Honda CB-1 400

Got a spare engine for my little NC27 the other day, paid £80 for it along with some other spares... The bike was apparently broken up as the engine smoked after coming out of winter hibernation.

Stripped it down & it's almost perfect inside, still cross hatching on the bores & all 8) turns out the rings were just gummed up presumably with whatever the P/O used to "preserve" it over winter... They freed up nicely with a little brake fluid brushed on & the pistons are soaking away in a bath of the stuff now, I've found it to be great stuff for dissolving sticky & carbon deposits from engine internals amongst other stuff...

So I have me a potentially bargain engine build coming on now, helped along with a set of NC23 camshafts with more lift & duration that came the other day. Just got to wait for the brake cylinder hone to arrive before I can glazebust the barrels & then the gasket set before reassembly (it was the only proper hone small enough to get in the bores & cheap at £5 as well!)

Strange that they never sold many of these little bikes, they're rock solid quality, easy to work on & a blast to ride. Only 55bhp (45 for US models?) as standard but even without upgrades they feel faster than they are, can't get enough of the 13,000 rpm redline (that's why I wanted a spare motor, just in case!) and all at least within shouting distance of legal speeds...

Kinda pointless post I guess but suppose I'm just sayin' if you ever get the chance to try out one of these bikes do it, if you make use of the full rev range you'll probably enjoy it a lot more than you'd expect...

 

Gear driven DOHC with shim "buttons" under the valve buckets means camshaft removal for adjustment.

What's the valve adjustment interval?

Watercooled, right?

 

I really like those bikes. They are so expensive in the us to buy. Watched a lot of videos on you tube of them very fast little bikes. Shows how far builders have come since the 70s.. Much improvement over the old 400-4s. for those that have not seen them in action here is a you tube video accelerating 190kph= 118 mph http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dDBdmWAAHc

 

Not been online for a while so missed these posts Yep it's watercooled & shim under bucket. Cant remember the interval now but it's longer than 5000miles will be keeping a close eye on them when the engine gets fitted though since it'll be bedding different cams into a used head.

That video's of the more recent CB400 super four, similar to the CB-1 but they have vtec as well, better suspension albeit twinshocks & are even more revvy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZYS4P-xHqw This ones the earlier bike, his idle's a bit high IMO & he's not getting into the power by about 4000rpm either! This one's more like a -1 likes to be ridden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHr4YB7nLxg