duaneage

Leo Vince imports Sito pipes for the XS400. They are 350 dollars a set. Contact this guy and inquire. Will Schoeppe U.S. Sales/Dealer Support LeoVince Exhaust Systems [email protected] p 510-232-4040 f 510-232-4141 1360 S. 49th St Richmond, CA 94804

Check the diode that turns on the headlight relay. Also look at the stator wires and see if they are damaged. One leg of the stator powers the headlight relay through a small diode that is taped into the wiring harness above the engine. IF it is bad you can replace it with one from radio shack. Get a schematic for the bike (available on line, look around) and you will see it.

There is a lever near the helmet lock on mine that moves to the rear to release the seat. You need to put the key in and unlock the seat release. This is supposed to make it harder to steal your bike.

I would check the intake boots between the carbs and head, make sure the clamps are tight all the way. What you describe could also be bad intake boots or leaky gaskets in that area, spray wd 40 on the boots as the engine runs and if the speed increases you have a leak.

Buy a voltmeter for around 10 dollars and determine what the problem is first. Voltage going into a switch but not going out can be tested. Any old bike has electrical issues and a voltmeter is essential. Or you can throw parts at the problem without fixing it. You could have a broken wire in the harness, a bad connection somewhere in a connector. Any number of things.

Go to www.cycle-orings.com and order a set of o rings for the mikuni CV carbs. you'll get a set of 4 for about 15 dollars. This kit contains all the o rings in the carb, including the fuel inlet tube between them and the choke actuator. With new o rings the carbs will run as new. Like mine

Most people are going the other way and doing Cafe to the "cruiser" xs400. I can tell you it's not a drop on mod and the seat is very different in addition to being shorter. Honestly I don't think it's possible without serious fabrication. The bike you are trying to emulate has no tail section and shorter seat in addition to a different frame and side covers. I'll trade you mine for yours, straight up. I love the squared off look and large gas tank yours has.

All 30 YO bikes have electrical issues, the severity depends on whether the bike was treated well or not, left outdoors, road in the wet, etc. The fuse box is crap on these bikes, even several in line fuses would be better than the standard fuse block. I fashioned a Suzuki fuse box onto mine, a little big but better. The stator wires come out of the case and run right under the chain and front sprocket. The oil pressure and neutral switch are in that harness and they get drenched with oil, grease and dirt. I sealed mine with heatshrink tubing and repaired some pinched wires that were caught in the case. The turn signal switch can develop problems, cleaning spray helps. I had a bad diode that prevented the headlight relay from coming on and replaced that in the harness. Remove the connectors one at a time and spray contact cleaner inside. Work the connector apart and together again to clean the contacts. Do this with the battery disconnected so you don't shock anything. I would clean up the battery terminals and make sure all the grounds for turn signals, ignition, etc are good. This is standard stuff for old machines. Replace brass ground tabs with newer alloy and clean rust from any electrical ground. Restoration is work but electrical work is more about prevention.

First and foremost do you like the bike enough to lose money on it when you sell it someday? Bikes pay dividends when you ride them not profit when you sell. I will never recover all the money I spend over the years on my Suzuki but that's OK because I've enjoyed 12,000 miles so far of riding it. I'm not familiar with the model you are considering so you have to research whether parts are available for common repairs or not. It's not worth much if you can't maintain it. If the potential price is most important then find a machine with cult like following for cheap, fix 'er up and realize a profit. I did that with a CM400 automatic Honda, a bike that sells for more than I think it's worth. Bikes are generally money pits but cheaper than psychologists.

The procedure depends on a few things. A cold engine needs choke, an engine sitting for a few days needs PRI to prime the carbs with gas. Turn to PRI and wait 30 seconds for the bowls to fill. When kicking it leave the throttle closed, that helps draw fuel through the small passages of the carb on the engine side of the butterfly valve and it works best. The only time to hold the throttle open is to clear gas caused by flooding. A hard to start engine could have leaky intake rubber boots between the engine and carbs. Tighten the clamps and inspect for leaks. When the engine is running spray wd40 around the boots and see if engine speed changes. If all else fails the carb choke circuits could be stopped up and that requires a rebuilt and cleanout. Also make sure the choke linkage is opening the chokes all the way like it should.

you are doing right by sticking with diesel oil, don;t add anything to it.

Tires are an important part of staying alive, if there are questions about the tires they should be replaced. Now that being said if the tires have good tread and no obvious cracks on the side there are three possibilities. 1. Leaky valve in the valve stem. Cheap easy replacement, just take out the old and replace with new 2. Bead is bad on the tire to rim. Let the air out, break the bead and clean any dirt, scale or rust you find and lube with tire soap and inflate. 3. There is an object or hole. Use a mixture of soap and water in a spray bottle and look for it. Pump the tire up to 40 lbs temporarily to make it easier to find a hole. In fact you should probably do this first to see where it leaks. You did not say if you have spokes or mags. With spokes you have a tube inside and it could be bad. An old patch might be loose, or something worked it's way into the tube. Breaking down spoke wheels is a job for a tire machine in the hands of someone that know what they are doing. It's easy to damage the tube with tire levers. Find out where it leaks and then decide. if the sidewalls are cracked and air is coming through STOP riding until you can get new tires.

