Cx400C

[willk19]

I have just been given a 1986 honda CX400C. It needs a little work so I was wondering if anyone on here had any ideas on either where I could find good forks for it either that be cx400c forks or something that fits properly. I also will be needing break calipers so if anyone knows where I could get some would be appreciated also. Any other input or suggestions greatly appreciated :)

Thanks heaps!

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[Mr Revhead]

Check out Trademe, someone selling a few CX400 bits including the front forks and wheel.
CX500 Custom bits of the same year are the same.

[Drew]

Mount the motor in a ride on lawn mower.

[Murray]

Give econohonda in te aroha a ring - brilliant guys for finding parts

[AllanB]

What do you plan to do with it? Pointless restoring as it would have minimal value - best to search CX500 café on Google for inspiration ;)

[willk19]

It's not about the money value of this bike. Was given to me by my father and he has owned it since new so has huge sentimental value to me

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[AllanB]

Figured it might be like that. It would be worth searching Ebay for CX500C parts - be heaps over there with relatively low miles and they should be interchangeable with the 400.

[willk19]

K awesome as thanks bud. The forks just have a small indent in them but quite high well above where the shock would run to so need to find out if that's safe haha

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[AllanB]

Forks can be re chromed or e-mail these guys for a quote - I did some years back on a older jap bike and the tube price was good including shipping to NZ. Worth a e-mail.

http://www.frankmain.com/

[willk19]

K swt will do. Thanks mate :)

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[Mr Revhead]

Join the Aussie and USA CX forums, full of info and help full experts on these. The wiki is also full of info.

Keep in mind yours is the later versions, the chassis is quite different from the early ones early = 78-82

[willk19]

Awesome thanks for the info mate :)

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[haydes55]

Make it look like a Moto guzzi v7 racer. Call it the faux guzzi v4.

[dangerous]

CX500 Custom bits of the same year are the same.
there were no 500's the year of the 400C
The 400C is the same as the 650C, the engine the same as the 400E

[willk19]

Swt so forks etc from the 650C should be the same?

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[dangerous]

Swt so forks etc from the 650C should be the same?

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yes, but as far as I know the 650 version of the CX never came to NZ through Honda NZ, inports only... pitty cos the CX is awesome (having had all the 500s from the A to Turbo)

[Mr Revhead]

there were no 500's the year of the 400C
The 400C is the same as the 650C, the engine the same as the 400E

Yes, sorry my mistake. I'm just fixated on the 500s as I have one, soon to be two....

OP, when you are saying a 400c are you meaning the 400 custom? or an actual c? some people shorten the custom to c cassing confusion

[dangerous]

Yes, sorry my mistake. I'm just fixated on the 500s as I have one, soon to be two....

OP, when you are saying a 400c are you meaning the 400 custom? or an actual c? some people shorten the custom to c cassing confusion

an actual C is a custom, you may be thinking of the EC aka euro sport, roughley
A 78-80 proto
B 81-82 shadow
C 81- 84 custom 500, 400, 650
D 650 only as in ED
E 82- 83 euro sport 500 and 400 euro 650= ED
TC 81-83 turbo 500 and 650

as above off the top of my head being roughley

[Mr Revhead]

It's confusing! Especially as some markets had differing names, eg Shadow and Deluxe.
The thing with the Customs is there is two distinct variations of them. The later ones are 400s and 650s. And the 500s were the earlier ones. So as far as the OP is concerned bits for a 500 are of no use to him.
http://msy.or.tv/bike/cx/cx_400c.jpg

vs

http://globalcarbrands.com/i/honda/honda-cx-500-c/honda-cx-500-c-07.jpg

[willk19]

It's a 400 custom

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[dangerous]

It's confusing! Especially as some markets had differing names, eg Shadow and Deluxe.
The thing with the Customs is there is two distinct variations of them. The later ones are 400s and 650s. And the 500s were the earlier ones. So as far as the OP is concerned bits for a 500 are of no use to him.
http://msy.or.tv/bike/cx/cx_400c.jpg

vs

http://globalcarbrands.com/i/honda/honda-cx-500-c/honda-cx-500-c-07.jpg

nothing confusing... C means Custom as per your attachments
Shadow was the last A the with fairing blade and 2hp extra, in 80 they were only black and named after the vincent black shadow, from 81 the shadow was red and blue aswell.
As far as I know a delux was a yank name only also knowen as the GL, high bars chrome head light instead of the plastik fairing

[AllanB]

I reckon if Honda pulled finger and produced a modern CX900 that looked like this they would be onto a winner.

[dangerous]

I reckon if Honda pulled finger and produced a modern CX900 that looked like this they would be onto a winner.

