I went from ZERO bikes in the shop for about a week or two, to four bikes all delivered in one day! As usual, it’s complicated.
My pal Gilles Brochard, who lives up in Carlsbad, had collected about 15+ vintage bikes over the past few years and after his divorce and uptake in his business work decided to divest himself of a handful of bikes.
This round included an unusual CA175 sloper, a 1969 S90, a 1965-ish CB160 and a 1975 CB400F. I expressed interest in the S90 and CB400F and we met for lunch and worked out a favorable price, but it included getting his 1966 CB77 back on its’ feet after a long sleep. The “other” bike in the mix was his CB350F which had also been resting in his garage unused. He had a buyer for that bike, but he was coming down from Pismo Beach to fetch it. Knowing that the bike had not been operated for awhile, the new buyer, Thomas, was wondering about who might be able to bring it back to life. Gilles said, “I know a guy.”
And so, I got roped into a drive up to Carlsbad to pick up the S90, while Gilles brought down his CB77 and the CB400F. Thomas had rented a trailer in Pismo and buckled down the CB350F and followed me down to Casa De Honda for a big Honda party. Thomas had bought a new battery and a set of my recommended #80 main jets for a carb clean and jetting update. I have re-jetted several of these bikes with bigger main jets and they all seem to enjoy the enriching experience, especially on our E10 gasoline that is in all California gas stations.
So, with all the bikes dropped off, Gilles took off for home, Thomas and his wife went to lunch while I extracted the carb rack and began to clean the idle jets, emulsion tubes, needle valves and install the new main jets. All told, the whole revival took about 5 hours, but the end result was just wonderful. The bike felt crisp and smooth with the new jetting. The timing was checked and the battery installed. The charging system was checked and he was good to go.
Meanwhile, the CB77 had fuel problems which required a petcock update, carb cleaning, and I installed a spare Pro-Trigger e-ignition system to help it get a better spark experience. The right side muffler o-ring seal to the header pipe was blown out, but fortunately, I had some spares. I replaced all the o-rings for the carb flangs and insulators and tucked it all back together again. It fired up quickly on its new battery, so that was one more completion done.
After the CB77 went home, my CL77 customer who lives in LA area brought back the bike with the rebuilt engine from a few months back to get it running again. They dropped it off and left, so I got to finish putting the rest of the bits back on. I was horrified to discover that for some reason the engine was barely able to turn over with the kickstarter. I panicked thinking that something had gone very wrong with the engine build. It’s a LONG story, but when they came back to pickup the bike, the kickstarter knuckle split and jammed the engine up tight. Apparently this was the cause for the original engine turnover issue, after all. There were some oil leaks to fix and I discovered that the bike had a 42t rear sprocket instead of a 37t standard gearing sprocket. After a number of hours of labor and more parts, it finally went home as a full-functioning 305 Scrambler. This was going on in the middle of all of the rest of these other projects.
The S90 was missing the rear turn signal bracket, but was otherwise in good shape. There was a tiny Motobatt battery that needed 2 days of charging to get from no volts up to about 5.6 volts. The carb needed cleaning and the little connector from the carb to the air filter was a piece of radiator hose. There was no baffle in the stock muffler and the carb main jet was increased from the stock #85 to a #95. I thought that might be a reasonable choice given the E10 fuel and the lack of a baffle in the muffler. After a thorough cleaning of the points, I finally got a good spark to the plug and it finally fired up on the fuel bottle. The tank has some rusty places inside, so will get cleaned and sealed. The petcock was rebuilt and some local driving hasn’t shown any signs of rust blocking the jets. I actually jumped the main jet to #100 because the new spark plug was coming out white on the tip. After some test runs, it finally started to show some color. It has ancient old stock sized tires on it and is pretty original with just about 4k miles showing on the speedometer. I finally had to spring for $125 for a new rear turn signal mount which is labeled for a CL90, but should still fit the S90 frame.
NEXT! The CB400F must have spent time near the beach and under a tarp, as much of the chrome had pits and rust on the surfaces. The worst part was that the tires were over-sized 4.00 rear and 3.50 front vs the standard 3.50 rear and 3.00 front. Peeling those 2008 date code monsters off the narrow rims turned into a huge wrestling match. Plus the front axle didn’t want to come out of the axle nut no matter how much force I used. I tried heat and penetrating oil and big metric wrenches. Finally I whacked the end of the extended nut a few times with a big hammer, which probably wasn’t good for the ball bearings and then used a chisel to catch the edge of the nut with a hammer and after about 10 blows it finally loosened up. I was concerned that I might injure my broken thumb again, but somehow survived the experience. I nice set of correct IRC tires were installed which improved the appearance, at least to me.
