New XS400 owner full of dreams! (and questions)

[mihnea]

Hi everyone!

I've had my XS400 for a week now, and I have to say I'm starting to like it!

It hasn't been used much in the last 10 years, so the air filters had to come off right away since they had mildew in them.

My idea is to slowly make it into a tracker-looking daily rider. I've mounted new
air pods and replaced the stock bars with 'superbike' handlebars (which made a huge improvement in handling) so far. The whole starter-won't-work-with-painted-bars was a bit of a surprise, but nothing a bit of scraping couldn't fix!

I already got replacement blinkers, bar-end mirrors and new intake manifolds ready to be mounted whenever I find some time!

I got a few of questions:
1. what's the best place to get new jets from, and what size would work best with pods stock mufflers?
2. which 2-in-1 exhaust is the best in terms of weight and performance?
3. which shocks perform best for daily riding and some 'spirited' leaning? I'm not going to race it, but I'd like it to handle well.
4. is it normal for the rear wheel dust cover to be loose and rattle!?

Thanks!

M.

 

[LuckyEight]

Hi Mihnea,

first of all add some pics of your beast! And You forgot to say what model you have

Your questions, my answers:
1) here
2) I know only about MAC 2-1 for XS400 (ebay)
3) Hagons?
4) Again, I don't know what you have...but there should be a washer and circlip securing rear sprocket... Check my thread, I had the same problem

 

[Scorpio1963]

Mikes xs sells any jets you need.Just make sure you order some other stuff in a bundled order so the shipping is worth it.
The Mac 2 n 1 is good parts N more had a sale for $200 on them so check into it.

 

[mihnea]

Thanks! I guess I forgot to mention that it's a '79 2L0, so I guess that makes it the F...?

Due to popular demand, here are some badly shot images!

the day I bought it:

new bars:

new air pods:

 

[MechNewb]

Welcome to the forum.

Since you're in Canada, the best place to get jets will be XS650direct.com. Also, check te inside of those pods to see if there is a lip. There most likely is and it will cause you carb problems with these CV carbs. You want pods without the lip. Also, pick up an inline fuel filter while you are at it.

Also, is your petcock broken? Is that why there's the valve in between the petcock and carb?

 

[mihnea]

Thanks!

xs650direct.com looks great! The air pods are 'lipless' as far as I can tell - can't find pics of lip ones vs lipless ones to be sure. Already have new fuel line and inline filter - just gotta find the time to install them. As far as the petcock goes, no clue - the guy before me said he liked to make sure the carbs were dry after a ride, so he turned the fuel off with that valve before getting home and let it turn itself off. I guess better that than sitting around for months on end with crap gas in them. I'll find out if it still works when I'll make the switch to clear line and fuel filter.

Regarding jets, what size should I get for pods plus stock exhaust?

 

[Scorpio1963]

Looks like you have a decent bike,as for the pods I solved the lip problem by cutting of 1 1/2 inches off the stock airtubes.Then I had to use a wrap of foam inside and a screen to hold it in place.It does the job for now.Been meaning to replace them with something better like the ones from MikesXs

 

[mihnea]

Does anyone have pics of what air pods with lip vs without lip look like?

 

[Scorpio1963]

If you use your stock airtubes with your pods it wont matter if your pod filters have a lip or not.One pod I know forsure that uses a lip is the emgo`s.