Terry's Journey in Retirement

Chapter 583

5/18/2021

1980 Honda CM400T

what's old is new again

I picked up my this bike recently from old college buddy and am undergoing a massive restoration project. Excessively documented in the folder above in various stages of development throughout it's 18 year history with me for this 41 year old bike. It's an ongoing story.

First thing I had to do was bend the shifter lever so it would function on the bike. It's a labor of love, blood, sweat & tears. I'm not buying expensive parts - it's mostly labor. There is a nostalgic component to it, not sure why but it's nice to fix up an old machine that deserves the attention. Soichiro Honda (wiki) born at the turn of the century grew up in a blacksmith family and shunned conventional education but his tenacity and perserverance created an empire from highly respected craftsmanship that carries on to this day. His story on youtube. I feel some sort of connection.


In 2003 this same bike was bought for my daughter. The prior girl who owned it had a black and white cowhide motif on the tank as she had some sort of connection to Vermont and she lived on a farm. Bought a parts bike for $50 which interestingly was immaculate with 3 miles on it but engine broken. Was supposedly from a BOCES training situation with no title. Used a few parts and sold the rest for a profit. Put some new parts on, new tires and other refurbishments. Bike didn't work out for Chirstie but son drove it around some. We even went to the Americade in Lake George while he didn't even have a learners permit. 

I used the red paint left over from painting my Porsche decades earlier then sold it to my old college buddy in this shape 18 years ago.   My buddy had a little shunt with the thing and he literally gave it back to me. The intent is to get it back to excellent condition, have fun with it or if I resell it split the profits. Having so much fun with it, perhaps it will stay in the family. Kind of nice to go old school and it brings back memory feelings of my earlier motorcycling days. Have already put a thousand miles on it during test drives. Thankfully my paint job has held up remarkably well.


Along the way I had to refurbish my late 1970's Kerosene Heater (also made in Japan).  Rediscovered my original bar stools in the attic, 1966 patented Wrought Iron Company Futura design- classics selling for hundreds on the internet. And you might notice the foot stool Grandpa made me in the 1960's.

Mucho effort polishing the aluminum metal made a huge difference in appearance. First paint remover to rid the old clear coat that had yellowed & corroded. Wash with mineral spirits. 4 inch angle grinder with scotch bright pads, then wool buffing  white jewelers rouge at 12,000rpm. Bought $12 1/4 inch die grinder Harbor Freight worked great. 22,000rpm scotch bright pads then wool felt white jewelers rouge. 1/16inch Dremel scotch brite, wool mothers Aluminum polish. 

Buffing the chrome did an amazing job getting rust and corrosion out.

Evan's polishing video a real professional.  Note to avoid the real serious dangers you could encounter.

A lot of carburetor cleaning and adjusting. Rust seemed to make its way from the tank giving intermittency. Prior mechanics had leaned out these two gas pilot mixture screw too much. Very sensitive and had to tune it during field tests to get it running quite smooth. Drained the bowls several times and cleande the diaphram piston slides. 

Two months in, did get lower more forward handlebars for $35 Amazon. Work great much better posture to reduce carpel tunnel pain. Moved seat back and raise front for better back angle. Have new tires not yet installed. Painted exhaust connector.