1975 400f Cafe Project

[Koestum]

Here's how I got the bike (dig that seat man!) for $300 running & driving with title:

After a little work removing fat stuff:

Muffler removed from header and probably more changes:

Made some turn signal brackets tonight (which prompted this thread), added cafe bars, painted most everything black except the tank, swapped out the painted spoke wheels for some 350f wheels, bent up an aluminum seat blank to be trimmed and upholstered somehow, more pics coming:

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

She's come a long way already, nice little build.
Glad you changed out those wheels, it may have looked cool once upon a time but now.... yeesh
I see a little of a rear fender, did you cut the front half off? Don't suppose there waere already holes in it for the new mount location was there? you have any more detail on that?

 

[Koestum]

She's come a long way already, nice little build.
Glad you changed out those wheels, it may have looked cool once upon a time but now.... yeesh
I see a little of a rear fender, did you cut the front half off? Don't suppose there waere already holes in it for the new mount location was there? you have any more detail on that?

I had a dented 750 front fender and cut it short, then spread it out, drilled holes, and bolted it on.

 

[Koestum]

Sorry for the blurry phone pics, the real camera is dead right now. Two more pics taken 11/2/2010 the bike and then the seatpan now trimmed:

(will get better daytime pics soon)

 

[bikeboy]

I'd ride it. Now that you've tidied it up a bit ;D

I'll be watching what you do because I have one of these that needs attention.

cheers
ian

 

[BigBSBusa]

Lookin' good.

 

[Koestum]

Got the turn signals working! FINALLY! Front are bulb and rear are led, both are chrome bullet. The 400f is designed to run with running lights so it has a three wire flasher. My front bulbs signals ground directly to the body but the rear LEDs have positive & ground wires. What I had to do was plug in the front orange/cyan wires, plug in the rear orange/cyan wires AND the ground wires to the green wires, AND THEN leave the green wire off of the flasher. It was like trying to pick a lock but now it works!

Also ordered new jets today so they should be in soon and I can put the carbs back on.

Also found a front brake assembly on ebay today so it should be here soon too!

All I need to do then is attach the seat pan and wire the LED rear running/brake lights and it will be roadworthy!

Then juts get the seatpan covered so it looks decent and I'll be riding... cold... but riding!

I don't know why the colors are losing so much saturation

 

[Slice]

The colour could be done in a cheap candy concentrate, exposure to sun would reallllly put a damper on it over a short period of time!
-Slice

 

[Koestum]

The colour could be done in a cheap candy concentrate, exposure to sun would reallllly put a damper on it over a short period of time!
-Slice

Thanks but it's the phone photos. They look fine on the phone but between there and online are losing detail and color.

 

[Koestum]

The bigger jets came in and the carbs are back on the bike. New battery, ebay caliper came in and I got it cleaned, had to clean the master cylinder again but it started up immediately and I have working front brakes again.

The chrome bullet LEDs aren't as bright as the filament chrome bullets so going to put the LEDs on front instead and I found a different stop/tail LED light I'll put on but it got too cold.

Unfortunately while sitting the tank developed a pinhole in the bottom. After wire brushing the paint off I found about five pinholes. A great old timer told me about a couple other options:
1. Put a washer on a small sheetmetal screw and screw it into the hole for a temporary fix.
2. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK: Solder the holes closed while running fumes from a small exhaust pipe (like a lawn mower) into the tank (to rid it of flammable oxygen).

I opened them up a little and tried sealing them with JB Weld but it still leaked so I ordered the motorcycle tank sealing kit from Eastwood. Directions say it needs to be 60degrees or warmer so I have to wait for the temps to rise before I can seal the tank.

It's so close to getting a tag on it!

 

[Koestum]

Ordered the Dime City universal rearsets & linkage kit this week, Herm said they're shipping today!

 

[Frankmowthelawn]

Have you made any progress lately?? I'm watching to get ideas for my own 400F. I'm the original owner and want to resurrect the old girl. Thanks for the inspiration!!

FMTL

 

[Koestum]

Not yet... It's been to cold to seal the tank but then I'll get tags for it, finish the seat, and make brackets to mount the rearsets... thanks for checking in.

 

[tonym547]

Do you know what front ends you can switch out to get better brakes forks and handling for the 400f's

 

[Koestum]

It's been a while since I've done anything BUT with July 4th coming up and my brother having his bike done already since the last time I even worked on the 400f... I got the fuel tank sealed today... FINALLY!

I used the complete Eastwood motorcycle tank sealing kit and followed the steps as closely as possible (I also did the z50 tank at the same time with the left overs since it's so small)

Now I'm rotating it every so often and have a box fan blowing air into it. I should know on Monday if the sealing kit passes or fails. I rebuilt the carbs last summer and it started great but that's when I found the tank had developed some leaking pinholes. I then ran the carb bowls dry before sitting all winter so hopefully it will be good to go with fresh gas next week and I can get take it through inspection.

 

[Koestum]

Do you know what front ends you can switch out to get better brakes forks and handling for the 400f's

Sorry, I don't know of any that swap over perfectly.

 

[Big R]

Didn't see this before.....

Check out this guys page:
http://www.oldrice.com/Cafecorner.htm
There's some talk about using the front end off a CB750.

 

[Koestum]

Simple license plate bracket to be attached at the lower shock mount:

 

[Koestum]

Making the seat.

The seat pan is aluminum cut with a bandsaw and bent with my home made bending brake.

Upholstery will go on the hardboard after being cut out:

Seat base cut out:

Used the hardboard to draw patterns on the high density foam and then headliner adhesive to stick them together (I think this is the swimming related HD foam you can find in swimming departments at stores):

The HD foam glue to the upholstery base. It will be trimmed so the edges match better and then one or two thinner softer sheets will be cut to smooth out the HD foam so the cover will appear smoother:

 

[Koestum]

UPDATES:

The fuel tank is showing no signs of leakage since I did the full Eastwood motorcycle kit.

I still need to finish the seat.

All the lights and signals are now working but the bike blows a fuse that kills the whole bike when I hit the brakes. Sometimes on the first time and sometimes it takes a couple times.

The 3-wire LED bullet turn signals I bought off ebay are not bright enough. The running light more is barely visible in the daytime and the turn signals are only sightly more visible than the running light alone. It may not pass inspection with these signals.

I still don't have the rearsets installed since brackets need to be welded on. I just want it to stop blowing fuses before I tackle the rearsets.