armyofda12mnkeys

Here is my second kick with electronic ignition !!! No wires melted haha... Electric start also worked well. It seemed to really quickly turn engine with the electric start compared to my old engine (although i should note, the spark was really bright with the kick compared start to electric start. Carbs: Think I may need to tune the carbs a bit. My carbs were tuned for the previous 78 engine and not 81. It spluttered a bit as I gave it throttle. Smoke: I did see smoke after a few minutes ... I shut bike off and quickly rolled bike inside garage with more light and quickly took my tank off to see if wires were melting lol ... Didnt see the smoke so i was kinda stumped ... Turned it on again and saw it kinda come off right at tip of header pipes before they turn down... This may just be kinks from a 7 month engine sitting? electrical tape on the exhaust flanges (i had trouble putting on my 2-1 exhaust as the flanges kept slipping off the sides so i put a small peice of tape to hold the flanges together on the pipe while i pushed it in, etc?)

Cool thanks for pic... Looks like the metal washer is on top of the battery box and the ground-wire is in between there and the bolt. I had a new circle-terminal ground-wire to connect there... so i assumed at the time that i should have it closer to the frame and have the metal on top of that (aka the order of wire#1,wire#2,washer, batterybox,bolt)... Let me tell you it is a pain to thread it and try to get passed the battery box hole, into the washer, into 1 of the ground-wire circles ends, into my new ground circle terminal, and into the frame. heh hard to line things up under there. I think there is a metal surrounding the battery box hole where the bolt goes through so if you were to put ground-wire on top, then thats where the ground is routed to the frame maybe?, .... So if it does go on top (i might change mine to match yours), electricity goes through that (and not the rest of the rubber around on the battery box.

So I installed '81 xs400 coils on my '78 xs400 bike (upgraded it to electronic ignition) and since they don't fit the mounting area, I had to temporarily move my coils somewhere else and tie them down on the frame with plastic tie-downs (until i can find a place to weld a fabrication for me). I know that whatever electricity going through will be eventually grounded via the spark plugs to the engine... but do the coils have to be 'grounded' themselves as they have 2 metal screws sticking out where they are attached to mounting brackets? I assumed they dont need to be grounded as a lil' later the spark plug-to-engine takes care of that, But when i googled if it needs to be grounded, someone with a (way) different bike saw his wiring diagram said they needed to be, and his bike started up after he did this... So i just wanted confirmation it's alright to NOT ground it.

hmmm i don't see a reply in your post Emzed, maybe pressed Submit too early?

Silly/simple question but I just wanted to make sure I put back my xs400 exactly as it was ... There was a ground wire with a circle ended terminal, which was placed where the left side of the battery box is screwed in. When i took it apart, the battery box screws had metal washers. I was just curious on where exactly those washers went, as i forgot. I forget if the washer on the left side was placed on bottom after the ground (maybe to help ensure good contact with ground wire), or on top to go along with top of the bolt screw (i guess both sides have same setup with washers but forget). So basically just curious on the order to put it back together. A. put the ground wire on the frame (on hole where screw gets screwed in), then the metal washer then the battery, then screw in to tighten. (or maybe ground doesnt need the washer to help ground it and it is... B. put the ground wire on the frame (on hole where screw gets screwed in), then the battery, then the metal washer, then screw to tighten. C. battery, then ground wire above battery hole, then washer, then screw to tighten? D. another way? I'm guessing B. but just thought I'd confirm. Also what is best way to ground a new load device on a bike, would you: A. splice the new load's ground wire into one of the other black ground wires going back to the main ground wire. B. just have it go somewhere else by itself on the frame. (I wasn't sure if having more flow of electricity would harm things, like the ground always has close to 0v i was reading but still amperage, so not sure if the ground wire has possibility to melt hehe). I'm converting my xs400 to electric and instructions say to ground the new igniter unit, just want to be safe how I'm doing that.