LOL, I like that, sad aye... hey I alwasy thought after the 650 a 750-900 would have been the mutts nutts, wonder why they stoped something so good... muilties I spose, high reving fairing wraped rockets.

[Drew]

nothing confusing... C means Custom as per your attachments
Shadow was the last A the with fairing blade and 2hp extra, in 80 they were only black and named after the vincent black shadow, from 81 the shadow was red and blue aswell.
As far as I know a delux was a yank name only also knowen as the GL, high bars chrome head light instead of the plastik fairingI saw a GL500 just the other day. Had never heard of them....turns out that's because they're a CX with rust spots around the headlight.

[dangerous]

I saw a GL500 just the other day. Had never heard of them....turns out that's because they're a CX with rust spots around the headlight.

DONT you farking try n wind me up cock... LOL
GL... as in GL1000 GOLDwing
GL500 as in silver wing yes a faired cx in touring clothing
GL400 a very poor mans cx

you proberly seen an inport which has lost its VETA like fairing... thats right sunny bubbles do you even know what a veta fairing is, ohhh thats right you were just a twinkel in ya oll mans ball bag back then... oh WAIT, that was ya brother :love:

[Robert Taylor]

I reckon if Honda pulled finger and produced a modern CX900 that looked like this they would be onto a winner.

As long as they had cam chains and tensioners with a service life longer than closely resembling oil and filter change interval then maybe yes. Ive lost count of the number of cam chains, tensioners, followers ( and camshafts ) that I replaced in CX500s and VF750FDs whilst working in the UK in the early eighties.

[Mr Revhead]

Yeah the can chain was a serious issue at first. But is well sorted now.

Just picked up Up a 2nd 500 Custom today

[dangerous]

Yeah the can chain was a serious issue at first. But is well sorted nowBOLLICKS


As long as they had cam chains and tensioners with a service life longer than closely resembling oil and filter change interval then maybe yes. Ive lost count of the number of cam chains, tensioners, followers ( and camshafts ) that I replaced in CX500s and VF750FDs whilst working in the UK in the early eighties.ok lts not bring the vf 750 into this thread... it deserves one of its own.

now in my experance of owning near all cx modles:
A, manual camchain adjustment... fultless, 100k +
B, manual camchain adjustment... fultless 100k+
C, manual camchain adjustment... fultless (same engine as B)
E, Auto camchain adjustment... issues, due to adjuster not allowing much adjustment, replaced every 7000km (did 3)
TC, Auto camchain adjustment... faultless 40k+ and thrashed

[Mr Revhead]

So you are saying that due to frequent checks and adjustment you can avoid the damage.

The factory had several goes at fixing it until they went to the auto adjuster.

[AllanB]

Gear driven cams :eek: wirrrr wirrrrrr wirrrrrr

[Robert Taylor]

BOLLICKS

ok lts not bring the vf 750 into this thread... it deserves one of its own.

now in my experance of owning near all cx modles:
A, manual camchain adjustment... fultless, 100k +
B, manual camchain adjustment... fultless 100k+
C, manual camchain adjustment... fultless (same engine as B)
E, Auto camchain adjustment... issues, due to adjuster not allowing much adjustment, replaced every 7000km (did 3)
TC, Auto camchain adjustment... faultless 40k+ and thrashed

What bollocks that there was never a problem? Im 56 years old but alzheimers has not yet quite claimed my sanity.

Am I imagining all of the hundreds ( yes hundreds ) of CX500s that I and the mechanics working alongside CONSTANTLY repaired during my five years in London commencing in the early 80s? Many of those requiring new cam chains and followers at alarmingly low odometer readings. There were lots of these in the UK, many ridden by despatch riders. Many of those despatch riders rigidly followed the Honda mandated service intervals.

I think a sampling rate in London over many bikes will have far more credibility than your realtively limited experience

Yes you are right the VF750FD deserves a ( very long ) thread of its own, yet another long horror story from a company that so often has the temerity/ hypocrisy to say it builds reliable product

[dangerous]

So you are saying that due to frequent checks and adjustment you can avoid the damage.

The factory had several goes at fixing it until they went to the auto adjuster.
there was not and never were any issues with the CX manual camchain tensioner (i do not know much about the series 1 A prototype from 79)

Like ya drive chain the less you adjust the longer it will last



Am I imagining all of the hundreds ( yes hundreds ) of CX500s that I and the mechanics working alongside CONSTANTLY repaired during my five years in London commencing in the early 80s? Many of those requiring new cam chains and followers at alarmingly low odometer readings. I think a sampling rate in London over many bikes will have far more credibility than your realtively limited experience

just noted ya post so adding and editing to this one.

