DirtPirate
XS400 New Member
Howdy,
My son traded a mud truck with a blown engine for this thing awhile back and then got into debt with dad here...so I let him give me the bike (which was sitting at my house anyway...in the front yard with the front tire and rim off because it had a flat tire)...to wipe away some of his debt.
It's an 81...it's ugly...dirty...grungy even...and it ran...but had wiring and idle issues. We thought the idle problem was a carb problem...and in the end, I decided to take it to this little motorcycle shop owned and run by this cool old biker...I work 2 jobs and attend school full time right now...so I wanted it to at least run so I could start doing some mods...
They had it for about 3 weeks or so...(these guys are pretty laid back)...and basically...all it needed was the wiring fixed...and a few other minor things...and $190 later it runs great!
That included new wires, valve adjustment, timing, wiring harness repair, new positive cable, and adjusting the front brakes (since we had the wheel off and apart).
As you can see in the pic...part of the right side exhaust is gone, son cut it off because it was so rusted. The other side is rusted and cracked at the crossover pipe too. I was thinking of cutting the pipe off and then fitting some slip-ons on for the time being and riding is as is (maybe cleaned up a bit
) But...in hearing how loud it's not...and seeing some of the bikes on here and on Iron and Air's site...I've decided to cut both pipes off evenly, wrap them and ride as is...
My notion with it even before I knew it was something popular to do...was to build it into a dirt track kinda bike...because I want something street legal to ride in the neighboring forest. I was just going to try and purchase a used dual sport, but decided to spend a marginal amount on this and see what I can come up with.
So, for now...I'll start tinkering...cut the rear fender, maybe install some low profile LED signals and a tail light...I'd like to go with a dual headlight setup...paint the tins a flat, desert tan...dual sport tires etc...but first...I'm changing those freaking handle bars! I HATE those things...just really don't like the way they feel...
By the way...my name is Frank.
My son traded a mud truck with a blown engine for this thing awhile back and then got into debt with dad here...so I let him give me the bike (which was sitting at my house anyway...in the front yard with the front tire and rim off because it had a flat tire)...to wipe away some of his debt.
It's an 81...it's ugly...dirty...grungy even...and it ran...but had wiring and idle issues. We thought the idle problem was a carb problem...and in the end, I decided to take it to this little motorcycle shop owned and run by this cool old biker...I work 2 jobs and attend school full time right now...so I wanted it to at least run so I could start doing some mods...
They had it for about 3 weeks or so...(these guys are pretty laid back)...and basically...all it needed was the wiring fixed...and a few other minor things...and $190 later it runs great!
That included new wires, valve adjustment, timing, wiring harness repair, new positive cable, and adjusting the front brakes (since we had the wheel off and apart).
As you can see in the pic...part of the right side exhaust is gone, son cut it off because it was so rusted. The other side is rusted and cracked at the crossover pipe too. I was thinking of cutting the pipe off and then fitting some slip-ons on for the time being and riding is as is (maybe cleaned up a bit
) But...in hearing how loud it's not...and seeing some of the bikes on here and on Iron and Air's site...I've decided to cut both pipes off evenly, wrap them and ride as is...My notion with it even before I knew it was something popular to do...was to build it into a dirt track kinda bike...because I want something street legal to ride in the neighboring forest. I was just going to try and purchase a used dual sport, but decided to spend a marginal amount on this and see what I can come up with.
So, for now...I'll start tinkering...cut the rear fender, maybe install some low profile LED signals and a tail light...I'd like to go with a dual headlight setup...paint the tins a flat, desert tan...dual sport tires etc...but first...I'm changing those freaking handle bars! I HATE those things...just really don't like the way they feel...
By the way...my name is Frank.
