1981 CB400NB Superdream Renovation - Winter 2023-24 Project

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?

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!

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,

Loo forward to that report 

Brilliant job Steve; I'm very impressed. Glad you could bring it back to life.

I've just returned from the MotoClub Indianos Colombres Rally in northern Spain on the CB400N. Had a great time in beautiful weather except for one day of rain. Temperatures ranged from 24 deg on the coast to 18 deg in the Picos mountains. Only 680 miles over 5 days of riding but hundreds of tight bends and many very tight and steep descending and climbing hairpins. The latter required 1st gear and sometimes a bit of clutch slipping to keeps the revs up. There were over 300 bikes, all 1988 or earlier, including lots of Hondas though no other Superdreams. The bike had a thorough workout and coped well with the only rear chain adjustment required on the maintenance front. The brakes bedded in nicely and were wholly adequate throughout. A very enjoyable trip.