81 CM400 Resurection

tsbigdog

Been Around the Block
Hey everyone,

This my first project and it's keeping me quite busy. As you can tell from the pics I've got plenty of work ahead of me. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the bike when I first got it. I guess I didn't have much time. I tore into it right away. It was such a mess that I threw away a bunch of parts. I should have checked out this site first as I probably would have salvaged some of it. Anyway I've been learning a lot working on this and now it's starting to get fun. I did have this posted on another site, but they kinda frown on these bikes so I decided to try here. You guys seem more receptive to all kinds of bikes.

Here's some photos of what it looked like when I tore it down.

PDR_0179.jpg


PDR_0180.jpg


PDR_0183.jpg


And here's where I'm at now...


P1040198.jpg


IMAG0076.jpg



P1040912.jpg


P1040913.jpg


P1040917.jpg


I'm finding the biggest pain is trying to figure out what bolts go where and what happened to some of my parts. I tore this thing down a couple of years ago and it just sat for a while. I labeled a lot of stuff when I broke it down but I can't believe how much I seem to have missed (or unknowingly tossed ??? ). I will definitely be more diligent about that next time. I know I threw out some stuff but I am missing things that I know I kept. Oh well thank god for Epay.

What do you guys think? I decided not to go with the clubmans because I don't plan on putting rear sets on this bike. I think it would be too uncomfortable and not really necessary. I picked up those chrome european bars and I think they look good. They fit nice and don't hit the tank.

I'll hit you guys up with some questions soon.
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

GO to bikebandit.com they have exploded parts fiches with where all the parts go. Helps a bunch when you can't remember what goes where. I have a bunch of spares for the CM if you are missing some parts.

Cheers,

Maritime
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Right now I'm trying to get the center stand on correctly. The bike is an "E" model so it didn't come with one. I picked one up and mounted it, but I can't figure out where the spring is attached. It also came with a large "C" shaped bracket that I can't figure out where it goes. I have the manual and it doesn't show installation/removal instructions for it. I did check Bike Bandit and it didn't help in this case. Any ideas?
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Ha ha, I had the same problem, Took me 3 tries to get mun e back on. Since yours is an E you may neet to eld a hook on the frame for the spring. If I can get to my shed I will try and get a pick of mine for you to help you out.
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Go man, I am working on a Cm400 E as well, have lots of pics and have made lots of mods to it. I will start a new thread and post some of them this weekend. Good luck!
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Have any of you mounted rearsets on your CM400's. I also have a cm400 and am trying to get some ideas as to how to mount them.
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

For anyone that hasn't seen this post, I found this last week and was blown away by it. It's a CB400T which is almost identical to the CM. Anyone who hasn't seen it should take a look. As far as I'm concerned this is the most beautiful example of these bikes i've seen yet. I wish I had the time/money/tools/skills to do this kind of work. Maybe next time...

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=13104.msg122815#msg122815
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Ok, I started working on the seat last night. I've never done any upholstery work before. I'm not 100% set on using the stock pan but for now I'll just tinker. As a side note this bike was in such bad shape even the foam rusted. I know what you're thinking - It can't be! But alas I have photo evidence.

IMAG0086.jpg


IMAG0087.jpg


IMAG0089.jpg


IMAG0091.jpg


IMAG0094.jpg


Oh and here's some photos of the front forks. They were in pretty bad shape. I'm no pro at polishing, but I think they look a hell of a lot better.

IMAG0084.jpg


IMAG0085.jpg
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Ok, so I started shaping the seat. I like the way it's coming out so far. I'm going to start cutting the pan soon and narrowing it a bit. There's a ton of space on the sides of the pan so I'm going to try and pull it in a bit. I figure if I can massage the factory pan I can keep the original mount points and just make it look better. I can probably shave off about 3 inches of width and have it follow the frame rail nicely. I'll weld in some replacement metal to replace what's rusted and use it to provide some support to the sides. I'm also going to take some length off the back. Do you guys think I should follow the slope of the foam with the back of the pan or just weld in a curved piece that goes straight down?

Can anyone tell me how smooth the foam needs to be so you won't see any imperfections through the vinyl? And how do you smooth it out anyway? I'm using an electric knife to cut the foam.

P1040971.jpg


P1040972.jpg


P1040968.jpg


P1040967.jpg
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

As far as smooth goes, it depends on how thick you cover material is, I used a grinder and a rasp to really smooth it down, with some elbow grease you can get the foam very smooth, almost silky with the rasp, the foam should shape easy. If you stretch the material very tight over the foam it will also help hide the imperfections. Looks to be coming along pretty good.
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

I can't wait to see how this turns out! This will be my next project, I have been thinking of doing mine the same way. Keep on keeping on!
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

You can use a layer of polyester batting before the covering material and it will hide a lot of the imperfections in the foam. Looking like a good shape so far. Anything is better than the stock fat ass seat.
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Yeah that seat is a real fugly bastard! It really is the major thing that kills this bike in the looks department. I didn't think that there was going to be anyway to get it to look good and started looking around at other options. I found a guy on ebay that sells nice looking cafe style seats for this, but they're in Vietnam and are kind of expensive once you add the shipping on. He uses new steel pans for the base which makes them fit like the original. I thought that was a good thing until I started taking a close look at the factory seat pan and realized how much width could be taken out of it. Besides, the price of the new seat alone will almost cover the cost for a MIG welder. ;D

If anyone has modified a factory seat pan and would like to give some advice I'm all ears. I'm a seat pan virgin. ???
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

If I could get the search to work! There is a guy on here who did one, in the netherlands I think, his was a modded factory pan and looked good, bike was blue and silver I think?? I used his idea for where the battery relocated on my bike. If I could fine the pics it was one of the nicer CM's I have seen done.
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Maritime,

Is this the one you're talking about?

27082010082.jpg


27082010094.jpg


I don't remember if this guy detailed his process. I think he had an upholstery place do the seat. I'm going to do some searching and see if I can find anything on this. If my seat looks as good as this I'll be very happy. As a side note, this is kind of what I'm going for with the look of my bike. It's not really a cafe but it's a good clean looking bike.
 
Re: 81 CM400 Resurection

Yep that's the bike. He's from Spain, don't know why I thought Netherlands, anyway that is one of the best factory pan seats I have seen on our bikes, Looks simple enough to do if you can get the pan welded after cutting it.
 
Back
Top Bottom