I've been lurking here for over a month. Even before I owned an XS, the useful info on this site helped me decide to jump right in and buy one -- well, 2 actually. I suppose it's finally time for a proper intro.
I had a '70 Honda CB 350 in high school (graduated '87) and the past year or so I've been feeling the urge to get back on a bike. Around the end of July I went down to my Dad's place and rode his 4-wheelers and a couple of wave runners that he bought not-running and then brought them back to life. The wind in my hair gliding over that glassy water was the final straw--time to get another bike.
I'm on a tight budget (supporting myself & 2 teenagers on 20 hrs a week) so a fixer upper was a must. After a week or so of scanning through the local online classifieds, I picked up 2 '80 xs400's for $320 around the 1st week of August. One with repair potential, the other just a parts bike that had been sitting in his yard for several years. (After reading this forum I'm thinking it may have some rat bobber potential, but 1st things 1st...)
Day 1
So I go to Home Depot, grab a couple of 2x8x8's for ramps, take my son and load 'em up. Stopped by the power wash to clean off some of the grime, and put about a gallon of gas in the tank. I was used to my old Honda petcock, so I accidentally set it to 'prime' thinking it was the 'off' position. Well you can guess what happened... fuel started leaking out the back of both carbs, so I yanked the line and stuck a bolt in it. Luckily the air cleaner rubbers were off or I may not have noticed.
We got it home and unloaded and I figured let's crank her over and see what happens. (I had kicked it over a few times before I bought it, and knew the engine was free & guessed it had workable compression.) I pulled the tank and the seat off, broke out the jumper cables, hooked 'em up to the bike and then to the battery in my truck. When I clamped the 2nd cable on it gave off a little bit of a spark, but nothing I thought unusual (typical load if the key was on, I thought.) This is all in my apartment carport with limited work space, so I had to go the long way round the truck to get back to the bike. As I'm walking my son starts shouting, "Wo!" I look over to see smoke coming up, and when I get there I see a flame shoot out from the melting electrical tape with a red hot wire burning through.
I'm shouting, "take it off! take it off!" while he stands there stunned & clueless, but I finally got to the negative clamp and pulled it off. I take the fuse box cover off and find a bolt in place of the 20amp main fuse. 
Bit of a disappointing start. I'm thinking, "Great, I made a big mistake. This P.O.S. must have MAJOR electrical issues." I disconnected everything and went into the house to start pouring over electrical diagrams. Luckily the bikes came with a Haynes manual.
Day 2
I went out with the wiring diagrams, my cordless drill battery (less damage potential) and my volt meters. I replaced the bolt with a proper fuse and then discovered the wire that fried (burnt clear through) was the ground wire going to the rectifier. I disconnected the rectifier and the voltage regulator. Something had to be shorted to burn up that wire, so I started probing around with the meter. Everything seemed to be okay. I figured the rectifier must be bad & shorted out, so I left it unplugged and hooked up the drill battery. Turned the key on... Working Lights!!! Left/right signals, brake, horn, etc. I checked 'em all.
All of the rear light wiring looked like it had been redone by a 4 year old, so I disconnect it and anything else that looked suspicious. I figured it doesn't need the charging system to run, so those repairs can wait. (At this point I wanted to make sure it could run at all before I started putting time, energy, and more money into it.) After doing some more checking with the meter & live voltage to make sure nothing was shorted, it was time to hook up the jumper cables again(a little more cautiously this time) and see what we could get. It's cranking over! Oil pressure light goes out! ...but no start. Eh, not a big surprise.
More to come...
(I'm a bit of a perfectionist and that's all the typing, editing, rewriting I can stand for now. Now I'm on to figure out how to post some pics.)
I had a '70 Honda CB 350 in high school (graduated '87) and the past year or so I've been feeling the urge to get back on a bike. Around the end of July I went down to my Dad's place and rode his 4-wheelers and a couple of wave runners that he bought not-running and then brought them back to life. The wind in my hair gliding over that glassy water was the final straw--time to get another bike.
I'm on a tight budget (supporting myself & 2 teenagers on 20 hrs a week) so a fixer upper was a must. After a week or so of scanning through the local online classifieds, I picked up 2 '80 xs400's for $320 around the 1st week of August. One with repair potential, the other just a parts bike that had been sitting in his yard for several years. (After reading this forum I'm thinking it may have some rat bobber potential, but 1st things 1st...)
Day 1
So I go to Home Depot, grab a couple of 2x8x8's for ramps, take my son and load 'em up. Stopped by the power wash to clean off some of the grime, and put about a gallon of gas in the tank. I was used to my old Honda petcock, so I accidentally set it to 'prime' thinking it was the 'off' position. Well you can guess what happened... fuel started leaking out the back of both carbs, so I yanked the line and stuck a bolt in it. Luckily the air cleaner rubbers were off or I may not have noticed.
We got it home and unloaded and I figured let's crank her over and see what happens. (I had kicked it over a few times before I bought it, and knew the engine was free & guessed it had workable compression.) I pulled the tank and the seat off, broke out the jumper cables, hooked 'em up to the bike and then to the battery in my truck. When I clamped the 2nd cable on it gave off a little bit of a spark, but nothing I thought unusual (typical load if the key was on, I thought.) This is all in my apartment carport with limited work space, so I had to go the long way round the truck to get back to the bike. As I'm walking my son starts shouting, "Wo!" I look over to see smoke coming up, and when I get there I see a flame shoot out from the melting electrical tape with a red hot wire burning through.
I'm shouting, "take it off! take it off!" while he stands there stunned & clueless, but I finally got to the negative clamp and pulled it off. I take the fuse box cover off and find a bolt in place of the 20amp main fuse. Bit of a disappointing start. I'm thinking, "Great, I made a big mistake. This P.O.S. must have MAJOR electrical issues." I disconnected everything and went into the house to start pouring over electrical diagrams. Luckily the bikes came with a Haynes manual.Day 2
I went out with the wiring diagrams, my cordless drill battery (less damage potential) and my volt meters. I replaced the bolt with a proper fuse and then discovered the wire that fried (burnt clear through) was the ground wire going to the rectifier. I disconnected the rectifier and the voltage regulator. Something had to be shorted to burn up that wire, so I started probing around with the meter. Everything seemed to be okay. I figured the rectifier must be bad & shorted out, so I left it unplugged and hooked up the drill battery. Turned the key on... Working Lights!!! Left/right signals, brake, horn, etc. I checked 'em all.
All of the rear light wiring looked like it had been redone by a 4 year old, so I disconnect it and anything else that looked suspicious. I figured it doesn't need the charging system to run, so those repairs can wait. (At this point I wanted to make sure it could run at all before I started putting time, energy, and more money into it.) After doing some more checking with the meter & live voltage to make sure nothing was shorted, it was time to hook up the jumper cables again(a little more cautiously this time) and see what we could get. It's cranking over! Oil pressure light goes out! ...but no start. Eh, not a big surprise.
More to come...
(I'm a bit of a perfectionist and that's all the typing, editing, rewriting I can stand for now. Now I'm on to figure out how to post some pics.)
and post up some pictures so we can see what you're playing with.
