Down under, an idiot and a 400F

[Integra99]

Wow amazing work and story.. just spent 20mins skimming through.. !

Here's my cb400f so far..  mines very much standard but a few subtle tweaks.. waiting on the seat to be upholstered... money and time is a limitation with other projects.

[The Limey]

Very pretty.  The black engine with carefully selected polished bits is very subtle, but very nice.

[Integra99]

Cheers mate, I'm trying to create it looking like a modern take on the original CB400f like it came from the factory..  tank will be RS4 nano grey, with a gloss black stripe.. apologies to thread hijack !!

[crazypj]

I'm about 99% certain you could fit an early XR 200 monoshock  into 400f (or CB360  ) frame Swing arm is about 4" longer but being box section much easier to shorten if needed. Could also weld shock mounts on for a twin shock

[irk miller]

I'm about 99% certain you could fit an early XR 200 monoshock  into 400f (or CB360  ) frame Swing arm is about 4" longer but being box section much easier to shorten if needed. Could also weld shock mounts on for a twin shock

I can confirm that to be true...

[neevo]

I find it very important to mock up the upholstered portion of the seat when I am deciding on the cowl shape.  You can carve up an old seat foam to roughly fit and wrap it or paint it dark like the cover you intend to use to approximate the end result.  I make mine from fiberglass with the seat base and cowl as a single component, so it is easy for me to shape the rigid foam for the cowl and soft foam for the seat at the same time.  Looks like you can do the same thing adjusting your cardboard mock up with the seat foam until you get the shape of both to look like you want.  I see an awful lot of bikes that would have looked a lot better if the upholstered portion didn't look like the separate project it was.

That’s a really good point. I’ll think about how I do that because I don’t want the lines of the seat ruined by a big foam block.

[neevo]

Wow amazing work and story.. just spent 20mins skimming through.. !

Here's my cb400f so far..  mines very much standard but a few subtle tweaks.. waiting on the seat to be upholstered... money and time is a limitation with other projects.

Thanks and nice work yourself!

[neevo]

Got in to the shed today and took to converting my cardboard template in to steel. Cut apart the template and measured it on the sheet of steel:



Cut it out with my air shears (worked a charm after I oiled them). Cut it all out and set it in my brake to bend up the sides:



Next up I trimmed the front with a cut off disk in the grinder. I drew a centre line and then used a spirit level to get the front square:



Then I cut the sides and seat. This is where I realised I’d made a mistake... I think I’ve cut the seat section a little short.

However I’m going to press on and use this one as a guide on how I will make the compound curve on the back. I also want to make the sides a little shorter so if this one doesn’t work out, then I will make them 30mm instead of 35mm.

The brake makes a huge difference and this seat is already significantly better made than the first one:

[crazypj]

Hi Ed, nice to see you back.I'm sure kids keeping you busy. Didn't realise just how much looking after they take until I started looking after stepdaughters son. Haven't really done anything for last 19 months plus, now he's 2-1/2 he's real active and into everything. . 

[neevo]

Ain’t that the truth PJ!!! And I’ve had some other projects on the burner too which makes it hard to put time and money into this bike seeing as it will still be years away from the road (probably).

I need to get back in to the habit of a few hours a week though, even if it’s stuff I can do for free... just to make sure it’s ticking along.