ANOTHER bandit? 400 tart about.

[lilredmachine]

Picked this up cheap the other day. Sorry for the naff pictures, only got it home late last night. Will get better ones in a bit.

https://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8520/96771015127266643848517.jpg

https://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1471/26372610151272666223485.jpg

https://img407.imageshack.us/img407/4097/59856710151272666318485.jpg

It's a Bandit 400, hard life with only 31k (km) on the clock, sun bleached paintwork and severly dirty ugliness all round. But she's taxed and MOT'd till middle of next year, runs sweet as a nut and feels very nice to ride. Plan is to keep the Divvy 600 I have for now, do a bit of a 'rolling restoration' on this and then sell the divvy sometime in the new year. All good.

£49 to insure for the year as well hehe!
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Bikes: too many, too much for one man to maintain anyway.

[orac]

keep an eye on the front calipers, they seem to play up for some reason, along with disc bibins

just out of interest, what is the frame prefix. i have seen a few GK75A frames that have had non v-valve engines dropped into them. the reason i ask is the OE stainless pipe and twin discs are typical of imported v-valves (altho they they did produce non v-valve with simialr specs, and UK onl had single disc and mild steel exhaust).

other than that it needs a bloody good clean (as does mine atm).

oh and nearly forgot, check the fuse holder, evennwith the rubber flap thing there they tend to get a correded from road gunk

(so you know my little 400 now has pretty much 80,000km on the clock now and is only on the second engine, will post pics of the bore from original later)
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Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[RhynoCZ]

I like the clock,

I've heard about 400cc bandit only 2 things, the first one was don't buy it and the second one was that these engines eat piston rings and after 40k the engine is practicaly dead or before the end.

But, I bought NC27, and now I've got ruined stator, so I think every bike's got its flaws
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'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[lilredmachine]

oh er, well this one seems pretty sweet engine wise. No smoke at all.

More pics, pre wash:

https://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6151/20382101512731459934853.jpg

https://img38.imageshack.us/img38/1931/21780210151273145383485.jpg

https://img21.imageshack.us/img21/174/48430910151273146743485.jpg

Post wash:

https://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2006/18989410151273148378485.jpg

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9498/18991310151273150128485.jpg

https://img407.imageshack.us/img407/2392/30608310151273148603485.jpg

https://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2600/40297610151273149733485.jpg

Shows promise. Elbow grease and rattle cans will see her right.
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Bikes: too many, too much for one man to maintain anyway.

[CHR15]

[lilredmachine]

I was informed that these bandits are fitted with a variation of the GSXR 400 motor. I have not of heard of many of them going pop after 40k, quite the opposite.

Supposed to be relatively unburstable.
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Bikes: too many, too much for one man to maintain anyway.

[SpookyJam]

i am VERY jealous over that project

Those clocks are Sensually beautiful..
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Current Bike: Deciding Between GT650 or SV650S
Former Bikes: Cbr125r, Cbr 125r, GS 125, GS200, Proj-GS125Rep, VX800, GS850L
Spooky.. Spooky.. All weather biker....Ride by instinct not by thought.

[haroman666]

[Reid]

Always had a thing for these B400s, stunning bikes. Frame, colours, everything - nice one

[orac]

yeh sorry my bad, jst double checked my info, i must have mis read it

https://www1.synapse.ne.jp/s-hara/bandit/ban-hist400e.html

should give you a better idea if it had a lump change. if you want a v-valve head i have 2 spare here that need the valves re-seating.

as for the rings giving up, not a chance, the rings in my old motor still chack out, i think the main cause of the barrels ovalling was caused by it loosing all its coolant not long back (a few days before a new hose arrived).

on another not, i have problems with second gear, and have read about people haveing the same issues too. found adding a washing onto the selector drum resolves the issue
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Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[alun111]

[orac]

i added one between the selector drum and gear shift cam stopper (that thing that goes on the end of the drum).

however on double checking the manual it should have one in there standard??? so may not be as mch as a fix as i thought (i found it through testing the box just in the lower casing with a impact wrench)

also depending on how talented you are you it is possible to remove the slector drum and fork without splitting the lump - it fiddly and you will need a huge amount of patience.

