| The Beginning - UGH !!! |
| A sight that gives you that sick feeling..... |
| A disgusting, rusted hulk of a 1971 CB450 K4. Unknown mileage, obviously bad condition. Clear Title, coupla' hundred bucks. |
| Originally envisioned as a straight-ahead restoration, the project has mutated into a Tracker-type customization. |
| Some nice parts came my way, and I figured there were plenty of restored 450's around already - so something different was called for. |
| Skip to Finished Project Photos |
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| Step 1 - Disassemble and Evaluate |
| Following is a partial list of items I found to be faulty, upon tear down. |
| Keep in mind, the Previous Owner (PO) said that this bike had been given a thorough going-over by "someone who knew what they were doing". |
| Left side compression - 0 pounds, right side 100 pounds (170-180 pounds desired). |
| Oil drain bolt shot - replaced with spare CB200 plug, new part no longer available (NLA) |
| 6 crankcase bolts not tightened at all, two bolts missing. |
| Lower crankcase broken at rear engine mount - replaced lower crankcase. |
| Rear wheel 7 mm off centerline of bike (probably came off the showroom that way) - combined with the loose swingarm, this could have made this bike a killer. |
| Seat shot - strip, de-funkify, and refoam/re-cover (~$100) |
| No air cleaners at all - got Uni sock-style foam filters. |
| Both brakes seized up, master cylinder leaks, but won't function. Replace master with aftermarket - ($50). |
| Tires shot - replaced with Cheng Shin Barracudas (~$100). |
| Chain shot - replaced with new (~$40). |
| Wiring harness butchered, all switches and devices shot - replace with good used harness and devices ($25 on EBay), new handlebar switches (~$150). |
| Forks/shocks shot - replaced shocks with 1981 CB750C shocks, about an inch longer and in great shape ($40). |
| Both wheels in terrible shape, all rusty/corroded - replaced entire front end/rear wheel with parts from 1979 CB400T, with some finaglin'. |
| New cables, all in black to match the color scheme. Tach cable was hard to find (NLA), eventually picked up a like-new CB500T tach cable. |
| From the Ground Up - |
| Frame and swingarm have now been powder coated, for just $100. |
| Hmmmm.... shiny (Homer voice). |
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| MAJOR INTERRUPTION !!!!!! |
| Someone in the area just GAVE me a 1979 CB400T2, less than 3,000 miles, out of a barn. |
| Unfortunately, no Title, and a search with several States indicated they never heard of the bike. |
| I decided it was too much trouble to deal with a model I didn't care much for anyway. |
| So I tore it down, intending to piece it out on EBay. |
| But wait - I like those wheels, and really like the forks. Way better looks than stock 450 stuff. |
| Hmmm.........So much for the Restoration. |
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| Step 2 - Another Direction |
| Ok, the CB400T forks are 33 mm, the 450 is 35 mm. Fork spacing also different. |
| So this photo shows the powdercoated frame fitted with CB360 stem and clamps, with tapered roller bearings. |
| Now the entire 400T front end can be transplanted as a unit, no hassles. |
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| The bare wheels were soaked in Milk Stone Remover (MSR) to de-rust and de-funkify. It's never a good idea to disassemble these Comstars, so I just filled a big cooler with MSR (about half/half with water) solution, then immersed half the wheel (or so) at a time, so the bearings were never touched. |
| Then some Duplicolor engine enamel, new tubes and tires. |
| The 400T front end fit the 360 tree and clamp perfectly. Fork ears are aftermaket polished aluminum (~$30). |
| Have to make a note to get a spare triple clamp - the 360's were notorious for cracking the triple clamps. |
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| Now we're having fun. |
| Being a technically advanced kinda guy, I used the pictured Hi-Tech tools to establish the geometry - |
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| Hey, the Egyptians built the pyramids, with those tools. The Wright Brothers built machines that flew, with those tools. |
| Photo below shows the plumb and string for the front end. Standing in front of the bike, it was possible to visually line up the front tire - string - front and rear frame down tubes spot-on together. |
| Some wooden carpenter shims under the side stand got things perfectly vertical and aligned. |
| At this point, a check with the levels showed the front wheel was also perfectly vertical - so perfectly aligned with the frame tools. |