Well I do not doubt what you say... but here in NZ apart from the early 79er maybe there were no issues that I know of with manual tensioners, I put over 100k on two bikes another 100 on three others, I know the old guy that has one of mine and its near 150k now, and never touched apart from my rebuild a 8000k due to a prang spliting the oil pump after the forks were pushed back into the engine.
Here it wasnt till the auto tensioners came out in 82 with the cbx, cx ect that there were issues.. but then there will be some talk about the xl/xr 750k etc.

[Mr Revhead]

Well that goes against all that the rest of the worlds experiences and records.

[FJRider]

What bollocks that there was never a problem? Im 56 years old but alzheimers has not yet quite claimed my sanity.

They never had problems ...


Am I imagining all of the hundreds ( yes hundreds ) of CX500s that I and the mechanics working alongside CONSTANTLY repaired during my five years in London commencing in the early 80s? Many of those requiring new cam chains and followers at alarmingly low odometer readings. There were lots of these in the UK, many ridden by despatch riders. Many of those despatch riders rigidly followed the Honda mandated service intervals.

Perhaps the dispatch riders (in London) rode the CX's a little differently to those that owned and rode them in NZ. It's not KM's ridden that made the difference ... it's HOW they were ridden.


I think a sampling rate in London over many bikes will have far more credibility than your realtively limited experience

A "Sampling" of all CX dispatch riders in London you mean ... ??? it's hardly a fair comparison to those owned/ridden on the open road (even by kiwi courier riders) in NZ.


Yes you are right the VF750FD deserves a ( very long ) thread of its own, yet another long horror story from a company that so often has the temerity/ hypocrisy to say it builds reliable product

There's still plenty of VF's and CX's STILL on the road. (Some did make it home though .. :innocent:)

[dangerous]

Well that goes against all that the rest of the worlds experiences and records.I KNOW :doh: maybe NZ modles were corected... I rode one of mine for 300k and 160kph with out water in the red due to a blowen pump seal... warped the rear inner casing and still ran like a dream

remember tho as I said my 500E with auto tensioner went through a tensioner n chain every 7k, again same area as the cbx etc.
My 1st was a A shadow 1980 never a issue in 100k (cept that pump seal) maybe the pom bikes were built different like the early A from 79

[Robert Taylor]

They never had problems ...



Perhaps the dispatch riders (in London) rode the CX's a little differently to those that owned and rode them in NZ. It's not KM's ridden that made the difference ... it's HOW they were ridden.



A "Sampling" of all CX dispatch riders in London you mean ... ??? it's hardly a fair comparison to those owned/ridden on the open road (even by kiwi courier riders) in NZ.



There's still plenty of VF's and CX's STILL on the road. (Some did make it home though .. :innocent:)

Not only despatch riders, remember there are 7 million people in London and plenty more beyond.

This sounds like a warranty department at any number of motorcycle distributors....''No never heard of that problem before, you are the only one'' Poppycock, the problem was worldwide.

[gammaguy]

And I promise not to get started on the engine removal to replace the frequently burned out stator

Oops

[Mr Revhead]

That's something else that was improved with the later TI system

[dangerous]

And I promise not to get started on the engine removal to replace the frequently burned out stator

OopsAYE..... naaaa never, hey I had it down to 20mins engine on the bench... only ever due to water pump seal and for some reason only on 1 of my 5 CX's stator issues... this is the 1st Iv heard of this, are we all talking about the same bike???

[Robert Taylor]

AYE..... naaaa never, hey I had it down to 20mins engine on the bench... only ever due to water pump seal and for some reason only on 1 of my 5 CX's stator issues... this is the 1st Iv heard of this, are we all talking about the same bike???

You know you really dont have to be an apologist for the long list of costly issues with this model. I was there in a market where there are around 70 million people, there were lots of these engineering catastrophes there ( emphatically kept company by some of their other disasters ), there were lots of issues. Thats a far far bigger sampling range than what occured in this insignificant , isolated and sealocked old colonial outpost. Sure, failures may have occured more readily in the UK due to largely more ''loaded'' operating circumstance, but shouldnt any product that is sold be fit for the purpose for which it is sold, without ongoing / high frequency reliability issues? Further, they were hugely unpopular among mechanics as they are inarguably bloody horrible things to work on. Its almost as if Honda temporarily hired some Citroen engineers, gallic wine drinkers and snail eaters who are notorious for finding over complicated ways of doing things.
Other leading manufacturers have made notorious failures but so have Honda and they cannot claim the moral high ground of ''impeccable reliability'', by any stretch of the imagination

[FJRider]

Further, they were hugely unpopular among mechanics as they are inarguably bloody horrible things to work on.

