Clears can peal and or turn yellow. It's just how things are when you deal with aluminum. It's the reason why the later bikes had a lot of blacked out parts.
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My XS400
- Thread starter SoulMan
- Start date
sandmanred
XS400 Addict
I use Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish. I prevents that crusty oxidation. This aluminum bell has been outdoors for almost 2 yrs.
That might be made of a better aluminum than what our bikes are made of.
All I ever use when polishing is my sissle wheel and then a green rouge on the polishing wheel.............cant find any pics but there on here somewhere............
sandmanred
XS400 Addict
This is a picture just after a polish but is over a year old now. Still looks the same today. Stored inside but does get ridden. Has the same Mothers Mag and Aluminum polish.
Indoor storage makes a huge difference. My 79 was last polished about six years ago by hand with a sock and simichrome or flitz I can't remember it's been a while, never sanded or used a power tool on. Bike has 35k miles on it and it's been 5k since the cleaning. Other than wiping bug goo off with a sock and meguiar's vinyl, rubber and plastic protect-ant. No rain/water and stored in a warm dry place all year. Even when these bikes where new they never had perfect finish work. Cutting the fork tubes or cases for a mirror finish is fine but over done for my taste as you would need to do this with the entire bike.
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Those tires look old and the front looks very worn. Any cracks in a tire is a no go. There should be a date code on each tire to also look at. Should be a four digit number like, 2518 this would mean 25th week of 2018. If it's a three digit code it was made in the 90's. Any wheel over 7yrs old should be considered bad and be replaced. With old tires you also would have to think the tube and rim band is just as old or older and should be replaced.
Hey xschris are the butterfly shaft seals in this kit good to use? I bought this kit just for the screws but I figured if the seals are decent that I would put them in my buddies carb I am rebuilding.
I have them in my 80 G now and after 2500+ miles no leaks. I got them just to try as stock style ones are much more money. Some xs650 guys have also had good luck with them.
Thanks for that input. Then I will use them in his carb.
So I am in the process of rebuilding my forks and everything is apart. One of the oil locks spacers look like this on the bottom with some grooves:
Slim pickins out there for this part it looks like and the two on ebay aren't named what the others I am seeing on the interwebs is named. I thought about maybe sending the face smooth and trying to put that same bevel on it but thought I would post this question to the group to see if anyone had any suggestions aside from dropping 40 bucks for the one part that is listed on ebay for this
Slim pickins out there for this part it looks like and the two on ebay aren't named what the others I am seeing on the interwebs is named. I thought about maybe sending the face smooth and trying to put that same bevel on it but thought I would post this question to the group to see if anyone had any suggestions aside from dropping 40 bucks for the one part that is listed on ebay for this
I have a few of those.
So while I wait for my dust boots for my forks is there anything I should be doing with the front end maintenance wise? I figure while I have these things apart maybe there are things I should be looking at here. Cleaning repacking grease etc anything like that. Thanks!
Clean, inspect and lube anything you can get apart. Replace any rubber o-rings and seals while it's apart.
Hey xschris. I am looking to refurb this bike really well. Do you have suggestions if I can paint the speedo and tach covers and make then looks close to original? I was also thinking maybe strip then and powder coat them also as an option. Your thoughts?
You will never get them as same as stock. If you start re-painting things like new the rest of the bike will look worse. Unless your going full resto and willing to hunt for new stuff or very clean used stuff I would just clean parts well. Remember this is a 40 yr old bike and even new old parts will have a look to it. I would concentrate on finding correct parts over re-painting parts or using aftermarket as it makes the bike look and work much better. It will all fit and most often even used stuff will work much better.
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