1979 CM400T Half-cafe

I've been lurking around this site for about a year now and finally bought a bike back in December, a 1979 Honda CM400T. This is my first build as well as my first bike so it's taken me a little bit of time to get some stuff done. Luckily I have a brother who rides and a dad who let's me use his garage/tools. Here's a picture of what it looked like when I got it home.



So far here's a list of what I've done in the past few months, in no particular order;
-changed oil
-changed spark plugs
-changed brake fluid
-replaced battery
-rebuilt electric starter
-cleaned off 30+ years of rust/oxidation
-replaced seized choke cable
-replaced tail light
-replaced turn signals
-replaced handlebars (stock ones were huge, ended up using brothers old KZ400 bars)
-fixed side covers (both had a broken tab)
-fixed exhaust studs on each side (drilled and tapped 2 new studs, PO had it rigged)
-ditched the straight pipes for mufflers given to me by PO
-heat painted headers and mufflers
-painted frame

I probably left some things out.

Here's what the bike looks like now



It really doesn't look like that much of a difference for all the hours of work I've put into it, hopefully with some of the money coming my way from Uncle Sam I'll be able to get more done to it. I just got a new H4 headlight and bucket from DCC and some brand new Duro tires (http://www.bikebandit.com/duro-hf261a-motorcycle-tire) I'll be putting on this weekend. I'll probably repaint the wheels while I have them off as well.

I got a lot of cleaning done when I first got it thanks to the mild winter here in the northeast

before


after


before


after


before


after


all of the before and after pictures are from months ago so it's been cleaned up a lot more since then. Just giving you an idea of how it started.

My next moves are probably going to be a fresh coat of paint for the tank and side covers as well as have the seat reupholstered to something flatter. After that I'll probably ride it as is for the remainder of the season. I rode it to work a few times last week and became addicted, I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep it garaged. I eventually want to do away with the side covers and move the battery/electrical

Welcome to the site bro! Seems like you're off to a good start...keep at it man! It's all worth it.

Thanks. Here's a couple more shots of the bike in its current state.





I also made up this tail light/turn signal combo from a lucas tail light and some mini turn signals





I took a lot of pictures along the way. I wanted to be able to show all the before and after shots and always meant to get around to making a build thread.

Wheels painted, new tires, and new headlight.

Nice work! Once you get that seat flattened out it's gonna look like an entirely different bike.

Thanks! The seat is probably one of the next things I want to do. You can see on the left hand side of the last picture I have an extra seat in the background. I got it off of ebay for 25 dollars, shipping included. I got it for the seat pan since the seat on the bike now is in really good condition.

I changed my handlebars out again from the KZ400 bars to daytona bars, It seems to be at a comfortable enough height for both form and function to meet. I also got some new grips and bar end mirrors while I was at it.

I know it's been awhile but I finally got my seat done.

Before:


After:


I used a 78-79 CB400T seat cover and an old beat up CM400 seat. The pan for the seat turned out to be in really rough shape so I ended up having to fiberglass a lot of rusted out areas along the edges to reshape the curve of the pan. Also, The CB400 seat is also a few inches shorter I found out so I ended up shortening the pan by buzzing off the back and then pushing it in on itself a few inches. I re-attached that with some rivets and then fiberglassed over it to smooth it all out. I reshaped the foam with a grinder and sanding disk and attached it to the pan with some 3M upholstery glue. Finally to attach the cover I had to rivet on upholstery spike strips because the originals had almost all rusted off the pan.

Hey there, welcome to the site. You've done a nice job on this bike. I like that you did a few subtle changes and really changed the look of the bike. With these bikes even small changes can make a huge difference. I bought some European bars that are similar to the ones you have. How is the riding position with those bars. I see a lot of guys use clip ons or clubman bars without rear sets and I don't think it would be very comfortable.

Looking good. Like that you blacked out the chrome strip on the wheels. Now to start blacking out some of the other super shiny stuff. Bike looks great.

tsbigdog said:

Hey there, welcome to the site. You've done a nice job on this bike. I like that you did a few subtle changes and really changed the look of the bike. With these bikes even small changes can make a huge difference. I bought some European bars that are similar to the ones you have. How is the riding position with those bars. I see a lot of guys use clip ons or clubman bars without rear sets and I don't think it would be very comfortable.

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Thanks for the compliments, it's been a slow process but it's all starting to come together. When I was looking for a bike I was originally looking for an earlier 70's CB but ended up finding this for the right price. After looking through the "So you bought a CM400" thread I saw how much potential these bikes had and figured, what the hell. With the goofy frame they don't support as much of the cookie cutter add-ons and end up looking pretty unique. I've been trying to give mine less of the 80's look and make it more like something from the 60's/70's. As for the riding position with those bars it's actually pretty comfortable. My usual commute to work is only about 20 minutes but I've gone a couple rides a few hours in length without any real back issues. When I first bought the bike I tried throwing a set of clubmans on and realized very quickly that I was going to have my knees in my chest trying to ride, not to mention I would have to get very creative rerouting the throttle cables. For a reference I'm 6'1" so I already look big on the bike.

gregnash said:

Looking good. Like that you blacked out the chrome strip on the wheels. Now to start blacking out some of the other super shiny stuff. Bike looks great.

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Thanks. The wheels turned out really good for just some duplicolor wheel paint, I've had a couple people ask me if they were powdercoated. So far it's held up with 2 months of regular riding. I think I'm gonna grab some extra fenders off of ebay, chop each fender down a little bit and try my hand at blacking them out. The ones on the bike are in really good shape for being 33 years old, I'd rather not destroy them.

So here is my paint scheme I'm going with for my bike:


As of now I have the fenders and chainguard just about ready to be painted. They probably need one more good coat of primer and some wet sanding and then I can hopefully paint this weekend. I sanded the hell out of the chrome with an electric sander, since I don't have access to a blaster, used some self etching primer and then sanding primer on top. I'm going to be using Duplicolor satin black wheel paint, the same as I used on the wheels. I filled in the original brake light mounts on the rear fender with bondo, It didn't need to be done since the license plate covers it but I knew it would be one of those things that bugged me because I knew it was there. Plus, I'll be using it to fill in the Honda emblem mounts on the tank so I needed some practice. I'll be finishing them all off with Spray Max 2K Clear so the paint will hopefully be pretty durable. I'll post some pictures once the priming is finished.

Lookin' good, man.
Nice to see a daily rider slowly transforming in to something completely different (what was said earlier is true - subtle changes here and there are making a big difference).
Wheels - awesome. Really dig what you did for the rear lights, too.

Thanks, I'm glad it's all finally coming together.



I'll give these a couple days to dry and then hopefully sand, wash, tack, and paint.

What did you do to get the chrome off?

I was going to use my uncle's blaster but found out it had broke. Option B was to sand. So I sanded the hell out of them. I took a power sander and some 60 grit and went to town on them. After that I hit them with a couple coats of self etching primer then sandable primer on top of that. I know blasting down to bare metal would have been the best option but hopefully this will hold up.

Finished painting fenders/chainguard, still need a wetsand and clearcoat.


Just started work on the tank yesterday, I've got to fill in a few small dents and the tank badge mounts. I'll post pics when I've got something worth looking at.

Wow, I have a new respect for anyone who does bodywork for a living, that is some tedious work. Fill, sand, repeat a thousand times. It took me a weeks worth of doing a little bit before and after work everyday but it paid off. The couple dings as well as the badge mounts are a thing of the past. All priming is finally completed and I am so close to having a new paint job I can taste it... or maybe that's the primer I taste.

Right side of tank:


Left side of tank:


Lid:

Right side cover:


Left side cover: