Minton mods on the forks

[doubleextramayo]

So I'm just about done wrapping up my fork oil and seal change. I've got the oil in hand and I'm just wondering if it would be a good idea to follow what the minton mods say for putting in oil up to 6 inches below the top instead of the factory spec 130cc.
Has anyone else rebuilt their forks like this? Would xs400 forks being smaller then xs650 forks make a difference as to what height to go to? Do I have to drill out the holes in the damper rods or can I leave that step out?

 

[bcware]

Minton's critique of the 650 fork is detailed and specific. I'm not so sure those mods for the 650 are going to necessarily all apply to the 400. At least I wouldn't assume this without confirmation.

I put progressive springs in my forks and the oem volume of oil, but I bumped it to 15w oil. It handles great and there is a lot less dive. I have no complaints. I ride harder and faster through the corners than 99% of the people on the road and this bike does well as it is.

I would just assess your goals. What do you want? How to do you ride? From there decide how nuts you want to go. I wear full race gear and try to touch my elbow down on the streets so I care, but if you're not so aggressive I am not sure you're going to make use of heavily modified suspension or that you'll even notice the difference between simply swapping out springs and increasing the preload a bit to reduce the front end dive under braking.

Maybe someone else has some insights. People who go nuts generally ditch the stock suspension and swap out an Aprilia front end it seems rather than modding the stock forks.

Anyway, I've just never heard of anyone mentioning Minton on here, but it is possible someone has in fact done some of these modifications.

 

[doubleextramayo]

Thank you for the insight bcware. I'm going to look into aprilia forks for a future mod further down the line. As for the minton mods i believe i saw somebody talking about it briefly the last time i searched this topic.
My goal with my bike currently is to just upgrade the archaic suspension. A full front end swap isn't currently in the budget but I figured I could spare some sheckles for actual fork oil and new seals. Needle and brass bearings are next. Ultimately anything that can be modernized and rebuilt, will be.

 

[bcware]

I have yet to do a needle bearing conversion on mine. I replaced the rear with xs650 shocks and run the lowest preload setting. The front end is 15w oil, progressive springs, standard volumes of oil, etc. These two things made a big difference.

I think these bikes were never really made for someone around 180 lbs; just freshening things up and adding preload made a night and day difference in handling.

The rs125 forks are overkill in my opinion if you're keeping it on the street and the goal really is handling, but they definitely do look really cool. I would get them just for that reason if it was in the budget.