1975 CB400F - Restoration Finished

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flyin900
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1975 CB400F - Restoration Finished

#1

Post by flyin900 »

I started this project in early November last year and I am through most of the mechanical and electrical stuff now with only a few small items to finish on the motor and gauges area. I have some work to do on the gas tank as it is pretty rough on the outside and paint and decal and clear coat once we get a little closer to spring around here.

The backstory on this one is I purchased it from a fellow about 4 hrs away from me who had spent $$$ and had done a fair bit of initial work and ran out of time and enthusiasm for the remaining work. He had bought all new rims/spokes/tires and had them polished and assembled. The frame was powdercoated along with all the other small frame bits and pieces. The front forks were rebuilt and polished and the seat recovered. It came with a lot of spare parts as in electrical switches and a new repo muffler but an older set of 4 into 1 headers and lots of little Honda bits and bobs for the restoration.

Given the level of work already done and parts supplied by the PO I have kept with the original theme of trying to restore this as close to original using either repo David Silver Spares parts or OEM Honda. I sold off the older exhaust header and bought a new replacement piece. As such the wallet is a lot lighter than last fall after all the additional work and more parts were added to the build.

I don't have any real pictures of the bike initially, so suffice to say it was a seperate frame, wheels, motor and everything else in boxes. The motor was untouched and pretty rough once I got into the teardown of the top end and clutch pack assembly. The carbs were an absolute mess and needed to be used as a parts set for another CB400F carb set I had from a previous build. The motor has been fully rebuilt with the exception of the bearings which fortunately were still quite decent and since they are NLA the project would have come to a screeching halt right from the get go.

So here are some pictures of the bike as it has been reassembled and moving along toward completion this spring.
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Last edited by flyin900 on Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:23 pm, edited 7 times in total.
Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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flyin900
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#2

Post by flyin900 »

Additional pictures:
The last picture is the colour and look of what the finished bike will hopefully look like ... ! :crosso
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CB400F finished.JPG
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Last edited by flyin900 on Fri Apr 20, 2018 10:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#3

Post by desertrefugee »

Beautiful. One of my all time favorite Hondas. Thanks for the detailed expose.
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#4

Post by wingrider »

That is a neat project you have going! Quite the sexy header!
2002 1800 Wing
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1978 1200 EFI Wing with Motorvation Coupe Royale sidecar
1977 1200 Wing cafe/bobber project
1974 Suzuki GT550
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#5

Post by duke182 »

Great find and great work finishing it out.
It's a real head turner.
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#6

Post by gltriker »

action1 tumb2 WOW!
Cliff (74yrs ;) )

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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#7

Post by JSBail »

Looks fantastic, I hope the 75 cb400f that I recently acquired comes out that good.
Scott
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#8

Post by luludog »

Very, very nice! Keep us updated. Thanks
-Ray

1977 GL1000 - http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=40398
1975 CB750K5 - stock restoration http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=40426
1971 CB175K5 - stock restoration http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 95&start=0
1972 CB350 - resto-mod cafe project http://www.ngwclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=47429


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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#9

Post by Rat »

I like the yellow version .... but that is really nice .... the pipes were a real bonus ....

Gord
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#10

Post by flyin900 »

Here you go Gord the last one I restored a few years back. A 1976 CB 400F Parakeet Yellow which is the official Honda designation and the one above is officially called Varnish Blue. :-D
The 1976 was a Shriners bike and was very low original miles (1844 to be exact), yet not as many new parts were installed and it needed some extra painting on the fenders to cover the worn/pitted areas in the chrome finish.
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Last edited by flyin900 on Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#11

Post by Rat »

Wow ....

Where is it now ?

Gord
"I'd rather Ride than Shine"
‘14 KLR650 ... not a rat ... yet
‘84 GL1200i ‘R2B6' (Rat to Be 6, the last, adopted by twowings)
My Original 'RAT' was a hybrid '82 CB900/1100F
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flyin900
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#12

Post by flyin900 »

Some lucky 20 something down in Vaughan is riding it now... at least as far as I know. I rode it for a month or so and enjoyed it, yet they are really suited to someone who is either newer to riding, or just riding around town mostly. I found that after riding these larger bikes on a regular basis, the 400cc was just a little too small for the areas I ride.

It sure was fun though with that 10K redline and it liked to rev for sure and was still pretty smooth for a small engine. dancr
Last edited by flyin900 on Sun Feb 04, 2018 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#13

Post by Doug Hasert »

I bought my only new bike in 1975, a red CB400f. Hadn't owned a bike since 1958 when I had a 1949 BMW R24 I had in France and Germany while in the Air Force. Anyway I liked the Honda but discovered I liked long distance riding and the Honda didn't work for me so I traded it for a BMW R75/6. But I still think that 400 is a beautiful machine. Now have a Burgman 400 and like it a lotfor 2 wheeling. Still have my 82 Wing/sidecar also.
'82 Goldwing/Watsonian Monaco sidecar
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#14

Post by Gowing »

Nice bike! Those small four cylinder Honda’s are so smooth running. I’ve ridden a 350F but not the 400F.
I suppose they are similar.
Dave

1975 GL 1000
1980 XS650
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1972 F7 KAW 175
2000 moby blaze 40cc
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flyin900
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Re: 1975 CB400F - resto progress so far

#15

Post by flyin900 »

I actually restored a 1973 CB 350F the year before I did the yellow 76 above and it was a nice bike too with what I think was a better build finish from Honda. The little details like the Honda emblems on the gas tank and the CB350F side cover emblems were cast not decals, plus the four into four muffler system was a nod to the the big brother CB500 and CB750's.
Where the CB 400F shines in comparison is in the slightly more powerful motor and the much needed 6th gear. It really helps the bike in the 50+ MPH range where the CB350F was starting to run out of steam.
Current Bikes:

1966 CL77 - Honda 305cc - Dual purpose - "Gentleman's Scrambler" was a period moniker.
1967 CL175K0 - Low production number with #802 engine serial- winter 2019/2020 full restoration.
1972 CB350F - Baby Four with low mileage - Cosmetic refresh to the next level 2021/2022.
1978 CB550K - Very original bike with only 7499 Km. from new - light cleanup and refresh done.
1983 CB1100F - Canadian model - DOHC Supersport in pristine low kilometre condition from new.
1984 GL1200 - Standard model in showroom condition - two owner bike from new.
1984 CX650E - Restored summer 2017 - a rare Eurosport model - excellent one owner bike.
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