So it begins, my first ever custom build

Hey all, before I get started with this build I just wanted to give you a brief history of myself and motorcycles. I've always rode snowmobiles and atvs but never anything with two wheels. So back in my freshman year of college I started looking into the world of motorcycles. My mom (like many parents) was totally against the idea of me being on one. I found a nice (I thought) lifan 200cc that I had the money to buy and was going for it until my mom threatened to kick me out of the house. I was on her case about bikes for the next year until she finally said that I could get one if I got my permit and took a safety course. The next day I came home with my permit and signed up for a safety course. I left for vacation the day after my course and on my way home we stopped and picked up my first bike. (2007 Zx6r)


A year later I sold that bike to a friend of mine and bought a leftover 2011 Zx6r.

The following summer I was being stupid and got into an accident. Lost the bike but managed to walk away from the crash.


The following december I purchased a wrecked Ducati Hypermotard which I fixed up and is my daily ride.


September came along and the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride caught my eye. I borrowed my girlfriend's gz250 for the ride and had a great time. For a while I was planning on buying a local '80 cb750 but came into some financial trouble which caused the sale to fall through. This all brings me to about a week ago when I bought an '82 xs400 with a spare engine and some boxes of parts for $500. It isn't running right now but it has compression and a title which are a couple of the bigger hurdles for me. So here she is in all her run down glory.

Welcome to the forum Download the manual and start reading

Welcome aboard.there's a lotta knowledge on here and nice people

Welcome! Good luck on the build

I like the ducati, nice bike

and looking forward to your xs build. What's the goal?

Originally I was going to try and avoid doing a cafe build and go with a scrambler/enduro option but after much turmoil I decided that the cafe option was what called to me the most. I stumbled upon sandrew's build and found a lot of inspiration in that. I'm also a huge fan of retro meets modern so I'm going to try and incorporate some of that into the build as well. I was also just informed today that my headlight has officially made its way onto the land on this side of the pond. Here's the company image of it and maybe it'll give you an idea of that retro-modern thing I'm looking for.



I also ripped out the carbs (I assume they have something to do with why it isn't starting) as well as the battery box and began cutting off some of the tabs with my handy dandy dremel.




I also found some pod filters in my magical box of spare parts that I'm debating the use of. I prefer the look of the full cone shaped ones but these were free(ish).

Awesome! can't wait to see the progress.

Got a couple new things in the mail today:



I also got around to taking my carbs apart and started to clean them in a lemon juice solution. Looks like some yummy soup to me

Got my package from over the pond:


Also got to work on removing the old headlight bucket. Never realized how many wires were inside that thing.




Got the carbs put back together after cleaning and put them back on the bike. Tried to start it and I've got nothing. My starter is not working so I'm kick start only right now. Getting some noise from the exhaust when I kick but that's all I'm getting. Anybody have any advice for me? I'm thinking about pulling the engine out and disconnecting all electronics from it to see if maybe there is a wiring issue somehow preventing it from starting.

Just a few updates. Engine still isn't running. Tried putting fuel directly into the cylinder and on the spark plugs. Something made a nice explosion noise when I kicked it but nothing exciting happened. Decided that I'm just going to strip it down and see if I can get the engine running while off the bike and pray that it was something silly and electrical that was preventing the thing from running. Here are a couple pictures from me ripping things off the frame.

So I was waiting on some parts from various parts of the world and finally got my gasket set in. Looking through the forum and since my title says 1982, I figured that I had the DOHC variety of this bike. My spare engine that I have starts with the 14v which according to sources say that I'm right in my knowledge so I ordered gaskets for the DOHC version. So today when I pull the top cover off my engine, I'm surprised and confused to see one cam. I double check my title and realize that the numbers don't match (thank god for vermont registration loop holes). However, I decided to rip open my spare engine and again I only have one cam. I've never done engine work before but from my understanding, the cams should be next to each other so there's no way that I'm that oblivious to miss one or am I? The engine that was in the bike starts with 4r4 which should be the SOHC but I don't know about this other engine...

Your bike is definitely SOHC... Can't help with engine numbers...

There are 82's that are SOHC, that was a transition year. You have both that year.

You just have to look at a few pictures and you will see that you definitely have a SOHC bike. And 4r4 is SOHC.