Like a hole in the head...

[harley10]

Great thread and build , thanx , Brian

[nvr2old]

http://s1231.photobucket.com/user/in..._4714.jpg.html

Nice! Cool bike, for sure. Love seeing other people's takes on this bike. Wonder what kind of muffler he has on that one. I like it a lot. Also the tail section. He did a great job on that. Thanks for the link.

[nvr2old]

Got the exhaust back on last night. Starting to look like a motorcycle again.







Thanks again for the interest, you guys.

[cowboyup3371]

Looking great

[nvr2old]

I finally got everything buttoned up on the frame and engine this weekend. Really feels good. I stuck a battery in, turned the key, and everything seems to be working..yaaay. For someone whose done this completely solo for the first time, I'm pretty stoked.

Love the new turn signals..so much cleaner then stock.



I re-painted the exhaust flanges and replaced the regular 6mm nuts with some chrome castle nuts. A subtle thing, yeah, but it looks really finished.



I spent about five hours yesterday cleaning and detailing the front end. I repainted the guard and the centers of the rotor, I filed off all the castings around the bosses on the forks and then sanded them down from 80 grit-800 grit and polished them by hand. Man, they're smoooth.





Pretty happy with the results.





Time to jump on the tank, tail section, fender, and side covers.

[pete]

Haven't been on for ages Larry and have missed your progress, but I gotta say she's lookin' absolutely frickin awesome! Top job!

[nvr2old]

Thanks, Pete! Good to hear from you.

[harley10]

Can't wait to see it finished but take your time and post more pics lol, Brian

[nvr2old]

Had to work 6 days this week, so I only had today to mess around on the 400. I did get the right side cover repaired, though, and that's a good step in the right direction.

These side covers are so easy to take on and off..I don't know how these get broken so badly.. Sorry 'bout the crappy quality of the pic.





Love the guerrilla tape holding it together..it did it's job pretty well.



V'd all the breaks out with a Dremel tool, then applied 2-part epoxy. This is basically the identical material the cover is made of so it works really well.



A little sanding with 40 grit to get it shaped..



I also filled the inset on the side cover. You can see the outline. For the life of me I don't know why Honda had it that way, so I filled it in and reshaped it.



Repaired the back, too. I don't want it to look like it's been repaired on either side. Epoxied the cracks then put a skim coat of plastic filler over it.



Applied a skim coat over the outside repairs and sanded and shaped it. Not bad.



Light coat of primer to see what it looks like. I'm pretty satisfied.





It'll need to be primed and block sanded a couple of times, then it should look like it's never been repaired. On to the front fender..

[tkent02]

I don't know how these get broken so badly.. .

I think people step on them. I would have never thought of it, but the guy trying to sell me a DR-Z250 the other day was trying to get it to start, had the covers off while he did god knows what to the choke or something. The smell of bad gas pervaded everything yet he insisted it was running fine the other day. He was walking all over one of his covers until I picked it up for him.


Inspirational work as always.

[nvr2old]

That's a good point. I've seen people remove side covers and set them right there on the ground, many, many times.

You're almost always there with a comment first, tkent. I appreciate the interest.

[nvr2old]

Here's one more of the inside. A little more primer, a little more sanding..good as new..



Could've bought a new one for $50 but I have more time then money. I'm hoping to come in at no more then $2,000.00 on this project including the cost of the bike and so far I'm pretty much on track. Might have just enough left to buy the repro muffler. I'll wait till close to the end to decide on that.

[nvr2old]

Got the front fender done and ready for primer. Of course the speedometer cable guide was on the wrong side so it had to switched to the other side. It had a shoulder around the guide..



I ground it off and patched the hole.



Also filled the unnecessary original mounting holes.





A little plastic filler and it's good to go.





I used the brake line holder from this fender but had to re-shape it to work with this setup..doesn't look too bad.



I'll definitely find a nice button cap fastener for it.



Had to see what it looked like mounted.





Cool. Throw it on the ready for primer pile and move on to the tail section..

[nvr2old]

Finally got some progress on the 400. Hard to tell in the pics, but this was a ton of work to get the tail to this point. Strengthened up the seat pan with a few more layers of glass, and I filled the shoulder where the Ducati seat snapped on around the hump.



I also got the "ears" made to mount it in the back. It covers the frame ends and gives a place for the turn signals to mount.

The stock seat hinges will have blisters over them, hopefully the next update will include those when it comes down to the finish work.



Finally got my tail light from China. It took 6 weeks.. Cut the opening.



Also sprung for some new gas shocks. Love these babies.



These have beefier springs, so of course they interfered with the stock chain guard. I made another one out of some aluminum stock. Simple, but I like it.







Doesn't look much like a 400F from the rear anymore..



The light fits this tail beautifully.



On to the finish work. All the 'glass work is done and roughed in. The tank will be a breeze. I'm doing that last. Should have all the body work done and ready for primer in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for the continued interest.

[steve murdoch]

Your chain guard matches up nicely with the shocks. It looks like one i had on an old dragbike.
What brand are the shocks?