Red paint makes bikes faster - fact!

When I started the David Silver facebook page in October 2011 a regular commenter was Kerry Cornish.  She was very supportive of me, a non-biker in a biker's world and encouraged me to get going on taking my CBT (the UK's Certificate of Basic Training for bike riders).  Thanks for that Kerry (she also understood the problem of getting the old fun bags into biker's jackets!).

My CB400/4 SuperSport is the F1 model manufactured in Dec 1976 and it originally started life as the Varnish Blue and is now a brilliant Candy Atares Red.  Why red? They go faster! We purchased the bike in 2010 from a guy in Victoria, Australia who used it as a daily ride as much as possible. He was quite rapt with the bike but had to sell due to family commitments. We saw it on eBay, asked some questions, put in a bid, then asked for a Buy it Now price, just in case someone else got it. And bought it. We paid $3500.00 plus freight. 

When the bike arrived it was in quite poor condition, the header pipes were rusty and the outer one was dented, collector box not bad and end can good. Rims were covered in dirt and baked on grime. I spent nearly two weeks, off and on, scrubbing, cleaning the whole bike. The chain guard I had to use a flat head screwdriver and strong stick to remove all the built u grime. Spokes were scrubbed clean, basically the whole bike was scribed, washed and polished. My fingers and nails had a permanent black/brown stains (glad I wasn't working then!).

I am slowing restoring the bike but I am not too fussed if it is not concourse condition, I want the bike to be restored enough to be ridden and attract plenty of attention, which it does! I still need to replace the header pipes, I have a set I bought from Motad, and there is a minor oil leak which I am hoping is only the head needing tensioning. When we got the bike there was a gasket set and the w/shop manual had a lot of grease marks where the head gasket section is. Most parts for the bike have come from David Silver Spares except the ignition switch, which went out on me one day on a ride, bummer! 

The bike is staying with me and will not be sold.  When I got my full bike license and was looking to upgrade to a bigger bike, I read an article about the CB400 and fell in love with it. Unfortunately I found out they were no longer available new, that was in 1998. I have wanted one ever since."

Kerry Cornish
03/07/13

A Phoenix from the Ashes

You will remember from the last post that Ian bought his CB400F new in 1977 but because he had other transport it ended up getting a bit neglected in the garden and being pushed to the back of the garage and used as a shelf.

I can only liken this to a woman getting a nice new oven.  We are so determined to keep it clean at first because we know that it's better in the long run - no woman wants to get on her hands and knees and scrape that old lasagne from the bottom of what now looks like the surface of a dirty miner's bath tub!  Alas the cleaning goes from after every use to every week to every month to, well, never!



Poor Bertie (a pet name I have just given to this bike).  After years of loving he sits all forlorn in the garage until one day Ian decides to make amends for his years of loving others.  Does Bertie give Ian the cold shoulder?  Not at all.  After a bit of an apology by way of battery power Bertie comes back to life within minutes.

The Restoration

First thing Ian did was strip the bike completely.

The frame was sand blasted, primed and 2 pack painted.

On trying to carry the engine back to the car for sand blasting, Ian lost his grip and fell with the engine onto concrete, breaking 4 fins off the sump and oil filter cover.  It already had a broken fin on the cylinder.  He took the engine to a welder mate with all the bits and not only did he weld the bits back into position but he rebuilt up the missing broken fin.

The engine was sealed and sand blasted.  After trailing paint colours Ian decided on Audi silver metallic for the casings and VHT silver for the cylinders and head.  That was as close as he could find to the original.  

Many of the parts were sourced from David Silver Spares and the salvageable chromed bits were re-chromed.

Wheels were stripped down and after cleaning and respraying hubs, again with the Audi silver, new rims were fitted with stainless spokes.

The front brake calliper, lines and master cylinder were overhauled.

The seat was stripped, cleaned down, repainted black and re-covered with DSS cover and studs.

New front and rear mudguards, these were painted on the inside with hammerite smooth grey for extra protection.

Carburettors were ultrasonically cleaned and new jets throughout.

New tank (DSS) and side panels sprayed black with new stickers (Ian wanted a different look to the tank so used a GB500TT variation).

Front forks stripped down and new stanchions and seals fitted.

Countless photos taken for wiring routes and connections (with a mental block for wiring but they all turned out ok).  

The carburettors had to be balanced so Ian enlisted the help of a friend with a balance guage.  

The MOT failed on binding brakes, which were virtually on by the time Ian drove it home and the brake light was permanently on until it had cooled down again.

The master cylinder was removed and stripped.  An overhaul kit was ordered from DSS but the kit arrived with 2 of the 6 riveted leaf springs on the piston bent.  Ian fitted these anyway but after phoning DSS and explaining that he had a time limit to get the MOT done, they put it on an urgent post back.

After checking in the master cylinder he found one of the two ports blocked, which wouldn't clear with an air line.  They were cleaned out with a small screw driver but but that went into a tiny hole.  Ian ground down a "pop rivet" stem and filed to clear the hole then cut off a wire from a wire brush and cleaned it through.  Very inventive.  

The whole thing was reassembled with a new overhaul kit, new battery, the system was bled and perfect, after 7 months of hard work and nearly £3,000 the restoration was finally finished on 21st May and Bertie passed his MOT on 23rd May.

So will Ian now be selling his CB400F2 or keeping it?

Keeping it!