OAP Ted's CB400F2 rebuild - engine not run for about 12 years.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Weather is nice so I could not pass up the chance for a bit more assembly - crank is in place with new seals on either side.

Primary drive rubbers fitted to centre of unit with a cable tie holding them in position.

All pushed easily into place a slight tightening of the cable tie  - then released cable tie and last few mm pushed in easily by hand!


RH Crank Seal by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

.LD Crank Seal by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

. I know too much lube everywhere!

Primary Drive Hub not yet in place.

.Chains in place by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

[Nurse Julie]

Err Ted, I think you may have gone overboard with the Plastigauge mate 

I think it's Bearing Guard Ken 😁😁😁

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Err Ted, I think you may have gone overboard with the Plastigauge mate 

Nice one as you know it's the Red Line Assembly lube it's very runny as you can see - I will have to mop it up before I put the Hinda Bond on sparingly!

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Lower casing now has bearing back in place with lower primary chain guard fitted.

Used some Loctite on the cam chain tensioner bolts as the threads seemed less than perfect - they were not stripped but have clearly been out before- shame they don't use a locking tab on the bolts or a star washer.

Primary drive hub/unit is in place on the chain - I plan to fit the bottom case without Hondabond probably tomorrow as a dry run to see if there are any issues in putting in the drive shaft or anything falling off as you do it!

I'm thinking of getting a friend to help me with the fastening up of the crankcase - especially the main 10 crankcase bolts - that way I can ensure the primary drive shaft is in the right place. He is also 50 years younger with some modern equipment to speed things up with his fancy tools.

[smoothoperator]

Great progress Ted, along with some good photo's. Good luck with the engine rebuild.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Crankcase halves bolted together with novelty cam chain holder to stop any accidental jamming - photo taken just before I had to separate it again.

Now that the slight high spot / bind on No: 2 conrod has been sorted I am awaiting a second opinion from my BiL tomorrow. On re-assembly  I will try to use less Hondabond - I found it difficult to spread thinly due to its viscosity but NJ has given me a tip on the dark art of thin film application.

drainpipe camchain holder by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

I use the end of my finger tip and just dab it on Ted.

First time around I put on what I thought was a thin layer straight out of the tube onto the crakkcase  in 1" blobs then with my surgical gloves tried to make it spread along the mating surfaces then repeat with another 1" blob - good coverage but it was difficult to persuade it to go on thinly. I found it impossible to squeeze out of the end of the nozzle as there was no key to wind the tube up -  I ended up cutting the nozzle off a bit further up just to get it out of the tube. It was much thicker than your normal silicone sealant and very viscous too.  When I dismantled it there was far too much Hondabond on the inside edges for my liking. In an odd way having to take it apart again has had unforseen benefits. Shame its not easier to spread - next time I will squeeze it onto my finger tip then try and smear it on as thin as possible. I did wonder if the tube was old stock.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Rebuild is at a standstill until I get the cam horseshoe threads Helicoiled.

Waiting to get into the right frame of mind before I sort this. As it was nice yesterday went fishing instead. Caught naff all  clearly I'm on a downward roll at the moment. lol

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Found some roundtuits today - took out the crank,main shells, main gear clusters etc.

Checked the two bolts for the cam chain horseshoe just the one thread is iffy its the right hand one so plan to get it Helicoiled next week.

If they are available I will probably get a couple of new bolts or run a die down them.

[Bryanj]

Standard m6 ht setscrew willdo the job

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Standard m6 ht setscrew willdo the job

Forgive my ignorance but is a standard m6 ht set screw just the one thread type or is it automatically coarse due to being relatively small?

I find it odd that there is not a washer of any kind used on them.

[Bryanj]

Standard" is m6x1mm pitch, there is a "fine" thread ut you would not usethat in alluminium.
A washer is not needed in every case, thet are there to even the load pressure. In this case i think Hondaused threadlock on the bolts but even then ihave seen them back out, usualy when the pivot is siezed which could put excess vibration into the bolts.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Casing going to Croft Engineering today to Helicoil the horseshoe bolts - they are a busy place so I've had to wait for an appointment with the man that does this sort of work.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Engineers are busy so Helicoils still not done yet -  yesterday took the CC bolts to be zinc plated locally as I'm not sure I could justify the cost of the Gateros Kit - might revisit that decision no doubt.
Cost me £30 for all 27 bolts & a coupe of clips - other platers seemed to have a £45 minimum charge locally.

Spent an hour or so tinkering with one of my spare engines (Pops old unit) as it was leaking oil from the sump area. Fitted a spare sump with a new gasket and all is now leak free -oil down the bores to start the freeing up process. I will try turning the engine upside down for a few minutes soon to try get some nice clean oil around the camshaft in the hope of helping preserve the status quo so as to speak as it will be 2022 before I strip it down fully.

Wendy is starting to think I have no life outside my 400/4,computer & garage. I have no idea where she is coming from  tee hee.

[taysidedragon]

Instead of turning the engine upside down, just remove the tappet covers and squirt the oil onto the cam through the openings.