Restarted Project

Pork Chop

Pork Chop

XS400 Junkie
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Sydney Australia
After leaving the the bike untouched for 9 months I have re-started my XS250 fix-up project.
First I had to go and get the bike as I had moved apartment but left the bike at the old place. There was only a little bit of old fuel still in the tank but I couldn't be bothered draining it so I just added 5L of 98Ron fuel, a squirt of start-ya-bastard in the carbies a kicked away. I was pretty impressed that it started on the the 4th kick after all that time and I hadn't even disconnected the battery. So starting was the easy part after that it was running like sh!t - no power and die on idle. I thought it may have been old fuel in the bowls so decided to ride it and see what happened. Ha ha ha - no power and quite a few backfires which scared the hell out of some pedestrains as I had to ride right through the middle of Sydney CBD. But after a while it straightened out and was running as per normal.

I plan on running only a speedo and wonder what other people have done to plug the tacho cable hole?

I will start stripping and cleaning this weekend and promise that I will take lots of pics along the way.

I don't plan on doing any internal work as it runs ok and I would like to convert it to a xs400 only problem is that xs400 parts are rare as hens balls in Australia. My brother is coming back from the UK in december so I may try and source head and jugs or a complete engine in the UK and get him to bring it back with all his furniture. Other than fleabay, can anyone recommend on where I may be able to get them from?

Cheers. :bike:
 
try D&K in stafford , they are a large bike breakers in the UK. other than that its a wanted ad or ebay I'm afraid
 
I run speedo only on my 400. What I did was remove the end from the cable that holds it into the head, put a little plastic cap on the end of it, (found at a hardware store) then dipped that in plasti-dip (the stuff to coat tool handles) then replaced it in the head with a little hi temp silicone around it so no leaks. Looks clean and dry so far, I'll try to post a pick for you.
 
I tapped mine, and screwed in an 8mm bolt, but there was the old tach cable ferrule in there as it was rust welded in :D
 
Thanks Drewpy for the d&k suggestion - i sent them an email so lets see what they say. I will have a look at the tacho in a couple of weeks as i will still need it for help tuning. A new problem has developed. The right carb is leaking fuel out the airfilter, even when on the centre stand. I know there are some posts on this forum regarding this so i will start searching before asking questions.
 
A bit of progress last night.

IMG_2913-small.jpg


I am still undecided if i will cut off the rear loop.

Does anyone know if there is a difference between cylinders from 77-81. I know they are different part numbers but are they interchangeable?

There is a guy who will do clear tank decal sticker for me but at the moment i have individual letters on the tank and I want to know if there are any pros / cons with a 1 piece sticker? The only thing I can think of is that you can't polish under the clear where you can between the individual letters i have at the moment.
 
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Ok, so I have made some progress. Completely removed the loom, ignition, headlight, instruments, headers, carbs & pegs. I put on the new tracker bars & I reckon they look great. Already feel much more comfortable riding position than the clubman bars.

IMG_3125-small.jpg


I noticed that when i removed the tank that nothing was really holding it on. No rubbers or bolt.! I will have to do something about that as I don't really want to go over a big bump & lose the tank.

I have decided to cut off the frame just rear of the shocks and I need to make brackets for the seat as it designed for an SR400.

I think the front brake pads need replacing - should i get EBC, Pyramid Parts or metalgear? Suggestions?

Carbs are going to get cleaned this weekend & i am interested in what jets are in there - they will most likely need replacing as i have done some late night ebaying.

Can anyone advise on the amp rating for the kill switch? could i use a relay for the kill switch?
 
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Ebc pads are good. You need as much help in the braking dept. As you can!
Looking at the wires to the look. Switch, I would say 5amps should be enough.

Posted via Mobile
 
Thanks for the advice Drewpy.

Please bare with me as this is my first look at a motorcycle carb.
I cleaned 1 of the carbs today. Thought I would do 1 at a time just in case i messed-up and need a reference on where things go. Now my bike is an '81 XS250 so I believe that I have BS32 carbs but my manual is for the 77-79 vintage & their carbs look different.

This is mine.
IMG_3219.jpg


IMG_3218.jpg


needle setting
IMG_3236.jpg


One of the first things I did was to try and workout which hole went where so I squirted WD40 down each one and watched where it came out.
I couldn't locate the main jet but then had a look up the drain plug hole & I think i can see it in there. Does that sound right? Do I just put a screwdriver up the drain hole and undo it? Is the pilot jet the brass tube on the opposite side to the float pivot?

Thanks.
 
I doubt it, that wear isn't too bad. It looks more like the polished finish is scuffed, but I don't really see a groove in it. The float height being wrong is more likely I think. The manual is probably wrong for your year. My '78 likes about 26 mm with the brass floats, but yours are different. What is yours set to? I also don't know what the factory setting is on your diaphragm needle. Do you have a stock main jet?
 
I didn't get to do much work on the bike today but I did quickly have a look at the main jets and they are stock at 117.5.

BCware, I will measure float etc tomorrow and let you know.
 
If your mains are 117.5 the needle clip position looks good. Those mains are much smaller than my 400, so it makes sense that you'd have a richer needle clip position.

If the carbs are apart you can also check how far the float needles drop open when the carbs are held right-side up. They should be fully assembled with only the bowl removed. Just move the floats up and down by hand and observe how the float needles act. If they are allowed to open too much they can get hung up and stuck open. On my '78 there is a second tang the floats pivot off of that controls how much the needle drops open. If you've got brass like me they can be very easy to accidentally bend through handling. This might not be an issue and you may not have this second tang, but it's worth looking at.

The other thing you can check is for holes in the floats. You'd have to submerge them in some kind of liquid and shake them around to listen for fluid inside.
 
Hi BCware, I think I have the same floats as you.

float.jpg


Do you adjust the float height by bending the needle tang and not the float tang?

I will check the float height and needle movement tonight and give them the submerge test.

I have been struggling to find float bowl gaskets for the BS32 - mikesxs has one that looks right but hard to confirm and csmnl does not have a list for the xs250. I might just have to wing it with mikesxs but delivery time to Australia might make that a long process. Can anyone help?
 
Does this diaphragm look ok? It has a small split at the rim which i will try and fix.

diaphragm.jpg


Any suggestions on the best way to clean up the diaphragm? Soap and water? I assume carb cleaner is too strong.
 

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