New 82 XS400J From Vancouver Island B.C.

[TheCopperHat]

The title states the specifics. I picked up an 82 xs400j a few weeks back for $300 not running, spent a few hours in the shop draining 4 litres of fuel from the oil, quick carb clean, new tires and she's back on the road. Waiting for the petcock rebuild kit to clear up the leaky fuel issue.

Me-
I've ridden a few bikes before this, nothing this old though, a 2002 R1 for a while, 92 Seca 600 for a little while. Nothing to crazily modified just this and that. This bike I have a little more on the drawing board for as it's not the most beautiful bike stock IMO. I recently quit my day job to run my own small business and I'm finding I have a little more time on my hands which is nice.

The plans for the bike are really just to clean it up a bit and slightly increase the curb appeal. I'm also looking to take the bike for a "West Coast Coming of Age" run somewhere down south for a week or so in the next month.

I'm diggin a lot of the builds I'm seeing around here, sadly I'm not seeing so much by way of the body style of my bike. Any links to the newer body like mine as far as builds go would be appreciated .

Cheers
Brad

 

[isigt]

Hey man!
Welcome to the forum!

"I recently quit my day job to run my own small business and I'm finding I have a little more time on my hands which is nice." Haha, just wondering how that adds up. But good for you!

Cheers

 

[TheCopperHat]

Hey man!
Welcome to the forum!

"I recently quit my day job to run my own small business and I'm finding I have a little more time on my hands which is nice." Haha, just wondering how that adds up. But good for you!

Cheers

Well it started being full time work with full time small business, now it's just one full time career. Not that it doesn't keep me excessively busy, but a slight bit of sanity has returned to my life.

 

[dO-bOy]

hey brad, good to see another canuck here. i'm on the mainland but i come over often to go drifting at Western speedway

 

[bentwrench]

I'm restoring an XS400 right now, and am about to post pics of the engine out. I was looking at the frame trying to think of things that you could do to it to make it a little more modern, and I have to admit, nothing came to mind. You can chop the tail, but the seat is so high up you'd need to do quite a bit of welding. But maybe drop the forks, solo seat and clipons, new paint, pod filters instead of the air box, and move the battery... you might get something pretty cool out of it...

 

[TheCopperHat]

I've already got the pod filters from uni, haven't mounted them yet, also fiberglass heat wrap for the pipes, di-noc carbon wrap, but haven't quite found a solution to the height of the bike. It is pretty high. I'm in the middle of building a 92 seca II also and that's proving to be slightly easier.

@ do-boy - nice, good to hear another Canadian is kickin around. Drop me a line next time your on the island racing and I'd love to swing by and catch it.

 

[bentwrench]

Options for lowering forks: cut the existing ones, and get a machine shop to thread the tops so your fork caps still fit. Or, replace the front end, which usually involves machining new bits for the triple tree, but does allow the potential for upside down forks (which with the right look and paint, could look awesome, but would you want to pour that much time and effort into a $300 bike?)

Option 3, which I did on my SV650, but haven't checked if it would work on the XS, is to simply drop the forks through the triple by an inch or so, and see how it looks.

Oh, and I'm in Canada too, but the part that West Coasters love to hate: Ontario. My best friend lives in Nanaimo, though, and he doesn't think I'm so bad...

 

[TheCopperHat]

Lol, I'm originally from Saskatchewan so I really don't hate anyone. That's our reputation.

As for dropping the forks, I'm not sure that would get the look I'm going for, to even it out you would have to cut the rear down by at least an inch or so. I might just kind of go for a stripped down look. Keep the same stance. We'll see, I may have some parts left after my Seca build.

 

[new kid on the brat]

i'm not a cafe person but..... i'm thinking.....slip out the forks and turn over the headlight ears like i did. take off the gauges, slip the forks up an inch and a half ,put on some clip ons, change the tank and seat to more of a boxy tank and a flatter seat, that should make the nose not look so high. i wonder if you could do a sadle seat like the 83 katana i have.

the way your frame dips down i think that seat shape would be kinda sweet

 

[dO-bOy]

will do brad. if my friend and i get a car put together, i'll take you for a ride