The Pinup Bike - CB400T II

Syco13x

Syco13x

Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2026
Total Posts
46
Total likes
68
Location
Redlands, California
Hello all! Since joining. Week or two ago I’ve been trying to read up on as much as I can here in regards to my 1978 CB400T II. Wealth of knowledge available in this forum, and for that I thank you all!

After having to sell my 2016 Sportster Roadster a couple years ago, I tried to step away from even looking at bikes, because I knew it would make the lack of having one more difficult. But alas, after a year and a half or so, I happened upon a local bike for sale for a good price, and in fine enough condition. It’s not a show bike, but it works and rides and allows me to make my short commute to and from work.

I titled this the Pinup Bike, because the bike was covered in pinup girl stickers by the PO. Now, I have absolutely nothing against pinups, but the way they were randomly stuck everywhere was too much for me. So they were the first thing removed. Some sticker residue is still left on the bike, but I’ll get to removing that soon enough.

So, for the project aspect of this bike, I don’t have huge plans. Tuning it up properly, replacing a couple cables, re-painting it eventually. Just more of a bit of tinkering here and there until the bike is just how I want it. I don’t have a desire to do a full restoration level job, just want to keep it as a nice and reliable daily rider.

Things I know in need to do:
-General tune up
-Give her a bath
-Need different mirrors, the ones it came with give me an excellent view of my shoulders
-Replace left controls (already have the replacement on the way) as the clutch perch is broken on mine
-Verify headlight wiring reliability, as I sometimes get a flutter in the light while riding
-Suspension needs to be gone through, maybe new fork springs
-Fuse box upgrade to blade style, current box works but has seen better days

I’m sure the list will grow and the wife will wonder why I wanted a bike I have to work on “so much” compared to others. Lol!

And here are some pics from when I purchased her, and how she currently sits.

Before:
IMG_1888.jpeg
IMG_1890.jpeg

Current:
IMG_1933.jpeg
IMG_1934.jpeg
 
I wouldn't put the stickers on a bike of mine like that but I have to admit they made me smile. She cleaned up nice and looks in good shape, hopefully you will spend more time riding then wrenching.
 
Nice!.... 78? where is your kick start? did the PO swap engines or just swap the clutch cover? How long is your commute? Looks great for a daily rider. You have a 750 style tail light. How many miles on this one?
 
Nice find. I really liked my 1979 CB400TI and recently sold it due to health and age reasons. I chose to do a “revival“ of mine and learned that was the way to go. Looks like you are thinking the same approach. I found the bike to be fun and easy to ride, much lighter than the CB750 I previously restored and sold. My revival effort is available on this forum. Good luck.
 
Denny K said:
My revival effort is available on this forum. Good luck.
Click to expand...
And for the OP, here is Denny's thread

1979 CB400TI - Western Colorado

Folks, Recently picked up a 1979 CB400TI. This model as you can see has the spoke wheels, front drum brake and is kick start only. I have downloaded The Basic Checklist and Shop Manual for this bike. In addition, the owner’s manual was on board in the compartment under the seat and it is in...
www.vintagehondatwins.com www.vintagehondatwins.com
 
esmith250624 said:
Nice!.... 78? where is your kick start? did the PO swap engines or just swap the clutch cover? How long is your commute? Looks great for a daily rider. You have a 750 style tail light. How many miles on this one?
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You know, I hadn't gotten that deep into the verification yet. PO did not mention an engine swap, but I know he had bought a parts bike at some point, because the parts from that tear down were included with my purchase. He said the engine from the parts bike was toast though, had been partially torn down and left to rot in the elements. I'll have to explore what happened with the kick start for sure. I think I've just assumed it was part of the difference in the Type I and Type II Hawks.

Thanks for pointing out the tail light. I knew it wasn't the 400 style light, but hadn't tried to figure it out either.

My commute is only about 13mi each way, not bad at all. And the bike had 32,019mi on the odometer when I got it.
 
