Newbie 400 build advise

[Trigger]

Welcome to the mad world of the SOHC, loads of great advise to be had. I use Metrinch sockets as they will take off any rounded nut or bolt. Britool are a good tool but, the old stuff is a lot more stronger and better made.

[Bryanj]

Just finished a 40+hour week in 3 1/2 days so been a bit tired, for want of a better word.

I concurr with most of the above, not sure but i think britool was bought out by facom.

Personaly i would buy a relatively cheap set of sockets and replace the ones that show signs of wear with quality ones, i still have some from a £3 set ( of 12 sockets) that are unused so it would have been crazy to buy quality for those.

Long, 6 sided sockets are a godsend for things like head nuts and always get 3/8 drive, or maybe even 1/4 drive as they have thinner walls for things like the sump bolts. Also 3/8 drive torque wrench as the 1/2 inch ones tend to not go down low enough

There are two engine special tools needed
(1) castellated clutch nut remover replacer availabale on ebay
(2) rotor puller--for the number of times you would need this probably cheaper to take the crank to a Honda dealer and let them use the special tool---you can get it from dave Silver but its about £35 from memory(and fits all Honda fours )

Chassis wise there are the wheel bearing retainer tools that show on Ebay, but again for one off somebody on here might have one or your local dealer

[beemsquar]

Cheers guys.  I bought a 45 piece 6 sided wall drive Sealey ratchet set in the end for £60 in the end as heard the same as you Bryanj, that the quality wasn't quite the same. plus this will do me fine for the amount of time I will be using it and give me some more pennies to spend on bike parts!

Bodd, is that a stud extractor set in the picture on the right?

Also, just looked at your 400 cafe build, fantastic job, looks awesome! This has helped me in working out a sensible order for taking my 400 apart! How long did this take you to do and what sort of price did it cost in parts, if you don't mind me asking? I also like you, intend to do as much of this project myself as I possibly can. I have never liked paying someone to do something for me, plus I like the challenge and want to learn.

My bikes side stand is also too short and its missing the paddock stand, wonder if mine has been fitted with the wrong one now!

Where did you get the mag base and clock you used for balancing your wheels?

Cheers

Andy

[Bodd]

The box with the blue lining contains rounded nut and bolt removers, they go over the rounded nut or bolt head and when you get a spanner or socket on them the twisted inside bites into the nut or bolt head, the other box is for those occasions when the bolt head comes off when there isn't enough sticking out to get a stud extractor on.

The cafe bike took just over 2 years to do but in that time I had to take a couple of sabbaticals where I didn't touch it for a couple of months at a time, total cost including buying the bike was just over £1500, the only stuff I paid someone else to do was to paint the tank & seat and a few bits of chroming, I've also got quite a few parts to sell on so the cost will come down a bit more.

[beemsquar]

Cheers Bodd,
you've done a fantastic job. very meticulous and done spending such little money! I've taken some good points from your blog on parts to order without getting ripped off!
 what was the mag base and clock you used to balance your wheels? re-spoking and balancing is something I would like to do myself too.

Cheers
Andy

[Bodd]

It was a plunger clock I use for the timing of the RD250E, I only wanted the clock to use with an old plug to make a timing gauge (see pics below) but the guy I bought it off at an auto jumble wouldn't sell it without the mag base. Doing the wheels isn't as hard as the professionals would have you think, they make it out to be a bit of a black art and charge quite a lot to do it but it isn't that hard, it's no more difficult than tuning my drums.

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[hondarc166]

Hi if you fit new bolts be aware the bottom left hand engine to frame bolt is critical length if you leave the washer of or remove crash bars it can puncture the engine case into a oil gallery.

[mike the bike]

Been there, done that.  There's only 2mm difference in the bolt length, they look identical unless you know what you're looking for.

[Chris400F]

That's one of the things where I found the Parts List useful, it has the bolt sizes in.

[mike the bike]

Agreed, unlike the Suzuki parts list.

[sweetpeauk]

If its a normal bolt the Suzuki part number contains diameter and length.
Whereabouts in Dorset are you ?. I live in Poole and have a couple of 400/4, I have a number of the special tools needed for pulling the engine apart i.e clutch hub nut rotor puller. If you get stuck let me know.
Paul

[beemsquar]

Thanks for the heads up on the bolt length! I dont want to make that mistake!

Cheers Paul! I also live in Poole! if you have any spare parts for sale I'm looking for a few bits.... actually a lot! I picked the bike up on Friday and it was worse than I had thought, but I knocked the guy down and took it anyway. Hope I dont regret it. It came with boxes with parts in so who knows what i'm missing.

So far I've labeled, sorted and stripped most of the parts off the frame, just got the engine to remove and the front forks. I've kept the wheels on for now as the side kickstand has been badly repaired and is at the wrong angle, so the bike leans over to far. I'm trying to find out the correct angle and side stand length before I go any further. Its also missing the centre stand.

[Lobo]

Hi Andy, welcome & enjoy your rebuild. It's an easy bike to source parts for; many options.

David Silver Spares (as you know) has a lot of 'new' parts - at a cost, but second hand bits can often be found here...

http://www.400fourbits.co.uk/

Sometimes Steve's description can be a little, um, optimistic, but he offers good service and often has those hard-to-find bits.

Simon

[beemsquar]

Cheers Simon, a thorough site if not a little complicated to order. thank you.

[Lobo]

Yea, rather annoying in that you've first gotta contact Steve for a price. But with Internet banking you soon have an account # to transfer to, and after the first transaction it all becomes slick.

Where this site comes into it's own is those 'one off parts' that just bloody evade you everywhere else; you can get lucky.

Simon