Honda-SOHC

I've owned the bike for 15 years, it's blue one. It was my daily ridden, great fun riding it to work in central London, never caught in traffic being so slim and nippy, they are good for 85mph although a bit flighty at that speed. Great bikes though and a great looking and sounding exhaust. The day I bought the bike in Northampton a nate gave me a lift on his ZZR 600. On the way back home to Ruislip I stayed with him for the whole journey through the backwoods difference was he was using his brakes whereas I didn't touch mine  .
Chris, the rims are alloy but the spokes are rusty so plan is to keep the original rims following a vapour clean and fit stainless spokes. If I were you I'd drag the bike from your brothers shed if he has one  .

Hi All,
With Project 400/4 nearing completion it's time I started looking for a new project to do.
I have a CB250RS in the garage with 16k on the clock. I haven't used it for about 5 years and it has become 'cosmeticaly challenged'. I don't intend to do anything with the engine but will ultrasonically clean the carb and rebuild the wheels as they are both rusty in the spoke area.
Does anyone know what the finish is called on the metal rear mudguard? It looks to be some form of a powder coat/galvanised original finish but has gone rusty in areas.
The kick-start lever also appears to have a matt anodised type finish, does anyone know what this is.
Honda obviously built these bikes to a strict cost with some of the metal finishing being a bit on the cheap side!

Thanks for all the replies. I'll put the Showa stickers on the rear of the shocks. Chris, I didn't have the E sticker in my kit but I did have the exhaust silencer sticker and the Honda Motor Co sticker so I guess I have the US sticker pack!
Piki, can you supply the E sticker? Let me know costs etc, if can I order via PayPal?
Apart from the continuing carb problems the bike will be finished over next weekend.

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