Greetings and a Build, 1982 xs400rj

jay_kent

XS400 Member
Messages
8
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Guelph, Ontario
This is my first thread here but my third xs400, although it's my first Seca. I purchased this bike a few weeks ago. It was a roller with practically a whole other bike worth of parts. The PO had lost interest in the project partway through. (Got involved with converting a VW golf to mid-engine with a Caddy 5.7l). :wink2:.

Anyways for $300 bucks I brought home a titled roller, orange powdercoated rims, 8 or so boxes worth of parts. The roller was super clean and already painted. The guy had the engine torn down, media blasted and all internals cleaned. He basically took the best of both bikes and was building one great bike, until he lost interest.

I'm going to be trying to get this bike in running condition by the end of March. Luckily for me I've got a running Maxim engine that I'm going to clean and then drop into place rather than build up the torn down engine.

So the rims I'll be selling as I'm going with a simple red/black theme for this bike and bright orange isn't working for me. Everything else will have a good going over as both bikes were either sitting in a barn or someones backyard. The aluminum is corroded and and the paint is chipped and faded. Brakes need work as well.

Enough with the chatter let's see some pics.
How my dad and I brought it home.
396392_10151226452630641_770745640_22599310_1621538284_n.jpg


405327_10151226459535641_770745640_22599333_968915488_n.jpg


I'll be posting some informative pictures but my build blog will have more complete photos.

Thanks for looking.

Jay
Build Blog
 
Last edited:
Continuing on with the story of this xs400. One of the bikes the parts came from was held safe in a barn and was slightly used as a toilet for the local fowl there. Beggars can't be choosers so that what I'm dealing with. Missing plastic come from the other bike so at least there is a complete set components. That's lucky. All the tins had at least one non-factory paint job on them and it was key to get these sanded down so I can drop the new colour on there. The ownership said the bike was registered red so that's what I'm going with.

The Back Half
xs400-body-plastic-0-1024x768.jpg


The Front Half
xs400-body-plastic-0-1-1024x768.jpg


Rear Grab Bar Detail
xs400-body-plastic-0-5-1024x768.jpg


After Some Sanding
xs400-body-plastic-0-6-1024x768.jpg


If I was doing a bobber, I'd be finished, add clear and ride, however I'm looking at a restore so It'll be painted nicely.

Jay
Build Blog
 
So in a previous post I showed images of a the gas tank and what a crusty bit of tin that was. I decided to fill it up with a mixture of CLR and water to try to get that rust under control. Mostly just CLR. For a needed explanation of CLR go here. So I through it in the tank and let it sit on top of a tote lid. Wouldn't you know it the tank has a leak and guess what happens:

xs400rj_petcock.jpg


Yep, you guess it. A little chemical experiment was happening right in my basement. Mostly nothing good was happening cause the rust remover did a terrible job getting that rust out of the tank. It did however did a fantastic job dissolving aluminum spigot end of the fuel petcock. This thing is for part now.

Have another view

xs400rj_petcock-2.jpg


The bitch of it is, I was careful to have used a sealed rubber gasket between the tank and valve, I wrecked a shut-off valve on my Honda cb650 because I didn't realize that aluminum would just dissolve. I had taken precautions but if fate has you by the petcock...

Jay
 
how did it just eat away the nipple end? isnt that all one piece? Im confused. I would think that the worst of it would be where it mounts to the tank itself:shrug:
 
how did it just eat away the nipple end? isnt that all one piece? Im confused. I would think that the worst of it would be where it mounts to the tank itself:shrug:

I knew that the rust remover would eat the petcock, so I put a piece of rubber between the tank and the valve with only holes for the bolts to go through.

I had the tank sitting in the lid of a plastic tote that I use on my work bench when I wet sand parts to help retain excess water.

So as the tank was leaking rust remover it was filling the tote lid. The petcock nipple was submerged and hours later this happens.
 
So I managed to get some things done on the girl. Like I said earlier I'm trying to button this one up in about 6 weeks. We'll see as I've been sick and a family holiday has extended the deadline.

The Good: The Carbs.
The previous owner took everything out of them but didn't separate this set. They are pretty well clean but we all know how stuff can be lurking deep inside. I'll be having a little lemon and carb soup later on this week-end but for now I'll post a couple of befores.

xs400rj-mikuni-bs34-carb.jpg


xs400rj-mikuni-bs34-carb-1.jpg


xs400rj-mikuni-bs34-carb-3.jpg


They are not in bad shape at all and actually quite clean. The last pic got some rust dust on there.

The bad: The master cylinder.

This one was the best of the two. A little rusty, a lot oily and the oil was stripping the paint right off of there. I'm not sure of what I'm going to find but for the cost of the rebuild kit, it's always the right option. IMO. Maybe I'm a safety nut but my life is worth the $22. lol

xs400rj_mastercylinder-1.jpg


The diaphragm is a little crusty:
xs400rj_mastercylinder-2.jpg


And internally not that bad:
xs400rj_mastercylinder-3.jpg


on the blog (linked below :wink2:) I have more images on how I took the levers off and more detailed pictures. I've been debating on building a series of pdf how-tos. If there's interest I may be persuaded.

I've skipped a couple of steps and removed the lever and rubber boot on the end of the plunger. That circlip is rusty as hell.
xs400rj_mastercylinder-7.jpg


Dont' have long nosed circlip pliers..
xs400rj_mastercylinder-9.jpg


This is what I pulled out of there. Seems to me the seals weren't working as well as they should. The oil is that color because of water contamination. Hopefully when the bike was parked.
xs400rj_mastercylinder-11.jpg


One thing I don't have and am unsure about fixing is the sight glass. The plastic was well weathered, yellow and cracked. I managed to pop it out, but I'm looking for a suitable replacement. The other master cylinder isn't much better.
I can cut myself a glass that would fit, or like some ideas, use dime but I'm wondering what epoxy to use that is brake fluid resistant. Personally I'd like the glass because it would look nice and clean.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Dangerous? See previous comment about being a safety nut then suggesting this. lol

and finally...

The Ugly: Exhaust Collars
I also managed to get some work on the exhaust collars. The best of the lot were fairly oxidized but a little time with a brass wire wheel and a Dremel, a buffing cloth and black emery polishing compound I managed to bring out the shine a little bit.

Before
xs400rj-exhaust-collars.jpg


and After
xs400rj-exhaust-collars-4.jpg


I could have gone full tilt on these and mirrored them right up by sanding till 2000grit and then assorted polishing compounds, but you know what, the bike is 30 years old. There should be character marks on the girl.

That's it for now
Jay
Build blog
 
Back
Top