Hey kmac, Thought i'd post a video here to help other peeps and myself as well... Probably my last question... I actually got to reading my first wiring diagram (wanted to learn before i attempted putting wiring in) ... So on the 81 harness i cut the black ground wire off (comes out of the Tci igniter unit), and also cut off the end of a red/white wire coming out of the front/kill switch... Also noticed i had another wire i needed to cut, so cut the end of a red/white wire coming from the safety relay(question about this later). Noticed the wires still 'tangled' together so I couldnt remove everything yet off the harness... Whats left over is kinda is tangled between the wires and I was wondering how to remove that brass clip from the harness so i can pull out whatever is just crimped there ... UPDATE: Well I did remove it by cutting into it by hitting it it with a flat-head screwdriver/pic and a hammer. maybe theres a better way/tool to do it for next time if anyone has suggestion, seems like im going to have to buy one of those brass things to splice everything back in that area ... but heres my main question ... So that red/white wire area i just broke up had 1 wire that comes from TCI ignitor unit, another comes from a coil and another comes from the other coil, 1 comes from 'safety relay' i see in the 81 diagram, and another goes to the engine-stop(kill) switch. Here is a video everything very detailed: So in summary, I'll probably splice the ground to where the little black wires goto on my current 78xs400E harness (black wires meet up into 1 wire and touch the left side of battery box so i assume its ground). I'll splice in the 2 red/white coil wires and tci red/white wire back onto the main kill switch wire like it was before, and have that main wire spliced into the front red/white wire on 78 harness... You can see in the video that after the green tape, there is a red/white wire also going to the back from the coil wire. Should I splice that back red/white wire onto that kill-switch area too? ... Unlike the 81 harness which had a red/white wire going to the 'safety relay' (dunno what that is btw)... I think that back red/white wire on my bike goes maybe to the Starter Solenoid if Im reading xs400E diagram correctly. So does that get spliced in as well into that merged area? ... if so, then it'll look like it did before where it looks like 5 wires are meeting up there (only difference is it would goto the starter solenoid instead of safety relay). Anyway, hope the video helps peeps answer my question and to upgrade their machine too in future. EDIT: got it working i think, will post another video with final result. Will report back Sunday night if she runs .

custom? like Specials? I was looking last night and see what he was talking about. Think my regular 78 and 81 engines have these rounded fins.

Here is kmac's thread with all the part #'s needed ID you have a pre-80 model engine which im using as a reference (dunno why he would have a DOHC 82-84 model as i think they aren't points-based engines): I was debating putting the electronic ignition parts from a 81 to a 78 like kmac did, but I had a chance to get a full rebuilt 81 engine... so I put that in (have to swap the whole stator cover with the old one since it used 1 more wire), but the instructions should be the same. Working on splicing the ignition in soon. PS the only visual difference i see between an 80/81 and pre-80 XS400 is the points cover is thicker on the 80/81

So the only work I was really looking at when I was swapping an 81 engine to a 78 XS400 was replacing the points based system by putting in the electronic ignition to hook up to new engine... So as I was hooking up the rest of the regular wiring before I even attempt that, I realized the alternator on the 78 engine had a different alternator wiring setup... On the old 78 one it had one 4-input female and 4-output male wires coming out of alternator (which is recieved by a 4-output and 4-input wire on harness)... But the 81 alternator wires coming out the engine, one of the wires has only 3 on the female end (so i guess it had 3 on the male end on its original harness) but my 78 wiring has 4 ... Can I just hook this up and expect it to be powered correctly lol? The other person who did a 81 electronic ignition swap only added the coil governer to his 78 engine, so the alternator wires were stock 78 ones. So running into territory that hasn't been gone through so I thought I'd ask the forum. Here is a pic showing that 3-input female end from the new engine and the 4-output male end on my battery: I did see the 'alternator cover' #1 here http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/1978/XS400E/CRANKCASE%20COVER/parts.html is the same till 1982... hmmm guess the electronic parts are different then. I wonder if I should put in the alternator from the 78 onto the 81 model, then it'll have a 4-input female input on that one plug as needed. EDIT: So that 1 wires has 3 wires going into the end connector when on the 78 it has 4... the extra wire on the 1978 seems to power the headlight? relay assembly ... So I just swapped out my 78 cover and put it on this engine since Im using the 1978 harness (with just 81 electronic stuff spliced into the harness to go along with the engine).

Cool thanks for clarification , Thanks kmac!

