Honda-SOHC

Should my brake caliper be painted black or left shiney...?
I see in the worksop manual it is black then I see on 'car and classic' some are painted or even just the inside caliper is black.  This being a UK 1975 model if that makes a difference.

Planning for the winter here, I want to replace the spokes on both wheels.
Is it possible to literally remove an old spoke and repace it with the new one and repeat the process to the end?
My train of thought on this is to make sure I lace the wheels up properly.
Thanks.

Anyone have an original or a good look-alike horn for sale for my 1975 400f?

Just asking before I get an aftermarket from DS

 Starting Magnetic Switch has a Red & White cable and Red Cable coming from it. I have just replaced the wiring loom and the new loom has a Box Connector on it. I am sure it is for this cable, however, the old loom had this cable on a 'double bullet' connection. This looks like a patch job to me.
I made a patch with spades to fit the box, the bike started. What I need is a new cable that will fit into this Box connector. I can only presume it is a sealed connection due to the   high voltage passing through it so I don’t want to use the patch I made as the spades could easily touch or arc. Does anyone know where I can get one?

 Last year I replaced the Left hand Ignition coil and that was easy. This year, I am replacing the Right Hand one (as you sit on the bike). I have a problem, the only coil I could find was ‘aftermarket’ and designed for fitting on either left or right side. This Coil does not look like either of my coils but it is described as for the CB400f.


Specifically, the issue I have is the wiring, the new coil has a Positive and a Negative terminal on it and it comes with a cable that has one Yellow and one Black wire. My right hand coil connects a Black&Yellow wire to Black and a Blue wire to Blue. The black one must be missing the normal connector as it has been soldered onto the Black&Yellow one.


I need to know which terminal (on the coil) to connect the nice new Black and the new Yellow wires to and then where to connect them vis-a-vis the Black wire and the Blue wire. As ever, pictures are more helpful, please see below.


New Coil
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Old and New Wires
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Is that possible that my carbs are having an out of body experience?

I removed the carbs a few months ago after the bike choked to a halt, out on a run. After that I removed the carbs from the block, checked and set the float heights and specifically replaced the Carburettor float valves in all four carbs as they were stuck solid.
I then followed Bryanjs’ ‘Basic bench carb balance guide', replaced the gaskets (top and bottom) on the carbs and mounted them on the bike again. The bike runs now, however I have an issue getting the bike to idle at anything near 1200rpm, it is more like a minimum of 2000rpm.
I removed the carb block again to bench sync again, mainly because I messed with the slide adjusters too much. I decided I got it benched properly and mounted the carbs on the block again. I also used a vacuum carbtune kit, the perfectionist in me insisted, I still cannot get the idle down to 1200rpm.
I have also checked and set each air pilot screw, could be naming those wrong, to 2 plus one half turn open. On the carb tune I can only match the carbs to within 10-8cmHg. So, carb 3 may be at 16cmHg and carb 4 would be at 24-26cmHg.

The main observation I had and the reason for the question:
Bryanjs’ ‘Basic bench carb balance guide‘ says about the slides; ‘Engine side, it has the flat bottom not the cutaway.' During my observations whilst doing this bench sync I could really tell there was a cut away on the slide so I proceeded working on the engine side, my brain is now convinced that there was a different shape to the slides on the air box side. Too late for that thought, the carbs are now on the bike again and I don’t mind removing them again to check.

Questions are;

1. Could the slides be on back to front?
2. Can the slides be extracted from all four bodies without removing the bodies’ from the block?
3. If 1 and 2 are possible and I fix the issue can I just use the vacuum sync and be confident that the carbs are performing optimally if I then get 1200rpm tick over and a balance of around 16-24 cmHg and all four within 3cmHg of each other?


ThanksKenny m

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In this image,  fig.1.1 the part [2] 'Breather Case'should be below my Air box. I dont have that, there is just a wee hole, one that is too small for the hose coming out of the top of the engine block. I am using a hose with 11mm Inside diameter  x 16.5mm Outside diameter for the part marked [1] Breather Tube, in the diagram.

Question;
Is the part available anywhere?
Should I care that I otherwise vent to the atmosphere?
Could I fabricate one for a 'yoghurt pot' so to speak and achive the designed effect?
 

 I want to do more work on my 400f myself and I think I want a torque wrench and a carb synchronizing kit.
 
 I keep looking online and get overwhelmed with choice. The other issue is I don't really know which is best overall for this specific bike rather than ‘the best make’. No good having a best make torque if I can't perform most/all jobs on my bike and end up buying another one.
I also thought I wanted a single gauge, four into one, sync kit, I could be fooling myself though. I liked the idea that all four carbs were being tested on one gauge.

 So, if you can recommend a good torque wrench and carb synchronizing kit I can get started on being a shed mechanic and maybe even get a second (His and Hers) 400f.