| Another level check indicated the swingarm was dead level at this point (thank you Lord). |
| So the frame is at least overall aligned, along with the forks and front wheel. |
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| Time for the REAL test , the rear wheel/sprocket and geometry. |
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| Step 3 - LINE IT ALL UP |
| The photos show a couple of lines I stretched from the steering neck back - if you stand a few feet back of the bike, you can sight down everything on the bike with a single line. At the point that line crossed the rear seat support thing, I dropped a plumb line to the wheel itself. |
| The photos make the lines look a bit off center. |
| The photos show the 400T wheel. When I started, I tried the original 450 wheel, and it was offset 7 mm to the left within the scheme of things. |
| Pretty scary, when you consider the swing arm also had about 3/8" side play due to the missing parts. |
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| New wheel off-center, as you can see. |
| Now after some work on the axle spacers. Dead center. |
| Swingarm still level, wheels perpendicular, everything lines up. |
| Also had to fabricate a couple of little collars for the smaller diameter 400T axle. |
| They fit over the axle and within the axle adjuster holes in the swingarm. |
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| Put a dummy engine in the frame and pulled out a brand new chain............ drum roll...... |
| The sprockets line up fine, no side play on the chain or anything. |
| I am truly the most fortunate of men. |
| Note the '81 CB750C shocks. |
| So now it's looking like this - |
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| Ooooooohhhh..... |
| I think I like where this is going. |
| Onward To The Engine - |
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| Step 4- ENGINE |
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| Not much going for it out of the box. |
| Many hours spent cleaning every individual piece. |
| Painted and baked all visible components. |
| Ordered stainless steel nuts/bolts for everything on the bike, about $100. |
| Replaced countershaft to correct the chain oiler problem. |
| Replaced a couple of gears and a shift fork with a great EBay find - $11 for a complete tranny. |
| Accumulated decent top end parts. |
| Let's go - |
| First, the new pistons and rings in the partially assembled lower cases. |
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| When I bought the bike, the PO gave me a complete Barnett competition clutch that he never installed. |
| I had originally thought to sell it, but - why shouldn't I have a Barnett clutch?? |
| So I'll prep it for use - |
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| All together, and on the bike - engine itself was painted a lower gloss black (tried flat black, didn't like the look), covers in semi-gloss black. |
| All paint was Duplicolor Engine Enamel, baked all the parts in the kitchen oven at about 200 degrees for an hour or so. |
| The photos don't do justice - it's really hard to get a good picture of all that black. |
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| Note the Uni "Sock" air filters... |
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| Step 5 - ELECTRICS |
| The wiring harness was in sad shape, so I got a better one off EBay and went through the whole thing. |
| I definitely did not like the look of the coils, so I got some Yamaha XS650 coils from Mike's XS shop, along with new wires and caps. |
| I had to fab up some little plates so I could mount them using the stock coil mounts in the "normal" space between the frame tubes. |
| It's important to keep the coils as close together as possible, as there is limited sideways room because of the tank. On my first attempt I had them too far apart and the tank wouldn't fit on !!! |
| The condensor then had to mounted somewhere else entirely, directly to the frame tube nearby. |
| I ran a separate ground wire directly from the battery to the coils, condensors and ignition switch. |
| The old ones - yuk..... |
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| New coils, with fabbed mounting plates... |
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| Yellow wires were all they had on hand (??!!) - oh well... |
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| Now mounted on the bike, in the stock location.... |
| Wiring was very simple with existing connections.. |
