Speedshop

Speak to Hagon in the UK. Be prepared for a shock. I just bought a 3.5x 18, 2.50 x 18 with stainless spokes, not much change from £400.

the old style relay works on the current draw. LEDs use only a tiny current so there is not enough current flowing to work the relay. Adding a resistor is just a controlled short to earth which increases the current flowing in the circuit. (And if you thought about it you only need one resistor in the circuit - between the feed from the relay to the indicator switch and earth, rather then one on each lamp). Have you removed the idiot light to see if the fault goes? Do this next if not. I suspect you'll need a diode network on the idiot lamp to stop the problem altogether (as mentioned). Once you have the idiot lamp sorted you need to concentrate on the relay. Two ways to go here; the old style relay and a resitor or: a modern electronic type that does not use current flow to control the flash rate (although you may lose the self cancelling function). QED

Its been done before by the chopper boys. You have to be careful that you get the trail right, the rake isn't the critical dimension. Get the trail wrong (which is easy when you adjust something like rake) and you can get into the situation of having negative trail. This will allow you ride off, but as the bike picks up speed it will become uncontrollable. Not good, too say the least, especially so with all the no win no fee lawyers about. If I'm teaching you to suck eggs, I apologise, but i've come across this type variable rake mod several times, none ever worked and with the negative trail problem not many make it on the market.

depends on which market the bike is from, could be lighting related or could be starter cut out safety relays

yes wiring it in would be possible, sounds like the loom has been butchered tho, so a new one may be needed

Don't forget aero engines use self generating magnetos ( well every one i worked on over the past 20 years did), the xs a battery and coil ignition, totally different set ups. I'd go for what the manual says for the engine.

Probably the pvc pipe was used as the springs had forced up inside the metal spacer letting off the preload on the springs. I had to weld washers on the end of the spacers to stop it happening again.

Theres only light spring pressure on it. just apply a firm pressure with your hand to stop the threads being damaged as they get to the last couple of turns. I'd be interested to hear if the springs have pushed their way inside the spacers on yours.

Depends on how new the engine is, but if its anything modern I've only ever had luck having them rebuilt. Messing about with them mysellf only ever left them causing the engine to smoke heavily or to run badly. If its off an old tractor or something you might be able to take it apart and clean it with good results.

If you want to totally shag them do that. Injectors work on extremely fine tolerances and at pressures high enough to inject fuel under the skin (I believe that is fairly fatal) . Messing about with them yourself will only leave them with odd spray patterns and likely never to run the engine well again. Take them to a professional diesel pump shop to get them checked and calibrated.

the xs650 kit won't work as that engine is a 360 crank, regardless of fitting problems it just won't work. Newtronic are still going in one form or another, but I used to be a dealer for them, and I remember the number of warranty claims being so high I binned them. Terrible set up that just kept breaking down. You should have a look for XS 250/400 and see if that can't be made to fit.

what's the chain size? I have a tin of xs650 , different size links

PMSL laughing! OK there is a worm that runs very well on a MAC, my postman can vouch for that. :lol:

yeah ........buy a MAC

Must admit i don't get it either! I only had that 400 as i couldn't afford the XS650.

There seems to be loads of XS400s about on this forum! I had two back in the 90's, a 79 road model and a SE that I did a fair amount of work on (note the nice clean wiring on the bars!). It usually had open drags on, but as we were going a long distance I'd fitted a motad when this was taken. Here's the current 'Rex's Speed Shop' Project Bike - a SR500 Street Tracker - my take on the flat tracker (boring to just copy a popular style when you can put your own twist to it ) All work carried out by the 'Speed Shop. Wiring and ignition will be custom built for this bike. There have been quite a few issues as the only remaining parts of the original bike are the frame and engine, oh and the fork stanchions!

The 400 engine didn't have many problems. Occasional cylinder head issues if wrong oil used. The cam chain tensioner has a plastic receiver for the tensioner blade, these can break up letting go of all chain tension. rare though. On the whole just normal wear and tear items will need attention, this is normally limited to pistons and bores.

I wanted to twat that prat right on the dial to start with!

why don't you pull up the wiring diagram and have a look?

Fisrst I'd look on here for a manual for that bike. But usually there is a mark on the carb slide that you have to sych up with the line on the oil pump. This is usually done with the throttle in 3/4 open position. It doesn't often go out, any smoke is usually due to deposites in the exhaust.

My XS400 ran fine on drags once I'd sorted the jetting out

If its knocking out 20 amp fuses thats a 'hard fault' IE a wire shorted to earth somewhere. I'd deffinately look at the generator wires where they touch the engine again

Ok Solenoids are just high current switches - their contacts can weld themselves shut. Doesn't happen often but if it does the only way to shut the starter motor off is disconnect the battery. Not a good situation. I can't see a good clear description of the exact problems you've been suffering, but it could be if the solenoid is weak replacing it with another kind is a valid fix. Some relys do input into the ignition, so might need to find one with a similiar input - its not rocket science.

If its blowing fuses with the engine off, you have a short in the wiring loom somewhere. Sounds like the wiring has been chopped about - something about a switch across the headlamp? I'd look at that. If it ONLY blows fuses once the engine is running then the charging system has lost control. This could be a faulty regulator or shorted field windings. One other thing - with the engine running or not - is the wires from the generator often wear through near the gear lever, worth carefully inspecting the wires here, a dirty messy job but I've seen plenty of 400's with this fault. The fuses are 15 amp ones are they? I had someone bring me a 400 fitted with 10 amp fuses which blew them with the engine running (headlamp 6 amps, ignition 2 amps battery charging 4 amps - pop)

That my friend is a matter for you to work out by trail and error! Don't assume because its poping its too lean! It might be drawing air into the pipe and igniting unburnt fuel (over rich mixture). Taking the silencers off often makes the mixture very rich. Fitting pod filters might not effect the mixture untill wide throttle opennings as the air box should be able to supply 100% flow upto at least 3/4 throttle. There again it might send the mixture totally scatty. Hours of fun!