OleDoc
FREEBIRDS MC Central NY
tell him you are fixing it up.most people fall in love with their machines and he is more likely to sign it over if he knows it has a good home.besides, you might make his day to know his old bike is still alive
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Pork Chop
XS400 Junkie
Give it a go - can't hurt. Be polite & take a bottle of whisky too.
OleDoc
FREEBIRDS MC Central NY
yes whiskey works wonders
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
I would bring a bottle over, but he is in florida, and i'm in tennessee, so it is a bit of a drive. I will have my girlfriend make him some homemade cookies or something haha! Have called and left a message, so I am waiting for a reply....
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
progress report. Talked to first owner....he signed it over to his son. Talked to jr. he sold it to a buddy. buddy is the guy who sold it to the PO. Buddy is down to get me a title, but is in west virginia and the bike was registered in florida. It will happen, will just take time due to snail mail and state DMV's. word!
Tried to make a rear hoop for chopped frame yesterday. EPIC FAIL!! I couldn't get the pipe to bend smoothly around the jig. Lined wood jig with metal so the hot pipe would not burn into the wood and bent slooowly and smooothly as i could with red hot pipe... any suggestions?
lemon juiced carbs and cleaned em out real good today. should run well now (I hope).
waiting on new battery, (do you guys think a 12V 7 ah batt will be enough) then will fire it up with rebuilt carbs and see what is what on the function tip rather than aesthetics.
By the way, the first owner was pretty fired up that i am rebuilding his old bike and wanted me to send him some pics when i am done. Kinda made me all warm and fuzzy inside. The torch has been passed haha!
will post some pics soon.
Tried to make a rear hoop for chopped frame yesterday. EPIC FAIL!! I couldn't get the pipe to bend smoothly around the jig. Lined wood jig with metal so the hot pipe would not burn into the wood and bent slooowly and smooothly as i could with red hot pipe... any suggestions?
lemon juiced carbs and cleaned em out real good today. should run well now (I hope).
waiting on new battery, (do you guys think a 12V 7 ah batt will be enough) then will fire it up with rebuilt carbs and see what is what on the function tip rather than aesthetics.
By the way, the first owner was pretty fired up that i am rebuilding his old bike and wanted me to send him some pics when i am done. Kinda made me all warm and fuzzy inside. The torch has been passed haha!
will post some pics soon.
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
cool. i'm wanting to go kick start only.
mine's 2.1 amp and works fine with 35amp headlamp, electronic ignition and LED stop/tail lamp.
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
cuz james dean would not use electric start....
oh nice! i bought waay too many amp hours...oh well. twas only twenty dollars. another quick question....when you guys say to set the air needles at 3 turns, I assume that you mean three turns out from fully seated? Also, I reset my floats (they were at around 19-20mm...ahhhhh!). I bent the tab that the float needle hangs upon until the top of the brass floats rest at 26mm above the gasket surface (top of the float bowl housing gasket surface w carbs upright) with the carb upside down and resting on a bench. is this correct?
Thanks!
oh nice! i bought waay too many amp hours...oh well. twas only twenty dollars. another quick question....when you guys say to set the air needles at 3 turns, I assume that you mean three turns out from fully seated? Also, I reset my floats (they were at around 19-20mm...ahhhhh!). I bent the tab that the float needle hangs upon until the top of the brass floats rest at 26mm above the gasket surface (top of the float bowl housing gasket surface w carbs upright) with the carb upside down and resting on a bench. is this correct?
Thanks!
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yep, sounds right (if you have brass floats)
don't over tighten the mix screws as the thin brass tip will break off in the carb.
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
cool, thanks drewpy. I am currently building a pan to hold all of the electronics under the seat between the frame rails....lots of little cuts and check...repeat. while doing this, it occurred to me that i really want rid of the nasty covers on the rear shocks (with the reflectors...yuck!). any tips on how to remove those?
think BCware cut his with a dremmel, but others stripped the shocks to remove.
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
got the new electrics pan made and mounted over the last coupla days....i am waaaay crappier at welding than I remember from my last foray with it a decade ago. its a little sloppy, but she'll ride. also got pod air filters installed...coming closer.....
WT100
Tim
Nice. Look forward to seeing your layout on that. I have something like that in my future i'm sure.
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
so here are some pics.
essentially, i just bent some 1/4" steel bar to fit the contours of the inside of the frame rails (used a piece of 2x4 for an edge and pulled...i mean cold forged...it into shape) and spot welded them on. i dropped the front of the pan by about an inch for more room, and so you can see the cool wire mesh sides of it...(at least i think they look neat). I had to zip tie the sheet metal to the bottom because my welder was burning through it on the lowest setting, and i didn't wanna buy more sheet (i'm poor, so i work with what i have haha!)
by the way, how do you guys post pics that are not attached thumbnails?
essentially, i just bent some 1/4" steel bar to fit the contours of the inside of the frame rails (used a piece of 2x4 for an edge and pulled...i mean cold forged...it into shape) and spot welded them on. i dropped the front of the pan by about an inch for more room, and so you can see the cool wire mesh sides of it...(at least i think they look neat). I had to zip tie the sheet metal to the bottom because my welder was burning through it on the lowest setting, and i didn't wanna buy more sheet (i'm poor, so i work with what i have haha!)
by the way, how do you guys post pics that are not attached thumbnails?
Attachments
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
also, I think i want to lower the front headlight in order to visually lower the front end a bit...is there a clean way to do this without lots of metal fab, or should i just lower the triple clamps on the fork legs a bit?
WT100
Tim
There are inexpensive headlight brackets that are smaller at the fork end. That will let you position it lower in the triple tree. Or just chop off the bottom of your existing "arm".
I can't believe you "scooped' me on the wire mesh thing! I'm planning that and then going to paint the mesh black and the metal behind it yellow. Just to pop the look even more.
I like "work with what you got" builds. Way to go!
For posting pics i have instructions on my sight. The same technique will work here as well.
I can't believe you "scooped' me on the wire mesh thing! I'm planning that and then going to paint the mesh black and the metal behind it yellow. Just to pop the look even more.
I like "work with what you got" builds. Way to go!
For posting pics i have instructions on my sight. The same technique will work here as well.
medmunds
XS400 Enthusiast
haha! i guess great minds think alike! i got a 4x8 sheet of that stuff at home depot for 8 bucks. It is actually to be used for the reinforcement of poured concrete, but i liked the pattern and it was thin enough to cut with tin snips. i am considering making some "side covers" out of the immense amount of material that i have left over, but i think im gonna leave mine raw metal rather than paint...
