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I'm gonna boil my carbs in vinegar but I'm wondering if I need to take any or all of the rubber pieces off first? And also is it alright to boil the floats as well? And is vinegar the best thing to use or is lemon juice better? Thanx.

Dear fellow enthusiast, I'm no mechanic but I thought it would be easy to change my brake fluid on my '82 XS400. • So I got the the brake fluid. • I hooked up the clear plastic tube to the drain plug and put the other end in a container with the end submerged in new fluid. • I opened the...

About to start fabbing up my café racer seat. Anyone have any recomendations for resin/fiberglass matt? Spent some time over in the boat store today (yeah, advantage of living near the water) and the salesman kept pushing the West system is which is so pricey! Anyone used a resin system...

Hi All, My 83 Maxim did not have a vacuum tube attached to the petcock when I bought it several months ago. It ran, however I'm not sure how well it did since I have no reference for comparison. I rode it for short distances to the gas station and such a few times. There have been several...

Hi, I'm a new member to this site and am starting my first build. Its a 400 that was in bits found in a barn in England. I want to find out the exact year, model and general history of the bike to make sure it's all good to restore and customise. Where do I start? Here in England I know we...

Now I kind of wish it was a Seca, cuz I live on US 101 and it raps out pretty good at 60MPH. Was thinking of going a tooth bigger in front to knock down the RPMs. Seems plenty quick enough off the line for it. Any thoughts or suggestions?

While not specific to XS400's, I found this write-up to be very informative. http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14692.html And there is a link to another site with advice on jetting near the end. Hope this helps answer some questions.

I was wondering if it would be possible to just swap out the fork oil without disassembling and rebuilding the whole fork....? I'm almost 100% certain they have already been rebuilt, bc the seals look perfect and it does not leak at all. I've checked multiple times. My main problem is...

I know this subject has been brought up in various threads, but I feel it deserves one more... To be clear, the idea is a Permanent Magnet Alternator(PMA) to be able to run the bike with no battery at all(or a very very small battery). I found this kit on MikesXS...

Hello! I am no pro when it comes to electrical stuff, but in the picture 1 you see what I am trying to do. I have some tiny LED lamps with BA15s socket that I want to fit into the chopped frame. I am wondering if the wires are supposed to go inside the frame because in the end, there is a lot...

This might be useful to some of you fellas out there.

But seriously tho, my bike has been running pretty decent for a while. Last Thursday it rained while I was at school. I had to ride home in it. Sucked. And it took a few minutes to start. I covered it when I got home and its rained everyday up until yesterday. I go out uncover it and kick and...

I ordered a set of custom cables from Motion Pro to accommodate my clip on handlebars - I needed about 7 inches taken off both sides. Cables came from California to Canada in about 8 days, and looked great! But... The throttle cable was too short. Not the housing, the cable that runs...

I recently purchased a 1971 cb450 gas tank for my 1982 xs400j maxim cafe racer build. While trying to reshape the tank I made a crack on the top of the gas tank. It is a skinny crack but it leaks. It is about 3 inch long. What is the best way to fix it with out it being too noticeable.

Thank you all for the answers on this topic over the years To summarize: De-restricting Yamaha xs400 DOHC 1. Intake Boots marked 20KW on the edge replaced with Boots marked with 12R. 2. Jets changed to: #127.5 on the left, and #117.5 on the right for your mains, #35 for your starter. 3...

Hi guys, Through a recent minor screw up which I will detail later I had to remove my rotor and starter clutch again, this time I thought to document it. If you are pushing your starter button and can hear the starter spin and chain rattle behind the alternator case but its not grabbing...

*alterations. I searched but perhaps I am not searching the correct terms. Is there a list of very common alterations/customizations that are done to an old bike, such as my 81 xs400? I know that a lot of technology has changed over the years and some of you may be more aware of that than I...

So, I'm rebuilding my little tracker for the second time after getting hit for the second time! Idiot drivers, :banghead: I'm taking it from a pretty basic cleaned up street tracker look to a little bit more of a dirt tracker/dirt bike/trials bike/bratty look if that makes sense at all...hahaha...

So it sounds like the puller is a bad idea and I struck out on finding an m16- 1.5 bolt locally (. Nothing on ebay but I found a five pack on amazon for $15:( anyone have other ideas? Would an auto reapair shop be likely to have one of these bolts around?

OK, I will start right off and say I know very little about motorcycle repairs I have an 82 xs400 RJ SECA and it runs fine, no issues. I last rode about 2 weeks ago, today I started it up, let it warm for about 10 minutes and rolled back out of the garage, I kicked it into gear and rolled...