The turn signals were a bit expensive ... I got from cb750cafe.com and taillight from Amazon hehe

The 81 xs400 engine I have has a blackish rubbery? paint on the bottom cylinder block. Its kinda peeling off at certain points. Whats best way to remove while still on the frame? I saw some ideas on internet... JASCO Paint remover carefully painted on and then peel off with small wire brush. I would get the tools to sandblast it, but just want to do a quick decent job with it still on there, doesnt need to be perfect/polished. EDIT: well i tried it ... i got chemical splash goggles, good respirator, and chemical gloves. got a tin can from store and a small brush... applied it on cylinder. waiting 15-20m and then got between fins with q-tips to wipe off bubbling paint chips and get it more dry (my steel detail brush was still too small to get in between fins unfortunately) ... then used a tooth brush squished in there to get more chips once it was more dry. and then used low grit wetdry sandpaper taped to the blunt end of a butteryfly knife hehe to rub off any more still stuck to cylinder (probably could use other tools to do this, just used what i had in front of me ). Did this a couple times. the JASCO did a decent job. I'll probably use a Caswell 'Razor' buff wheel to buff the leftovers (or buy a Dremel with 'abrasive sticks'). Note: when the instructions say to use a metal jar ... the tin paint cans u find in LOWES seem to have a lil grey paint covering inside of them too, so it breaks some of that down. Seemed like it was coming off as I was using it lol. and Also I got an idea to use this JASCO stuff to get the ugly laquer on the side covers based on some similar threads i read ... i usually wetsanded that off annoyingly with a pretty low/hard grit like 280, and then worked up to acceptable higher grits then used my aluminum polishing kit/drill ... but the JASCO took most of it off in 15m and the rest in a 2nd application... then just used a higher grit 600-1000 and my aluminum polishing kit/drill.

cool nice to know its an 81 On a related sidenote: I was debating checking inside the electronic rotor cover where that connector goes into.... just to make sure its all clean in there (not sure what you'd call it, but its where the contact points on the older model usually go)... and the big hole on the right side has no screw in it... i take out the left side screw and it swivels a bit as if theres a screw still in that big hole... but all i see inside is a perfectly flat area at the end... Should there be a screw in that bigger hole? How do you get the cover off hehe? EDIT: Just wanted to update this in case other peeps are curious... The 'big hole' on the right ride is actually an anti-tamper plug over a screw... Kmac informed me you need to drill it out if you want to reset timing (which usually isn't needed often i hear on these electronic ignition bikes). Also the wires coming out from alternator/stator cover are a bit different on this engine. 1 of the wires has 3 wires going into the end connector when on the 78 it has 4... the extra wire on the 1978 seems to power the headlight? relay assembly ... So I just swapped out my 78 cover and put it on this engine since Im using the 1978 harness (with just 81 electronic stuff spliced into the harness to go along with the engine).

just curious ... i am converting my bike to electric ignition so reading parts of the manual i never explored before ... So i am going to put regular 80/81 xs400 coils in my bike... I saw in the Haynes manual (on page 132) with those stock coils and electronic ignition section: "never run the engine without both spark plugs connected, the high 2ndary voltage could damage the ignition coils" Which got me thinking on a side note... On mikesxs, they dont put this warning except on the most high energy performance coils (I guess the 80/81 electronic ignition coils are way stronger than 78/79 coils as well)... Anyway... My main question is... how do I test the spark plug spark if its dangerous for my bikes parts to start bike without both coils in? Like what id normally do is take one out, and ground it against engine and try to start bike via kick or electric start to try to check spark, but dont want to overvoltage anything? On my 78 xs400 i would do this test alot, and even sometimes the bike would start with just one cylinder hah (which i would immediately turn off, but just saying it is possible the bike would start if testing spark... guess i could unplug both ... but then dunno where that other plug not holding with my hand is sparking to hehe). So how can i test spark with the electronic ignition setup?

adjusting clutch didnt help me... I dunno if same issue as me.... I think it may be the gearbox/transmission on mine. I checked my plates and springs and they were still in limits. I had trouble getting out of nuetral sometimes, and there is a 'hidden' nuetral between 4th and 5th gears hehe (i would know since the engine reved super high since i had throttle on thinking im in gear, but I was in a 'nuetral state'). I am trying out a new engine now and will look inside the other engine to see if i can swap a better gearbox in it. May want to make sure have correct grade of oil to make it slightly smoother but i dont think that would b issue. Im no expert, maybe drewpy can chime in tomorrow.

swapped the 80/81 engine in. easy as pie. next comes the electric ignition, got some advice from kmac. looks like just need to connect new wiring to the ground and kill switch. Will update better once done next week or 2.

bleh clubmans hard to control/move around tight places like garage (at least for a 5'3" person like me) and dent the tank ... I bought clubmans and superbike bars from MikesXS for my xs400 ... I liked the superbike ones more, way more comfy. and still look aggressive enough for my taste (took off the front fairing i bought, looks even more meaner now)

