HiPurpleTurtle
XS400 Member
My bike's got a plethora of issues. Now it's my build thread.
Hey folks! I just recently picked up a '81 XS400 Special. It ran when I first got it, albeit very poorly. I rode her home then bought some new parts. I replaced the battery, oil, oil filter, spark plugs, caps and wires, air filters, and I took apart the carbs to clean them and installed a fuel filter. I also adjusted the valves.
The bike then ran phenomenally better after all that! However, it was still very temperamental. I had to adjust the fuel mixture and idle speed so that it could finally run without the choke on. I got it to that point, but then the carbs would overflow and fuel would constantly leak out of the left carb into the air filter. I took the carbs back apart and checked that float bowls but nothing seemed out of the ordinary..The carbs had never leaked before until I cleaned them, though! It doesn't seem to be leaking anymore. What gives?!
Oh, I'm also pretty sure my petcock is broken. I know it's supposed to be vacuum fed, but regardless of which position the lever is in, gas will pour freely from it. I figured that's the cause since the fuel would never stop coming out and then obviously the carbs would overflow. And yet it's not leaking right now and there's some gas left in the tank?
And here's the other issue: I'm fairly certain my transmission has now slipped or something. The bike is missing the electric start button so I've had to use a screwdriver to start it that way. I prefer kickstarting, so I try to use that most of the time. HOWEVER, now the kickstart lever is making an awful grinding noise. Here's the video of the noise.
http://tinypic.com/r/zssfwi/8
I think this is because the e-start would engage automatically even while the bike is running, causing the engine to turn over more then it should? I honestly don't know.
I would really love to get rid of the e-start and have the kickstart functioning again. How would I go about doing that?
Hey folks! I just recently picked up a '81 XS400 Special. It ran when I first got it, albeit very poorly. I rode her home then bought some new parts. I replaced the battery, oil, oil filter, spark plugs, caps and wires, air filters, and I took apart the carbs to clean them and installed a fuel filter. I also adjusted the valves.
The bike then ran phenomenally better after all that! However, it was still very temperamental. I had to adjust the fuel mixture and idle speed so that it could finally run without the choke on. I got it to that point, but then the carbs would overflow and fuel would constantly leak out of the left carb into the air filter. I took the carbs back apart and checked that float bowls but nothing seemed out of the ordinary..The carbs had never leaked before until I cleaned them, though! It doesn't seem to be leaking anymore. What gives?!
Oh, I'm also pretty sure my petcock is broken. I know it's supposed to be vacuum fed, but regardless of which position the lever is in, gas will pour freely from it. I figured that's the cause since the fuel would never stop coming out and then obviously the carbs would overflow. And yet it's not leaking right now and there's some gas left in the tank?
And here's the other issue: I'm fairly certain my transmission has now slipped or something. The bike is missing the electric start button so I've had to use a screwdriver to start it that way. I prefer kickstarting, so I try to use that most of the time. HOWEVER, now the kickstart lever is making an awful grinding noise. Here's the video of the noise.
http://tinypic.com/r/zssfwi/8
I think this is because the e-start would engage automatically even while the bike is running, causing the engine to turn over more then it should? I honestly don't know.
I would really love to get rid of the e-start and have the kickstart functioning again. How would I go about doing that?
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