honda 400 four super sport motorcycle

the first thing i wanted to do when i got this bike was to drop the handle bars some. clubmans are too low and hard to handle. so for quick results i used and old moped tricky and flipped the stock low rise bars.

next was to hack off some of the junk on the bike. giant turn signals practically the size of headlights, some broken some good, all into the trash. the horn was ready to be retired. the tail light lens was broken and missing, so the whole bulky bracket and all came off. this junk will get replaced with smaller, brighter better looking things.

the bike had a broken clutch lever, so i got a new one at cycle gear. new battery too.

with the battery in and charged. electrical is working. the indicator lights are on, headlight on, no tail light. electric starter works. bike doesn’t start tho, not yet. i put in some new gas, turned the cock on, and then push the start button. no starting. but gas pours out two of the carburetor drain hoses. four carburetors. four 20mm Keihin carbs all in a row.

pry, pull, twist out the row of giant carburetors. i figured the carburetors might be dirty from sitting around. i took em apart and there was some old gas goo build up in the float bowls and all over all the jets and needle valve and everything.

cleaned up all the parts and put it back together. hoping i wont have to repeat this ever again. i hate taking off these four carburetor set ups for some reason, and i hate putting them back on even more. i guess the reason is mostly the air box. mine is tottaly ruined as far as i can tell. the rubber couplers that go on the carburetors are hardened solid and wont go on the carbs at all. i’ll just have to get new ones, is that possible. i havn’t found a place to buy them yet.

float bowl

hot rod looking choke valves.

strange jets that don’t screw in. they just sit there and get pushed down by a clip. 89 main jets, or was it 98.

my least favorite part of the bike.

done