Denny K said:
Nice find. I really liked my 1979 CB400TI and recently sold it due to health and age reasons. I chose to do a “revival“ of mine and learned that was the way to go. Looks like you are thinking the same approach. I found the bike to be fun and easy to ride, much lighter than the CB750 I previously restored and sold. My revival effort is available on this forum. Good luck.
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Denny, I went through your whole journey with your Hawk this evening (thank you @ancientdad for the link) and it definitely sounds like the approach I’m going for. Revive the bike to a safely operational state and set it up for me the way I want regardless if it’s stock parts or not. Love all the information you provided and love that you put so much love and care into your bike. I’m sorry you had to sell it. The PO of my bike sold his for health and age reasons as well. Felt bad even buying it, because I’m sure he didn’t want to give it up.

Had a bit of a scare today on the way home today. On the freeway, I fishtailed pretty badly at low speed, but recovered without incident. When I pulled over to see if anything obvious caused it, I had a thin piece of what looked like shredded tire embedded in the side of my left boots sole. Not sure if that wrapped around the chain/rear sprocket or what. But nothing else seemed out of sorts. And that rubber was not from my tires either. I merged back onto the freeway taking it slow in the stop and go traffic, and once everything for sure seemed fine I did my usual slow lane splitting and made it home without further incident.

Really weird though. Because I was going so slow in this California traffic. I’ve fishtailed in the beginning days of my riding, due to going a bit too fast and braking too abruptly. But a low speed fishtail like this was new to me. My weekend starts tomorrow, so hopefully I get some time to verify nothing was out of sorts with my bike.

And I hope to give the bike a bath finally!
 
Syco13x said:
@esmith250624 You are correct about the engine. I looked up the engine number and it matches to a 1980 CB400T Hawk. Glad you said something. I’m not sure how much that changes for parts, but it’s good information to know.
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Yeah not a bid deal but good to know. I think @LongDistanceRider said somewhere that the shape of the piston dome was changed slightly in the 1980 and later models. might as well check the carburetor model too, the 1980 carbs were 30mm vs 32mm, and had different jetting. also not a big deal but good to know for tuning.
 
esmith250624 said:
might as well check the carburetor model too, the 1980 carbs were 30mm vs 32mm, and had different jetting. also not a big deal but good to know for tuning.
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I checked that as well. Looks like I have ‘78 model carbs, VB21B. So the 32mm version. Bike runs well enough though, but I still need to clean the carbs and do a proper tuning as well. Just for my own sanity if nothing else. Idle is a bit finicky currently, but seems ok after a little playing around with the idle speed. The engine is slow to rev down when I come to a stop as well. Those are the main issues I’ve noted so far.
 
Syco, thanks for your nice comments on my project. Hope you can figure out what contributed to your fish tailing. If you decide to replace the tires, Long Distance Rider helped me figure out the right sizes. He is by far the resident VHT expert on the 400 Hawk bikes and he may have some ideas of what would cause the bike to fish tail. Sounds like you have an interesting commute. IMHO short but terrifying.
 
@Denny K, I washed the bike today finally and did more investigation for the fishtail, but I found nothing amiss. Going to have to chalk it up to that piece of rubber flinging up off the road into the drivetrain. I don’t know what else it could be. The tires are pretty new. The PO had just recently changed them. No signs of any issue with those either.

My commute is usually pretty boring! Just yesterday proved to be interesting for sure!

After washing the bike today, and cleaning and lubing the chain, I did a little troubleshooting on the brake switch from the front brake lever. I’ve noticed it doesn’t trigger the stop light. Just the rear brake pedal does. I can get a weak glow from the front lever if I connect the ground directly to the fins on the engine. Still need to finish testing all the wiring. But the wires from the lever mount to the headlight tested good. Switch itself is good too. Switch is open when button is pressed and closes when it’s released. Maybe the wiring from the connector in the headlight back to wherever it goes. There was corrosion on the brake switch terminals. Could just need more cleaning or connector replacement even further down the line. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have more time to tinker on it all.
 
