First bobber build

[Kingcdogg]

New to the forum and to this style of bike. I picked up a 1980 xs400 with a little over 10k on the odo. Previous owner went to town with black paint so I'm going to have to add some color somewhere to break things up a bit. Was planning on getting one of Travis' hardtail hit, but believe I'm going to run the shocks on the rear for the moment, but still have it real low. Did some work today to it actually. I lowered the frame where the seat is, made some hardtail brackets to replace the shocks since my factory ones are not short enough, lowered the front forks, welded in new rear shock mounting brackets, chopped the headlights bracket, and bunch of small stuff. I'm going to need new front shocks since I'm sitting where I want it to sit and I'm about out of travel. Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated on that subject. Still got to make a plate for underneath the seat and put the springs on the seat as well as clean up and re run all the wires. Plan for the moment is to get it going for summer, then tear it down over winter and clean up all welds and repaint it. Most likely will be a black frame with root beer colored tins. Need to get a new rear fender and mount it along with the sportster tank I have on the way for it. The seat and rear fender are just sitting on the bike unmounted at the moment. Might as well use this as my project thread as well since I'm posting up pics of it.

Quick question for the pros other than the shocks. I am planning on putting pod air filters back on and junking the factory air box but noticed a tube going straight down from the rubber connecting hoses going from the carbs to the airbox. Looks like it's going down into tranny/engine case. Would I just need to block this off if putting pod filters on?

When I picked it up.

Today (6-11-12)
Some before shots showing the straight seat frame

After the lowering/rewelding of the back half of frame.

 

[drewpy]

don't block off the crank breather, the engine will spew oil out of every orifice due to the crank pressure.
peeps put a little filter on it, or why not do what I do and keep the inlet tubing along with the crank breather tube and put pods on the end of those.

 

[PT_247]

that has the potential to look lovely mate, keep the updates and pics coming!

 

[Kingcdogg]

Thanks for the direction on the breather Drewpy.

How about the forks? To get the look I want I'm almost out of travel on my fork. Are any forks shorter than others? Trying to figure out how to keep her from sitting up high in the front. My seals are done for anyway, so its either time to replace these or put different ones on if thats is what will work out.

 

[Kingcdogg]

More Progress... Sportster tank arrived. Got a underseat tray fab'd up. It's screwed in for now but when finished it will be welded in and ground like its part of the frame then painted black. Think I'm going to roll some beads in it too before welding it to spice it up a bit. Got all mounting tabs from the factory gas tank off and cut the coil mounts off so the new tank can sit in place. Also got some exhaust pipe and cut a rad angle on it and welded it in place. Still a lot to do before I can ride. Need a new, smaller battery, seat springs, and got to sort through all the electronics and see what I need and what I don't. I wanted to get the forks off so I can replace the fork seals but didn't get that far tonight.

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm268/BlownGT99/XS400
/2012-06-14_18-56-29_131.jpg

 

[Kingcdogg]

Little more progress, nothing much. Got so many little tidbits to do on this to get it back together hopefully in the next two weeks or so. With the drag bars that were on the bike, when I lowered the front end, the brake cylinder would hit the fork. I needed longer drag bars, or a smaller brake lever/cylinder. Or....We had a set of bars laying around the my buddy took off his Triumph which were the same diameter, so I turned them upside down and installed them. Put my brake lever on and when tightened down it snugs right up to the bar. Perfect fit. If these were an inch shorter, they wouldn't work. I still like the drag bars so I may bend me some a little longer over winter, but for now I'm focused on getting only the pertinent things fixed so I can ride out the summer. Got new headlight mounting brackets on the way today and some baffles to restore backpressure to the exhaust. Some custom forward controls are definitely going to be made over winter to make it a little more comfy to ride.

 

[Drewcifer]

That thing looks triple tough!

Drewcifer

 

[PT_247]

I like that a lot mate, you gonna keep the tank bare?

 

[Kingcdogg]

I believe so. Going to pick up a bare fender and do the same thing. May put some black scallops on the tank at some point but bare it will stay for this riding season!

 

[Jnew89]

Just picked up a 1980 xs yesterday and after seeing this I was wondering how you lowered the front forks. Did you just slide them up further into the trees to drop the front end down?

 

[Jnew89]

And also where did you pick up the sportster tank? I'm having a hell of a time finding one compatible with the triple backbone. I've checked all the other threads about tanks but can't get a straight answer

 

[PT_247]

keep the pics coming

 

[Crazy88]

this is my new motivation!

 

[1lowdiesel]

Very cool, just noticed you're in indy too.