hey all.
sorry to disappoint you hardtailed but i didn't see any glory in those goofy megaphones, big square taillight, and giant puffy king/queen seat... they had to go. it was their time.
now the fun stuff!! this is my first bike project and i've been having a blast. kind of doing the cafe racer thing.
what's been done up to this point? some diagnostic stuff. some basic stuff. new spark plugs & plug wires, put pods on instead of the moldy airboxes it came with, cleaned the carbs, cut new gaskets to fit between the boots and the engine, balanced carbs, rebuilt the start button, new grips, daytona bars, lubed cables, sourced an 18" rear rim, freshened that up and put new bearings and tire on... oh jesus what else. cut off the ass end of the bike because it looked stupid, chopped/removed some other stuff, lowered the battery box, made a model for my seat which i have yet to fabricate, chopped off those megaphones which in addition to being totally stupid looking were all rustified and making the bike sound like it had wind chimes attached to it what with all the tinkling.
shots attached are from yesterday's fun with wheels - smacking new bearings into the front after ripping off the bald old tire, freshening the rims, and putting on a zesty new dunlop. not pictured is me wrestling with the front wheel to put it back on as the light is dying in front of the shop and i, having forgotten to eat all day, was doing a bunch of dumb-ass stuff like you do when you're in the dumb-ass mode. BUT IT'S ON NOW.
of course i have to take them off today to balance them.
big things left to do include exhaust (1.25" straight pipes) and seat (dur), also the person i got it from seems to have jb welded the bolt attaching the shifter to its spline so i get to remove that. forks need new seals, head gasket is a little weepy so i'll be taking a look at that later on. also going to reinstate the old fuse block. also need a less stupid taillight and a much, much less stupid cockpit. those huge dials are killin' me.
probably going to peen in the tank and triangulate the swingarm later on. oh yeah, and laying on some 11.5" shocks because i am a very tiny lady.
in the interest of financing this venture i have a gigantic pile of xs 400 parts that i will be cleaning and offering to the community but that's a whole nother post!
just have fun with what you got and do with it as you please.
have fun with it tacitus!