Thanks for the update. Sounds like the FOD foreign object debris was the problem. If it had been something in the drive train or tires that likely would have shown up earlier. Electrical gremlins are always a pain. But that’s part of the fun!
 
Syco13x said:
Had a bit of a scare today on the way home today. On the freeway, I fishtailed pretty badly at low speed, but recovered without incident. When I pulled over to see if anything obvious caused it, I had a thin piece of what looked like shredded tire embedded in the side of my left boots sole.
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Do you recall whether you were on the brake or the gas at the time? I assume your rear tire came out to one side slightly? Definitely check your tire pressure and tread. It may be worth having a look at the rear drum brake as well. It's possible it was a wet/oily spot on the road, but obviously you want to rule out anything under your control.

I'm glad nothing bad happened.

Addendum: Looking at the pictures you shared earlier, the adjuster nut on the brake rod seems to pretty far in based on the amount of threads hanging out the back. Given that this bike is new to you, it would be worth investigating the brake setup carefully.
 
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stl360+450 said:
Addendum: Looking at the pictures you shared earlier, the adjuster nut on the brake rod seems to pretty far in based on the amount of threads hanging out the back. Given that this bike is new to you, it would be worth investigating the brake setup carefully.
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To the best of my memory, I was on the gas just a bit at the time. I had hit the rear brake too shortly beforehand though. Just a bit, nothing crazy. Having driven through this area again a day later in my car, I did note that there was an oily patch between the lanes in the general area this occurred. So may well have just been that, and something I didn't notice that day due to the traffic.

I will definitely be looking into the brakes. So far they have felt perfectly fine, but I do need to get eyes on them to be sure. Thank you for pointing out the observation regarding the adjuster for the brake!

Newest update is that I installed a new to me left hand control this past weekend. Now I have a properly setup clutch lever with all the usual adjustments available. The setup the bike had when I got it did not allow adjustment at the lever, it was just rigged together to be functional, leaving all adjustment at the clutch end. It worked, but it feels MUCH better now with a proper setup and a new cable.
 
While you're checking the rear brake, take a look at the sprocket assembly as well. I had some weird feelings in the rear of mine because of the dampers and rode on a shattered spacer for a while.
 
prkrman said:
While you're checking the rear brake, take a look at the sprocket assembly as well. I had some weird feelings in the rear of mine because of the dampers and rode on a shattered spacer for a while.
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I will certainly be sure to check all of that out soon when I take the rear wheel off for inspection and brake pad change out.

I am currently rebuilding and replacing front brake components. Had to garage the bike after the last ride, the front master cylinder developed a leak, and had some wear and tear. Brake pads needed to be replaced anyways, and I wanted to update the brake line to a braided style. I'm replacing the master cylinder altogether, and rebuilding the caliper. Probably will paint it too while it's off and dismantled and while I wait for my brake pad and seal kit to be delivered. I will also modernize it to use DOT 5 fluid while I'm at it. Especially since it's going into all new components and a fully cleaned caliper.

I have a gasket for the clutch side engine cover on the way as well, to stop a mild oil leak from that side. And figure while I'm at it I might as well switch the bolts on the case cover to the allen head stainless version.

I also have fork seals and dust covers on the way, for an eventual refresh of the forks.

Oh, and LED upgrades for the turn signals once I make or buy a diode to wire in so that they function correctly. The headlight and tail light are already LED. Currently with the LED turn signals, they all illuminate while activated, even with a new flasher relay for LEDs. So I assume I need to do the diode mod I saw elsewhere in this forum.

While I've been waiting on parts orders, I also removed the mirrors that came with the bike, and replaced them with some Amazon bar end mirrors. Seem to be a decent quality part, but will know for sure once I get to test ride them. Definitely can see behind me better than I could with the lever-mounted mirrors!

