Timo Geusch has left the building

This is one of the bolts holding down the vale cover (which contains the
valve gear) on Timo's 400 Four

www.chateau.murray.dsl.pipex.com/4004bolt.JPG

(Large image)

Oh dear. We unearthed a varety of other less-than-inspired bodges[1] on
it, but by the time the Fest was finished, we semed to have a sweetly
running 400 Four. I'll leave the rest to Timo, but believe me, the bloke
who worked on the thing should have been shot.

[1] Like one of those irregular verbs: I repair, you fix, he bodges.

 

The Older Gentleman wrote

It's oil-tight - what more do you want?

 

That is *exactly* what we said to each other, and we left it untouched.

 

The Older Gentleman wrote

Heh!

 

What'd he take the old one out with, his teeth?

Oily

 

Unfortunately, by the time a thoroughly soaked Boxhead had made it home,
it looked like the bike was up to its old tricks again. Meaning the
uneven idle, once you get the revs up it seems to behave OK. It
certainly runs better as it seems to have acquired something like a
usable midrange. I did pull the plug and it was less sooty than when I
arrive at the chateau but still more sooty than the plug #1.

Anyway, somehow the idea of Chimay'ing it on the 400/4 had entered my
brain at some inopportune moment. But despite riding it back from
Somerset, I was happy with the way it ran, namely the fact that the idle
speed would creep up considerably when the engine was hot. So I enlisted
the help of the resident 400/4 nutter in order to work out if it was
feasible to Chimay the bike at all.

When I arrived at the chateau, TOG immediately pointed out that it
wasn't idling right - indeed, the bike was stumbling on idle, kind of as
if one cylinder wasn't firing right. I had already noticed at home that
the #4 spark plug was very sooty so we stared looking into the
carb. Well, shortly after TOG, inquisitive as ever, had a go at what
turned out to be a rather large blob of chemical metal on the frame,
right under the back of the tank.

But of course before we went there it was time for the camchain
adjustment procedure. Which is where we found bodge #2 - the lock nut on
the was obviously a later addition and, as we found out very shortly
afterwards, also seized on.

Anyway, back to the carbs. Once I finally managed to get the float
bowl, we found a main jet that looked like someone had fitted it to the
carb with a big hammer. TOG delved into his stack of boxes and pull out
what looked like a decent set of 400/4 carbs. One main jet liberated and
some swearing later, we figured that we probably had found the problem;
But for good measure we also fitted another coil for cylinders #1 & #4
that TOG found in the same box. Fired up the bike and with a freshly
cleaned spark plugs, one nicely running 400 Four. Well, actually one
that sounded like the carbs wanted balancing...

One look at the blanking plugs on the inlet stubs suggested that Mr
Chemical Metal (who presumably is also the genius who painted the inlet
rubbers silver, at least on the sides of the engine) had made a very
successful attempt to turn the cross-headed screws into roundheaded
screws. Fortunately the impact drive was able to get enough of a grip to
loosen the screws and breaking the hold of the silver paint (what
else). Balanced the carbs and the bike was running sweetly. So we
removed the adapters for the balancer gauges, pressed the button and
.... WTF? Why the hell isn't this firing?

A little bit of head scratching later, we figured out that the blanking
plugs actually would look a *lot* better if they're put back into the
inlet manifold. Oops. So we quickly raided the 400/4 carcass that had
already donated its tinware for some more parts and the bike was running
sweetly again. Phew.

So, on to the last job (or second to last job, as it turned out) -
fitting the closing throttle cable. The bike only came with an opener
cable and as TOG had a decent set of cables doing nothing, we decided to
put the closer cable on as well. Well, we *tried*. And tried a bit more
but we couldn't get it to fit. Then TOG inspected some insulating tape
on the throttle cable, peeled it off and declared the cable dead. Oh
well, why not fit both then... Not to mention that the cable we took off
the bike was probably a Honda cable, but most definitely *not* a 400/4
cable. Grmph. Bike back together, swap the dead seat for the recovered
seat from the carcass (which wasn't that good but better than what I
had) and I've got a decent looking 400/4. If you don't look too closely,
that is.

It did run a lot better on the way home but it still looks like it's
overfuelling on cylinder #4. Unfortunately I don't know if I have the
time to delve into this again before Chimay or not, so I may not be able
to ride it to Chimay after all .

