1978 cb400a Hondamatic Bobber

[cmcdanl]

I just bought this from a guy on craigslist for 700 bucks. It's running and driving, just needs a little work. I put a list together of things that needed to be done to it.

Mount headlight
Mount gas tank
Rear fender
Brake light
Foot pegs
Make a battery box
New gas cap
Kickstand
Exhaust
License plate mount
Paint

That's all I can think of right now. But I have already done a few things. What I have left to do is the rear fender, brake light, foot pegs, gas cap, exhaust, license plate mount, and paint. Does anybody have any opinions??? I need ideas for paint. I was thinking of doing a black frame and repainting the tank, fender, maybe motor, and ammo box the dark flat military green and painting a white grenade on the side of the tank.

 

[Charley Davidson]

The wheels look too modern/out of place, other than that I think it looks pretty cool[P

 

[cmcdanl]

Thanks for the feed back. Those are actually the original wheels that came on the bike in 78. But I plan on painting the center black and leaving the outer rim the way it is.

 

[HOT40ROD]

cmcdanl check out my build in this section. I is title "My Honda Chopper rebuild. "

On page two I have the wheels painted the same way you want to do your.
That way you can see how they look.

 

[Charley Davidson]

I knew they were the original wheels, killing some of the shiny will help, I like it.

 

[cmcdanl]

cmcdanl check out my build in this section. I is title "My Honda Chopper rebuild. "

On page two I have the wheels painted the same way you want to do your.
That way you can see how they look.

Those look good. That's what I want to do. What kind of paint did you use?

 

[HOT40ROD]

I sanded the wheel real good than primed them with etching primer then painted them with Tractor supply farm equipment black paint.

 

[cmcdanl]

Update

Well i got the license plate bracket made and mounted it. I'll post pics later. I also started to weld the new bung onto the gas tank, left the cap on so i wouldn't mess up the threads... bad idea. Apparently the cap that I have has 3 circles on top that were lead. So as soon as I started welding, it melted the lead right out of the cap and they fell into the tank. So now I have three holes in my gas cap. Yay! and I had to fish out all the lead that fell in the tank. I'm going to try to fill the holes back in using fishing weights. I'm hoping I can melt them back into the cap so I don't have to go buy a new one. I will post pics of all this when I can.

 

[cmcdanl]

Update

I fixed the cap and finally got the bung welded on the tank. Had some issues but worked through them. I was able to fill in the holes on the cap by melting fishing weights into them. Worked very well surprisingly. I will be posting pictures. I can only work on my bike on saturdays for a few hours in the morning since i have to store it at my fathers house while I'm at an apartment. But I'm getting close to finishing already. I just need to get the rear fender on, wire up the brake light, do away with the gauges and extra wiring, and paint!!! I can't wait to paint this thing!

 

[HOT40ROD]

Just watch what you remove from the wiring. some stuff has to be there or it will not run.

things like the side stand switch, change switch, changing relay, cdi unit and the pilot light have to stay or it may not start.

I move most of that stuff to a pan under the seat. The pilot lights I made a little panel and mounted to the frame just in front of the seat.

If you do not have a wiring diagram, PM me with your address and I will send you a copy.

I bought the "Haynes, Honda Hawk 400 twins 1978-1981 Owners Workshop manual" It came in very handy

 

[cmcdanl]

Update - Exhaust / Fender

I finished the exhaust and mounted the fender. Here is a picture.

 

[Charley Davidson]

That looks great, I love the rear fender and the exhaust but I think you'll want to lengthen that top pipe. looks like you may be in for some bad exhaust heat and fumes[S

 

[cmcdanl]

Thanks! I thought it looked cool how it wraps around the front of the frame. I also plan to paint them black and wrap them in heat wrap. But I will ride it like this first to see if I need to lengthen it.

 

[cmcdanl]

Painted frame

Just painted the frame yesterday.

 

[HOT40ROD]

Now that I see the frame, someone did a nice job on hard tailing it.

 

[cmcdanl]

Coming together

It's coming together.... Its a roller again! I plan on painting the engine next weekend. I hope it turns out like I'm planning.

 

[HOT40ROD]

Looks good. I see you painted the wheel already it really makes a difference in the look.

I had mine all together with the silver wheels and it just did not look right until I painted them black. .

 

[cmcdanl]

Yeah I had to paint the wheels black. It looks way better than it did in my opinion. Also it's hard to tell from these crappy phone pictures but the battery box was painted green to match the tank. I am repainting the tank also but it will be the same green color.

 

[HOT40ROD]

One question. What are your plans for the breather come out of the head. I am still playing with that on my bike.

I was looking at a catch can with breather or running a hose to the rear of the swing arm with a breather.

 

[cmcdanl]

Not sure. I haven't gotten there yet. I kinda just figure stuff out as I go. Do you have any pictures or drawings to show what you were talking about?