Honda CB400F Cafe, first attempt

75hondacb400

Active Member
hi all,

here is my cafe racer project.
its been a very slow progress as i have moved twice and getting my workshop up and running.

project started with a dirty 1975 cb400f, which i pickup from a cb400 expert. had a blown head gasket but other than that all sound. Ideas for this project is to go single sided swing arm and gxsr front end.

been buying all the parts as i find them and trying to keep the budget down.

here is the start.
 

Attachments

  • 20131001_162737_resized.jpg
    20131001_162737_resized.jpg
    602.6 KB · Views: 496
  • 20131001_162744_resized.jpg
    20131001_162744_resized.jpg
    593.6 KB · Views: 484
  • 20131001_162747_resized.jpg
    20131001_162747_resized.jpg
    626.7 KB · Views: 476
  • 20131001_162808_resized.jpg
    20131001_162808_resized.jpg
    414.5 KB · Views: 477
  • 20131001_162805_resized.jpg
    20131001_162805_resized.jpg
    528.3 KB · Views: 495
  • 20131001_162814_resized.jpg
    20131001_162814_resized.jpg
    611.3 KB · Views: 492
as you can see from the photo date, i got the old girl in 2013.
took me 6months to get my garage sorted and kitted out, then had to move to a new house and start all over again.

I have made serious progress this December and going to keep cracking on it to finish before May.
 
it has taken me over 6months to find a vfr 400 nc30 dog bone, which i ended up finding in the beginning of December 5km from my house.

This is what the bike looks like today,

Stuff done so far
  • front end mounted with tapper bearings
  • vfr 400 front wheel centered, had to make spacers to get it to fit in the gsxr forks
  • removed the ignition lock bracket to make space for standard gauges
  • mounted vfr rear swing arm, got an engineering shop to put it all together and get it all centered
  • welded in mounts for the rear shock, these are still a work in progress
  • welded in the rear hop but not happy with the length so might change it

Stuff i still need to do
  • tank - need to weld in a section to extend the length of it but 8cm, similar to neevo
  • or go with a complete fiber glass tank, want to shape it myself
  • make rear seat bump
  • mount rearsets
  • sandblast frame, then spray,
  • then hopefully start it up and ride
 

Attachments

  • DSC_0562.JPG
    DSC_0562.JPG
    3.2 MB · Views: 425
  • IMG-20150927-WA0000.jpg
    IMG-20150927-WA0000.jpg
    157.8 KB · Views: 418
  • IMG-20150927-WA0001.jpg
    IMG-20150927-WA0001.jpg
    125.3 KB · Views: 415
  • IMG-20150927-WA0005.jpg
    IMG-20150927-WA0005.jpg
    165.6 KB · Views: 419
  • IMG-20151009-WA0011.jpg
    IMG-20151009-WA0011.jpg
    175.7 KB · Views: 438
  • DSC_0561.JPG
    DSC_0561.JPG
    1.3 MB · Views: 421
  • DSC_0560.JPG
    DSC_0560.JPG
    764.2 KB · Views: 428
  • DSC_0026.JPG
    DSC_0026.JPG
    3.2 MB · Views: 545
  • DSC_0027.JPG
    DSC_0027.JPG
    3.2 MB · Views: 427
  • DSC_0555.JPG
    DSC_0555.JPG
    2.8 MB · Views: 466
  • DSC_0558.JPG
    DSC_0558.JPG
    847.4 KB · Views: 430
  • DSC_0559.JPG
    DSC_0559.JPG
    828.2 KB · Views: 440
The one photo shows the different ways I want to mount it, either 2x10mm front facing or 1x 10mm front facing and 1x 10mm upwards. Do you think 10mm thick steel is to light?

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
 
Mine is done with 5/16". It's tied in to the frame in a couple different places. But, my shock looks to operate a bit differently than yours does. It has a linkage rod that essentially compresses the shock from the bottom.
 
Gotcha. Must have missed it scanning through the pics.

You're going to be exerting a ton of stress on a frame that is not designed for it. Brace it anywhere and everywhere that you can.
 
Looks like a perfect donor bike for a project. Good luck, I'll be following along.
 
thinking last night of redoing the mounts for the top shock to look like this, what you think?

also i got a issue with the front end, the front brake calipers are touching the disk's,
i cant shim the disk as its touching the outside of the caliper,
what are my options here, either take the front rim in and get a engineering shop to skim it down 5mm
or
skim the caliper itself down by 5mm,

whats going to be my best option?
 

Attachments

  • 6e7eju9y.jpg
    6e7eju9y.jpg
    343.3 KB · Views: 393
Got my steel this week now need to turn it into something useful.
Here is the design I'm going for
The last pic is what I want to do for the mount on the bottom of the frame

Sent from my D6603 using Tapatalk
 

Attachments

  • uploadfromtaptalk1453829046866.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1453829046866.jpg
    164.4 KB · Views: 374
  • uploadfromtaptalk1453829073972.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1453829073972.jpg
    84.5 KB · Views: 352
  • uploadfromtaptalk1453829099414.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1453829099414.jpg
    140.6 KB · Views: 370
  • uploadfromtaptalk1453829166202.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1453829166202.jpg
    88.7 KB · Views: 366
Not a single swinger mod fan, but the bike is a winner for the mod squad... Reek havock mang and good lucks :eek:
 
Looks like a neat project man. I'm in. +1 on extra bracing on that shock mount, but a really nice start. Thanks for sharing it here
 
Back
Top Bottom