Yet ... they were "The weapon of choice" by most of the Motorcycle courier/dispatch riders in many parts of the world. Mechanics are paid (well ??) to keep them running ... and I doubt if the riders were concerned that the mechanics felt that way about them.

[Robert Taylor]

Yet ... they were "The weapon of choice" by most of the Motorcycle courier/dispatch riders in many parts of the world. Mechanics are paid (well ??) to keep them running ... and I doubt if the riders were concerned that the mechanics felt that way about them.

Id beg to differ. They were frustrating for many despatch riders ( many who were running a business as contracted self operators supplying their own vehicles ) as there was so much downtime. Fond memories these guys will not have and I remember the many ''juggling acts'' and pressure we were under at the time to keep these guys on the road. All because of dodgy engineering driven by accountants.

[dangerous]

in this insignificant , isolated and sealocked old colonial outpost.hey mate I have to ask... why ya come here then?
Ill consider myself learned and educated here, but one thing that dosent change is the CX range to me, is amongest the best bikes I have had or riden... so just for you Robbie, and dont shit yaself loughing... one of mine :banana:

[Mr Revhead]

Can't we play nicely with each other? Don't make me tell my mum :bleh:

Dangerous, I have a theory, you had 1980 onwards bikes. They first came out in 78. Honda did recalls and warranty repairs and had 2 or 3 goes at sorting the tensioner out.
I reckon the bikes you had being 80 onwards were all later versions of the manual tensioner. Which, if checked and adjusted properly last ages.
The one bike you had with an auto that played up, well you can't really judge the entire build range on one bike can you?

Robert being a mechanic for Honda back then would have seen lots and lots of these recalls coming in. But Robert, how many times was each bike coming in? Having worked in the car industry I have met mane techs who say "Don't touch an X, they all have Y issue"
Then when you look further it's a recall or comon fault, that each (or most) only have once... So they may see hundreds of cases of Y fault. But only once on each machine :niceone:

There is no doubting the cult following these things have, and the many high mileage bikes around. If you know the faults to keep an eye out for, and how to sort them properly then they seem to last a bloody long time.

At least I hope so! I know have two! :eek:

[dangerous]

Ohhh bugger it Mr T ya got me looking for old photos LOL... look what I found for ya... dont they look so farking COOL :cool: few more of mine LOL

[Mr Revhead]

Ok, seeing as we are sharing, the complete one I just got, the other undergoing resto.

[dangerous]

Dangerous, I have a theory, you had 1980 onwards bikes. They first came out in 78. Honda did recalls and warranty repairs and had 2 or 3 goes at sorting the tensioner out.
I reckon the bikes you had being 80 onwards were all later versions of the manual tensioner. Which, if checked and adjusted properly last ages.
The one bike you had with an auto that played up, well you can't really judge the entire build range on one bike can you?
yeah I did mention something like that back a bit about what I call the series1A, iirc 79 was the 1st here and yes some had issues and there were very few of them, the one above with the tank cover is a series2A note the silver wheels less plastic caps and the screen... that bike I put nearly 100k on, maybe it had work done before I got it, the black wheeled B the awesome hot rod one LOL I got from a mate a 8k he got it at 2k I put 100k on it and it is still out there going hard, toes a trailer to a lot of rallies, never an issue but the water pump seal.

So yes if the poms had the cx in 78 and 79 there might be the issue here... what say you RT?



Ok, seeing as we are sharing, the complete one I just got, the other undergoing resto.
Ummm... the thread is titeled CX400C, neither of them are, both I think 81-82 500'S

[ellipsis]

...D, I never realised you were this sick...keep taking the pills mate...

[dangerous]

...D, I never realised you were this sick...keep taking the pills mate...
its the hair... ohhh shit kickaha is watching christ the shits gona go down now HAHAHA

[Kickaha]

You know you really dont have to be an apologist for the long list of costly issues with this model.

Just to let you know what you're dealing with, he even has a CX tattoo:facepalm:

[dangerous]

Just to let you know what you're dealing with, he even has a CX tattoo:facepalm:
yeah but... only those that get into my pants... would know that ;)

[Kickaha]

yeah but... only those that get into my pants... would know that ;)

It would mean you're the taker if they got to see it

[tri boy]

Does "Bonez" still frequent this place?
He was a CX foamer if I remember rightly.
Manawatu boys n girls holla back.

[Robert Taylor]

hey mate I have to ask... why ya come here then?
Ill consider myself learned and educated here, but one thing that dosent change is the CX range to me, is amongest the best bikes I have had or riden... so just for you Robbie, and dont shit yaself loughing... one of mine :banana:

I was born here...