'81 Budget Build

So I kind of fell off the grid these last few weeks. I have plenty of pics of whats been done. Just a brief description of whats happened so far. Front and back tires have been removed from the rim. Bearings have come out, cleaned and re greased. New brake shoes have been added. Everything is being thoroughly cleaned in a parts washer. I'm in process of cleaning my rims out. Tonight I started to tighten the rear end of the bike. Lots to talk about, but pictures are alot more fun. For those of you that have instagram, I always post pics of what I'm doing there. Feel free to look me up, username russ225.

Old brake shoes
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Shocks all cleaned up
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Tires off!! This was murder for my chicken arms
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Rear tire assembly fresh from the parts washer.
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2 inches cut from her butt so I could tighten her up.
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How I tightened her up.
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Through it all I found time to escape and clear my head in the vast expanse known as WEST TEXAS

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So that's whats been going on with me and Olivia. As it sits my motorcycle account is almost on 'E' aka EMPTY. So over the next few weeks I'll just be doing basics, cleaning and such. My next "big" purchase will be tires.


- Rusty
 
Rims are done.
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Got a buddy over to help me get the bike up on the table. And we removed the motor.
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With the motor out I began shaving off more tabs and such. And smoothed them out.
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Also played around with rear again. Getting an idea of what I want.
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Drilled off the cap and started to sand the tank. Finding plenty of bondo.
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Got the engine over to the shop today.
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Perhaps the coolest thing. This starter is coming out. Leaving a nice little empty pocket.
Debating whether to stash tools, or all my electrical in here.
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I purchased tires and they should be in soon. Monday I will start cleaning the engine.
Possibly start jacking with my carbs to.
 
Was ill over the weekend but I made up for it today at the shop.

Got my carbs on the table and apart.
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Spent a lot of time in the parts washer lately.
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Got a pair of carbs at a swap meet off a '82?? seca. I'm mixing parts to build the best set.
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Was tired of carbs for the day. So I moved over to removing the starting motor and all it's cohorts. (Already removed)
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I could have made an awesome tutorial on removing this thing. But the awesome idea struck when it was all said and done. This is the starter and all it's friends. I will be adding this to the 'Parts For Sale' section of the forums.
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Just to get an idea of what I want to do with the newly vacated starter motor area. I threw a buddies Honda tool kit in there. Also added a plug to the hole where the starter/sprocket met.
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^ Like a glove.

I'll have to concoct a new way of fastening the lid. But I'm not to worried about. Few bolts and wing nuts so I can access my tools without needing a tool.

Right now I'm waiting on Hugh of Hugh's HandBuilt(punk skalar) to send my PMA kit. Once it's arrived ill see about setting it up on Olivia. His kit is made for XS650's. But I'm gonna try and give it a whirl on the XS400. If all goes well ill have a kick only, batteryless bike.

While waiting on that ill finish my carbs and work a little more diligently on finishing my frame. Think ill end up cutting off the tail hoop on my XS650 and fixing it to Olivia. The 650 will be hard tailed anyways.

Plenty of work to be done over the next few weeks. Hopefully ill have at least a running bike before I leave for vacation at the end of May. NYC here I come!!
 
I like the idea of using that empty space for something but the tools seem like they would rattle and be slightly annoying on a ride. just my two cents. might not even be able to hear it over the engine though. If it didnt get too warm, electrical hiding place would be cool. digging the bike and build so far. will be following on instagram
 
I like the idea of using that empty space for something but the tools seem like they would rattle and be slightly annoying on a ride. just my two cents. might not even be able to hear it over the engine though. If it didnt get too warm, electrical hiding place would be cool. digging the bike and build so far. will be following on instagram

Thanks for your response. I did take a look at your instagram yesterday. You have a very clean bike. In response to the tools. I thought about the rattle to. I thought it'd be neat to line the inside of that area with something the equivalent to a truck bed liner. I think its called Rhino Spray Liner. It should mask the rattling of the tools against the engine. I could even just make a nice leather liner for the inside.
 
Lots of pictures on this post. My carbs are clean, they just need to be assembled. The PMA from Hugh is almost here. Albeit it's for my XS650, I will try and fit it on the 400.

