1978 Honda CB400 TII Hawk Restoration
History:
Picture from 1987
I rescued this motorcycle from a barn in 1984 when I was 17 years old. The Hawk
was my first street motorcycle. I paid $300 for it. It was dirty but ran. I was
also able to clean it up. I can't remember what the mileage was then, but it wasn't
high.
In 1989 my first husband insisted that the bike be placed into storage when I became pregnant. So the Hawk went to my parents and was stored in one of the barns. When my daughter was one year old, instead of going to get the Hawk I bought the 82' Silverwing Interstate. It wasn't until October of 2007 that I went and retreived my first bike. The poor CB was sitting in the barn for nearly 19 years and once again in need of rescuing.
This time it was not going to be as easy to clean as the last time.
Parents barn Oct. 28, 2007
Condition 10/28/07:
- 20,083 miles
- Filthy
- Rusty
- The plexi-fairing fell off once it was out of the barn.
- Stuck throttle
- No movement in front brake. Lever unable to depress.
- Full gas tank with gas from 1989. No varnish smell. It actually smells almost normal. Of course, this was gas with NO Ethanol!
Here is a Gallery of images taken on 11/09/07 prior to washing.
The damage to the headlight housing, front fender, left turn signal and shift lever was the result of an accident I had with this bike coming home from work in 1986. The Hawk shows the signs, as does my left arm, with scars from road rash. Once again, I know the Nolan helmet I had at the time saved my life.
My intention is not to bore you with every little thing. I intend to only highlight
and show items that are interesting or noteworthy. This is the third motorcycle
we own that I am attempting to get road worthy this year. 
The
91 CBR and 88 Hawk NT650 were both in similar states, but for not as long of time.
Both were sitting for just a little over 8 years. The CBR, now my track bike,
didn't even need a carb rebuild. Once everything was back together and fresh gas
was available it did start. The NT650 took a little more effort. I needed to rejet
the carbs and I still haven't manage to get all varnish smell out of the gas tank.
You never know what you may find in the airbox. The image to the right was what
was found in the NT650. The green stuff is Decon mouse bait and the other things
are seeds.
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