Sad to not be riding right now, but feels good to get things fixed and safe and functional as well.
 
ancientdad said:
Hopefully you bought OEM fork seals, many here have had trouble with aftermarket seals.
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Seems to be hit and miss, I have the 78 and the 81. the 78 did fine with the 4 into1 fork seals, 2 1/2 year in and they are just starting to ooze a little, the 81 with the air assisted shocks are a different story. started leaking immediately after the first ride. So if you happen to get the aftermarket ones don't freak out just yet, they may work ok on the 78 forks.
 
ancientdad said:
Hopefully you bought OEM fork seals, many here have had trouble with aftermarket seals.
Click to expand...
esmith250624 said:
Seems to be hit and miss, I have the 78 and the 81. the 78 did fine with the 4 into1 fork seals, 2 1/2 year in and they are just starting to ooze a little, the 81 with the air assisted shocks are a different story. started leaking immediately after the first ride. So if you happen to get the aftermarket ones don't freak out just yet, they may work ok on the 78 forks.
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I appreciate hearing both sides of this issue. The 4into1 seals are the ones I ordered for my '78 forks. So I will see how they do I suppose. Debating if I should get new springs as well, but maybe that's better to determine after they are opened up.
 
Well, yesterday I received my order of parts. I started with rebuilding the front brake caliper, only to discover that the seal kit I ordered absolutely does not fit this caliper. The piston seal is far too small to fit into the inner groove of the caliper. The kit did not include the boot seal for the piston either. I've sourced another vendor for the piston seal, OEM Honda version supposedly. That boot for the piston is harder to come by. But pretty frustrating to get excited to fix something and find out it still has to stay torn apart in the garage instead.

EDIT: With a fresher mind and some double-checking... I made the mistake of ordering the wrong kit. Probably had too many tabs open in my web browser and chose the wrong item. Kit I ordered was for a 1981 CB400T. At least it was my mistake... still sucks to lose riding time over it though.
 
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While awaiting some parts I did some cleaning up and poking around on the bike.

I discovered that I have a 15 tooth front sprocket and a 34 tooth rear sprocket. I looked up the stock gearing and see that it should be 16/37. That changes the gear ratio from 2.31 to 2.27 according to the JT Sprockets chart.

I’ve never played with sprocket changes to see how they change a bikes performance. When I’ve read up on it it seems like the recommendation is to change a single sprocket at a time. I see the note on the gear ratio chart saying that lowering the ratio gives more top end speed. Does anybody with more experience know how much this would change things?

I’ve noticed the bike isn’t quick to accelerate, but just figured that was mostly the fact that my last two bikes were 1200cc engines. Maybe this gearing change is more the cause than I realize though.

Oh, and I double checked the 1978 and 1980 models since einhave a ‘78 bike with an ‘80 engine… both had the 16/37 setup according to the JT Sprockets catalog.
 
I haven't for your bike, but did you check Partzilla for the sprocket sizes according to the Honda parts fiches? Aftermarket suppliers charts aren't always correct.
 
ancientdad said:
I haven't for your bike, but did you check Partzilla for the sprocket sizes according to the Honda parts fiches? Aftermarket suppliers charts aren't always correct.
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Best I can tell from the parts fiches the 16/37 is indeed the OEM sizing. Looking up those OEM parts numbers also pulls up the 16/37 sizes from aftermarket suppliers in some cases.
 
I will likely change them to the 16/37 once I get to that point. The rear sprocket could use a changeout for sure. Front looks pretty decent still. Possible a newer replacement in the history of the bike.
 
