1979 CM400T

The website I got the battery from was the probably the least expensive that I could find. Most of the batteries I saw elsewhere were $70-$80. You probably got a better brand battery than I did for $80.
 
Looking good!!!

My cm did the same thing about pissing gas, floats were stuck, just needed tapped. If you do end up needing new floats lmk, I have a bunch of them. My dog chewed one up and I found a lot of parts carbs for cheap... If you want to jet it the cx500 jets work, I have a 90 - 120 set in mine now and it runs great with emgo mufflers, no mid pipe and pods.
 
MarcW, thanks. The floats seem to be in pretty good shape, not sticking and they don't have any holes or cracks in the them. The seem to be pretty well tuned as well. The previous owner had already done the jetting work, 115 main jets. I tweaked the float height a little and they seem to be running pretty well. I'm planning on syncing the carbs in the next few days now that the bike is running well. I don't know how much longer I'll be riding around in these temperatures though.
 
MarcW said:
Looking good!!!

My cm did the same thing about pissing gas, floats were stuck, just needed tapped. If you do end up needing new floats lmk, I have a bunch of them. My dog chewed one up and I found a lot of parts carbs for cheap... If you want to jet it the cx500 jets work, I have a 90 - 120 set in mine now and it runs great with emgo mufflers, no mid pipe and pods.
Click to expand...

Hey MarcW...

Seems this pissing gas thing is a common problem with our models. I had it happen last night and after reading old chipmunks reply here my problems make a ton of sense.

A question about your rejetting... I have heard the the 400 twins dont really need it but I am running pods on my bike and it keeps bikefiring with the jet screw out like 4.5 turns. Should I re-jet? If so can you folks explain what these sizes are/mean?
 
My bike was rejetted by the previous owner. It has K&N pods and a 2 into 1 exhaust with a poorly baffled muffler. According to my Clymer's manual the stock settings for the carbs are #70 Primary Main jet, #112 Secondary main jet, 15.5mm float level, and the air screws 2 turns out. Mine currently has #115 secondary jets, floats are set at 16.5mm, and I think the air screws are 3.5 turns out. Don't remember for sure though. It's running pretty well exept for a small amount of popping when it's idling in gear. The larger the jet size the large the opening in the jet. Before you start messing with your carbs make sure everything else is running correctly. Clean off your spark plugs get the bike nice and warm. Run it at wide open throttle at 7,000+ RPM and hit the kill switch without letting it idle. Then check the plugs. If they're white then the bike is running lean and you'll need to rejet. It probably won't be running rich with pods on it. There are a lot of good resources out there on carb tuning, they know a lot more than I do. Each setting on carbs will affect certain parts of the power band at certain throttle openings. Start with the main jets first and work your way down. Check these out: http://www.factorypro.com/tech_tuning_procedures/tuning_carbtune,CV,high_rpm_engines.html
http://www.carbparts.com/keihin/needles_tuning/jet_needle_changes.htm
There are a lot more resources out there, I just can't find my bookmarks right now. Once, again, I'm not an expert but I hope this will point you in the right direction.
 
Awesome... what a response. Thanks man! I have some learning to do but i have to get it running well before as you said. I am going home right now to start working on it. Ill post with what the night brings in a bit.
Ciao,
sXe
 
sxe, yeah exactly what col said!!! I'm running pods with no mid and emgo shorties, seems to have great throttle response. one of my acc pumps has a small tear in it though so it only runs on 1 cylinder at idle and puffs like cheech and chong when i romp on it out of idle!! normal riding it's great though!!!
 
colpumpkinnuts said:
I've finished the new battery mount and I have the electronics hidden underneath the new seat. The mounting brackets for the seat are complete and mounted and I've started working on a new mount for the tailight. I've drilled holes in the underside of the seat and I've filled them with epoxy. The plan is to tap the holes so I have a solid mount for the tail lights. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to finish painting the exhaust, we're supposed to have some good weather. I've already cut and trimmed the foam for the new seat, now I to cover it and mount it.


