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Ebola Monkey

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Posts posted by Ebola Monkey

  1. It's actual gun blue. I had to grind off all the chrome first to get it to bare metal. While I was at it I smoothed all the casting marks.

    Then you apply, wipe off, polish with steel wool, repeat (several times).

    It's not the most durable finish, but my wife can't even kickstart the bike, and it'll never see rain.

    I might spray some polyurethane over it though. I did a test piece, and it looks good, but I think I like it bare better.

  2. I'm going to hack my wifes XS400 this winter, and was wondering if anyone could tell me what the top tubes under the seat are.

    I know they're 7/8" tubing, but does anyone know what the wall thickness is? I could just order .120 wall tubing, and it should work, but there's a couple spots that I'm going to have slugs in, and would rather use the same tubing as the stock frame.

    Thanks In Advance.

  3. LED tail light update:

    I posted this info in the headlight upgrade thread where this was discussed but thought it was important enough to start a new thread:

    Just received the pair of super bright LED #1157 tail/stop bulbs I ordered from Ebay. I have used the seller in the past with good results. Installed the bulbs and they are practically as bright as the filament type - only a very slight difference. Far better that the other, flatter style you usually find in auto parts stores. I am totally satisfied with the results. The only possible mistake I made was when I ordered the red LED bulbs instead of the white bulbs. Since our reflector is already red, the white LEDs might have been slightly brighter behind the reflector. Forgot that little fact since I was into this type of upgrade with my scoot a couple of years ago. They are a little pricey but they are high quality. Power test: with engine running and headlight on high beam (60w), no headlight dimming when the brake(s) are applied. Not so with the stock filament bulbs - the headlight dims noticeably when brake(s) are applied. Remember, I have an H4 SilverStar Ultra 55/60w bulb in a new 6 3/8" CandlePower motorcycle reflector. I can highly recommend these super bright #1157 LED bulbs to folks wanting to take a little strain off the charging system after installing a higher wattage headlight.

    http://cgi.ebay.com/...s#ht_798wt_1167

    Your link is bad.

  4. I have the mag wheels on my XS400 (1982) but would like to switch to a spoke type wheel on the front. What do I need to do to make this work? Any models that will let me use the original forks, brakes, etc?

    Funny.... My 82 xs400 Heritage special came with spokes, and drums, front and rear.

  5. My flasher was broken and a used unit was over $70, new about $120. I plugged in a $5 unit from the auto parts store I had laying around and everything works perfectly except the self cancelling...now i cancel it myself. No problem at all.

    Same here. Actually I think the one I bought for the xs400 was under $3.

  6. Test the voltage at the battery, then test the voltage going into the relay, and out of it.

    On my 650 for example I might have 12.3V at the battery, at the fusebox I have 12.1 going in, 12 coming out, 11.7 going into ignition switch, 11.4 coming out, 11.1 going into alternator brush. The resistance in the aging wire, and connections is causing a 1.2v drop by the time I get to the alternator.

    You may be getting 12.3 at the battery, and 10 at the relay. Under 11 they don't like to work, at least on my xs400.

  7. :rolleyes: what I'am assuming is gasoline.. what else could it be.

    Now that she's getting rode more and more she is becoming wet on the exterior surface of the carb holder intake manifold boots. As you can tell from the pics they are old, cracked, beat up etc. I take it they need to be replaced to fix the problem. just making sure theres no other serious problem going on..

    Also the little hose bib that comes out of it is capped.. the right side one has a vacumn line going to what looks like the petcock but the one in question on the left is capped.. is that normal? B)

    th_04890_gas1_122_119lo.jpg

    1st pic circles the area that becomes wet after a ride

    th_04892_gas2_122_526lo.jpg

    second pic shows the cap in question

    the previous owner had a double a battery as a cap on another place..so I worry about the "caps". hehe

    suprised that new rubber for both sides is pretty cheap. 30 bucks on ebay. not bad at all.

    Yeah, replace the boots.

    That one should be capped. Use it when you sync the carbs.

  8. I get the 2.15 rim laced up to the stock hub last night, and got the tire mounted today.

    It's just a little wider than the 3.00x18 tire that was on there before :D

    It took a long time, but most of that was polishing the hub, and cleaning/polishing the spokes.

    I called Kenda, and they told me that couldn't recommend any rim narrower than 2.50". I'm glad I didn't try to shoehorn it onto the 1.6. Even on the 2.5 rim it just fits under the fender. 1/4-5/16" space side to side, and on top.

    tires.jpg

  9. excuse the quality. snapped these real quick.. funny that my small little xs400 front tire is wider then pop's big ass harley.

    Thanks!

    That doesn't look like it fits bad. Crap.

    Almost every tire/rim chart I've seen says a 1.85 is the narrowest rim that should be used with a 100/90-18 tire. Some even say a 2.15 is the narrowest.

    Then again my rear tire is a 120/90-16, and they all say 2.50 rim width is the narrowest you can go. Mine's a 2.15.

    Probably should have just mounted it up instead of spending $50 on a used rim to relace.