Well, I'm not sure you wanna compare acceleration with a 1200 CC bike, but, when I got my bike, it had a 17 front 35 rear sprocket. I ran it that way for a while, but eventually I got a 16tooth front sprocket. And last year, when I was having issues with my aftermarket sprocket, I got a used OEM that was 37 teeth. So I have run all different combinations of those 4 gearings. I could really feel the difference in the acceleration With the 16/37. I think CM400s have the 16/35. If you do alot of hwy riding over 65mph you might like a 16/34 combo, but i prefer the stock 16/37. In my oppinion the 17/35 is no good inthe moutains where i am, if you are in TX. Or somewhere flat....maybe. i was downshifting alot with that setup.
 
@esmith250624, thank you for the rundown of your experience! Exactly what I was hoping to find from somebody on here. I will likely change the rear sprocket to a 37 before I mess with the front. Since the rear shows some signs of wear. From there I can decide if I need the 16 in the front as well. Usually I don’t mess with gearing. Just accept what the manufacturer determined will work. Lol

As for comparing it to the 1200cc.. I know it’s not fair. Just felt like the acceleration on this bike seemed overly anemic.
 
Got the proper seal for the front brake and got everything back together and filled with fluid and bled off. Took her for a quick test ride and all seems good right now. I went with an aftermarket master cylinder with 14mm bore and a steel braided brake line. Feels like a much more noticeable braking experience for sure! Not overly touchy though.

Before the test ride I had basically forgotten I installed the bar end mirrors while awaiting my brake parts. Such a huge difference being able to see beside and behind me without my shoulders and elbows getting in the way! I went with some cheap version from Amazon, but they work well and seem well made: Bar End Mirrors
My handlebars had a plug of some sort in each end that I had to drill and tap to fit these mirrors, which probably works better than the expanding plug they come with.

Also did an oil change and changed the gasket on the clutch cover. And double checked the balancing chain adjustment while it was all opened up. All seems well now and the minor oil drip from the cover is fixed with the fresh gasket. Stainless steel allen head bolts installed on the covers both sides of the engine now as well. Yes, I anti-seized those bolts as well. ;)
 
Back in the day made the ride up to Big Bear several times on my first CB450 when I was stationed at George AFB outside Victorville. Made one run with several others in the winter and threw snowballs and then rode down to the basin and stopped at the beach, too cold to swim though.
 
Let’s see. After the previous work, I still had a small oil leak. I found that it was coming from the cover for the oil filter, and decided to use some RTV sealant. I installed a new seal on the cover during the oil change, but apparently it’s a trash seal. I will source a better one before the next oil change.

With the bike garages during this time, and knowing my rear sprocket was showing signs of wear, and wasn’t stock size either… I decided to change it out. Brand new JT Sprockets 37 tooth to replace the tired 35 tooth that was on there. All components in the rear wheel setup looked great, even the rear brake shoes. But I had new ones already, and went ahead and installed them. As you may recall I had a moment of rear end instability awhile back, so getting this all taken apart and inspected was great. And I can say now that feeling of instability has not reared its head anymore. I really think that strip of rubber that I found embedded in my shoe that day was the cause, and had been flung up into the chain.

I also updated all lighting to LED at this time. Including the instrument cluster and gauges. Previously only the headlight was updated by the PO. I still want to update that to a better option, but it passes for now. Huge shoutout to as Sparck Moto for the supplies and tech support with the diode install.

My ride report after a couple weeks worth of riding… the bike feels so much better now! That sprocket update alone made a difference in taking off from a stop. The top end is maybe suffering a tiny bit still, the setup is a 15/37 currently, so maybe a future upgrade to the stock 16 tooth front sprocket will change it a bit, but time will tell. For my commute this setup suffices without an urge to rush to change out a perfectly useful part.

I will say, it’s a bit weird riding comfortably at about 4,000 rpm, as my Sportster that I most recently owned seemed happiest in the 2500-3000 rpm range for cruising.

But the bike feels pretty damn good now. Next up will be a fork rebuild for sure, and possibly replacement of the rear suspension. The rear doesn’t seem awful, but feels like it could be better. They appear to be the original shocks, and show some signs of age. Still playing with different settings on the shocks though too. But the front could certainly use a rebuild. I just wanted to clock some ride time before tearing that apart. Need to get a couple tools for it as well still.

