aaroncarver

You might try an m-80.

hm... I look around. No good just to start from scratch eh? A radian from what year?

Perhaps a dumb question but... I want to change the lines of my xs400 by slightly lowering (angling) the frame member under the seat and lengthening the swing arm by 4 inches. Part of my reasons to do this is to make the bike more comfortable. Can anybody tell me if it's better to chop the swing arm and extend it, or to create a new swing arm from scratch? I don't weld so I must find someone, and a bike shop in town told me they won't extend a swing arm because of liability. Does making a swing arm longer make the bike a lot more dangerous?

drewpy Yep. I have a electric start and it worked quite well. (I have a feeling it weakened my battery, though...) I'm not sure what you mean about the other stuff. It's plain: the wire traces from the headlight cutout>>>>to a 10 amp fuse>>>>> to the start button/kill switch assembly plug. And goes no further. And it's quite clear from the wiring diagram that is was designed this way. It's confusing and I'm not sure that any answer will mean anything. Let me ask you this: If I cut out the e-start can I just tape off the wires? The reason I'm studying into this is because I want to get rid of the e-start/kill switch assembly from the right handlebar (for aesthetic reasons) and put a kill switch elsewhere. This of course leads me to wonder where I should put the mystery yellow/red wire with a fuse attached...Oh bother.

Hey Ne0 okay, I've seen that before too: empty wires etc. for other features etc. But, what about the fact that the wire in question has its own fuse and seems to be completely its own circuit? Certainly Japanese efficiency would stop short of including an entirely unused circuit, correct?

Hey Drewpy. thx. It's just confusing to me why that headlight cutout appears to have it's own fuse and then dead-ends (not completing a circuit). Look at the flickr image I posted: According to the wire diagram (identical to the one in my manual) , 4 wires enter the harness clip and only three emerge. That's why I don't believe my bike has been altered. Having an entire circuit/fuse for one single wire that doesn't connect to anything seems (as described by the factory wiring diagram) is odd, don't you agree? There is no logic behind a wire starting in a Relay going through a fuse (without connecting to anything) and then dead-ending. Why put a fuse on a dead end?

here's what I'm talking about: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61668060@N05/5631318268/

Hey there. I'm Aaron Carver. Motorcycle newbie. Yamahaclub newbie. Milwaukee Native and resident. Proud owner of a 1979 Yamaha xs400. I used to ride a Honda Ruckus--A fun bike with not enough pep. Thanks to everyone for all the information on this great site. I've left some posts elsewhere on this site but I didn't know about forum etiquette so here I am to introduce myself properly...and ask a question I'm fixing up a 1979 yamaha xs400 and the first place I started was the wiring. I pulled the tape of the wiring harness and discovered that it had "modified" by the previous owner. Many circuits were crossed and there were insulation cracks and bad spliceds etc. So I figured I'd return the bike to stock condition--which meant completely rebuilding the harness. So I clipped all the plugs and taped them to my kitchen table in the order they appear on the wiring diagram in my manual. Then I threw away all the old wiring. Then I spent three days memorizing the wiring diagram. Yesterday I spent 14 hours wiring circuit by circuit, plug by plug, component by component. It was a daunting and mind bending task, but when 12:30 am rolled around I had finished everything but the Ground, which I measured and cut and labeled ahead of time. (I chose to wait till the end to install the Ground because of the way the ground attaches to every circuit--It would have made following the wiring diagram much much harder.) Everything went smoothly, albeit excruciatingly methodical and plodding. I need to adjust some of the wiring lengths, but that shouldn't be a problem. I only have one problem and I hope someone here can be of aid. The headlight cutout relay has a yellow wire with a red stripe that travels to a Fuse. From the other end of that Fuse, the yellow/red wire travels to the right handlebar switch (electric start button and kill switch) assembly, where it fits into a clip. BUT there the wire dead-ends. JUST STOPS. And according to the wiring diagram that is exactly how it is "supposed" to be. It seems that it should've gone to the electric start button, but it most certainly does not. Can anybody explain this to me? Can somebody look in their right handlebar plug and tell me if their yellow/red wiring is attached to anything at all? I'm truly stumped. Aaron (I'm posting this at xs400.com too)

Gosh, I guess I'll just display my ignorance by saying that going to thinner wire is counter intuitive. I'd have thought the lower gauge would cause resistance=heat problems. hmm...

thanks. I was hoping someone might be able to alert me to tricks and tips to deal with what looks to be a painstaking job. I guess I'll just have drink lots of coffee and dedicate the time. Does anyone recommend increasing the wire gauge? is that at all beneficial? or is that a really bad idea.

Hi y'all. Newbie from Milwaukee! I'm new to the site and new to motorcycles. Thanks to everyone for the invaluable input! I've looked around for another thread regarding my questions, so if I'm being redundant please direct me to where I need to go. (I have looked) I've got a 1979 xs400 that I used to go to work a few years back. I recently decided to rebuild the bike down to it's most elemental parts. My goal is to end up with a sweet bike and learn everything about my bike in the process. I'm willing to take my time. I've removed most everything and just tonight I removed the wiring harness. (labeling everything) The insulation on all of the wires is brittle and in many places cracked. I now know why I had so many problems riding in the rain (ha ha) So, I have to replace the wiring harness. My questions: Is there an aftermarket wiring harness available from a website I haven't been able to find? Can anyone recommend a method by which I might rebuild the wiring harness from scratch? Can anyone point me to an alternate wiring schematic that is better than the original? I'm not interested in restoring the bike to its original specs, but learning how to adapt my bike into the best machine possible. I know my questions might require long answers, but since I'm approaching my bike from a holistic standpoint, I'm willing to risk asking. If there were a xs400 god, what would that god direct his worshipers to do regarding the electronics?