XS400 ground-up rebuild

[Tom Sittler]

Hi guys, I'm new here, and I'm a total rebuild noob, but I plan to learn as I go. I picked up an extremely rough 1981 XS400 today for $150, and it's my new winter/spring project. I have some pics from a phone camera: http://picasaweb.google.com/asittler/XS400...feat=directlink

As you can see, pretty dang rough. It sort of starts (except for the fact that there's no gas in the currently-cracked tank) but doesn't run (currently... By next summer, that'll change).

The handlebars are DEFINITELY gonna go asap. Anyone got any suggestions on what would work comfortably and add a sorta cafe-like look but without being impossible to ride on a fairly long (~5hr) ride? The controls also need replacement, they're all frozen from sitting so long, so I may end up having to frankenbike it with some controls from another bike. Also, headlight enclosures... What else fits it? Someone mentioned a Honda one that would work and not be too horrifyingly expensive. It needs turn signals too.

It's going to be solid gloss black, with lime green pinstripes around the fuel tank and the airbox covers and probably the top ring on the cluster. And the piping on the seat if we can find it in lime green.

I'm looking forward to getting her running again, she's definitely sat for a while but for $150 and the privilege of getting to learn about how to rebuild bikes? Worth the work at any cost.

[xmastree]

The handlebars are DEFINITELY gonna go asap.

Yep, I had one and those bars are terrible. Like holding a wheelbarrow. I swapped mine for Triumph Bonneville export bars, much better but that wouldn't give the look you want.

Good luck with it!

[GaSo]

wow you've got your work cut out for you...

I've got the same bike, thankfully in a bit better shape. All she needed was some carb work and a bit of cleaning...

I like the color scheme you've got planned, sounds very sharp!!

[Tom Sittler]

I was trying to figure out if this is the DOHC or SOHC model, too. It doesn't look like the DOHC model, but I don't know the difference.

[drewpy]

I was trying to figure out if this is the DOHC or SOHC model, too. It doesn't look like the DOHC model, but I don't know the difference.

its an SOHC model.

some pictures for inspiration;

[Tom Sittler]

I've yet to begin teardown, but I'm kind of leaning towards less of a cafe-like look and more towards something that I can pack a sleeping bag, hammock, and cooking gear on and take off to the mountains (<3 living in the American Southwest) and go camping for a day or two. As such, I'm probably going to not chop the seat or the back-bar (sorry, i'm not very technical on the names of things like that) and possibly even go so far as adding a back rack.

I realized I haven't properly introduced myself yet, so uhm. Yay threadjacking myself! I already ride a Honda Elite 50S 2-stroke bike, and I've ridden (and broken--badly broken) a motored bicycle before, so I have some idea how to handle a 2-wheeled motored cycle, but I'm not very technical with them in terms of engine parts or adjustments. Trials by fire is how the Tom learns best though, so I'm rather excited to get working on it. Too bad my Elite's almost out of gas and the trip to the bike is 1/4 tank of gas away.

Anyway, I'll keep posting updates as I go, with pics. Definitely need to get a Haynes manual and get cracking. PDFs don't quite cut it.

By the way, I'm trying to figure out how to make it sound the way I know a motorcycle should... smooth, purring, and not obnoxiously loud like the Sportsters and Fat Boys I see on the streets all the time (and am deafened by). A friend suggested gutting the mufflers but I don't think that is a good idea... Can people post (or link to) sound files of their bikes running (or videos?) and tell me what they've done to the exhaust so I know how to get close to the sound I'm looking for?

[eight_heads]

well Tom, good luck. I am currently attempting to resurrect a '78 XS400 that was given to me. I went through all this with an '81 750 Virago a few years back. There will be alot of little things. If you are good at searching the internet and understanding how things work it won't be too bad. You will probuably have to rebuild, or at least clean very well, the carbs before she runs right. Also, you will have to synch the 2 carbs and can do this with a cheap homemade tool quite well. Search for "Homemade Carb Synch Tool" or something along those lines. Good luck and keep us updated.

[GaSo]

Here is a short clip I took at the beginning of the spring after doing a few small things to my bike. Took it with my Canon, it has a terrible mic so I'll take another video with my Sony tomorrow morning. The Canon really makes the highs too loud. Although with whatever muffler this is on my bike, I think it is too loud in general.