Eventually the forks came off for new seals. The right side came apart okay. You need to use a long 6mm Allen wrench to remove the bolt from the damper rod so the fork tubes can be removed from the sliders That side went according to plan, but the left side wasn’t having it. The hex head inside the damper bolt stripped out so there was no working with it until a new spare bolt as purchased from 4into1.com It will be drilled out and then the fork can be disassembled and the seal replaced. It’s not leaking too much at the moment, so that can be put on the back burner for awhile.
The bike’s Varnish Blue paint colors on the tank and side covers is in great shape, but the turn signals had been removed and the master cylinder replaced with an aftermarket type that wouldn’t mount a mirror on the right side. Fortunately, all the turn signal parts were included with the bike and the master cylinder might be suitable for a rebuild. The carbs came off and were suitably gummed up. They got a good cleaning and some #80 jets. An aftermarket muffler that looked much like the original but turned out to be WAY TOO LOUD once you throttled it up, so a OEM style replacement was ordered up from DavidSilverSpares.com.uk. They only had one left and unfortunately it wasn’t in the US warehouses, so the shipping bill was $80.
The bike fired up and ran well, except for the excessively loud exhaust muffler. The aftermarket muffler looked similar to the OEM version, but had a removeable baffle on the back end. I removed it to find that all of the fiberglass packing was gone. A new packing kit is on order. I took it out for about 15 minutes and was reminded about how these bikes felt to drive again. I purchased a new one back in 1975 and it wound up doing some Box Stock racing for a few races at Riverside and Ontario. Eventually, I sold it to my brother Jim, who drove it about 30k+ miles before trading it off for a 500 Interceptor. I’ve owned about a half dozen CB400Fs over the years. A lot of them got bought up and shipped back to Japan, where they are coveted. Ironically the JDM models are 399cc while the export models are 408cc, all because of the licensing restrictions in Japan for bike over 400cc.
My near-death experience was with a modded 459cc Yoshimura equipped bike that ran 115 mph, until my untimely collision with a bike that pulled in front of me while I was looking at my pit board. I rear-ended him and we both crashed at high speed. I photo of me flying in mid-air made the Cycle News feature story about the end of the 6 hour race. All the factory teams were there and after I was picked up and flown off the track in a helicopter, the results were that the Honda team with Freddie Spencer had one by 1 second over competing teams after 5 hours and 40 minutes of intense racing. That, needless to say was the end of my road racing career, having started with winning the 125 Production Championship in 1974 on a CB125S1. Ironically, once my multiple broken arm was healed up, I traded the race CB400F for a 1979 CBX six-cylinder!
After buying the S90 and CB400F, I noticed that the CA titles were a problem. The S90 had the same serial numbers in the frame and engine sections of the title, which is way wrong. The CB400F only has a frame number and NO engine number on the title. I will have to haul them back to DMV and get them inspected and new correct titles issued.
Next, after the CB77 was about to go back home, Gilles left a cute red CB160 for revival. It needed the usual new battery, carb clean, new tires and a fuel tank clean and seal. Plus, the speedometer bushing had seized up, so it was sent to my friends at Foreign Speedo for repairs. I soaked the gas tank with Costco vinegar for about 4 days, which worked great if you are not in a hurry. I used the Caswell tank sealer to complete the tank project.
Waiting in the wings is a rebuilt CB77 engine, for my recent new enthusiast friend, Mario. Mario got the vintage Honda bike bug and bought up about a dozen bikes without consulting the experts. He’s going to powder-coat the chassis and guess who gets to make a bike out of it? MrHonda. He also bought a complete CB77 and has just asked if I can bring that one back to life again.
There is another N. County CL77 that needs to be revived soon, plus TWO MORE 250-305 Scramblers coming in a month or so from LA. One only has 975 miles on it! As Sonny and Cher sang, “The beat goes ON”
Bill Silver aka MrHonda
www.vintagehonda.com
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