The seat brackets:
Click to expand...


hey...I'd like to do this to my cm... could you tell me how you did it? I've ran into some problems with wire placement and mounting. Sounding like your making some awesome progress. Got any whole bike shots? love to see 'em!
 
The seat I've made rests on top of the tank mount and bolts onto where the seat latches used to be. That frees up a lot of room to stash the battery and electronics. You won't be able to do the same thing I did with a stock seat pan. The battery is held up by frame work I made up with aluminum. At the front of that framework I added a tab that the starter solenoid attaches to. The fuses and the turn signal relay are bolted to the frame just behind the battery. The rectifier/regular is bolted to the bottom of the frame work.

 
Here's a shot of the bike with the new seat on it. I'm not happy with how it looks. I'm planning to build a new one this winter.
 
you made that yourself? heck, looks better than mine! did you use the stock seat pan? what don't you like about it. The only thing that I can see is that it might be a little too long...but that's one man's opinion. other than that, id say your looking good mate!
 
I dig it man, I agree with a bit shorter... but this comes from a guy who is fenderless in the front and has a almost fully exposed rear tire!!!
 
The seat was my first attempt at making something out of fiberglass. I used cardboard as a core material in the hopes that it would be easier to build than making a mold. It's too long, the corners are too sharp and I want the seat height to be a little lower. I think I'm definitely going to be making a mold for my next seat. I'm trying to find an easily shapable, cheap material to make a plug. I used flower foam for the hump on this seat but that stuff is expensive. I was thinking of using expanding insulating foam but I read that it creates harmful dust when you're shaping it. Does any body have any ideas?
 
I used the original gas tank as my hump. I 've got it bolted on currently. It's a temp. fix.
100_0479.jpg


I'm not real happy with the curved lines of this seat. but you can see how the bum stop is placed. I have to give credit to loco leon for the idea of using an old tank....and I think he passed that credit onto someone else! :D

I really don't like Honda's lines on this frame. makes it tough to get that straight line we want for a cafe!!! But hey, like someone told me..."just another reason to fabricate a solution!!!"
look-at-seat.jpg


I really like what MarcW has started. Makes me want to think farther out of the box!!!
 
colpumpkinnuts said:
Here's a shot of the bike with the new seat on it. I'm not happy with how it looks. I'm planning to build a new one this winter.
Click to expand...

Do you have any pics of the making of the seat pan? looks really good, but the one pic of the seat on the bike is small, I like the yellow a lot, did you modify the tank?
 
The tank is from a CM400E. I pounded knee dents into and also put some dents in so the handlebars would clear the tank. The yellow is just rustoleum yellow I got at home depot. The paint is kinda lousy right now, it will be getting redone in the winter. I'll post some pics of making the seat in a bit.
 
I made the seat with a cardboard core. I don't suggest making a seat this way. It would probably work pretty well if you just needed flat pieces of a strong, lightweight material but it doesn't work well if you want something with rounded curves. It's also a pain in the ass to get a smooth finish this way. I started by cutting out cardboard and glueing it together to get the basic shape for the seat pan. Be sure to line up the grains of the cardboard in the direction you need them.

Then layer fiberglass cloth on both sides of the cardboard. The cardboard will absorb a lot of resin so the first bit of cloth that you put on there will need quite a bit of resin.

I then built up the hump using flower foam and sanded it to shape.

Then I put a thin layer of bondo on it to keep the fiberglass resin from dissolving the foam. Then I layered fiberlass on the hump.

It took a lot of Bondo to smooth out the surfaces of the seat.


Their is a lot of information out there on how to make stuff out of fiberglass, including a lot of info on DTT. Use that information to learn how to work with the glass. It will be a lot more complete and correct than I could tell you.
 
col, I found this green floral foam at the local craft store pretty cheap, like $4 for 5 or 6 brick size pieces of it. See if you can find that for shaping!!

I've heard bad thing about expanding foam too.
 
The resin didn't attack the bondo I put on top of the foam. It also made it a little bit tougher so it didn't deform while I was placing cloth on it.
 
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