Until next time! Thank you for those of you following my little journey.
 
Spoke too soon about the oil leak. Started leaking again from the oil filter cover. Took it apart again and the o-ring style gasket is not raised above the channel in the cover, it is flat and loose in that channel in the cover. . Not sure why the liquid gasket failed to seal it. Or why it took quite a few miles before it reared its head again.

But I have an OEM gasket and o-ring for the drain bolt on order. Even though that part seems ok, figured I might as well go OEM all around in hopes of it solving the issue.
 
Syco13x said:
Spoke too soon about the oil leak. Started leaking again from the oil filter cover. Took it apart again and the o-ring style gasket is not raised above the channel in the cover, it is flat and loose in that channel in the cover. . Not sure why the liquid gasket failed to seal it. Or why it took quite a few miles before it reared its head again.

But I have an OEM gasket and o-ring for the drain bolt on order. Even though that part seems ok, figured I might as well go OEM all around in hopes of it solving the issue.
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I surface plate sanded my cover until the rounded top edge was flat. I use Wix filter which come with the proper O-rings for the screw and cover.
 
LongDistanceRider said:
I surface plate sanded my cover until the rounded top edge was flat. I use Wix filter which come with the proper O-rings for the screw and cover.
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I had that thought as well today. The cover seems pretty flat, but I’ll have to verify that it actually is. Thanks for the info about he Wix filter and o-rings!
 
Sanded the cover mating surface down. It wasn’t far from flat at all. But hopefully it helps. Just waiting on the new o-ring and gasket now. Maybe I’ll start the fork rebuild in the meantime if life and work schedule allows.
 
Finally got my OEM seal for the oil filter cover, got it installed this week and was able to ride to work today.

Got to work, had some oil on my right pants leg. Couldn’t tell for sure where it came from, it it wasn’t the filter cover or the right side case… the head gasket seemed the most likely source. When I got home I found the head gasket was definitely seeping some oil, not a true leak. After the bike, and myself, got cooled off I decided to verify the torque on the head bolts. Found the bolt on the left side was a little loose, the right side was… weird. It was “stuck” like it had seated the rubber washer down, and took a little effort to loosen, you know… like a regular bolt that was torqued, but when I loosened it it didn’t feel right at all. Turns out it was broken. Or mostly broken and me turning it finished it off.

IMG_2345.jpeg

I haven’t touched the bolts since I got the bike. So I can only assume the PO did this, but also find it hard to believe it held the gasket down at all, but that is the side I’m seeing some seeping on from the gasket too. Or maybe it was improperly torqued at some point and the last time it was installed was the last time it could take the torque.

So once again the bike is out of service. And I’m sitting here debating if I’m cut out for this bike or not. Feels like it’s nickel and diming me to death lately, but maybe it’s worth this effort to get it in shape. Idk. Most likely I’m just itching to ride too much and letting this get to me more than it should, as well as trying to rush getting on the road when I should just rebuild everything and hope for the best. Just sucks only being able to afford a few parts at a time, which is why I’ve been doing small repairs at a time and riding after each repair.

I’ll order the parts to fix this when I can, work on the fork rebuild in the meantime and see where I end up. Might as well do the valve check now too while it’s all opened up.

Thanks for listening to me mope. I’ll update again when I have made some progress.
 
I'll suggest replacing both valve cover bolts as well as the grommets. The one unbroken one appears to be stretched right at the shoulder. Unfortunately it's not an uncommon issue of owners thinking they can tighten the bolts more to solve oil leaks at the gasket.
 
