86 400 wiring help!

Ben Rogers · Sep 28, 2020

picked up a basket case 86. Its hard tailed with a free spinning motor, and no wiring harness. All of the lights have been removed, not worried about that at the moment. I just need to figure out the bare minimun wiring i need just to turn it over. The controls are gunna be removed for hiddwn switches, but again, thats not what im after right now. This is my first project bike! Hoping to spend the winter doing it solid. Thanks for any imput!

amc49 · Sep 30, 2020

Dude, you are asking for the 500 page book minus 400 of the pages and we don't even know what 100 to give you.

Jimmer · Sep 30, 2020

amc49 said:
Dude, you are asking for the 500 page book minus 400 of the pages and we don't even know what 100 to give you.

LOL I was thinking the same thing. Makes laugh when I see these posts.

Hey I am going to buy a bike half built, no idea if it was done right, with no wiring. I have no idea what I am doing but that's ok, I will go to a forum and they can fix everything......

LOL

BBS360 · Oct 1, 2020

First up, I don't think there is an 86 XS400. Probably a double overhead cam Maxim or Seca.
Photos help.

Download the appropriate manual.

Use the search function on the forum. Lots of posts about minimal wiring.

JPaganel · Oct 1, 2020

BBS360 said:
First up, I don't think there is an 86 XS400. Probably a double overhead cam Maxim or Seca.
Photos help.

.

There was no XS anything in 86. Not SOHC, not DOHC.

BBS360 · Oct 1, 2020

The model numbers didn't change after 82 but DOHC models were produced for a few years. I forget what the cutoff was but oddly late ones pop up occasionally.

JPaganel · Oct 2, 2020

BBS360 said:
The model numbers didn't change after 82 but DOHC models were produced for a few years. I forget what the cutoff was but oddly late ones pop up occasionally.

Babbitt's parts listing has no XS models in 86. Last year it lists an XS is 83.

I could maybe see an 84, but 86 is pretty unlikely. OP definitely is mistaken about something.

amc49 · Oct 2, 2020

I see it commonly in bike transfers and more in parted or incomplete ones. The seller says the bike is a later year to add worth to the amount asked for. In say SOHC CB750 they make the year earlier as the early ones are worth more. Part of it is to feel the buyer out, when you say it and no response that 'they didn't make them that year', then you can gouge more on price, you have someone limited on knowledge. They buy the bike and pass it along only to be straightened out later.

86 400 wiring help!

Ben Rogers

XS400 New Member

amc49

XS400 Junkie

Jimmer

XS400 Member

BBS360

XS400 Guru

JPaganel

XS400 Addict