Its Official!!! New Owner

[Romeo2589]

Its official guys! Im a new owner of a 1982 xs400. Got it on a trade. All in all I think it is in pretty decent shape for a project bike. Not all hope is lost.. unless I completely screw up somewhere down the road Ive got some pictures up and from the looks of it its gonna be a killer job for me. All of it because... dun dun dunnn... this is my first project EVER!!!! Im still excited about it!!! Let me know what you all think and any pointers for anything at all is well appreciated!!!

 

[ksqrly]

Looks cool. Nice little maxim. I have a question though. Whats going on with the rear shock did they just take the spring out and use it to make it a hard tail?

One pointer I have for you, if you already didnt know is that you have a dohc motor and from what I have read on here very few parts are interchangeable with sohc motor, so just keep that in mind when you order parts.

 

[ksqrly]

Also if you havent downloaded the manual, you can find it in the first thread on the forum page. you want the one that is for a 1983 seca. No your bike is not a seca, but the secas and maxims are the same besides control placement, tank shape, front wheel size, and the seca has a 6 speed vs a 5 speed maxim.

 

[16VGTIDave]

Nice trade! Looks like your Maxim has been upgraded over the years. Dual front disks, exhaust, wheels, and the obvious frame chop.

 

[Romeo2589]

ksqrly the shock is still in working order. the guy before said that he wanted to leave it and just weld the seat springs to it so it would look like a 'hardtail' but it would be a more comfortable ride.

Dave thanks man. traded a laptop for it so now i just have to get it running to get my moneys worth haha. we'll see how it goes.

 

[bentwrench]

Congratulations! Looks like a fun project. Ask any questions you need.

The bike looks like an old project that was started (rear end chop, dual brake conversion, different front and rear rims) and then left in the rain for a couple of years. You may want to start by getting the engine running, making sure everything works, THEN taking everything off, cleaning up the corrosion, repainting, etc.

Good luck!

 

[Flexeril]

Nice find!

I am in the process of putting mine back together. It has been fun so far... These bikes are hard to find. I want another one for a cafe project.

You will like this forum. Lots of great folks.

 

[Lou Ranger]

... Im still excited about it!!! Let me know what you all think and any pointers for anything at all is well appreciated!!!

You will love the bike once you get it running.
But don't let your excitement create or worsen any problems. You won't be able to resist the excitement of trying to get the motor to fire, but before you do that, spend $2 on an in-line fuel filter and maybe a new fuel line. For sure there will be rust dust in the tank and if the carbs happen to be clean, they will be dirty after 10 minutes of sputtering. If they are merely dirty to start, they will be clogged completely.

http://www.xs400.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7574&highlight=petei
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A little black Rustoleum on the welds might be wise to slow any further rusting while you work on carbs and electrics.
Best of luck and welcome to this great forum!

 

[ksqrly]

Oh I see I just didnt see a spring on it in the pics. Cool look

 

[Romeo2589]

I am excited about everything with the bike. Today I just removed the old wiring harness, clutch, throttle, and took the tank off. I'm more worried about trying to do the electrical portion than the mechanical portion. I have looked at the diagrams and don't understand it that well mostly because I don't know what the correct nomenclature is for parts. Plus I'd like to just have it to the bare minimum wiring I would need to run the bike which I don't know what that would be either. I want to swap the tank out for a different one later because I don't quite like the look of it. But that's later on in the fixing. More cosmetic haha. The guy I got it from hard the carbs rebuilt but I will eventually see about taking the motor apart and giving it a good cleaning. Replace rusted parts etc etc. I will look into getting the filter. I wouldn't have ever thought of that thanks I misunderstood about the spring being used as a hardtail earlier. The spring is missing. But I found a thread that showed a guy working on the same bike that used a square steel bar in place of the shock to make it a hardtail and I like the way that turned out so I might look into do that

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=24980/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=30.html

 

[Lou Ranger]

... I'm more worried about trying to do the electrical portion than the mechanical portion. I have looked at the diagrams and don't understand it that well mostly because I don't know what the correct nomenclature is for parts. Plus I'd like to just have it to the bare minimum wiring I would need to run the bike which I don't know what that would be either...

Last year, someone on here designed a bare bones replacement electrical system for the bike. I couldn't find it because the search function on here is primitive and doesn't let you narrow the parameters, but with some persistence, you will find the thread.

 

[ksqrly]

I didnt know much about electrical at all when I started this build, but the more I read the more I learned. Read, Read, Read thats the best way to learn. Some of the relays are not necessarily needed for the bike, and those relays and quite a bit of complication.

I am close to the electrical portion of my build. I will try to post detail threads as I do it.

 

[bentwrench]

Okay, I thought the exhaust looked odd in your first post, and in your most recent picture, I'm positive of it. Where is that exhaust from? It's not stock, and it's not the MAC replacement... it almost looks like the MAC exhaust for the SOHC engine, but in that case, the flanges would be all wrong. Can you tell where it's from?

 

[Romeo2589]

Lou I will keep searching for the thread for simple basic wiring.

Ksqrly I have been doing a lot of reading and research and stuff is starting to come together slowly but surely once I start learning what goes where. It's a bunch of leg work but so far I'm having fun with it. Today a friend and I went they the old wiring harness to see if any of the wires were bad to see if I could salvage any of it. And I might be able to. We'll see. I might still end up just making a whole new one. The relays is what is confusing me right now. What needs them and what doesn't. The different fuze sizes. What wires to use. I'm just gonna look over the diagrams on here again. See if I could find one that fits what I'm wanting to do.

Bent the guy I got the bike from said he just got the exhaust and put it on. I'm not sure where it came from. I don't like it anyway so it's coming off. Any suggestions for a nice sounding one?

The more and more I'm digging into the bike, the less I believe the PO did much of anything to it haha. I still feel like I made off as a bandit so long as I can get it running and get the paperwork straightened out (see other thread) haha. Fingers crossed!!!

 

[ksqrly]

Is the exhaust for sale by chance?

 

[bentwrench]

Fuzes are 20A for the ignition, and 10A for the rest.

Relays - you can get rid of all of them, if you don't like them. Just make sure you connect the wires so the bike still gets power everywhere. The wiring diagrams are your friend (the ones for the Seca on here work for 83 and 84 DOHCs.)

Exhausts - there is only one remaining manufacturer of aftermarket pipes, and that's MAC. If you like mine, I got the DOHC full system, but you can buy just the downtubes and mix and match a muffler. Depending on the look you're going for, you shouldn't have any problems. Other than MAC, you're looking at NOS (rare and expensive) or build your own (could be a fun project...)

 

[83xs400]

what size front tire is on that ? she looks beefy

 

[heavymetalheavymetal]

looking like you're off to a good start already! keep us updated!

 

[Greasey Fingers]

another DOHC......NOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo........lol just kidding congrats and enjoy its a lot of fun!

 

[Romeo2589]

The tire on the front is a 90. Looks beefy in the pic tho haha. So I'm working on rebuilding carbs but all replacement parts I'm finding keep saying that it DOES NOT FIT DOHC MODELS. Where can I finds he right gaskets and such?