XS400 Restration and Cafe Build

[me7airbi]

Hi Everyone,

I stumbled upon this forum while was researching Yamaha XS400's online an finally got my hands on one. It was quit a steal for the price and hopefully will turn into a great project.

Overall condition of the bike is "ok" since I will be transforming it into a cafe style so most factory wiring and cosmetics will have to go and In with the new. Their is very minimum rust on the chrome and engine seems to be missing clutch cover and alternator cover.

I will start off by completing the engine missing parts and will see how it goes from their.

One issue is that I have bill of sale and I will have the Vin verified this week so i can go ahead and try to get a Vermont Registration.

Of course before buying the bike I tried running the vin and no records of it stolen or even registered in the DMV , any thoughts ? its does has a registration sticker from 1996 on the fork which is weird.

Anyways , that being said , hopefully it get registered with no issues.

Looking forward for your comments and support.

 

[me7airbi]

This is the Bike

 

[levdir]

Welcome to the forum. From that photo I'd look into some replacement forks; your tubes are really pitted and that's bad news for your front suspension. If you can get your hands on some, Aprilia RS125 upside-down forks and triples are a drop-in replacement.

 

[xschris]

Don't put a dime into it till you have paper work in your name From the pics you posted it looks to be missing a lot of parts and has a lot of rust in the exposed engine parts. What did you pay for it?

 

[me7airbi]

Don't put a dime into it till you have paper work in your name From the pics you posted it looks to be missing a lot of parts and has a lot of rust in the exposed engine parts. What did you pay for it?

I payed $250 , yeah im waiting to see how the registration goes and from their will see

 

[Big D]

IMHO that's a $50 bike .... if you get the registration, second step will be to get the motor running....

 

[Big D]

The the fork tubes can be cleaned up with some fine grade strips of emery-cloth .... use a long strip, loop it around the tube and pull back and forth... change your position and go to a finer and finer grade until it is burnised.

 

[me7airbi]

Thanks for advice guys

Got a Frame with "Title" off of a friend. Finally I can start working on the bike.

Things to do :

1- Clean carbs
2- Replace oil & Filter & Spark Plugs
3- Check if engine will Start or not

Will start working on it this weekend , Can't wait

 

[BBS360]

Looks like a decent bike. I'm guessing you found a clutch cover? That'd be your #1 step otherwise.

IMHO that's a $50 bike .... if you get the registration, second step will be to get the motor running....

There's no such thing as a $50 bike up here. This one would probably be $400 Canadian at least.

 

[me7airbi]

Looks like a decent bike. I'm guessing you found a clutch cover? That'd be your #1 step otherwise.


There's no such thing as a $50 bike up here. This one would probably be $400 Canadian at least.

Yes

I just got what was missing : clutch cover , starter cover , kick start mechanism and lever.

The bike isnt missing a single thing except a front light fuel tank cover so far.

If no internal issues are found things might go faster , plus I think its does have the original odometer and it read 8000 so miles . i second the price , $50 for a bike ? That will be a rare find

 

[Big D]

Bikes like that regularly sell for $50 around here ... that's a parts bike in these parts ..... in Ohio, we cannot get titles on bikes w/o one ... . the engine and frame numbers cannot match ... stupid law , I understand why, but lots of great bikes get parted out or junked because some goof lost the title and never bothered to get another one ... . .

 

[me7airbi]

Started some work on the bike , removed carbs and inspected & cleaned

 

[xschris]

I don't like how far the idle mix screws are turned into the carbs. Make sure the tips have not broken off in the bodies. Also make sure the screws still have their fine points on them.

 

[me7airbi]

I don't like how far the idle mix screws are turned into the carbs. Make sure the tips have not broken off in the bodies. Also make sure the screws still have their fine points on them.

I've cleaned everything up , and yes the tips are not broken off and after cleaning all internal parts looks great