Honda-SOHC

Hi all, my latest seeking of advice...

I have split the crankcase only for cleaning, it was running fine until then. All the innards are in tact and will be replaced (i.e. not taken sprockets off shafts, etc.). The crankshaft bearing shells all look fine to me and have been carefully labelled for refitting. Some people have said they will be fine to go back and others (like my Haynes manual) suggest they should be replaced. Maybe this is dependent upon the bike's post-rebuild life plan... it will be retired into occasional good weather use only; the bugger's had a hard life to date, or so it would seem, and now deserves a warm pasture!

Any conclusive thoughts from experts out there?

Thank you as usual.

D.

Hello all,

I think I have discovered a strange fault inside my engine that doesn't appear to have affected performance in the three years I've been riding the bike (and no I didn't do it when dismantling the engine).

What do you think of the little tear in the drum(?) between the drive and timing chains (as shown in the square in the picture)? Any experts out there seen this sort of thing before? I could ignore it and rebuild or tap it back into place, or seek a replacement.

I think this is just further evidence of a hard life... I'm hoping to give this bike a clean and easy long retirement one day!

Ta, D.

Hi all,

Picture your CB 400 moneypit's speedometer... it has a little knob sticking out to reset your tripmeter. Well mine hasn't. Not any more. No indeed, since - in trying to gently remove it - the thing was resistant to every method of teasing out, apart from that one where it splinters into lots of small pieces accompanied by an expletive from your author. Hey ho.

It took with it the rather brittle rubber sheath, grommet, thingy that stops water entering the clock through the tripmeter shaft hole.

So, I'm now looking for a rubber grommet and maybe the gnarlled knob thing too (although I reckon I can get the knob from a 1970s hi fi or some such).

David Silver doesn't supply these parts except with a complete clock unit. I hope I don't have to go that far, having gone to all this trouble just to paint the damned black bodies!

Anyone out there got a spare grommet they fancy selling me or a tip (e.g. "it's tha same as on a 1995 Hoover washing machine Model X", or some such)?

Thank you fellow sufferers,

D.

Hello again, fellow money pit fans. My next in a long line of eager learnings with your help involves front forks.

I have no doubt that in some time past, this old girl had a front end wallop, as a previous (newbie) photo has attested. One of the fork legs is in fairly poor condition and so I have started stripping it down to learn more, before attacking the better (salvageable?) one. In so doing, I have been following my Haynes manual and so removed the hexagon screw, etc. before removing the top nut. OK so far, me thinks, until it says, 'remove the spring clip or circlip and prize out the oil seal' from the top of the fork lower leg. The circlip came out easily, but the oil seal seems to have been glued in and is solid. Also, removing part of the seal, revealed an oval spring. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Hopefully (if I've inserted my image correctly) you can see what I'm on about.

Also, it says in my manual that there is an additional spring on 400s (not on 550s) at the top of the stanchion inside the lower leg. No spring popped out with mine, but there is in the bottom of the stanchion, a collar that doesn't want to come out and isn't in the exploded view drawing in Haynes. This image gives a tiny peep: [ Guests cannot view attachments ] [attac [ Guests cannot view attachments ] himg=2]

All of this diatribe, leads me to suspect that my forks have been replaced with non-standard ones of the correct size.

Any better or at least better-informed ideas anyone? I haven't yet started on the other leg to see if they're the same and will do so next weekend (for another thrilling instalment, etc.)

Thank you and remember, February's a short month so it's nearly spring!

Drew.

Hello all.

Yes indeed, I've joined the throng of CB400/4 restorers and, like many others before me, this is my first attempt at a 'proper' restoration. I bought the bike a couple of years ago: runner, leaker, restricted to 33bhp, fun ride (although not really for 2-up) and now the oil leaks and general tattiness are pleading me to strip her down and give her a damned good clean.

So far everything is off the frame awaiting cleaning, painting, re-gasketing, etc. I'll occasionally add updates  and photos (although I've not so far been much of a blogger type) and probably more frequently seek help from this expert and friendly group.

Cheers all!