> It should be turned out ~1.5 turns Some peeps here recommend 2.5 turns on that idle-mixture (the screw towards engine side... on 1978 model at least) to get non-factory but proper performing air-fuel mixture ... Lemme tell you, it can be real finicky, at least it was for me. Sometimes i thought i had it fine, but riding it in 2nd gear at 3k revs bike would stumble. I redid it more carefully and turned out better. I then re-did it with a 'Colortune' spark plug and it worked out even better. Read the plugs after each half a turn to get more accurate result (.25 of a turn too hard to notice difference in colors on plug). Start off more lean as its hard cleaning the black each time if you too rich to re-read the plugs. I had a side question i didnt take into account when setting my mixture ... Should the 'throttle stop' screw be turned all the way down (aka revs go down, or up?) and then readjusted after idle-mixure screw is done being adjusted... or it doesnt matter where it is when adjusting mixture?

Looks pretty good! I dunno mikesxs may work but I've used Motion Pro cables: Search by your model here I can recommend for an engine polishing: some wet-sanding any major scratches/very oxidized spots on engine, and then working at it with an aluminum polishing kit. getting between the fins is hard though... I ordered a 'razor' buff from them for that purpose and will try it out this weekend.

EDIT i got it!. haha for some reason i was assuming you kick forward to kickstart it lol... i sat on the bike and realized i kick backwards as someone else mentioned... Also the part sticking out from end of the shaft should be facing down 180 vs the 90 to the left i had it (the wrong '90 degree' way i set it up can be seen in video below)... the correct 180 degree location sets up much more tension for the kickstart spring to snap back in place. Thanks guys, i understand it better now! ignore old message... yes, i just want to test out how the mechanism theoretically works before i put engine/clutch back together. Im guessing i have it placed in wrong and then the spring then maybe placed wrong as a result of that bad position as it doesnt snap back. I guess my question is how to put it in correctly Here is me trying to put it in... from how I'm lining up everything ... from the metal part sticking out at the end of the shaft, to where im holding the gear/clip when putting it in, and then setting springs, and then putting kickstart back on.

EDIT: Im retarded, haha the hole was dark and i couldnt see the ball in there as it was dark and oily haha

Oh, I took out the whole kick start-shaft ... I was just pointing out that i thought i returned the parts of thee spring to their correct positions ... The lever was also taken off, I added it back on to an arbitrary position to test out how the kickstart turned the engine after i took everything off. I have the engine covers off mostly for learning now and getting used to stuff, starting to feel kinda comfy. I helped my friend a lil' rebuild his 85 ninja so started getting confident I could do mine. I'm going put alternator/clutch covers back on and remove engine soon as I think did all the other steps except sprocket/chain and main mounting screws. So I have a head gasket leak and a few other leaks so bought a full gasket kit ... Plus the transmission/clutch seems super clunky so may put in a new tranny if the gears look goofy (have new clutch plates but the old ones seemed to be within good range). wrote before it gets in a "False nuetral in between 4th? and 5th gear and clunky going up and down gears, hard to find neutral or get out of nuetral sometimes." So I'm buying an 1980 xs400 rebuilt engine with electric ignition and swapping that in next week and gonna try to follow along the steps to get it electric ignition working (or swap my points if thats too hard hehe). Then gonna spend rest of summer for learning mostly on the old engine and rebuild it and convert that to electric... then maybe buy another xs400 and swap that in haha

haha, cool. i was worried about it falling into engine reading previous comments

so i guess its good the bike is not on the kickstand (and on centerstand), as it is level but still there is a chance when pulling it out the ball bearing falls into engine? ... I guess if it was leaning to the right somehow, it would be better . Im gonna take off the engine anyway to take a look at transmission and possibly replace it, my clutch is real sticky. False nuetral in between 4th and 5th gear and clunky going up and down gears, hard to find neutral or get out of nuetral sometimes.

Hey guys, I am disassembling my old xs400 engine, and i was curious how the kickstart works... i tried putting it in the same way i saw it in there but not sure i did it correctly... It seems to turn the engine's gears to turn crank when i pull it up not 'kicking' down as i would expect ... Heres some video to go along with my question (have i guess an initial question about sprocket too) PS no clutch plates in the bike currently but i dont think that affects anything relating to starting up the bike.