1982 Honda CB400 Rebuild
I bought this Motorbike the week i started my Bachelor of Industrial Design in 2019 for a whopping $300. The catch was that i brought it home in 3 boxes and thousands of bits. I got my hands on a Honda workshop manual and then I spent the next 6 months in my spare time figuring out just what bits i had and what was missing. I should mention that, the motor and gearbox was also completely stripped down to parts.
After figuring out what i had and what was missing, i started ordering new parts and cleaning the ones i had and send them away for either ultrasonic or media blasting to be ready to start rebuilding the engine and the bike. Around 6 months had passed again and finally the engine was coming together. not without a handful of problems along the way of course.
I decided to re design the back end of the bike frame, adding a rear cowling with a welded frame as well as a storage box to hide all the electrics and the battery. I then stripped all the paint back of the frame and repainted the whole thing.
Slowly i cleaned and painted everything and started to re assemble the bike.I then Fabricated a seat pan from fibre glass, had the exhaust made using mandrel bends and had an upholsterer make a seat specifically for the new rear cowling design. Brand new tyres were fitted to the freshly painted rims. Repairing the factory fuel tanks was a nightmare. I went through three before finally buying an aftermarket tank.
Thoughout the project i ran into numerous problems, The bike was left in such bad condition that nearly everything needed to be restored including the entire front brake system and many other things replaced. 100s of hours were spent and around $3000 all up on parts. To my credit, it started without and hiccups within an hour of the first attempt, both gearbox and motor running correctly. We had issues with the factory carburettors so aftermarket were bought, installed and tuned. I did as much work as possible, leaving the exhaust, upholstery and the engine port,polish & tune to the professionals.
There were alot of first times for me along the project. It was a steep, time consuming and sometimes expensive learning curve. If i was to do it all again ( which i probably wouldn't) id make sure i pay someone to repair and paint the fuel tank and i wouldn't paint anything until i have completly built the bike and made sure it was running and everything working correctly.
Personal Learning Outcomes​
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Working with Workshop manual
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Engine and gearbox rebuild
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Mig and Tig welding
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Fiberglassing
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Prototyping and Manufacturing
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Painting
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Patience
TLOs Practiced
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Problem Solving and Design
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Self management
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Scientific knowledge