First an awful look at what my garage has become.

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Stealing the tail hoop from my 650.

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Spent close to an hour shaving off old welds and cleaning the hoop.

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Finished product.

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The idea.

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Cutting back the pipe while leaving the shock mounts intact.

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What I ended up with.

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Just need some tube inserts and she'll be ready to weld.

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Tires came in. And I couldn't be happier.

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Small mock up.

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Will see about getting things welded this week. Also need to fab up several other things for welding. Comments are welcomed! Over a 1000 views and only a handful have dropped a line.
 
bare chested grinding with sparks flying everywhere. Poser.

:p looking good though. (the bike, not so much into the half naked men)
 
nice project! Can't wait to see the rims with new tyres on the bike...with this boxy tank, it should be great combo. Btw your are FAST!:thumbsup:
 
Got about $900 in parts and labor from good old Hugh and his boys over at Hugh's HandBuilt. Majority of this is for my xs650. But I'm going to see about fitting the PMA kit on Olivia.

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Out in the shop today after going on hiatus for a week. Started to jack around with my new stator assembly and trying to see how I can fix Hugh's XS650 PMA kit onto Olivia. Well it didn't take long for me to run into my first hiccup. Following Hugh's guide on installing the PMA kit from his site. I quickly realized I couldn't mount the PMA Adaptor Plate. The screws holes that are the XS650 just don't exist on the 400. Well, all except for one.

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The one hole above my index finger is the only one that aligns with the plate.
I'm going to do a little more digging to see what I can come up with. :bike:
 
I'm about to completely geek out here. This tangent should probably spark its own thread. But for the sake of keeping my build together I will post here for now. So I came across several things that keep me from installing Hugh's PMA kit on Olivia. Here come pics galore.

As I stated in the previous post. My first problem is the PMA Adaptor Plate. There is only one hole to mount it in.
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Second, even if I had a way to mount the the plate and stator. The fly wheel won't fit over the crank. The crank on the 400 is tapered more so than on the 650. Shorter and larger as well.
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You think I would just give up at this point. But I think there's a solution to this problem. Some things need to be shifted and customized. Everything fits well inside the alternator cover. Even has enough room for the flywheel to spin freely.
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The idea. Instead of mounting the PMA Adaptor Plate and stator to the engine housing. Ill flip the install and mount them to the Alternator cover. Obviously something will have to be fabbed up to mount it all. But it can be done. It would be placed like so...
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Mounting it like that means the flywheel would need to be installed backwards.
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The fly wheel would need to be bored out to fit. And a new groove would have to be cut to make the woodruff key fit snugged.

This PMA kit cost me a decent chunk of change. So I'm in no hurry to start chopping the thing up. I would like to work with Hugh on this but I know at this moment his hands are full from the disaster that occurred at his shop last week. I need to explore it more in depth. Right now its just a rough idea. The details not yet panned out. We'll just wait and see how things pan out...:thumbsup:
 
Been a long time since Iv'e posted. But lots has happened. I now live in Austin, TX. My bike still resides in Houston at the Common Motor Collective where I had been working on Olivia. I still make frequent trips back home to work on her. Last you guys saw I was trying to get Hugh's PMA kit installed. It required a bit of fabrication that I am not interested in a the moment. So Ive opted to just keep the stock charging system for the sake of being able to ride soon. I have pictures galore so you guys can see the progress. And real quick another thing Ive opted out of is paint. Not worried about it... Bike will still cruise just fine without paint for the time being.

Her last shot in my old garage.
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Brakes, rims and tires all done.
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All complete.
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Olivia posted up on the stand at the shop.
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Before I started working on the tank.
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Hidden under the paint.
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Took alot of work and glass bead to get this far.
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Tank and motor back in the bike.
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Old Sprocket/ New Sprocket
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Carb to final assembly.
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Finally complete!!
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Thats currently where the bike sits. More pics to come in the next few weeks. Comments and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism welcome!
 
I do not plan on rebuilding the engine. Hopefully it will run fine! I have yet to hear the engine run.
 
How did the frame narrowing go? I'm thinking about doing that on my brat project but would love to see the finished product from the rear, and any advice.
 
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