing for all four carbs. As long as its not gushing out petrol anywhere dangerous ie; onto the exhaust underneath & the flooding carbs are not causing you to sputter & stop everywhere IMO I would try & ride it a few times & see if things improve, keep on turning the fuel tap off on the journey and letting her run to the point whereby she is begging for petrol, then put the tap back on to fill the bowls back up again, she may just need a bit of encouraging to get things moving...... But do watch where you are going when you are fiddling around for the petrol tap!!!!!!
Regards
as always
Marineboy
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« on: July 19, 2010, 10:45:12 AM »
Hi & hello.
Thought i might as well add my experience of Honda`s little 400/4.
I picked up the bike some 100 milefrom where I live, the previous owner said he would show me the way to the nearest A road, well like you the bike wouldnt rev over 4000 revs, we pulled over at the side of the road & messed about with it a bit, I said I would continue as it would be ok revving to 4000 revs as that gave me about 45mph which would be ok or so I thought...... 3 mile later and the first hill see me down to 20mph, I pulled over to the side of the road & again like you petrol poured out of no 1 carb. I tried running the bike with the fuel off until starvation (the bike, not me) nope, that didnt work, I tried emptying the float bowl and nope that didnt work, anyway the previous seller had been following me and he stopped, we went back to his house, whipped off the carbs & blew through the offending cartb, all seemed well, I went on my way & made it home,but, once home with the engine running the same fault happened.
I ordered a repair kit from DS and a mate changed over all the necessary bits, we put the carbs back on and hey presto.... the carb we had repaired was leak free, but the other 3 leaked like a sieve!!!!!! mmmm bugger, I then with my mate looked at carb no 2, the small o-ring seal that sits on the float valve had perished badly, we stopped there,,,, I ordered 3 more kits from DS & about a week ago we changed the other seals,jets etc etc & done the float heights. Still the carbs initially leaked when we returned them to the bike.....
I read somewhere that bikes that have been standing do tend to suffer from this problem & that riding them regularly can often solve the problems encountered, I went for a 10 mile thrashing of the old girl down some country lanes & kept on running the system dry by use of the petrol tap & so far...touch wood, things have improved & no leaks.
I am a great believer that modern day petrol is very,very bad for bikes that dont go anywhere & even by emptying the tank & draining the float bowls of fuel the sticky gooey mess residue left behind gums everything up in its path .Obviously the float idea works on the same principle as a toilet ball valve idea. If your ball valve in the toilet wont shut off under working conditions, it always seems to shut off once a big hand is helping it stay shut! I think float bowls are no different.
I have tried ultrasonic cleaning on another bike I have, but, I wouldnt say from that experience that there was a dramatic transformation in the behaviour of the bike.
Good luck with your leaky carbs, I know how you feel especially at the cost of petrol too!!!
Regards
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« on: June 29, 2010, 09:12:48 PM »
Hi again,
Thank you for all the "welcome to the site" sure seem a friendly bunch to me.
Thanks for all your tips & help especially about cam chain tensioning, I think the problem with me is that I dont like anything rattling,Im used to a quiet modern(ish) bike, I need to compare mine to another to see if Im worrying unnecessarily about different noises the old girl makes, my other bikes are a Triumph RS sprint a Er 500 (for work)& a lovely sounding SR 500 Yam with an open megaphone exhaust, not used in areas where people still put their windows in with putty i can tell you!!!
Thanks once again, Ill be back real soon
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« on: June 27, 2010, 06:29:15 PM »
Hi Steve
Their on the frame, according to the book I have they were on the s/arm until March 1976, mines registered March 1977 & the frame starts CB400F-1068...
The feeling I get is that the side panels are correct in their lighter blue colour and its the tank that may of been replaced....just a hunch though
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« on: June 27, 2010, 05:41:02 PM »
Blimey  what a fantastic response! Thanks for all your help, its given me food for thought, whilst England were giving their all, I took the carbs off again to await the replacement carb bits from DS. Ive got 3 other bikes and the haynes manuals for these bikes and the car my daughter has are very good, maybe its me but I find the one on 400/4`s difficult to follow at times,for me they start off talking on one model then cross to the 550 then back to the 400`4 without any connectivity or seperation. perhaps old age is starting to take its toll. How good is the clymer one Is there any colour codes on these bikes,mine`s the light blue I think or maybe the dark blue im not sure? It is a F1 Im certain. The tank is dark blue with no graphics but it has a locking fuelcap.... did the F1`s have locking fuel caps or is this wrong??? Im thinking of having it resprayed Parakeet yellow once the carb probs & noisey engine is sorted (2016!) but I need to know which tank it should have on it and whether any tank changes apart from the graphics were made to the F2 just incase it is a F2 tank (if that all makes sense!!!) and I have the wrong tank sprayed. Cheers Guys & Girls
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« on: June 27, 2010, 01:13:36 PM »
Hello to everyone (New to 400/4`s, not to biking), Ive always wanted a 400/4 since being a pillion on one in the late 70`s, well, Ive purchased one, she`s a 1977 F1, she`s had new wheel rims, mudguards are excellent in the chrome department and she also sports a genuine Honda exhaust which is in A1 condition & very low mileage....... thats the good part, the bad part is this......... Number 1 carb floods and the engine is very noisey in the camchain area.... The mileage is just over 6000 mile (not a misprint!) I can trace her history back to 1989 with all MOT`s & tax discs,which makes me believe as far as possible that the mileage is genuine. So far Ive replaced the float needle valve of the offending carb, set the tappets, changed the oil & filter and balanced the carbs.I looked at carb 2 and the small rubber on the needle valve housing has perished so I stopped there for now.(Ive ordered 3 more sets of carb repair kits from DS to sort out the rest) Ironically,when the carbs were put back on the bike,the 2 that I hadnt played with leaked & the one / two I done didnt!! What I cant understand is this...? for a bike with such low mileage, why is she so noisey??? I tried adjusting the camchain using the haynes manual method, (incidentally, is the clymer manual any better than the Haynes???) this has improved the matter a little, but she is still noisey... Is this normal? If the tensioner is stuck,how can you free it without taking it all to bits??? Ive tried tapping various areas around the top of the engine in an attempt to shock her a bit, even a showing of my bank balance didnt work either!!!! Another thing that she does is whine very very slightly in 6th gear, its only just noticeable, but it is a different sound to the other 5 gears!!! , again, Im not sure if this is characteristic for these bikes or if its something to try & sort out. Apart from DS,where else can I get NOS parts for her in England if possible??? All in all,Im pleased with her, once Ive sorted the flooding, noise & whining out, Ill be even more pleased with her!!! Last question She has a different colour tank to the side panels, the tank is dark blue the side panels are lighter, how do I find out the correct colour for her??? Thanks for reading my story & for all the help you can (hopefully) give me,,,,, looking forward to all those replies  Regards
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