My 1977 XS400

[bswinn]

Hello to everyone!!! I'm making this thread as an Introduction and hopefully my future build thread. I suppose I'll get right down to the details of the intro.

I bought a basket case 1977 XS400 just about 4 years ago (before & after pics coming when I get home from work). It sat in various states of decomposition/assembly for two years in my bedrooms and living rooms of my apartments. It was finally finished and able to ride at the start of the 2011 riding season up here in the Northeast of the States.

It was one hell of a knuckle busting, swearing, name calling, fits of depression, and joyous ride for 2 years while going to University for an engineering degree. If I had the choice of doing it again I would.....do it at the drop of a hat.

So, now that I've been riding it for just over 1.5 seasons I've got the bug to do some customization/upgrades. I thought of buying a new larger bike and chopping it, and yes while it might be cheaper in the long run I just truly enjoy my wicked red-headed step child of a bike. Every laugh and joke that is thrown my way about my "too small shitty antique" sort of makes me love her even more. I know her inside and out (litterally) and think it would be a fun ride to rebuild her once again. But before I actually start I want to discuss and be advised on what you all think. Good and bad.

The bike has almost 19K miles on it. 2.5K are my own miles. When rebulding her I tore into the engine. The kick start is no more which sucks. The internall crank case mount was snapped off and hanging by a thread and was unrepairable. She's electric start only now. I didn't replace any of the internal engine bearings. They seemed to be okay to my untrained eye. This was also not done due to the fact that i was unable to find new ones. She has brand new NOS stock rings installed and were put in with a new cylinder honing. Original valves were well within tolerance and in good shape. There is a bit of an issue thought. There seems to be oil leaking from where the valve cover meets the cyclinger head. It's also seems to be leaking from the head gasket. Now would this be due to the head bolts needing to be re-torqued after the rebuild? There also seems to be some oil around the intake boots on the carbuerator as well as the crank case exaust tube. I'll try and post some pics.

So with all of this am I just asking for a headache and a hole in my wallet larger than what a rebiuld takes anyways?

 

[Travis]

Welcome!

Sounds like a leaky valve seal and also not re-torquing the head bolts after the rebuild. If that's all that needs fixing, it's worth doing.... Unless you want to just find another engine to drop in and get your kick start back.

 

[drewpy]

welcome bswin,

new gaskets will def sort it and a bit of yam 3 bond on the cam cover!

 

[bswinn]

Alright so I finally found some before and after pics to post up. Lets see if I can get them up properly.

I would be very disappointed if it was a leaky valve seal seeing is how they are brand new. But it sounds reasonable seeing is how there is some oil around the intake boots. And I plan on re torquing the head bolts to see if that fixes that issue since those gaskets are brand new too. I'll have to see if i still have the tube of Yamaha seal and if it's still in good condition.

What are peoples feelings on hardtail vs. shorter rear shocks to get stance a little lower? I know I want to sit further "inside" the bike so to speak vs. right on top of the damn thing the way it is.

 

[bswinn]

Hey guys, might not be the place to ask but figure it's easier making a post in my own thread than making another one. In browsing the internet I found an xs1100 for sale in my area for $450. It needs a rear tire, new battery, and some carb work the owner says. He says this becasue one side of the engine does not fire. He's owned it for 4 years and says that both sides ran fine for a while but it was stored for winter with fuel in it when he thought it was empty. It's got 33k miles on it.

My question is wether or not it's worth while for a project? Are parts available for an 79 XS1100? Or are they as rare, or rarer to find that my 77 xs400 was?

 

[drewpy]

there's plenty of spares for all bikes out there, its how much you are prepared to pay for them.

I have never been stumped for getting anything as yet!

 

[bswinn]

Okay so I decided not to go through with the 1100. Too far to drive with everything else going on. I tore into the valve cover to tighten my head bolts and found more oil in different places that are confusing me. In the first photo you can see where the oil is leaking out at the head gasket. All of this is probably from 2 seasons of riding, not all at once. Second photo is the intake boots to my carbs. They have oil inside. WTF?!?! Same with the third photo of intake side of my carbs. The two red circle are to highlight where there is oil on the ports of the carb. Again WTF?!?! The last two are of the crank case breather port. The outside has oil over it and the internal gasket is covered. I thought it might be too much oil in the engine but I checked and it has the right amount according to the dipstick anyways. That's something that isn't shown in the photos but the dipstick/fill area is also covered in oil. Anyone have any ideas? Is this an issue or just the running of a 30+ year old engine?

 

[drewpy]

run the engine with the breather pipe off and feel what comes out. I recon you have worn bores and its pressurising the crank case forcing oil up the breather tube.

 

[bcbobbers]

Hardtail vs shorter springs is a decision you need to make and it depends on what you are going for. If you want a real bobber or chopper look you will probably want to do a hardtail, if you like the soft tail and how it rides then you will probably want shorter springs. Also if you are on a budget and just want a quick fix do shorter springs. You can buy springs for a little over $100 against paying much more on a hardtail kit, and then you gotta tear your whole bike apart and chop and weld it all back together. A hardtail is more of a winter project when riding is impossible. Me and a buddy put harley hugger shocks off a sportster on his 80 xs850 which dropped his stance about a inch and a half to two inches in the rear, had to do a little drilling to make them fit, but it was a pretty easy modification to the springs to make them work. He loves how the springs look and how the bike sits because now he can flat foot his bike where before he was on his tippy toes.

 

[bcbobbers]

on the 1100 not running on one side, loosen up the bolts on the bottom of the bowl on the side of the carbs that is not running and see if there is any gas in the bowl, if not you probably just need to bend the tang on the float so the float is at the correct spot so it will allow gas into the bowl, this was the problem me and a buddy had on a xs400. My buddy got his xs400 for a steal at $100 because it only ran on one side and it was a 15 minute fix. sometimes it pays off to buy something that isn't running right.

Just read the part where you didn't go through with it so never mind my post but it's still some good info if you run into something like that in the future.

 

[bswinn]

Well tightened down the head nuts and re-timed it. Ran it with the breather tube off and nothing coming out of it but small light puffs of air. Then took for a test drive. DAMN the timing must have been off. Could get her up to 80mph at 6k rpm. NEVER did that before. Only one small problem...it leaks oil around the head gasket worse then it did after before I retorqued the head nuts. WTF?!?!

 

[drewpy]

once a gasket goes, its a new one I'm afraid.

nice time to de coke the head and a bit of light porting

 

[volcomskater77]

damn. i shouda ported mine. Drewpy, maybe i can trade you one day. my stocker for a ported one + $$? as far as bobbing it goes, ill always say that the backbone is tricky, because the top two support tubes you would mount to are oval shaped, thus, being a pain in the ass to slug. look at my thread and the hardail: how to? thread. great info. i love the look of mine, but i custom bent my tubes to get that angle. cut the coils/buy shorter shocks for now, and make a lower profile pad, run it like that till winter comes, then tear it apart and cut the ass end off that thing! ill gladly help with any HT questions. same with HT77, hell help too, if he ever re-surfaces from the depths of oil rigging or whatever it his he does. look through his thread and youll find out what not to do. lol