My 79 build

[51sandra]

Looking for some direction picked this little girl up last Sunday looking for a hardtail maybe or an idea how to build this thing on a tight budget not too fond of the cafe style
Carbs are dirty
Bad gas
Rear caliper sticky
Starts but back fires and chokes

 

[BBS360]

Welcome to the forum. Post some pictures.

Find some bike builds that you like for inspiration. There are lots of photos in the user albums on the forum. Click "Pictures" at the top. Some good hard tails have been posted in the albums and in build threads here.

To save cost on welding the frame into a hardtail you could replace the shocks with straight steel rods/bar stock/whatever.
Then you're just chopping instead of chopping and welding.
No pictures handy but I've seen it done a few different ways.

-Clean the carbs. There are guides on the forum. Took me three tries to get my carbs cleaned properly on my XS360.
-Clean the tank, fill with good gas. Ethanol free if available locally.
-Sticky rear caliper could be the caliper, the rear master cylinder, or the brake lines. Might get away with cleaning the master cylinder or caliper. Rebuild kits do not exist for the stock rear master cylinder so be careful. Might still be good, might be good with a cleaning, might need replacing.
-Starting issues might be fixed with the carb cleaning. Does the bike still have stock exhaust and air filter/intake setups?

 

[Big D]

Pictures?

Get it running before you start customizing .... some people do it backwards and burn a lot of money...

I agree with mounting struts.... at least before trying to modify the frame with a hardtail. Since you are going to get it running before you start customizing, if it is ridable, I suggest you take a ride.... you may find having a machine with no rear suspension is not your cup of tea....

 

[kshansen]

Get it running before you start customizing .... some people do it backwards and burn a lot of money....

That has to be about the best advice I have seen anywhere!

I did have the 1978 XS400 I was going to mount a sidecar on running before I started the build of the mounts. Thought it was fine but then the project got put on back burner and it has taken close to two years! Now I have been struggling with a few nagging problems when I thought it was almost done.

Did manage a, maybe 6 mile ride today in 30º F weather and other than breaking up a little at high RPMs or heavy load it seems pretty good. I'm thinking maybe just some new plugs as I have no idea how old they are. It had be run at low idle a few times so think may they were fouled up a bit. The more it ran it seemed to improve so have my fingers crossed.

 

[51sandra]

I pulled the tank seat and carbs sorting out the electrical problem and rebuilding carbs we will see about the breaks as well I may just Leave the bike as is for now no frame modifications just get it going and ride till I know for sure which way to go is best for me thanks for all the support

 

[51sandra]

I pulled the tank seat and carbs sorting out the electrical problem and rebuilding carbs we will see about the breaks as well I may just Leave the bike as is for now no frame modifications just get it going and ride till I know for sure which way to go is best for me thanks for all the support

Still trying to figure out how to upload pictures