The $50 '79 xs400

lemonhead

Budget Biker
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Hi all,

I have been lurking in the shadows of the forum since about October, harvesting information, tips and tricks.

Working for an auction company, I occasionally come across fun things like this:
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It was buried under ages of raccoon funk and shredded building material, forgotten in the back corner of a pole barn. No plugs in it and it felt like it had seized up, obviously someone took a spill on it as it has the turn stop busted off the neck, matching dents on either side of the tank where the handlebars racked side to side, and a bit of road rash on the indicator housings (the ones that survived, anyway). Nobody else bid on it, and I figured I could part it out, if nothing else. So, $50 and a ride in the back of the s10 later, and she sits in my workshop.

Now the good part:
I filled the cylinders with wd40, walk away for 10 minutes, and come back to jump on the kick starter. When I barely get my weight on the lever, whoosh...she rolls over, smooth as can be. Within an hour I cleaned the points, carb & installed plugs, fresh fluids, and now she starts one kick from cold.

I have since put on a new tire, battery, indicator housings, a headlight & new taillight lens. Total cost to date (including the bike) is less than $250. There is a phantom headlight-no-workie issue and some slight fusebox repair to tend to, but she rides around the driveway & yard with great power.

I'm not sure whether to restore or go custom build yet, but once I get some miles on the road we'll figure out which direction we travel.
 
Thanks for the warm welcome. Title is in the works. I am currently trying to get the headlight to come on (good lamp, no juice to the plug or hi/low thumbswitch) so I can have it inspected and vin checked, then apply for title. But, I don't forsee any trouble in getting one.
 
The bike needs to be running for the light to come on. If not it could be the relay or wiring. You have checked to make sure the bulb is good, right?:laugh:
 
Haha, yeah...contrary to my username, I was fortunate enough to be gifted with something between the ears. I did read on the forum about the bike being on before the headlight will work just this morning, so I'll have to see if that changes the results. I do have the brittle factory fuse block and the headlight slot is one of the broken ones, but the multimeter indicated that it was getting juice.

Will report back after bike-on testing.
 
Well, after fiddling with the fuses and the headlight controls...
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Tada! We have headlight. :D

When the PO took a spill the handlebars took a little abuse, and it probably didn't help the cause, but I was able to rebuild the high/low lever (sort of):
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Between the loose fuse, the beat up headlight lever and the bike needing to be on for the light to work, I was going nowhere. But, when I got the fuse to stay put, and started the bike, all I had to do was jiggle the headlight lever a little and it lit right up.

Now I'm just a couple muffler nuts, ignition switch bolts and taillight lens screws away from being inspection ready.
 
Does it have the stock fusebox? Those are notorious for corroding away to uselessness. If you've found any of the fuse holders are cracked you might find a marine blade fusebox a good upgrade.
 
It's all stock. Got a bunch of hardware today. Muffler mount nuts & lock washers, muffler clamp bolts & lock washers, ignition switch bolts & lock washers & tail light lens screws. The bike looks a lot less jankety and is pretty much ready for inspection. However, when playing with the turn signals today, I discovered that the bike will sometimes stall when I turn the indicators on. Dash lights and everything just cut out. I can slap the seat or tap the fuse box and the dash will light back up and I can start the bike again. Is this a common "crusty ol' fuse box" issue, something else, or am I experiencing a unique problem?
 
Loose wires, bad ground or faulty wiring/fuse box. That is what it sounds like to me. I just purchased a Blue Sea fuse box off Ebay with its own ground bar. Makes for less of a headache when troubleshooting wiring issues.
 
You can get a 6 fuse block from Advanced Auto for around $10. The bolt on the side is power in. It sends power to all six fuses. I used one like this. Power to a main 20 amp fuse to a on/off switch. From the switch to the bolt. Install a fuse run some wire.
You can shop online and find 4 fuse blocks as well as more than six.
Leo
 

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Almost forgot. If it had been wrecked hard enough to snap the fork stops off the frame it might have a bent frame as well as bent forks. I might do some inspecting on those things.
Easy thing to check is front to rear wheel alignment. Set the rear wheel straight to the swing arm. Do this by measuring from the grease zerks in the swing arm pivot bolt to the center of the axle, Set them to the same measurement.
Now with it set up on the center stand get two long straight edges. I use some steel angle, the stuff with all the holes. Set one each side of the rear tire, I run two bolts through the holes so it clamps to the rear wheel. Just enough to hold but not warp the steel/ No with the front wheel straight measure the distance between the front tire and the straight edges. It should be the same on both sides and front to back. If not you have a problem.
Leo
 
Sheesh, those are spendy boxes. I'm not sure if I'm going to switch up to blade fuses or stay with the tubes, but I know Radio Shack has 4 slot fuse blocks that fit the 1.25" tubes for something like $1.98 and when you're done, you can make it look almost stock.

I looked over the forks, frame, alignment & whatnot when I first got the bike. Everything checks out. I'm not sure if the PO ran into something or what, since there is evidence of the bike being down at some point, but none of the damage to the bike appears to be severe enough to have caused any problems. Mostly things like broken turn signals, couple tank dents, broken tail light lens, missing headlight glass (the rest was still there), missing / ground off high / low beam selector, broken shift lever and a bent center stand foot lever. I fixed most of these things quite easily within the first couple of weeks of ownership. eBay can go a long way to acquire good budget parts if you are diligent and patient.

On another note, it was a very warm & pleasant Sunday, so I decided to work on the super loose clutch cable issue I've had. I pulled out the trusty service manual, got in a good read and went exploring behind the black plug in the side cover. The jam nut and screw were easy enough to adjust, and it appeared that I still had about a mile of adjustment. Score. But, as I fiddled with it to get it set proper, the slack in the cable caused it to come unhooked from the mechanism inside the cover. So, time to do some more exploring. I remove the foot peg and shift lever, then pull the side cover off, carefully, and I am greeted by some sludge.
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After a brief cleaning, the cable was easy to re-attach, the case went back on and clutch adjustment recommences. When I'm done, I go from about 2 inches of slack in the clutch cable to about 2 millimeters, plus I still have some room to adjust if the cable stretches out some more. :thumbsup:
 
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