400F bratstyle

[andycafe]

So I had my Brother (IL) down for Christmas
Back in April 2009 he had hooked me up with this 75 400F needless to say after 5 years of no movement with it he certainly put a fire cracker up me to get moving ;D The original story was "The wife and i have just returned from a week long trip up and down the coast from Melbourne to Brisbane in our motor home, with plenty of stops along the way including Sydney where my Sister and her Husband Hardy live. How exciting you may say however Hardy is the bloke who although i have been into bikes for around 25yrs really got me into cafe racers and introduced me to Do The Ton. While visiting them he showed me the progress made and ideas for his own Suzuki cafe ( what a beast ) he also surprised me by very generously giving me a Honda Cb400f ( bored to 500 ). Needing some wiring, front brake and general tidying will turn into a nice cafe for myself, with a complete rebuild planned for after the wife's CB250rs cafe is completed, all the more reason to get hers finished now!!!!!!! So considering i had the bike trailer on behind the motor home with our Honda 600 tourer, with a couple of small mods i was able to bring the 400 back home and once i had recovered from about 3600kms of driving i spent a couple of hours looking over it and got it running so not to long before i can get out onto the road and DO THE TON !!!!! Ive added a pic at the bottom...

 

[andycafe]

So I have had an idea of how I would like this to look for quite a while now, so with some much time having past and still loving the look I'm sure this is what I want

 

[andycafe]

And this is how it sits as of today ready for progress

 

[2_DONE_THE_TON]

looking good man!i love these 400 f´s exhausts!stick with normal tires and not those baloony firestones...they destroy cornering with every bike.

 

[andycafe]

looking good man!i love these 400 f´s exhausts!stick with normal tires and not those baloony firestones...they destroy cornering with every bike.

Cheers man, yeah I was thinking normal tyres I really like the rib on the front, but I would like white walls or big white lettering on them 8)

 

[andycafe]

I've played with several tanks to get the right look as the original wont suit, a CB550 is to large and the old steel XR tanks are too skinny but I found a CB360 fits great. The only problems with it is the location of the fuel cock being directly above the carb and a few dints that will need to he pulled before paint

 

[trek97]

Ha, after my Bro turned me onto these little bikes. That pic of that black 400 is the first one I found. I fell in love w it. and that was my inspiration model.

Be careful about adding too many 360 parts...you want it to run when finished dont you?

Yep, keep away from the firestones. and if you plan to ride it, she will require more rear tire room.

I got you bookmarked.

 

[andycafe]

Ha, after my Bro turned me onto these little bikes. That pic of that black 400 is the first one I found. I fell in love w it. and that was my inspiration model.

Be careful about adding too many 360 parts...you want it to run when finished dont you?

Yep, keep away from the firestones. and if you plan to ride it, she will require more rear tire room.

I got you bookmarked.

Nice one

yeah the tank will be the only 360 part I'll add ;D don't worry I'm gonna put real tyres on her ;D Your right about the rear fender being to close to the wheel she has Koni's on the rear which she naturally sits higher on, so this will help as I do want her to be comfy

 

[andycafe]

Be careful about adding too many 360 parts...you want it to run when finished dont you?

Question, What did you do with your 360 tank? it looks straight, interested in clearing it out of you shop ;D

 

[andycafe]

Had a little play this afternoon and noticed that whoever installed the headers last didn't fit gaskets ??? Anyhow I also had a look around for some new tyres and found this combo of 110/90 rear (4.00) and 100/90 front @ $220 ride away, what do you think??

 

[VonYinzer]

Those are the Shinkos right? If so, they're a great tire for the money. Plenty of grip and performance for these old bikes and they seem to last well.

 

[andycafe]

Yeah Shinko, turns out that this dealer is not far from me in Melbourne so I'm hoping I can get 2 sets for and even better price pick up Thanks for the info it makes them sound promising indeed

 

[Maritime]

+1 on the shinko's for the price they are excellent tires. I have em on the CX and the Wing and they stick well, easy to balance and wear pretty good too.

 

[andycafe]

+1 on the shinko's for the price they are excellent tires. I have em on the CX and the Wing and they stick well, easy to balance and wear pretty good too.

Cheers for the feedback, I think this definitely gets me over the line to pick them up

 

[andycafe]

So today I started looking forward at this project, I noticed the PO had used oversized bolts in the clutch cable cover plate so had fitted spaces for it to tighten ??? ??? I noticed this because as I know the engine runs fine (needs carb rebuild though) I wont be doing a complete strip down of it just a clean up This means I want the little covers polished up for a contrast, the fun part is the PO used a wire wheel to clean the motor ??? Anyway next up is to yank the motor and prep them frame for paint and clean up the rims for the new rubber

 

[andycafe]

Ordered the tyres today they should be Here by the end of the month ;D also since now I have two builds going I needed to build an extra... Check my workshop build thread to see ;D

 

[rockcitycafe]

boy I hope that bike never gets rained on... nice stack/rain collector design... Personally I like the 400f, if I didn't feel the need to do stupid things like ride 130mph, it would be my favorite bike. I wish you found a better inspiration build than that "brat" deathtrap.

 

[andycafe]

boy I hope that bike never gets rained on... nice stack/rain collector design... Personally I like the 400f, if I didn't feel the need to do stupid things like ride 130mph, it would be my favorite bike. I wish you found a better inspiration build than that "brat" deathtrap.

;D Thanks, Luckily I wont be copying it completely I'll keep the original rear ride height so that there is clearance and suspension travel and of course I am slipping some decent rubber on her not that she'll be aiming for 130mph So basically she'll look different but should keep the factory ride ability 8)

 

[andycafe]

Ok so luckily my neighbour Craig has join the fun for this build and will be helping to complete the project With that tonight we pulled the engine which was a lot better than I thought (think Craig had the heavy end ;D) apart from the fact that the carbs had leaked fuel into the engine oil, it all seems to be good. We brainstormed a few ideas for the frame and various colours, so our next task is de-tabbing the frame before sand blasting then cleaning up the wheels ready for the new rubber 8)

 

[andycafe]

New brake pads arrived today : will make for a nice little polish & rebuild job we could do now