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| The headlamp shell was another EBay purchase, fit perfectly between the aluminum fork ears, and a nice look. |
| Not exactly in the right position here, needed to be moved up on the forks. |
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| Also went to the trouble of splicing in a new blade-type (ATO size) fuse holder. |
| Prompted by blowing many hard-to-find metric tube fuses during the trouble-shooting process. |
| Also note the use of a piece of old inner tube as a battery cover. The last one I saw on EBay went for nearly $70 !!! |
| I'd rather eat worms than spend that kind of money on a stinkin' $1.50 piece of plastic. |
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| Turn signals remain the old CB450 types. |
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| Step 6 - BRAKES |
| The rear brake remains the stock CB400T unit that came with the wheel, no modifications required, just cleaned up and painted. |
| Front brake also remains the stock CB400T caliper and rotor, with an aftermarket master, purchased off EBay for $50. |
| The original caliper was rebuilt and painted (Aluminum Duplicolor, not baked). |
| Several attempts to rebuild the old 450 master yielded a still-leaky unit which was messing up paint and frustrating me badly. |
| Nice look, bolted right up, works perfectly - no leaks !!. |
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| Step 7 - FENDERS, TANK, ETC. |
| The chrome fenders (CB450 rear, CB400T front) were pitted badly, and the cost of re-chroming was out of the question. |
| So I soaked them in MSR to get rid of all the rust, then roughed them up well with a sander and painted them (top and bottom). |
| Paint was Duplicolor Self-Etching Primer, followed by Duplicolor "filling" primer, then Duplicolor "Ultra Silver", then two-part clear coat applied with HVLP. |
| I think they look great. |
| Tank was filled with MSR solution to de-rust, then Red-Koted inside. |
| Tank and air cleaner covers were stripped completely, then got the same paint process as the fenders. |
| Tank and cover emblems were hand painted using model airplane paint, then sprayed with rattle-can clear. |
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| Step 8 - SEAT |
| The seat was completey trashed, seat pan was cracked. |
| I had a neighbor buddy weld up the crack (I'm the world's worst welder), and purchased some 6" thick extra-firm seat foam. |
| "Sculpted" the new seat foam as a single piece and applied the new seat cover - Wifey's hair dryer was a great help here. |
| Step 9 - LATE CHANGES |
| My good buddy Steve Lohmeyer (Sixtysixsprint) very generously gave me an old 450 "D"-Model friction steering damper, which fit a modified CB360 steering stem. He welded up a 450 stem to the 360 bottom clamp, and the whole thing bolted up (with a bit of finnaglin'). |
| Now I have a very desireable friction steering damper which works beautifully, and is much better looking than the typical external hydraulic rod-thingy you see. |
| (Excuse all the dust in the photos) |
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| Also fitted a 17-tooth counter sprocket, to make up for the 37-tooth rear, which came on the CB400T rear wheel. |
| Stock on a CB450 is 15/35, so this gave me the equivalent of about 16/35. Didn't look like there was room for an 18-tooth counter, or I would have gone that route. |
| Was dissatisfied with the stock mufflers, so I got a pair of "RoadHawk" mufflers from CRC2 in Indianapolis. Easy bolt-up, though I did have to fuss with the exhaust pipe/muffler joint - eventually used some muffler repair tape (from Auto Zone, I think) and sealed up the leaks at the joints. I did not use the "activator" stuff, just the fireproof fabric - a couple of wraps around the end of the pipe, and Bob's Yer' Uncle. |
| The cost of re-chroming the exhaust pipes is too much right now, so that will have to wait. |
| Rear footpegs are aftermarket. |
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| Step 10 - TEST RIDE !!!! |
| Even though I didn't have a seat yet, the weather was looking like snow, so...... |
| I put in some high octane gas, and it started immediately. |
| A quick static time and carb synch/balance, and off I went. |
| WOW !!! This thing runs like a raped aped - it pulls HARD, all the way to red line. |
| However, a seat works way better than a battery, take my butt's word for it. |
| Only got to put about 10 miles on it before the snow flew, so it's waiting for spring now, and a seat. |
| Checked the compression, I'm seeing 180 pounds, will probably go up a bit more as the rings seat in. |
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