'79 xs400 rough>reliable>cafe 'Scarlett'

Why exactly is this? None of the parts stores in my city (or vancouver) had non-resistor caps. They said resistor plugs with resistor caps is no problem??

If your plug wires or the insulation in your coils are weak, you may have sparks going to ground before the plugs. "May have" are the words to note. If everything is in good order, you will have a hot spark.

I run resistor caps and plugs without issue to 10,000 RPM on my DOHC with TCI ignition. Plenty of hot sparks. :thumbsup:
 
You shouldn't mix a resistor plug and a resistor cap; you want one or the other. It's easy and cheap enough to just get a non-resistor plug if you already have a resistor cap. The oem setup on my '78 was a 5k ohm resistor cap and a non-resistor plug (ngk bp7es).
 
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I'm curious: Is that in the manual? Does it apply to specific coils? Points or TCI? Why are people advocating lower resistance in the secondary side of the ignition?

I have owned many vehicles and small engines that used resistor caps and plugs. Hotter spark, cooler coils, and reduced radio noise are the benefit.

Please educate us!
 
So this evening I installed my new Drag Bars from Dime City Cycle.
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Obviously due to the difference in rise and bar length I was expecting a bit extra cable and hose. But now I have a lot more than I predicted. Mainly the brake hose, it basically needs to do a 180 before it goes through the headlight/cluster area.
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Do I need to replace all these hoses and cables with shorter ones? What do guys do when they use Clip-ons?

Also, the master cylinder doesn't want to sit level because that brass fitting that attaches the hose bumps into the top of the fork and the master cylinder has a sort of guard that stops it from rotating.

Any suggestions are very appreciated!
 
Get a custom made brake hose. Under $40 (delivered) for a braided stainless steel hose, and it should include new washers and banjo bolts.

You can get clutch and throttle cables custom made as well, but they will be more expensive. You may be able to carefully route the cables to "hide" the excess length.
 
I am probably going to use some real awful terminology here…But is it possible to 'choke up' on the front forks to lower the front end a bit?

So you would open up the triple tree and let the front of the bike slide an inch or two down the forks?

Would this be an option to achieve a slight more aggressive stance for cheap (for the time being)?
 
I'm getting ready to tackle my seat hoop and so I'm looking to the future with how I should be mounting my seat.

I had planned to weld on some flat bar flush with the top of the frame and simply bolt the seat pan to that, but looking at some other bikes it looks like people have some sort of spacers between the bottom of the seat pan and where it is mounting to the frame. Which would indicate needing to have the mounting points welded on not flush with the top.

What is the best way to go with this?
 
I am probably going to use some real awful terminology here…But is it possible to 'choke up' on the front forks to lower the front end a bit?

So you would open up the triple tree and let the front of the bike slide an inch or two down the forks?

Would this be an option to achieve a slight more aggressive stance for cheap (for the time being)?

I let my fork tubes through the triple's by about 2" to lower the front end.....no problems :thumbsup:
 
The stock suspension setup is a bit cruiser-like (biased to rear). Jacking up the rear or lowering the front won't hurt in my opinion, but I like a bike that will turn in quickly. Shifting the weight to the front pre-loads the forks a bit too reducing front end dive under braking which is pronounced with the stock setup.
 
So I finally attached my rear hoop. For those of you who asked, it was a lot easier than I was expecting. I simply cut off right after the shock mounts. Took a ratchet strap and wrapped it around the top of the frame a couple of times. Then stuck a pry bar in there and torqued it until the frame pinched in enough to slip the slugs and hoop on to fit! Presto!

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Also, I cut a small snip off of my master cylinder so my banjo bolt could come off at a 90* so as to not hit the top of my fork with my new drag bars. My last file ended up making a scuff...Hopefully it wont leak! :S

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Got a new battery, but I am a bit nervous if it'll have enough juice to run the electric start.

Next is building a seat pan and electrics tray, get my tank painted and some new control cables. Wow, never thought I would be this far this quick!
 
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You will want to get the sealing surface on your master perfectly flat and smooth. The sealing washers can only do so much. You can produce a lot of pressure with a firm squeeze of the lever.
 
Maybe JB Weld applied sparingly to fill the scratches and sanded smooth, finishing with 2000 grit sand paper? Probably easier than than trying to machine the surface smooth.
 
I might even finish it off with some abrasive aluminum polish for an even smoother finish after you're done with the sandpaper :bike: Buff it out! Also, maybe you can find a copper crush gasket to use. I'm not sure if the stock one is actually copper, but a softer metal might seal better, but of course they really can't ever be reused.
 
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