CM400 Cafe/Bobber Bastard Child Build

[Dragula]

So I picked up this beauty about a month ago for free from a coworker of one of the members here. It had been sitting under a tarp somewhere in their yard for I don't even know how many years. Its a 1980 Honda CM400E with only 1,600 miles on it and I'm the 2nd owner.
I guess he had tried to start it a while back and got nothing so he just wanted it gone.

Here's when it was picked up. Thanks Darren and Mark since I was outta town.

Darren loves this seat, its easy on the anus.



Definitely has seen better days...



So I started tearing the thing apart and lubing things up, changed plugs, oil, filter, dumped the old brown gas from the tank, took the carbs off and had them sit in pine sol for a few days and then took them apart to get the stubborn stuff.
Got a new battery since the old one was split down the side, bolted the carbs back on and fired her up first shot. Gotta get the carbs fine tuned though cause one side is ok/lean while the other is so rich its fouling out the plug.

So the plan is to use this as a learner bike and give it some custom touches too (maybe a sportster tank and a custom seat) and take off everything I feel is unnecessary.

More to come.

[Dragula]

The first day I was home with it. Rear tire had to come off just to get that huge airbox out. Carbs off, about a million spiders cleared off (theres still a ton crawling around on that thing, including a huge wolf spider that likes my speeo cable)



Pile of parts


Now for the recent stuff.
I hate that seat with a passion so I'm just going to leave it off for now.
Fenders gone, new bars but I'm going to flip them around cause it fits the style better. That tank is outta here soon for a sportster tank or some sort of peanut tank.











I'm liking the way it looks now without the huge seat and I'm going to try to keep it as narrow as possible.
Exhaust is going to go and in its place, stacked dual straight pipes on the right side.
I definitely need new tires for sure. Rear needs to be wider. I might try to get some new spoked wheels, have them blasted and then have the rim coated black or red and the spokes black or leave chrome.

Btw, that taillight was just for mocking up. I'm ditching that for something much smaller and the back of the frame is being cut off after the struts.

[Scotty Dont]

looking good paul.

[brown n down]

wonder what that tank would look like on scotty cb




build thread of a cm400

http://www.jockeyjournal.com/forum/s...ighlight=cm400

[Scotty Dont]

So a couple things are in the works. For starters, the ugly ass stock tank has been replaced with a Harley Davidson Sportster peanut tank. However, a 1966 Honda Dream tank is on its way from Iowa that I picked up on Ebay. We'll see how it looks. If I'm not feelin it, I switch back. No biggie. The wheels will be getting disassembled and sent to fellow member MattD to be sandblasted and then powdercoated. After that are some frame mods, and a few smaller things here and there. Spring is coming up soon, I have a lot of work to do. Look for updates often.

[Barry]

so are you two intentionally posting from each others accounts ;)

Progress sounds good though!

[Scotty Dont]

there may have been a switch in ownership of these motorcycles

[Barry]

ah, ok
that makes sense

now dont forget to title them ;)

[Scotty Dont]

So today the carbs were dropped off with DFI to get rebuilt. With the cut exhaust and pod filters, I'm going to have to get larger jets. Once the carbs are done being rebuilt, it'll go through some tuning to get her running straight and true.

[SteelHorse]

I say leave the sportster tank. Good flowing lines off the bars down the ridge of the tank towards the seat pan. I'd do something with the front turn signals though. Maybe aftermarket LEDs or at least grab some softail handlebar drops. Just seems like too much clutter right now.

Oh, btw - are you going disc, or leaving the drums?