The battery serves as a filter for the charging system, without one you get very rough DC to all components. The life of the parts will be shorter. Consider one of the new car emergency start kits that uses small dry cell batteries (they appear to be D cell) connected together that supposedly will reinvigorate your car battery after 20 minutes of being plugged into your cigarette lighter. It could be hidden under the seat and would weigh less than the regular battery. Another idea would be a large capacitor but they are too big for this

Keep your eye out for a title-less parts bike. Something that is WAY too far gone to be fixed.

Cut a gasket from gasket paper, about 5 dollars roll at the auto parts store. Cheaper and faster than ordering one. Go to Lowes or Home Despot and match up the lower bolts, they have them. Just get the same grade as what you have so it does not break. Use a nylon inserted lock nut down there because there is a lot of vibration.. And congrats on getting it running.

Yes. Go to cycle-orings.com and get one of his CV carb kits. It will have enough for 4 carbs but you only need 2. I used the same kit of orings on my carbs and they fit perfectly. If you don't have CV carbs ask the site owner if he has the o rings for yours.

I have the same bike and I considered converting to disks, even doing both wheels. I decided against it because it would involve replacing both wheels, remounting tires, servicing hubs in both wheels, acquiring disks that were serviceable, installing a rear hydraulic master cylinder and rebuilding it, buying brake lines front and back, replacing the forks and rebuilding with new seals, replacing the cable system up front with a rebuild master cylinder, and cleaning up a front caliper with a rebuild kit. That's a lot of money, parts and work. On the other hand the drums require only shoes and a front cable for service. After buying new shoes and replacing the front cable I was content with how the bike stopped. I think the front could use a little tweaking on the two arms for better performance but there is no worries about hydraulics. The wet brake system is a constant source of work on any bike, the simple drum system on the xs400 is virtually trouble free. Sure the disks stop shorter and no spokes means no tubes in lighter wheels. But the Yamaha XS400 special II in spoke wheels looks great and proper. If you decide to do it the best thing to do is get a rolling chassis for parts and move everything over,. The rear master cylinder mount may need to be welded on, not impossible to do. I would rebuild everything and get new brake hoses for the sake of safety. Might be expensive but stopping is more important than accelerating,

If you still have the metal filter cans and air boxes you can fashion filters from lawnmower pre filters. I made a set for mine.

At idle the charging system is at it's weakest so you will see a dimming of lights when you have the brake light on, headlight up and are using a blinker. It should not dim too much. Using a meter you should have 13.8 volts or more at 3000 rpm across the battery. Less than that and you could have a bad stator, a bad voltage regulator, or bad connections between them all. I would look at bad connections, old bikes are famous for crappy brass connectors that are covered in oil. The regulators are decent on most bikes but the stators can break down in the oil or just from age, The wires from the stator get pinched and the insulation wears off from oil. I had one leg of the stator rubbing the engine case and it damaged the headlight diode. Also the field coil that creates a magnetic field for the stator might be weak, I had a bad wire on that too. So the rule is to take time and check the wires and connections visually, use a meter to see what you really have, and then attack the problems you find. There isn't a short cut really. A new battery is a tell tale sign of charging system problems, I have a 4 year old battery and it still works fine on mine.

Grease the cable internally with oil and lubricate the pivot points at the handle. Make sure it is not binding on it's way to the transmission. If that doesn't do it then the springs on shifting rod could be the problem. Bent parts, aftermarket racing springs, or other peccadilloes can cause hard clutch operation. Sometimes you have to open stuff up to see what is what.

Go with LEDS. You can find them on ebay and other places. They last for 75 years.

One of the leads from the stator goes to a diode that powers up the headlight relay when the bike starts. On my bike the diode was bad. 1.50 from radio shack for a new diode and wholla it worked. The diode was actually shattered in pieces. If there is no power on the headlight relay when the bike is running either the diode is bad or the third leg of the stator is not powering it (possible bad stator) Measure the AC voltage from all three legs of the stator at the white square connector running up the back of the engine with three white wires in it. SHould be around 60-70 volts between any two leads. Don't touch the probes or you will get a shock. The diode is wrapped inside the taped harness and is covered in a clear plastic tube. This system keeps the headlight off until the engine is running to conserve battery power when starting, especially when kick starting.

IF the bike is definately in neutral the clutch should be out of the picture as it does not engage the engine, only the input shaft of the transmissiion. If you have not already done so, remove the left side cover where the clutch cable enters and see if there is anything broken or jammed. Spinning the rear tire in neutral when you turn the engine indicates a transmission problem.

Beautiful bike, even the gauges look new. I would replace the intake boots between the head and carb, especially if they are cracked. 32 dollars on ebay. Check the petcock, the o ring inside mine was crudded shut so I replaced it with a new o ring from a plumbing supply store. It should flow on PRI without the engine running, and on RES or ON with vacuum applied to the hose behind it. Poor fuel delivery can also be caused by a clogged screen in the tank, ask me how I know. If you decide to run a filter, get a small lawnmower filter, not a large one since it will vapor lock. Remove it once the tank is clean.

Your finger was a better ground than the plug with it's small gap/ Might be time to check the plugs and gap. You said all the wires and caps were new so that probably isn't a problem. Maybe the coils need to be grounded a little better, the mounting bolts for the coils usually form the path for the plugs back to the coils.