bazzer
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Post by bazzer on Jun 5, 2024 13:07:30 GMT
Great blue thanks. I’ll give it a whirl. As you say, hopefully full engine temp with cure it. Thanks for the reply. 👍
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blue
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Post by blue on Jun 9, 2024 20:30:42 GMT
The 33+ years old headlight bulb blew when I brought the engine revs up and coated the inside of the reflector and glass with a grey film which took a lot of fiddling about to wipe off. I ran an extra earth connection from the frame to the connector block as a poor earth can be a reason for bulb failures; the new bulb is ok so perhaps that has helped. Fitting the last few bits and pieces (mirror, handgrips, gear lever rubber) took much longer than I anticipated but I finally was able to ride the bike this morning. I put in a few litres of fuel from a can and rode around the village to check all was well. It was, so I ventured further afield to fill up at a petrol station and then back home for a thorough look around. Only 12 miles in total but nothing had fallen off and I enjoyed my first ride on a CB400N. The engine was lively and smooth, the gearbox worked well, the handling was taut & lights and indicators all seemed ok. On the downside, the warning lights weren't bright enough & the brakes were less than impressive. The rear (new shoes) was next to useless and the front (33+ year old pads) needed a lot of 'pull' to give any decent retardation. I'll give them a bit of time to bed-in but a modern set of sintered pads could soon be on order plus some LEDs for the warning lights. All-in-all, a very satisfying result and I'm looking forward to putting on more miles over the summer. ![](https://i.ibb.co/GtGX8pk/IMG-7158.jpg)
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Jun 9, 2024 22:49:59 GMT
Looks really good! Interesting on the brakes. I just fitted new shoes on the rear of my SD250 and they are as effective as rim brakes on a pushbike! The originals which had a lot of wear worked better. Maybe they need bedding in?
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ian
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Isle of Man
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Post by ian on Jun 10, 2024 19:15:34 GMT
I think rubbish brakes & warning lights are par for the course with SDs
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Post by duffer on Jun 10, 2024 19:48:28 GMT
This tank came with my CB400N and it's in good solid condition but doesn't have the rear lower extensions for the side panel attachment grommets so I won't be using it. Does anyone know from what bike it originates? ![](https://i.ibb.co/xC04G0g/IMG-6379.jpg) Silly question have they been cut off? Vandalism corrected. ![](https://i.ibb.co/tC8m5vQ/20240610-200029.jpg) ![](https://i.ibb.co/gdS5w0S/20240610-200106.jpg)
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blue
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Post by blue on Jun 13, 2024 15:10:31 GMT
Nice job Steve.
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blue
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Post by blue on Jun 16, 2024 8:38:15 GMT
I put some LEDs in the warning lights and cleaned the inside of the lenses; the latter weren't very dirty. Now the lights are very bright, except for the high beam blue which must be thoroughly dulled by age. The photo exaggerates the white spot of the LED and I couldn't get rid of that by moving the camera to different angles but that doesn't show in real life and they look ok. Just waiting for new front pads to arrive and I'll fit those and go for the second ride - if it stops raining! ![](https://i.ibb.co/BBfjzkX/IMG-7197.jpg)
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Jun 16, 2024 9:11:00 GMT
I put some LEDs in the warning lights and cleaned the inside of the lenses; the latter weren't very dirty. Now the lights are very bright, except for the high beam blue which must be thoroughly dulled by age. The photo exaggerates the white spot of the LED and I couldn't get rid of that by moving the camera to different angles but that doesn't show in real life and they look ok. Just waiting for new front pads to arrive and I'll fit those and go for the second ride - if it stops raining! ![](https://i.ibb.co/BBfjzkX/IMG-7197.jpg) Same here, blue light would never brighten no matter what I tried.
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blue
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Post by blue on Jun 21, 2024 15:26:36 GMT
I've now done two more rides for a total of 121 miles. New brake pads eventually turned up, the first ones having been 'lost in the post', so I fitted those yesterday and also adjusted the rear brake. Rode with a friend today and found the front brake to be a great deal better and the rear very slightly more effective - it certainly made for a much more relaxing ride than the first two outings.
The engine is running nicely except for a 'flat spot' around 3500 to 5000 rpm. Above that acceleration is excellent. Adjusting the idle mixture screw doesn't make any difference to the flat spot (on some carbs the idle mixture has an effect a long way up the rpm range so that's an easy adjustment to start with). Thoughts on the next step appreciated from those more au-fait with CV carbs than me.
Apart from the carb flat spot, the only other issue is a weeping oil seal on the left fork leg. The chrome on both stanchions was pitted and I rubbed it down with 2000-grit wet and dry and then polished with a fairly heavy duty metal polish. Both stanchions were pretty smooth after that but I did recognise that there was still a risk of fork seal damage. I'll give the cleaning/polishing one more go, fit a new seal and try again. If that doesn't work it'll have to be a wallet-crunching pair of new stanchions; they seem to be cheaper than a rechroming job on the originals though I'll check again before committing.
I'm enjoying riding the machine and it is attracting some positive comments from fellow motorcyclists. I'm looking forward to solving the carb and fork leak issues,
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