LongDistanceRider said:
I'll suggest replacing both valve cover bolts as well as the grommets.
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Definitely! The grommets look ok as far as rubber condition goes, but I figure if I’m ordering the parts I might as well get it all. Including the head gasket, because that has seen better days for sure. I’m sure the gasket is the main reason the head seeped oil, but that bad bolt couldn’t have helped either. Especially since that’s the side I was seeing the most oil on.
 
Syco13x said:
Definitely! The grommets look ok as far as rubber condition goes, but I figure if I’m ordering the parts I might as well get it all. Including the head gasket, because that has seen better days for sure. I’m sure the gasket is the main reason the head seeped oil, but that bad bolt couldn’t have helped either. Especially since that’s the side I was seeing the most oil on.
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You're talking about the head cover gasket, right? Not the actual head gasket? Those head cover bolts don't play a role in sealing the block to the head. The CX/GL series use a similar structure and I can tell you that the aftermarket gaskets are not worth it. OEM for your bike is available - worth the $30
 
Syco13x said:
Definitely! The grommets look ok as far as rubber condition goes
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While that might be true, the new grommets will provide more compressed-rubber pressure on the valve cover gasket to help ensure a good seal, this is why you should always replace them with each valve cover gasket. Don't feel bad, my previous CBX had the same valve cover bolt grommets to replace every gasket replacement - but 10 of them each time!
 
EzPete said:
You're talking about the head cover gasket, right?
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This is correct.. the head cover gasket, not the head gasket. Thank you for the clarification. I try to keep my terminology proper, but I tend to mess it up as well. LOL!
ancientdad said:
new grommets will provide more compressed-rubber pressure on the valve cover gasket to help ensure a good seal
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I figured that was probably the case, and that it was worth replacing those while I have this cover off anyways now.
 
Sending hopeful wishes that you are able to remove the remainder of that broken head/valve cover bolt out from the cyl head without damaging the threaded hole.
Reminder to be careful, calm, and in no rush if and when you have to drill a pilot hole into the center of the broken bolt for extraction !

Also, there is a small or light torque-tightening figure in Honda's Factory Serviceshop Manual for these shouldered-bolts BUT I often encounter the warnings here at VHT to ONLY tighten these head/valve cover bolts to the point when their "shoulders" contact the cyl head and stop at that point or risk breaking them off.

I had used my high-quality Snap-On inch-pounds torque wrench and the FSM torque figure when successfully re-installing these bolts in the past, but the next time I do this, I will only be using my hand-wide 10mm "midget"-length wrench.

And, the next time I have to perform a surgical "extraction" I am going to use left-handed drill bit(s) along with the proper-sized extractor

 
@Boosted Thank you for the invaluable advice! Much appreciated!

I managed to extract the bolt easily enough. I have an extractor set that I had to buy for my Sportster I used to own, due to the PO of that bike stripping nearly every screw on the derby cover. That was a tedious afternoon oil change. lol!

For this bolt, I did have to drill a pilot hole and then while finger tightening the extractor bit, it started to spin the bolt piece. So it was luckily a very easy removal.

Thought I had some feeler gauges for checking the valves, but I’ll have to pick a set up this weekend so I can go ahead and check the valves. Might as well now that it’s opened up! Plus, I have no clue when they were last checked anyways.

Ordered the bolts, gasket and washers from Partzilla today. Probably be about a week to get those parts in. Hoping to rebuild my forks and get some fresh fork oil in there as well while I wait. See what life throws my way in the meantime though.
 
These parts were not in my forks upon taking them apart:
IMG_2376.jpeg

I assume they are important enough to not be omitted. So I will look into ordering them and the o-rings for the top bolts at least. I barely got any oil out of the right fork and the left fork didn’t seem to have as much as it should have had. I need to do some clean up on the interiors still too.

Still need to remove the dust covers and fork seals too, but that will have to be another day when I have more time.
 
So I guess that “special nut” and seat washer in the top of the forks are discontinued. Can’t find them anywhere. Anybody know how important those are? Could I just install a spacer there? Or is that even necessary?
 
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