lostlife Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 I'd like to first say that I'm new here and this looks like such a great place - i have been reading through the XS400 info on here and there are so many good ideas and answers.. I'm sure I'll be asking you guys a ton of questions in the next week or so... So thanks in advance! Ok- so I have an 81 XS400 I'm fixing up. I got the thing dirt cheap and it seems to be pretty complete and fairly clean. It turns over, and I have had it run for a few seconds before it killed out (no carb adjust, little gas) - I got some weak spark for a while, but it went away... Thanks to the info on here and a little pulling shit apart, I've come down to one problem being both the starter solenoid and a disintegrated starter button... Not really a big deal there. The coils are off on their resistance reading (i forget exactly what they were) but they are in line to be replaced anyway. I dont really need electric start, would actually prefer to just kick it, as I'm slowly going to be morphing it to a custom cafe(ish) bike anyway. Here are my questions: How the hell do I remove the battery from the system completely? YouTube vid here. I read there that they replaced it with a 12v car alarm battery to provide enuf juice for ignition- any thoughts on this? this could be awesome...but it kind of sounds too good to be true. At the same time- I'd like to upgrade the points/cond to the electric Pamco system on MikesXS ( Here ) anyway... from what I've read on here, this will work on the XS400 (instead of the 650), right? How do you think this will work with this crazy battery thing? And last but not least- Any good performance pipes for this thing? I just havent found any... Thanks for your help folks- great forum you have running here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Welch Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 The coils are off on their resistance reading (i forget exactly what they were) but they are in line to be replaced anyway. Are they off a lot of just a little? If just a little they are probably fine. I dont really need electric start, would actually prefer to just kick it, as I'm slowly going to be morphing it to a custom cafe(ish) bike anyway. Here are my questions: How the hell do I remove the battery from the system completely? YouTube vid here. I read there that they replaced it with a 12v car alarm battery to provide enuf juice for ignition- any thoughts on this? this could be awesome...but it kind of sounds too good to be true. You MUST have a battery, you can however use a small 12v battery to supply that part that the charging system needs to work. At the same time- I'd like to upgrade the points/cond to the electric Pamco system on MikesXS ( Here ) anyway... from what I've read on here, this will work on the XS400 (instead of the 650), right? How do you think this will work with this crazy battery thing? An 81 should have electronic ignition already, my 80 does. Is the cover over the "points" area on the left side of the engine smooth or ribbed? If smooth it's electronic ignition and the module does all the advance, there are no mechanical advance components. Good luck, these things are nice bikes when fixed up, either as stock or as cafe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostlife Posted May 16, 2009 Author Share Posted May 16, 2009 Are they off a lot of just a little? If just a little they are probably fine. You MUST have a battery, you can however use a small 12v battery to supply that part that the charging system needs to work. An 81 should have electronic ignition already, my 80 does. Is the cover over the "points" area on the left side of the engine smooth or ribbed? If smooth it's electronic ignition and the module does all the advance, there are no mechanical advance components. Good luck, these things are nice bikes when fixed up, either as stock or as cafe. Thanks Cy - I guess this is why I should stick to one project at a time - i got two bikes confused! Yes, I do have electronic ignition on this one, so i guess that answered that... Thanks for the reminder before I ordered a bunch of stuff I didn't need! I'll take a better second look at it again tomorrow- its been a few weeks.. After I posted, I looked around to find a number of different ways to simplify the wiring, but am still not sure what kind of battery to replace the stock with... would just a small 12v battery work, regardless of Ah measurement? If it is just for maintainance of the circuit, it should require very little, right? as long as it stays at/above 12v? And Ive also seen (here and other places) a small "battery eliminator", but I havcent found anyone that has used one, or exactly how to wire it. I might just have to get one and try it out. So if i still have to replace the coils (i remember them being way off, but I'll double check everything tomorrow), do those ones from Mikes work? That would be an easy solution... Thanks again! sorry for the brain-fart.. haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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