bznchris

Good to know some history behind this color, Vez!

ooooooh, i'd like to see that in green. got any old pics of it?

do i dare post a link to another forum? ah, what the hell, eh? http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=4911.0 mine's on page 4

did all mag wheels come painted black? mine must've been powder coated then. don't know friend. Powder coating would be much less hassle, as you wouldn't have to polish every so often like with bare aluminum.

blasphemy! take that, Norton! ha ha...

120/90

that, my friend, is one thing i didn't touch. guess the previous owner wanted it longer??? anyways, it works fine, and all i did was remove a little rust. Vez, i asked the painter for "british racing green". when i picked it up he gave me the jaguar line and something like "metallic botanical something something" did jag at one point call it "british racing green?" Still waiting on carb diaphragms, but yeah, that's it.

I see faaaaaaar more stock xs's than I do customized. Now if you do it proper like drewpy has, it looks phenomenal... especially the UK version. A run-of-the-mill xs leaves a lot to be desired in the eye candy department and a US version just looks like trash. A nicely done xs is a rare thing, and I appreciate every one, no matter the 'style'. CBs on the other hand...jeez, everyone has a cafe'd CB.

Thanks Vez. Started the rebuild last September and picked it up from the painter's a couple days ago. The paint is Jaguar green, don't know the 'official' name for it. Probably something ridiculous-sounding.

'81 XS400 Special turned cafe. Still a couple minor things to do, but for the most part, finished.

thanks everyone. yep, pretty much gave up on spoked wheels for now. maybe next winter... and the redwings were originally temporary as they were the only ones I could find to give the seat proper clearance. Still keeping an eye out for a set of hagons, but they're slowly growing on me.

Well, I finally finished converting this thing! The only true xs400 parts anymore are the engine and frame for the most part. Front end, tank, and rear wheel/mc are from an xs750. Fiberglass seat made by me. And a bunch of other random junk I don't feel like listing out! Like it, hate it, do tell! *carbs aren't on the bike as they're waiting for new diaphragms to arrive. And I didn't have the oil filter on when I took the pics. Oh, and when I asked the painter to do British racing green, he took it one step further and used factory Jaguar green. Made my day.

right. but you'd be hard pressed to find bars that aren't 7/8". maybe on a harley... the overwhelming majority are 7/8". and yamaha would be stupid to not keep something like that consistent in the xs lineup.

yep. bars are bars.

Have you bled the brakes? Installed steel braided lines? You may not need to upgrade!

...link?

Do it. Good way to hide crap pipes. Just don't be surprised when they look even more crap when you take the wrap off!

Well, you and me both drewps! But I don't have a wife to complain about it, so I think I'm good to go!

nice carbs! but forgive me, I have to ask, did you spray the front wheel with the tire on?

For what it's worth, I have a 120/90 rear tire on my stock xs400 special rim (cast, not spoke). It's exactly 5" wide ... any wider and I would have rubbing issues with the chain and swingarm.

well they're removable on the xs400 and i can't see any discernible difference between the two parts. maybe try some spray lubricant and a little careful elbow grease? ...comparing part numbers, they use most of the same parts and i'm even pretty sure they're the same wheel. so yeah, you should be able to yank em.

nice find! i will say the guys at nwvcp.com have my loyalty for the time being at least. ordered a bunch of stuff from them and they were out of stock on a $28 headlight socket. they refunded the complete price of the new socket, but threw in a used one for free. cool guys.

then yep, it's the "plug" part 25. valve cap/rocker cap, whatever. hope it's just the threads on the cap, not the valve cover!

find your bike in this list, go to CYLINDER HEAD - CYLINDER, and i *think* it's part number 25. need a second opinion though. http://www.nwvcp.com/pages/parts/viewbybrand/2/Yamaha.aspx

Ah, this made my day! Thanks a bunch Tony!