do you have a manual? i have a PDF on here, PM with your email if you want it, its takes an eternity to upload
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Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[haroman666]

Yeah my second gear jumps under high load... Dunno if i've lost a tooth on the gear or not but no swarf or chunks came out last oil change. Maybe I ought to get the sump off and check the oil pump strainer.
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The mistresses: 2000 Honda CBR600f, 2000 Honda VTR1000

[orac]

as far as i can tell the problem is from it trying to select 3rd or 1st while in second, seems like there is an issue when the selector fork get slightly worn (athlo still in tolerence). maybe also be worth checking the groove to fork clearence as well as the fork thickness and groove width

this fualt doesn't seem to result in any evidence in the oil tho its a pain in the backside

for thos with another box, check the shafts for straitness, i had got a second hand one with a bent inpout shaft
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Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[lilredmachine]

Touch wood I haven't noticed a gearbox issue yet. I gave it a fucking good shoeing around the Island today, really enjoyed it. The little motor is marvelous. It handles really nicely as well. Head does seem a bit noisy, but it might just need the clearances looking at. Certainly runs nice. Having said that, should it need to be looked at, there appear to be more heads floating about than just about any other part for these bikes. Haha. Is the Variable head a bolt on jobby?

When I got home, satisfied that all was well with my purchase, I started tarting about.

https://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4604/48419210151274593768485.jpg

CleanAr.

https://img826.imageshack.us/img826/8972/39934210151274594113485.jpg

https://img69.imageshack.us/img69/9442/19821610151274593058485.jpg

https://img713.imageshack.us/img713/8263/53400810151274593368485.jpg

Where'd all the paint go?!

https://img607.imageshack.us/img607/1069/15542110151274594428485.jpg

Nitromors!

https://img839.imageshack.us/img839/3199/40302610151274594848485.jpg

Drying first coat on the +1 drying stick of holding!!11!!1one!

https://img849.imageshack.us/img849/5909/30288310151274595428485.jpg

Final finish after third coat is really quite nice.

https://img4.imageshack.us/img4/9552/47975010151274596353485.jpg

Brake torque rod gets in on it too.

https://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4881/52689210151274595938485.jpg

Sidestand also goes the full minstrel.

https://img715.imageshack.us/img715/3870/48630910151274596533485.jpg

After third coat looks far better than the manky red thing that came off.

https://img855.imageshack.us/img855/3290/48154110151274600368485.jpg

Ran out of time to get it dried and bolted back up, but effect should be better. Plan is to go red powdercoat frame, keep white wheels and go for gloss black panels with red slingshot decals on the tank. Hence the black sidestand/ torque rod. I used nitromors and wire wool to strip the paint and repainted with plasti-kote satin black all purpose rattle cans.

Looks much better in the flesh. My potato cam is shite.
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Bikes: too many, too much for one man to maintain anyway.

[CHR15]

[orac]

bolt on - no, unless you already have a v-valve. if you believe what they say it depends on TPS and gear position along with RPM. non v-valves dont have a tps as far as i know and only have neutrel on the gear postion sensor.

clearences on the standard motor arent that bad, the varaible has 32 shims and and 16 adjusters. standard just have 16 adjusters, you dont even have to do shims.

intake - 0.10 - 0.15mm
exhaust - 0.15 - 0.20mm

book says they should be checked every 6000km
____________________
Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[lilredmachine]

[et1]

Nice project you got there. I have always liked the bandit 400. Would love to one day have one off my own. Good luck with everything!

[haroman666]

[orac]

got some pictures (now i fixed my camera) of v-vavle head

first, head with cams and activation solinod removed
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8202/8244650172_dc16b08963_b.jpg
v-valve-1 by f2268d215cc925918731918f4efa0289, on Flickr

here we have a closer veiw of the rocker and sub rocker arm assembly. you can see that each valve has 2 shims and an adjuster at the oposite end

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8344/8244647680_456f6bf71a_b.jpg
v-valve-2 by f2268d215cc925918731918f4efa0289, on Flickr

the standard still has a rocker arm that divided into to but its adjusters are on the valve end.

did get some pic of the bore, but they dont show how oval they are
____________________
Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"