drewpy

don't just rely on ebay. Yamaha dealers still have stock in. BTW there is a Yamaha official conversion for the oil filter. it lets you use an oil filter for an XJ600. you'll have to google it as thats all I know

if the srew part of the actuating mechanism has come off, there are two ways of putting it back in. there is a ball bearing, but it is in the screw mechanism. i think that there is another but at the clutch end between the clutch mushroom and the rod. the cover will be tensioned slightly when you first put it on but not in any major way. the adjustment is merely taking up the slack between mech and rod. it should be obvious if the screw mech is off as it doesn't follow the line of the clutch cable.

you need a tubeless wheel and a tubeless tire to work, XS400 wheels are tubed.

been there done that! the only way is to push them out from the top, both mine and my friend carbs did it! slightly upsets tickover , but not much as new needles will compensate. make sure you don't over tighten them and certainly not without springs fitted.

bike batteries arn't the most durable commodities

its do-able, don't bash the cyl head on the fins if it is stuck. soak some diesel oil down the stud holes and leave to soak. corrosion is worse at the front studs. use the sequence for undoing the cam cover and head nuts. make sure you get all the gasket material off the faces, but don't scrape with a metal object, use shaped wood. don't forget the black O rings above and the red O rings under the cylinder bore replace all gaskets with new, but don't use any gasket goo on the top cam over as you open the gap for the camshaft bearing surface and drop oil pressure. clean the barrels BEFORE starting work as shit will get into the bottom end. put rags under the cyl head when lifting to stop more shit getting in. give the cam cap a good polish when off the bike. (might as well when its off) don't forget to lap your valves and keep all springs and valves in the same set. use sandwich bags and LABEL everything. don't be tempted to smooth the inlets or exhaust unless your a tuner. a rough bore surface promotes better gas flow than smooth. you can use a dremel with wire attachment to get into the nooks and crannies whilst decoking. its said that solvol the piston crown afterwards stops the carbon building up on them. check the rings for breakages but dont remove them if you don't need to as they snap dead easy. take your time and enjoy the experience, don't try and complete it to a dead line as you tend to cut corners.

the XS voltage regs are usually mechanical and switched by contacts (replaced by electronic in 1980). due to this and the bikes age I'm not suprised these go. the suzuki GS series was different in that the 3 phase alternator powered separate electrical items rather than "pooling" the current. So that 1 phase ran only the lighting system, 1 for battery and the other for the rest. because the lights wern't on all the time that part of the alternator got really hot and blew reg/recifier. the key was to keep your lights on !!!!

xs's have 18" front and rear except customs and their derivitives which have 16" rear but higher profile tyres. 19" is for xs650,750, 850, 1100's to convert to twin disk; there is a plastic blanking plug on the other side of the hub (spoke or alloy) which is pulled off (it will probably break off in bits) there you will find the drilled holes for another disk. you also need an SR500 caliper and caliper mount (it says "L" on it for left) SR's have their single disk on the opposite side as our bikes. and you need an XS1100 brake master cylinder to push more fluid to counteract the extra brake piston. Keep the wires they are much nicer and I spent over £400 converting mine last year with flanged ally rim and stainless spokes. my wires are significantly lighter than the original aloys.

that's a wheely good deal!!! Got 2 sets me-self

what's black and bushy and sits on a C*nt? Alistar Darling's eyebrows!!!

thought it was blue!!!

Looking clean, get that seat, cos the one on there don't sit (sic!) right. a few here are building cafe's and flat trackers and discussions are as how to hide the battery and gubbins to clean the lines of the bike. keep us abreast of your project as it happens!!

12v alarm batteries are looking the best fit

then you will have to call yourself "bratkan" then!! they do look cool, the way I am going to get that "see through" look is to find a tiny battery to fit where the starter motor is and I also have a reg/rec in 1 unit to put under the tank. I also have a BMW remote master brake cyl which I'm going to mount under the tank and have alloy coils al fresco A la Triumph. this will give me the bare look i want on the handle bars ( the hornbutton will fit like a bar end) no lights, just brake light for MOT

make a nice cafe racer that would!! Like this one? if anyone knows who's this is i'd like to know

Just to give us Brits a heads up, Aldi are selling ultrasonic cleaners for £16, great for glasses, rings, erm.....carb jets, carbs, valves, etc etc they are 600cc and you can just get half a carb body in.

yea we have good fuel over here, but then we pay dearly for it!!! £1.12 a litre

youv'e not visited the denziens of Manchester then?, £5 just to get into a pub on sat nite!!

went for £177, just a night on the tiles for you xs360?

I use Millars 20w 50 sports semi-synth. its expensive as it is blended on a small scale. being meant for older engines it works fine with Clutch in oil systems. I have used 10w 40 but found it too thin and tends to get a bit hot.

I've used that company once, and can't fault them, even sending to UK not sure about the carb holders, its the connection to the engine which you need to look at. oil in exhaust, bit of blow back from the gummed up piston rings? which if now ungummed could be ok now! also your valve seal could have hardened and letting oil by pass the seal.

Or ride in a groove on the road If you have a custom model, they have longer shocks as they have a 16" rear wheel. you would have to use a standard front end as well to balance the bike (or drop them through the top tree!!

Or the piston rings have ungummed themselves!!! best way to maintain an engine is use it!

you sure you got tdc?, double check by removing the spark plug and holding thumb over hole and turn engine over to the correct timing mark (its not necessarliy TDC either)

not just a pretty face yer know!!! seriously, let us all know how you get on for the benefit of present and future posters!