engine, ignition, identifying, build...

[barreto]

Hi guys,

So I've had this project bike for a few months and am finally getting back to it and the more I read, the more questions I have. The bike is a 1979, kick only, spoke wheel bike. I bought it from a sorta crazy older guy who was hard up for money and it was close to what I wanted to build next (I usually build Virago's).

The engine was rebuilt recently, but I am looking at doing the electronic ignition upgrade. So far, I've only been able to find XS650 ignition kits- MikesXS, newtronic. It doesn't appear that they make 400 kits anymore. The bike came with an extra parts engine as well, what do I look for to see if the rebuilt engine has been upgraded? I also read this morning that the serial numbers on the engines give a clue to the engine year?

The bike is going to be a brat/bobber/cafe in the end. I think I'll be building a custom monoshock rear swing arm for it as well.

Thanks for the input, and also apologies for previously answered questions.

 

[barreto]

Just as a side note, the pictures are in reversed order. The far right is how I got it, the middle is after hacking up the frame and removing the rebuilt engine and the left picture is from last night with the parts engine in place for fab reference.

 

[barreto]

A picture of the last Virago I built. The one I have in the shop now is getting an R6 front end and cafe-style seat.

 

[drewpy]

welcome to the forum, cool build and the Virago looks sick too!

did the vendor say the engine has been upgraded?

you can upgrade to electronic ignition from the later bike (not dohc) and there are kits out there or convert to magneto self ignition.

Its all in the forum if you search for it