German guy and American XS 400 say hi!

[holyroad]

Hi people!

I'm Martin, in my mid-30s and from Germany. I've had one or the other 2A2 in my hands over the past few years, without having to do too invasive work on them. They either ran or they didn't...

Now I somehow ran over an American model of an XS 400, called Heritage. A quite similar model has been sold here in Germany, but this one caught my attention. It is equipped with the electronic ignition, spoked wheels and some other stuff that the German model hasn't, which made it just impossible for me to walk by it. However, it is not in a very good condition and probably not too complete. I hope there is not too much "American" stuff missing that you can't easily get from the parts-pool over here. And since I don't have too much experience with restoring these things, I don't know yet how good of an idea this was, but I guess we'll see.

First things on my list are the carburetors and thy cylinder-head.

So far,

Martin

 

[NewHavenMike]

Well, im pretty sure the US spec cam will make more power than the euro versions.

Most of the differences between the specs will probably be lighting and engine stuff, and the speedo.

I don’t recognize that tank but im not too keen on every variation of XS. My XSs are points ignition and pre 1978

 

[holyroad]

This model's name is 14V.

Yes, surely looking forward to getting the cam to work.

The speedo is one thing I'm hazy about, because the top end is like 85, 90 mph or about 140 kph. Which is already less than the actual top speed of my 2A2 with the european cam. The euro speedos go up to 180 kph.

The tank should be similar to the 16-Liter-one of the 2A2 model after 1979. Not sure if it's the original one here, but it fits.

Then there is the engine mounting: First I thought, the upper rear mount was missing, but looking closer the frame doesn't seem to have a counterpart in that area. Also the part of the engine where that mount would go doesn't really look used. Is it possible that there was no upper rear engine mount in this model in the first place?

 

[NewHavenMike]

You should be able to do 150-160kph no problem on the US bike.

Seems like some of the bikes we got here were purposely fitted with inadequate speedos for what speed they could really achieve. Could be loopholes for insurance purposes or because it was cheaper to use the same gauges for multiple bikes.

There was an upper rear mount that used two pieces of flat stock on the ends, much like the upper forward mount. The mounts where the upper rear is, thats where the tool compartment mounts to. You may be seeing extra frame details because its been removed.

Take more photos of what you are questioning. As far as it seems, the bike appears to be all stock but theres some stuff missing, coils, h pipe, side covers..

 

[buztabuzt]

What year is on the VIN plate? Would help to know the sub type. Never heard of 14V. I thought it was just a letter designation

 

[NewHavenMike]

14V would be a US spec 1982 XS400 SJ heritage

http://www.xs400.com/threads/model-id-s-and-years.4619/

 

[xschris]

From 81-82 sohc u.s. model bikes the motors are mounted different than other year bikes. They have different front lower and rear lower with the rear lower having rubber bushings. The upper rear has been fully removed altogether. The top is the same. This was an attempt to reduce vibrations. Although I don't think they needed it in the first place. In the end the 81-82 bike feel a bit smoother but I feel as if the motor tends to "shift around" when under load or cornering. Also if your on and off the gas hard. I am not a bike fan of these years for those reasons. Those rear lower bushing are non-existent to get also if you ever need to replace them.

 

[holyroad]

Thank you for the insight!

I figured some special mounting idea as there is really no upper rear counterpart on the frame whatsoever. I guess I'll see how that behaves during riding, but there's still a long way to go until then. Also I kind of like the idea of two disks better than a drumbreak in the front, but that is waiting in line as well.

Right now I'm focusing on refurbishing the carburetors and the cylinder-head. There's some wear and the thread of one spark plug is dead, but overall it's not too bad.

It's true that there are some parts missing on the photo. But I've got a medium-size parts-storage in a barn and most of the obviously missing stuff I should have lying around somewhere. I just hope there are no special-american-model-parts missing. And that I'll get the engine and the frame back together as I might noch have paid too much attention to what goes what when I took them apart.

One after the other. And winter has only just started.