UPDATE:

[bonesboards]

Evening gentlemen. First post and I'm quite excited I found this thread. I've been riding an '83 xs400 maxim (DOHC) for the last year or so and I've finally gotten tired of looking at all the rust and dirty grease. So a week or so ago I bent up a new set of drag bars. Huge improvement. Last night I began the tear down. Removed the seat, tank, rear shock, air box, battery, etc. I already have a new headlight, signal lights. new front forks on the way. So tomorrow I'm pulling the engine and I would very much like to open it up and hop it up a bit. I'm thinking increase boar, new pistons, higher compression, new cams. Problem is I can't find any performance parts designed for this bike. Anyone have any suggestions? Surely someone has dialed one of these engines up a few notches. Tom, if I can help you find anything let me know. E-bay has a wealth of used parts for cheap and with a bit of enginuity you can make all kinds of parts, like headlights from a Harley, fit just fine. Good luck with your project. I'll get some pics up as soon as I figure out where to put them.

Bonesboards

[Tom Sittler]

As luck would have it, my partner-in-rebuildage just emailed me a bunch of pictures she took today (before it started raining... finicky southwest weather *shakesfist*). They're found in the picasa link in my original post. Or they will be, as soon as iPhoto starts dealing with my glacially slow connection speeds.

I'm going to tear down the wheels next weekend, try to get rid of the rust on the spokes (or would it be a better idea to replace them?) and get new brake shoes and cables installed. I figure, what's the use in being able to go if you can't stop, right? Also, have to start somewhere and it seems the simplest place to begin. I'm probably going to keep it dual-drums, since you really don't see a lot of bikes like that, and I like the touch of uniqueness that that brings.

All the controls on the handlebars are frozen... Can I take a set of handlebars with working controls and just slap it on and hook it up, if it's from an XS-series? That'd probably be less expensive than getting a new set of handlebars *and* new controls, both of which it'll need.

Also, new gas tank. The current one's cracked, and dented all to hell. It's like someone laid it down, and ran their helmet through the speedometer. And somehow snapped off the needle. Cha-ching.

Btw, GaSo, thanks for the video. I like the way it sounds when the choke's halfway, but I somehow don't think it's a good idea to run it all the time like that, correct? I'm sure that once I get the thing running I'll manage how it sounds, though.

[bonesboards]

I think I saw a stock tank on ebay this afternoon. As for the bars and controls, yeah, you can just slap on another set and plug everything in. All the wiring is pretty straight foreword. So even if controls come off of something different, honda, etc, as long as the donor bike is around the same age you shouldn't have any trouble patching thing together. Make sure that the brake set up from the donor bike is designed for a single caliper, not dual. that's probably the only thing to watvh out for.

[Tom Sittler]

I saw that tank on eBay a while ago, bones. If it's the one I'm thinking of it's more of a cafe style tank, and I'm kinda leaning towards a more practical bike. The curvy tanks have a slightly bigger capacity, which is pretty essential for me to be able to go camping on it (since in NM it can be easily 100 mi between gas stations depending on where you're going)

One of the advantages of living in the southwest is that salvage yards have parts that last *for*EVER* because it barely ever rains. There's a motorcycle salvage yard in A-Town that I'm going to stop by either today or next saturday and see if I can find a tank and handlebars there. That way, I don't have to pay shipping or wait for it to come in. MIght be able to come by a new speedo too, although I saw an OEM one on ebay with 0,000.0 mi on it, and that'd be more appropriate since it's a complete rebuild.

[GaSo]

Tom, for reference (at least with my particular machine heh) it runs around 1500 RPM when cold with half-choke, around 900 RPM when cold with no choke. Once it is warmed up, with no choke it runs around 1250 RPM.

Very cold (as in, needing full choke for a few seconds) it runs even higher, perhaps 2500 RPM if I remember correctly? Been a few months!

[bonesboards]

Hey Tom, just fyi the factory tank is about 4 gal. and for me with the twin cam engine, that's good for around 200 miles including the reserve tank.

So the deconstruction is finally complete. I have begun the next step of cleaning the mass quantities of dirty greasy filth from all of the nooks and crannies that I didn't know were there. This could take a while.

Does anyone know how I can get pics into my posts?

More importantly, I now have the engine out and onto my work bench. I'm having an impossible time finding piston kits, cams, or anything else really to hop up this engine. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Here's to progress, at whatever pace it comes.

[dtmf]

here's a link for the cam's . i found on here . the xs400 is at the bottom of the list .

http://www.megacyclecams.com/catalog/page57.pdf

[bonesboards]

Thanks dtmf. Thats rad!!!

[GaSo]

Does anyone know how I can get pics into my posts?

Go to imgur.com, hit browse, select image, hit continue.

Right click in the "Message Boards" box and select copy.

Right click here and hit paste.

Tada!

[christoph21]

Good luck with your bike, Tom. An XS400 is a very good bike to start learning mechanics and to continue on with as well. My 81 was in rough shape, not as rough as yours, but rough none the less. Here's what I've managed to do.

http://www.yamahaclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17523