Helppp, probleemssss, new to this

[crashley169]

Hello,
New to this, but hey ho! Basically my good old Granddad got bored of seeing his completely standard XS400 W-reg sitting in his garage so he gave it to me for my 19th birthday, legend! He gave it to me as a non runner, however I have rebuilt and cleaned the carbs, cleaned out the tank and replaced the battery and fuses, ensuring the connections are strong. Although the old girl doesn't seem to want to fire up very easily, it will go but tries its hardest not to! The sparks are strong and to be honest i'm fast running out of ideas! Any help would be appreciated!
Also I know here in the UK I pretty much cant locate a rear master cylinder repair kit anywhere, so a Brembo one is on its way! Just wondered if anybody made a upgraded disk or twin piston calliper for the front as the brakes are pants!

Thanks alot and any help would be appreciated.

 

[willem]

When you cleaned the carbs, you probably missed some small passages. Clean them out again, and probe everything with very thin wire.

Might be a bit for beginners, but bcware shows the carbs quite well here:
http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6375

Also, Drewpy (one of the most knowledgable gearheads here) converted into twin discs. Read about it here:
http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4730

Does it fire up straight away when you spray brake cleaner into the air intake? Did you check for air leaks in your carb boots? And how are your plugs looking?

Enjoy the new old XS! And welcome to the forum of course

 

[crashley169]

Hello, thanks for the speedy reply!

I cleaned the carbs out at my workplace with a ultrasonic cleaner and completely dismantled them but i will strip them down tonight and have another look.
The plugs are about right being biscuit brown(ishh).
Not straight away but easier, i think they are just set up badly, so i may have to buy a Haynes manual for them to set them back to standard.

 

[willem]

OK ultrasonic is great stuff, but unfortunately it's the small passages that cause 99% of the problems. Getting a flake of rust out of a 1/4 mm tube is still hard for ultrasonic. I'd expect it'll be easy to poke through the holes and get it running well.

The shop manuals are available in the sticky at the top of the garage section if you hadn't already found them.

Also, if there are no pictures some members here might start accusing you of not owning an XS400. Better get some soon

 

[crashley169]

Okay, well as i say I will have a fiddle tonight and hopefully fix it so i can MOT it tomorrow!
I also just got off the phone to my Granddad and he has a Haynes manual for it at home that he is going to dig out for me! That saved about 15 beer tokens!

Message received, pictures will go up tonight! Wouldn't want any doubters now would i?!

 

[crashley169]

Photos are now online!

 

[willem]

ah that looks like a nice earlier model XS400

Love that model, way nicer than the later 80's designs in my opinion. You're gonna get some people here telling you to leave it stock and get yourself a rusty old XS400 to convert to a cafe. Can't say I'd fully disagree, but hey it's your bike not mine

 

[Scorpio1963]

Eeek I did not take out and remove my emulsion tubes to chack and see if that screen is plugged.Looks like I have more carb work todo