Hi guys. I'm not sure on what the etiquette is on this, but I've posted this over at the SOHC4 forums. However a friend told me this was THE place for cafe racer projects and advice, so I thought maybe I should post them in both forums so everyone can follow my progress.
I'm 25, live in Melbourne, Australia. Doug inspired me to have a crack at building a bike. I'll be honest, I don't know a whole lot about mechanicals. I've always been a bit of a computer nerd. Anyway, I figured I'd have a go at building a cafe racer inspired CB400 Four on a budget.
Here it is. Not much to look at. I'll be honest, I bought this bike unseen from South Australia for $1000 AUD. It was a gamble. However it all seems to be there in one way or another, even if it has some rust and holes in it. It doesn't drip anything.
I haven't been able to get it started. I'm not sure about it. There's a lot of superficial rust, a good size hole in the 4-into-1 collector, the muffler is toast, the seat busted, the battery was missing, the forks have some rust pitting, some of the spokes aren't great and the tank has some bog in it and is dinged up. The electric start is broken. The highlight doesn't work but the front indicators do. The rear aren't connected. The headlight bucket is cracked, as is one of the gauge buckets. The gears seem to select. The brakes function but won't stop the bike in a hurry. The chain and sprocket appear ok if a little rusted. The kick start is loose, as is the foot brake.
I cleaned the tank out with some petrol. This is what came out. I wonder how that bug liked petrol fumes?
I pinched a friends battery. Grabbed another friend to help (pictured), then put the tank back on, zip-tied the fuel hose on to the carburetor and fuel tap as it was very loose and started her up. As I said, the electric starter just makes a single click the the power shuts off. However the kick starter got it going fine when I gave it some throttle. It won't idle for long, even with the choke fully on. I might try cleaning the plugs and putting some WD-40 (lubricating oil in a can for those non-Australians) down the throttle cables to loosen them up a bit. With the holes in the header collector it's hard to hear anything specific about how the engine is running. There's plenty of smoke coming out. I'll try the oil.
I didn't bleed it completely, just enough to see if anything obvious fell out. It appeared pretty clear to me.
I don't know anything about engines really. I'm not sure about the compression as I don't have a tester, but the carburetors appear to function and aren't dirty if I take the caps off. I didn't get too stuck into it as I'm taking it to a Honda mechanic a buddy used for his resto CB250 project to get an informed decision before I continue.
Update:
Ok so I put the bike on a trailer and took it around to this Honda mechanic's house. It was a sobering experience. He told me, without really starting it or taking anything off it, that it appears to have a head gasket problem (there was a leak stain he showed me that indicated this apparently), the rims and rubbers will need replacing, so will all the cables, everything will need cleaning or replacing (bolts, cables, guards etc) and thought the rubber connecting the engine to the carburetor (what are they called?) would need replacing. Obviously all the filters need replacing. The entire exhaust system would need to be replaced as it's got hole in it. He even said that the cylinder's would most likely need re-boring (he mentioned that would cost about $250 a cylinder). He said the front forks would need to be rebuilt too. He said he could take a more in depth look at it during the week, but he'd be taking money from me as it's not worth it. He said sell it and look for something that costs a bit more money initially but will require less engine work.
Obviously this is shattering news to me. I had expected to do a whole bunch of cleaning, powder coating and the odd bit of chrome. I knew the headers and muffler would have to be replaced. But an engine rebuild? I was hoping to avoid this so early on in the project. I knew getting a 4 cylinder bike unseen for $1000 AUD would be risky, but I was hoping I'd get away with something I could get good with my own hard work and a lot of cleaning/paint/new parts. Maybe that was naive.
I'm at a crossroads. I really have fallen in love with the CB400 Four and can't imagine anything else, but I haven't seen many come up for sale on the internet in the last few months. Should I sell this and wait for something that might cost a little more up front but won't require so much work to get it running decently? Argh! Decisions!
I'm devastated.
Rick.
I'm 25, live in Melbourne, Australia. Doug inspired me to have a crack at building a bike. I'll be honest, I don't know a whole lot about mechanicals. I've always been a bit of a computer nerd. Anyway, I figured I'd have a go at building a cafe racer inspired CB400 Four on a budget.
Here it is. Not much to look at. I'll be honest, I bought this bike unseen from South Australia for $1000 AUD. It was a gamble. However it all seems to be there in one way or another, even if it has some rust and holes in it. It doesn't drip anything.
I haven't been able to get it started. I'm not sure about it. There's a lot of superficial rust, a good size hole in the 4-into-1 collector, the muffler is toast, the seat busted, the battery was missing, the forks have some rust pitting, some of the spokes aren't great and the tank has some bog in it and is dinged up. The electric start is broken. The highlight doesn't work but the front indicators do. The rear aren't connected. The headlight bucket is cracked, as is one of the gauge buckets. The gears seem to select. The brakes function but won't stop the bike in a hurry. The chain and sprocket appear ok if a little rusted. The kick start is loose, as is the foot brake.
I cleaned the tank out with some petrol. This is what came out. I wonder how that bug liked petrol fumes?
I pinched a friends battery. Grabbed another friend to help (pictured), then put the tank back on, zip-tied the fuel hose on to the carburetor and fuel tap as it was very loose and started her up. As I said, the electric starter just makes a single click the the power shuts off. However the kick starter got it going fine when I gave it some throttle. It won't idle for long, even with the choke fully on. I might try cleaning the plugs and putting some WD-40 (lubricating oil in a can for those non-Australians) down the throttle cables to loosen them up a bit. With the holes in the header collector it's hard to hear anything specific about how the engine is running. There's plenty of smoke coming out. I'll try the oil.
I didn't bleed it completely, just enough to see if anything obvious fell out. It appeared pretty clear to me.
I don't know anything about engines really. I'm not sure about the compression as I don't have a tester, but the carburetors appear to function and aren't dirty if I take the caps off. I didn't get too stuck into it as I'm taking it to a Honda mechanic a buddy used for his resto CB250 project to get an informed decision before I continue.
Update:
Ok so I put the bike on a trailer and took it around to this Honda mechanic's house. It was a sobering experience. He told me, without really starting it or taking anything off it, that it appears to have a head gasket problem (there was a leak stain he showed me that indicated this apparently), the rims and rubbers will need replacing, so will all the cables, everything will need cleaning or replacing (bolts, cables, guards etc) and thought the rubber connecting the engine to the carburetor (what are they called?) would need replacing. Obviously all the filters need replacing. The entire exhaust system would need to be replaced as it's got hole in it. He even said that the cylinder's would most likely need re-boring (he mentioned that would cost about $250 a cylinder). He said the front forks would need to be rebuilt too. He said he could take a more in depth look at it during the week, but he'd be taking money from me as it's not worth it. He said sell it and look for something that costs a bit more money initially but will require less engine work.
Obviously this is shattering news to me. I had expected to do a whole bunch of cleaning, powder coating and the odd bit of chrome. I knew the headers and muffler would have to be replaced. But an engine rebuild? I was hoping to avoid this so early on in the project. I knew getting a 4 cylinder bike unseen for $1000 AUD would be risky, but I was hoping I'd get away with something I could get good with my own hard work and a lot of cleaning/paint/new parts. Maybe that was naive.
I'm at a crossroads. I really have fallen in love with the CB400 Four and can't imagine anything else, but I haven't seen many come up for sale on the internet in the last few months. Should I sell this and wait for something that might cost a little more up front but won't require so much work to get it running decently? Argh! Decisions!
I'm devastated.
Rick.