Classics

hey, let me start by saying that I have the skills to rebuild a car engine but have never been inside a bike engine before... with that in mind I am still working on my 75 mx400... found that it had very little compression even after I fixed the "decompression" valve cracked it open and discovered that sometime in its life it decided to eat what I think is part of one of the rings.... needless to say not a pretty sight with metal everywhere top of cylinder and piston both have more craters and pits than the moon... I pressed out the piston pin (luckily I found the little clips before I tried it) and the needle bearings in the rod just slid out and c…

So i was wondering, anyone here found a way to put a projector style headlamp on an older bike? I love the look of the original buckets and lenses, but the increased light from the projector style is appealing. Has anyone combined the two? I'd love to find a way to mount the projector in an original bucket with a clear (no "lines") lens on the front. Am i crazy to consider this? If someone could confirm that the projector light would work with the older electrical system i think i can custom make a bucket from fiberglass, that would fit the new light, and keep the original look as much as possible. Thoughts?

Hello everyone, Normally just a lurker, now a first time register/poster . I have a 1980 XS400 Special II that is in great condition and has 9k miles on it. Recently the original headlight died and I was unable to procure another original. I bought the aftermarket headlight kit and installed a standard bulb. Everything worked ok for a while, so its possibly unrelated. My brake light gets stuck on, my pilot section lights (neutral, blinker, oil), blinkers, horn, and headlight do not work. If I vibrate the engine by revving it up the will occasionally come back on. Should I be looking at grounds? I've checked all the visible grounds I could …

hi guys -- can anyone please tell me what these 2 ports on the carburetor (marked 1 & 2 in the pic) are for, and what is supposed to be connected to them? a friend thought they were both vents of some kind & just needed an open-ended hose "whip" attached to them, but he wasn't positive. the fuel inlet line is on the other side of the carb and a much bigger barb. any ideas? also -- is the plastic fitting marked 3 in the pic some type of crankcase ventilating elbow (akin to a car's pcv valve) & the hose attached to it is supposed to be left open-ended? thank you for any info you could offer.

hi guys -- i'm hoping to try firing up the old ct1 175 my son & i have been working on, that i've posted about here a few times (thanks for the help, by the way!), and i'm such a complete novice regarding motorcycles that i'm not sure how you properly fire one up. i'd like to get all my 'ducks in a row,' so as to avoid stupid mistakes. here are the things i'm aware of (most, if not all, are probably incredibly basic to you guys): ignition switch on petcock open fuel in tank look to see if fuel flows down hose to carb (it's a clear hose) transmission in neutral tires aired up choke knob pulled out oil in gearcase 2-cycle oil in autolu…

who do i talk toabout getting stuff for a dt175yam

I'm assuming that this bolt on the front of the oil filter cover is the only bolt that holds the cover in place, correct? Is there another bolt that holds this "bypass valve" in place? Because I've tried everything and cannot get this bolt to loosen at all. The threads are inside past the cover so I can't lubricate it externally. At this point I'm feeling I'm going to have to weld a piece of metal onto the washer part of the bolt just to get some leverage on it. Any ideas? Am I missing something obvious?

Hi there. I'm trying to replace my rear disc brake brake with a drum set-up instead. I think I have all the components I need but I don't have a clear picture of how the spindle/pedal/brake switch area is set-up. If anyone with a XS400 has a picture of that area and could post it up I would be very grateful. All the best Caddy

I need to check the battery on my bike but I can't figure out how to remove the seat. I have a haynes shop manual that says that the seat is attached to the left side of the frame by two clevis pins with split pins, but that's all it says. It doesn't even have any pictures. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi everyone, I am new to the forums here but have had some experience restoring older bikes. I recently picked up a 1980 xj650 maxim. The bike does not have a tank on it and i was wondering if anyone knows what year tanks fit or if any other bike tanks will fit. I have been searching ebay but have not found anything to promising. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. -Thanks for the help, Ryan

hi -- i'm a newbie to this site, as well as to motorcycles in general. this past spring, i bought an old 1973 ct175 fairly cheap (missing some parts & needing work) from a neighbor down the road, intending to fix it up with my son as a father-son project. never owned (or ridden, for that matter) a motorcyle before. after much time on ebay, on the phone with our local yamaha dealer, scrounging parts & figuring out how to cobble stuff up, we're getting fairly close to trying to fire it up for our first time. one question, though -- on this bike, there are no markings on the keyswitch that indicate what the key positions are for. it seems as if there are 3…

Hi FJ1100 / 1200 owners, As I said in another post, For those of you who dont already know, There's a two part feature on these bikes in 'classic motorcycle mechanics' in the April and May issues

Hi, Im lookin for a yolk set for my RD 125 LC MK1, and a set of Front forks. Ive tried places like EbAy... no such luck, so i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on where to look, or if they have any??? Cheers

where can i buy a swinging arm assembly for a lot less than £200 for my 1982 rd350lc. or is their a way around re-packng the worn bushes.

I just purchased an 88KLR 250 with a Seca XS400R motor shoehorned into it. I'd love to get my hands on a wiring diagram but can't find one anywhere online. Can anyone help? Thanks

How do I adjust the clutch clearance on a '79 XS 250? (I've got no manual yet - are there online manuals available somewhere?) When you go to take off, it doesn't grab (bike move) till the lever's nearly all the way out - these bikes may be set up like that, I don't know - it's actually not that bad, and the bike doesn't creep with the cluth engaged & in first gear, and seems to change through the gears fairly smoothly - I'm just not sure how it is supposed to be set up. I want to replace the clutch lever too, so I may need to re-do my adjustment - that's why I want some info on that. Also, I suspect that my battery is not being re-charged - I was told that I mi…

Hello all. A quick question for those in the know on xs400's. I'm in the process of stripping down, cleaning, and rebuilding the engine on my xs400 and I want to make sure I haven't done the ole switcheroo on my rocker arms. Each rocker arm has a number stamped on it's side. It looks to be 14 degrees and 15 degrees but i'm not certain. The odd thing is that it looks like both 15's are on one cylinder, and the 14's are on the other cylinder. This just seems odd to me and I figured that there would be one of each per cylinder. So if anyone has seen this could you let me know if this is normal or if I switched them?

This is the first bike that ive owned. I have a little experience riding smaller and later RD and DT models ( 2 strokes ) . I came by this bike when a friend gave up on owning it after having his second baby. Its been sitting in a garage for the last five years but did start back in the day. Overall it looks in decent condition. So Far, I've 1 ) Unsieized the engine ( was likely a vacum seize ) 2 ) Put in New Battery and Sparks. Checked both plugs were sparking and observed sparks. 3 ) Changed oil and filter. 4 ) Tank is clean, free of rust. 5 ) I havent taken out the carbs yet as i figure it should at least fire badly badly first. 6 ) I have observed fuel flowin…

Things are moving swimmingly along and I am now pondering on what color to repaint 'er... Just the tank and side covers, I think chrome fenders or alloy (or stainless) really set a vintage Japbike off. One choice (my favorite) is the Goodwood Green and Aztec Gold scheme from the 2004 Bonneville seen here: http://www.mcnews.com.au/Wallpaper/Triumph/Bonneville/2004/Bonneville_Green_RHF_1024.jpg Other thoughts: Hunter Green Not sure what the color is called, but I just got a set of matching side covers off of a 79 XS400F (I believe, just has the "xs400" insignia without 'special' or 'heritage' or anything like that) and they are a deep metallic blue that looks…

does anyone know where i can find 3 new rubber carb holders that keep the carbs attached to the engine? i cant find any place online or anywhere that has them.