Classics

anyone have the wiring diagrams for the 1974 dt 175? my bike runs great but i want to get all of the lights working again. thanks

The Bike: 1978 XS400E. Tried to drop the strainer cover on the bottom of the crankcase today, came off fine, and even went back on fine. I used a new gasket as I always do on any old vehicle. Tightened the thing what I thought was good and tight, put the 2 1/4 quarts of oil in to account for the new filter and no matter how tight I tighten them little bolts it won't stop leaking. I thought they just weren't tight enough, so I tightened more. Then one of them snapped off AND IT'S STILL LEAKING. Now I only have 4 of the 6 bolts I can use, though I am going to see tomorrow if the empty hole that's been there since I got the bike has a potmetal Jap bolt half in it or if it's …

Hello, I've recently bought 2 1979 Yamaha XS400 Specials. The yellow one still has the original documents for legal road use, the black one is "paperless"... I also got two XS 250 engines free for spare parts. Now, my dad has got 4 old Ducati 350 Desmo's, and 3 of them are modified to caféracer. This is my dad's favourite one (Extremely comfortable steering, but lazy engine): And this is a Honda CB450 Caféracer that inspires me aswell: I want to change one of my XS's into a Caféracer like the Ducati of the Honda, but I don't know where to start I will change the original steer to lower clip-ons, I would like to saw of the rear end …

Hey there, ive already posted in a couple of other people's threads, and decided that instead of hijacking everyone elses, that i would go ahead and make my own. I bought my first bike on tuesday, and as mentioned above it is a 1975 xs500b. i did a little bit of research on this before i bought it, and still decided to go for it, even though everything i read said that the parts were a nightmare to find. $400 plus a helmet, and its in pretty good condition. apparently the story on it goes something like this: 1 owning family - grandpa got if for grandma brand new in 75. grandma promptly ran it into a ditch and it sat for the next 15-20 years. dad pulled it …

I have a 1975 XS500B. Would I be able to fit all the parts into a 1976 XS500 frame?

I'm ready to order new tires for my 1978 DT175 and would like to upgrade the rear tire size from the 3.50-18 to a 4.10-18. Would anyone happen to know if I'll have a clearence problem with the larger tire? Thanks, WallyB

Hi there, I just picked up a 1976 yamaha xs500 DOHC for a couple hundred bucks and I am currently getting it stripped down to do a cafe conversion. It runs great and shifts smooth, I actually rode it for most of the summer. My only complaint so far is the poor stopping power. There is a mount for putting a second disc brake on the left fork leg and my wheel is able to take a second disc on the other side. I was wondering if I could just slap another caliper on and tee into the brake line, or will I need some sort of proportioning valve and a larger master cylinder to accommodate the extra fluid? I read somewhere that the xs500 had the option of dual discs at some point …

Last July I bought a bike from a guy off of craig's list. He said it was an 81, and the side panel read "400 special." Did a search on the internet and concluded that the model I had was an xs400 special. My dad went online and got me a shop manual for it (we're gonna have to fix the electric start at some point). The manual that he got me is a Haynes "YAMAHA xs250, 360, & 400 sohc Twins: 248cc~358cc~391cc. 1975 to 1984." The only 1981 391cc bike covered in the manual that also has "special" in the title is the "xs400 H Special II" so I assumed that that was the one I had. The bike on the cover looks like mine, but in the section on changing oil it says that y…

Alright, after a month of the bike being in the shop, and general craziness in my life, I have the bike back. It is running decently, however it still is very reluctant to start. I have found the most reliable way to start it is to cover the carb openings with your hand while hitting the electric starter so that they flood slightly. Once you do this it will reluctantly start, then need to be warmed up with the choke like normal. The shop cleaned, set, synced, balanced the carbs, so those should be ok. Ignition timing was set as well as it can be, and valves were set and adjusted. My only thought as to what could be causing this is the stock airbox has long since been …

Hey guys, About to order a master cylinder rebuild kit and was wondering if anyone knew what size the bore is? The manual's useless. Edit: Nevermind, found, 13mm as I suspected.

My 1978 DT175 plastic fenders and side panels are faded badely, and I've looked everywhere (including EBay) for new replacements. Any suggestions where I might find them would be much appreciated. Thanks, WallyB

There's a complete exhaust system for an 81 XS400 Special (SH?) on E-pay right now. Looks decent and it has a crossover pipe. Questions: 1) Will it bolt up to my '78? I believe so, but the crossover pipe might interfere with the centerstand. 2) Should I expect any seat of the pants difference from the crossover pipe? 3) If either of the above is no, does anybody have any suggestions that are *not* made by MAC?

I have a 1975 DT175 and it has the shocks with the extra oil reservoir on them. They only have 2" of travel (with the bike just setting there there is only 2" of shaft sticking out of the shock. Is this all they have or is there some thing wrong with them. If they are supposed to have more travel than this does any one have a exploded view of them? Dan

Hey Guys, What I have is a 1975 DT400. What I've done is completely tore it apart and am turning it into a cheap ass rat bike. I've lowered the front forks three inches and I can't find the oil capacity for the forks anywhere. Would there be any change in the capacity since I added a three inch spacer inside the forks. Here is a link for the process of lowering the forks I used. Any help is greatly appreciated.

So I got new clubman handlebars today. I switched out my bars and everything works fine except the front brakes which were working fine earlier. There is dot 3 fluid in there. The brake feels like it has no tension when I squeeze it so maybe something came loose? There is a bit of a kink in the cable since the bars are so short, but I took off the brakes completely so there were no kinks and it still wont work. I'm very new to bikes so any help with simple instuctions would be very useful.

I have a Clymer manual and it is basically as useless as tits on a boar hog. The wiring schematics only show about 30% of the wiring on the machine. Does any one have a complete wiring schematic for this year and model? Dan

I tried to do as much reading from earlier posts as to not repeat other peoples cases, but I'm just not as knowledgeable in electrics to understand what was going on. For 2 weeks there were no problems starting up my xs400 or running long distances. Keep in mind, my electric start never worked.. when I pressed the start button something would just spin freely, and from earlier posts I guess something wore down. But the kick start until today has never failed me after 2 kicks. I also read that people had difficulty kick starting in the cold. Its getting below freezing at nights to give you an idea. I went to test the starter button just to see if it even did anythin…

In my attempts to locate sources of noises and problems, i popped the valve cover off to check that the cam area was getting oil. Oil is getting there, though i don't know if enough. I'm concerned about my cams, as they show wear, and more than i think should be reasonable. Thoughts? Does this point to a larger problem? I'm retiring the bike for the season (not that i've ridden it much), and starting to do my tear down, which will include the engine, so i'm gathering what i need to check/replace. I do have a set of new cams, which will help if these look really bad. All the pictures i took (and all the ones relating to the bike) are here, but some select ones are be…

I'm trying to get my forks apart to replace the seals, and i can't get the hex bolts at the bottom out. I have the top caps off, springs out, oil drained. But the hex bolts won't budge. anyone have any ideas to get them loose? (i'm assuming they are normal right hand threads, manual doesn't say they aren't.) I really don't want to strip them. thanks

What if any bike swingarm will give me a longer backend. Someone said radion or xs 650 swingarm bolt up. Any help?