Unfortunately he may have worked on the gun as well, so the attempt may
backfire.

 

Pilot jet, then.

 

That's what I'm thinking - it looks like the plug was beginning to soot
up again and as the bimble from the Ashford ring road to the Schloss is a
lot shorter than from the M25 to the chateau, this would explain why the
plug was sooty but not overly sooty.

I assume that's a carbs out job, right?

 

On this bike, the definitive List of Bodges:

Camchain tensioner bolt - replaced with oversize bolt because someone
has stripped the threads in the past, on the old bolt.

Throttle cable - as Timo said, no closing cable, and the opening cable
was probably off a 250, but not 400 Four, and was fucked.

Rocker cover: one bolt missing entirely, and one overtightened so it
cracked the casting (see pic).

Electrics - fusebox dicky, and with a very suggestive scorch mark by the
main fuse. Neutral light u/s. Main wiring loom routed *over* the frame
top tube instead of underneath. Coil for cylinders 1&4 had bodged
connections.

Lots of rounded or otherwse buggered fasteners.

Hammerite much in evidence. Enough said.

As Timo said, *huge* blob of Chemical Metal where the rear frame rails
meet the main under-tank frame rube. Bit worrying. The frame seems
intact, but the CM is obviously hiding something very, very nasty, like
an Orc in a cave. We didn't investigate.

Throttle twistgrip casting: one screw out of three missing, one totally
fucked, one OK.

Chromework - looks OK from a distance, but 'pickled'.

Seat - re-uphostlered by someone who used to make vaulting horses for a
living. Now in the Chateau's bin.

Rocker box breather pipe replaced with something from, I don't know, a
domestic appliance.

Carbs - no.4 pot main jet utterly fucked, signs of wire wool scrubbing
inside float bowl, all four carbs out of balance, evidence of gorilla
activity on carb synchronisers, blanking screws for vacuum take-offs all
mullered. But the inlet rubbers have been painted silver. Which is nice.

As Timo says, it's now running infinitely sweeter than it did before,
and with the tank and panels from my donor bike, and the OE exhaust, it
actually looks (and sounds) quite nice. It's worth £900-1000 on Ebay to
someone who wants a good-looking 400 Four to run around on. As a bike to
restore, forget it. Just about *everything* needs attention, and you'd
spend a fortune.

 

.... which is exactly why I'll try to get it to Chimay and back, and then
onto ebay.

 

Actually there are a few more that I already fixed, like the rear light
being off some other random Honda, with brit bullet connectors soldered
to the wires (wrong diameter, those) and then matey bent the original
connectors open a bit further to get the wrong sizes connector to fit.

Or the engine that's been painted silver, with paint that's not very
petrol resistant.

Not to mention an orange-pinkish tank and sidepanels. The tank had the
decals carelessly masked off so you can see the original, darker red
around it before the whole thing goes orange. Including the seal on the
filler cap and part of the filler cap itself. Oh, and did I mention that
said tank also was painted using some paint that's not petrol-resistant
either?

 

Yes, and it'll be a bitch, with hardened rubbers and all.

One final thing to check - that main jet again. When you replaced it,
and the spring clip, did you have to re-fit the float bowl against the
spring pressure?

That's the important thing: that the clip is so positioned tht the float
bowl bears on it, and holds the jet in place. If the clip was slightly
displaced, and there was no float bowl pressure when you refitted it,
that means the main jet is loose. And you'll have to repeat the
exercise we did...

 

Oi've got this big 'ammer here, that should do the job...

Didn't feel like it, I think it may be time to bend the clip so it comes
down a little bit further. Oh, and maybe fit another O-ring although I
don't think I've got a petrol-proof one.

Mumble mumble...

 

That might be an idea. Re clip - I definitely felt the spring pressure
on the spare carb set, so I guess you might have displaced the clip a
fraction.

I doubt it's pilot jet actually - when it wa ticking over, that plug was
perfect, remember. I *bet* it is the rogue main jet that's to blame.

We've improved matters with the swap, but I don't think it's properly
seated. Instead of an o-ring, try a very thin smear of clear gasket goo.

 

Don't think there was any pressure so the jet's probably not held in
right, either.

Well, I guess there was a reason it looked that bashed about.

I'd rather do the O-ring but then again the bike's not a keeper...

Anyway, guess I'll know on the weekend if it helped or not.