Honda-SOHC

The front sliders on my Superdream are a tad pimply where they meet the oil seal stretching an inch or so below the seal to around three inches above. When I drained the forks by inverting them when removed (no drain plugs on the 400NA) the amount of oil that came out was pretty much the same as the fill volume of around 140 cc in fact I think there was more  than that.

The bike was fitted with fork gaiters by a long term owner in Aug 2019  at 50,646 miles as evidenced by a raft of invoices that came with the bike from a repairer. The Mot history from 2011 (49,224 miles) to 2017 (49962 mles) shows the bike only covered some 538 miles covered in that period. The bike has only covered 32 miles since Aug 2019 when the gaiters were fitted, (assuming no clocking) presumably as the sliders were showing some pimplin/rust.

The fork gaiters were in pretty poor condition consistent with uV degredation, one gaiter was holed near the bottom the other had split.

The fork stanchions are in pretty good condition inside so I'm looking at what to do about the  pimply sliders. Hard chroming is not cheap, aftermarket  available at a lower cost. That had me thinking just what do the double lipped seals actually do in terms of keeping the oil in place. It appears to me in my ignorance that the dust seals or gaiters main role is keeping water out, will some pimpling actually let oil escape or is it more about keeping water & dust out?

A replacement pair of gaiters or dust seals might be fine for several thousand miles. I don't want to spend money where it's not needed bearing in mind my mileage will most likely be less than 500 miles p.a.

Just how much foaming oil do the double lipped seals actually stop from escaping?

Earlier this week I cleaned up the Superdream rear swing arm, the bushes are pretty good so after degreasing with Bilt-Hambler  stuff I did a final petrol wash to remove some of the unusually thick underseal like layer that was on the right underside  of the arm where the brake steady arm fits.
I brushed my petrol along the part where the brake steady arm bracet fits, it looked like a layer of underseal. After scraping it off it revealed a hole in the underside of the swing arm. Yes it could have been road tar but I'm making excuses.

Not the end of the world, I found a good looking replacement that was listed as suitable for the CB 400 A/T/N & Hondamatics.
As there was no part number listed I rang up the firm to make sure it was correct. I was assured that the models listed all shared the same swing arm.

Part arrived today it's in fabulous NOS looking A1 condition - but. Its not quite the same, different bracket placement for the chain guard fitting plus its just over an inch longer as well so the chain will not be long enough methinks. So I'll probably be driving over to Newcastle-under Lyme next week to see if I can do a swop. Bu**er I knew it was going to well.

TBH I'm not keen on having it welded unless there are no other options.

Now that the engine is out with the bike turned round on the ramp and back on the center stand  I have found a snag!

On my 500 I put the dual type Scissor Jack under the bottom of the frame tubes, clamped the rear wheel, strap over the rear of the frame ,  as I raised  the Jack the front wheel lifted up, slid the panel out, wheel removed.

On the Superdream there are no tubes on the bottom of the frame, can't really figure out where to jack up the bike to raise the front wheel.

Only thing I can think of at the moment is do I take out the rear wheel then try pulling down on the rear of the swing arm  using a strap to tilt the front end upwards?

I believe the standard front brake hoses are NLA so a PO has fitted some new white sleeved hoses.
Are these what are known as braided inside? 
They are quite rigid/stiff with a small diameter compared to standard hoses, there are no cable guides fitted even though the front aftermarket fender has spare holes on either side that might accomodate a guide bracket.

The hoses swoop awkwardly between the top fitting & the caliper that looks as though it has a cast slot to hold the end fittings.
Not sure if the pipes would be too short if I fitted the end into the slot so they swoop rearwards rather than forwards.

Note the front spindle has no split pin fitted either

.hose swoop by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

Superdream caliper by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr

Spotted this on e bay.


.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304826114491?_skw=honda&itmmeta=01JB9283QHCZQ6KKVY7DZJAY17&hash=item46f90d61bb:g:KewAAOSwMtxXwHlx

Today I started a pretty straight forwards job on the Superdream - taking off the two footrests in readiness for eventual engine removal.

Right side footrest bolts sprayed with suitable penetrating oil, fitted socket, slight tap with fancy hammer, bolt removed in under a minute.

Left side is slightly different as the fixing bolt has the gear lever shaft integrated into the bolt end. Sprayed with penetrating oil, found my circlip pliers and removed the circlip & washer. Undid bolt on the gearbox shaft end of the linkage.

Unable to pull the gear lever itself from the shaft even though the circlip was out, sprayed some more oil onto shaft end.
I noticed that as you rotated the lever it became tight except in the horizontal position. lots of head scratching, checked the manual - no hidden retaining screw.

Tried a sort of wedge with a large screwdrive behind  the lever - it would not pull out any further becoming jammed solid.
Must be a bent shaft I thought then I noticed what looked like a woodruff key between the shaft & gear lever. It took some force with a lump hammer to knock the gear lever back where it was. Tried to pick out the metal I could see without success.

Open ended spanner was then used to undo the whole arrangement one flat at a time having to move the gear lever each time as it started to jam. Whole thing removed with the gearshift attached. In my vice I was able to put a drift into the centre and knock out the shaft from the lever.

Not a bent shaft just some wear that some PO fixed by hammering in what looks like a bent bit of spring metal to take up the slack. Said bit of metal had wedged into the centre recess to make removal a 20 minute job instead of two minutes.

Said bit of bodgery is in the photo.

gearshift bodge by Macabe Thiele, on Flickr
.

The blades that I bought with my Von House tool are now worn away, a disc & a saw.

It's been great for cutting the end off a thread tap and the heads of some rusty bolts.

Just looking for tips as to what brands to buy on e-bay as there are so many that might be poor quality.

Links based on experience would be handy.