New member, and new to the xs400, picked up anew project

Well i figured id post here and say hello! My name is Justin and im in NC.

Im new here and just traded off 2 non running projects for a running and ready to ride '82 400 maxim. Its already been made into a chopper, it has some decent work and some shoddy work. Im going to try to fix some of the crappy stuff and the main thing on the agenda is a new hardtail setup, new seat setup, and a minimal wiring harness, but i do have to say so far its a pretty cool little ride. I look forward to getting to work on this thing and getting some new knowledge from the folks here on the site. Its going to be a slow project due to me being a broke fawker and having to many 4wd toyota projects but here i go.





Ive already taken the sissy bar off and the suicide shift. Both needed new mounts and some tweaking. The damn seat is next when i get the cash, and hopefully santa will bring me the frame jig kit Travis sells on here.

Welcome to the forum Whats that under the seat, one of those mini kegs

Yes it is. It's a crappy setup that will be changed. Forgot to mention I really only have around $500 in the bike so I think I'm doing pretty good.

welcome to the site, do i see a cb400 in the background?

Yes sir it is a cb400. Awaiting the funds to do a hardtail and fix it up. Purchased it for $450 and it would be nice to get it done for under $1500 total but that's going to be a while. To many other projects.

Interesting exhaust - looks good. Are those the original headers and a custom H-pipe back?

Yea I believe it's the original headers. They are actually not an H pipe they stay seperate all the way out. Slash cut on the end. I'm going to mess with it a little. Maybe do an H pipe to see if it helps it run better.

Sorry, that's what I meant. Stock had an H pipe just ahead of the centre stand.

If you're having trouble running, it's almost definitely not the pipes - time to clean the carbs.

That's ok yea it's the stock exhaust up to where the H pipe would be then some cuts and welds lol. Got the carbs cleaner than they were, I have to say theta the first thing I learned from here. Just a small idling problem but ill get through that. I was just always taught on twin cyl and bigger you should have an H pipe so the cylinders can scavenge off of each other, not sure how much truth there is to it but I thought I'd try fabbing up an H pipe to see if it helps.

cool bike and i also dig the Toyota. i have a '99 4WD Taco that i drove off the dealer's lot brand new and 13 years later i still don't want anything else!

Thanks Ironhead. I'm a diehard Toyota guy myself. I've built a lot of toyotas for rock crawling, mud trucks, and daily driving. Ill go ahead and pimp a few pics of my 6 year old sons truck that's taking all the money that should go towards the bike. I think he is going to let me shift some money from his truck to work on the bike, to bad he can't ride with me.