  10. There's a few reasons for not throwing a 90/90 on.



    1. I already have the 100/90 tire as I was told by several people that it will work on the front. Everyone's an expert right?
    2. I bought matching front and rear tires... not available in 90/90-18
    3. In the future if I have to replace tires there seem to be 10 times more tire choices in 100/90-18 vs the 90/90
    4. Totally superficial reason here, but the wider tire just looks better.
    5. I'm generally up to a challenge, and like custom stuff. I'm willing to put the extra time and effort into having a wider front rim.
  11. I bought a 100/90-18 a while back for my wife's 82 xs400. It won't fit on the stock 1.60x18 rim so I'm going to relace it with a 2.15x18 rim.

    I know that it will be a tight fight, width, and height wise. I also know it's going to throw the speedo off a little.

    Do I need to worry about handling though? Will the extra 18mm on the diameter change the handling characteristics?

    Thanks In Advance!!

  12. Well my bike is coming along very well but am running into problems finding replacement Carb Kits online. I found a kit for a 1981 XS850 that looks the same except for different jet numbers. Has anyone on here tried it and does it work? thanks - Mike

    PS - Before anyone suggests it I have dealt with Partsnmore and MikesXS with very poor results. That is the reason why I am looking elsewhere. Thx.

    You won't find a complete kit for your bike. You may find a kit that comes with the wrong jets, but that kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?

    I rebuilt mine with parts from a few different sources, but my jets came from mikesXS.

    What parts are you looking for exactly? Bowl gasket, needle/seat, o-rings, jets, all of the above?

    Also... what happened with MikesXS when you tried there?

  13. I was curious. I had an old non-stock 2-1 exhaust on my bike when I bought it. Im going to convert back to 2-2...

    I already bought some nice mufflers and then asked around for some headers...

    Got a nice 81 exhaust almost free from someone. Not sure if its stock... The mufflers seemed to be welded on the headers ... Will get a local shop to nicely cut 'em off.

    My question is... it looks like the exhaust has a pipe underneath that connects them both to each other... What is the purpose of this?

    Can i just get away with putting on my mufflers onto the headers and not doing a shared exhaust system?

    Thanks!,

    Arian

    The crossover pipe is to balance out exhaust pressure between the 2 cylinders. It's not 100% necessary, but may run better with it.

    I have to ask... What are you gonna do with the 2-1 setup you had? I have been looking for 1 for my wife.

  14. Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. For whatever reason I've been having trouble posting. Now I can't use the messaging system on YOC. Apparently I've had my permissions removed??

    Anyway...

    I used a tiny K&N filter (62-2480) for my crankcase breather. They use to be under $10 from autozone, but I just checked and it comes up as $22 now. I've had this one laying around for years. I attached it to a 45° 1/2" copper street elbow. With the smaller end in the filter, the larger end fits loosely over the breather vent. I put a couple o-rings over the vent. I believe they were 9/16" x 3/32", but I'm not positive. I put 1 between the 2 rings on the breather vent, and 1 above the top one. Then just slid the elbow over them. It's plenty snug, and haven't had any problems.

    If you don't want to spend the money for that filter you might be able to find similar for cheaper. I think mikesXS has one too.

    BREATHER1.jpg

    BREATHER2.jpg

    Hard to see but there are 2 o-rings on there.

    BREATHER3.jpg

  15. Could you explain what you mean in more detail?

    One end of the ground wire should attach to the frame. Where does hte other end attach to?

    Thanks,

    Adam

    The negative terminal on the battery. There's a screw just a couple inches away under the seat that I attached mine to.

  16. Run an extra ground cable to the chassis, and start with a fully charged good battery.

    I went through hell with my wife's bike with similar problems. Tested and/or replaced everything in the charging system with no real results. Ground seemed fine, but adding another seemed to cure it.

    If it doesn't work you're only out a couple bucks, which is cheaper than any other part in the charging system.

  17. he writes that the pod ripped.. im not sure if getting a over sized one would be the best move, but i think i have found some where to get 45mm pod filters...

    but any one know what size jets are on a stock xs360 carb??

    I'm not sure which 360 you have, but here's the page to figure it out.

    Looks like there were several different jets used for it that year.

    I would suggest taking it apart and verifying first hand which jets you have.

    When I did pods on my 400, I bought 1 bigger pilot, and 2 bigger mains. I used the bigger pilot, and 1 size bigger mains. Bike runs pretty good with this setup. I'm also running stock exhaust. I think if I open up the exhaust I might need to step up the mains 1 more size.

    I also mounted the pods directly to the carbs, and still have my stock battery box. I used EMGO pods though, not the mikesxs ones.

  18. I put clubmans on my wife's XS400. I ran them "up-side down" though, so they went up like "normal" bars. I tilted them forward so the upright part is at the same angle as the gauges. This put the flat part of the bars almost horizontal from front to back. The round part frames out the gauges almost perfectly. They are 9 7/8" between the uprights, and I don't think they'll work the other way. I don't think they'll clear the triple trees. So keep that in mind.

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