New Bike Owner

[snowsa]

Hello,

Had my first motorcycle fall into my lap and have been wanting to get into auto repair as a hobby for a while. This site has been the most helpful spot on the net so far, so I've joined and would like to introduce my project.

I have a XS 400-J (pretty sure) along with an owners manual (one of the reasons I believe is it a 'J') and Haynes Yamaha Owners Workshop Manual. I'm equipped with an academic understanding of how cars, and by extension motorcycles, work and a willingness to take things apart.

The bike is in okay condition and after a little reading and a battery charge, I managed to get it started. I drive a Mustang with a stick, so I felt I could get it moving around the yard (no motorcycle license or experience yet...) and had a little success. I believe it was dying for reasons beyond the operator and thus found your site. I am under the impression from the previous owner that it and had trouble with the carburetor, so I spent the last couple of weeks reading and final removed it yesterday.

Here is my 4-step plan:
-Get it running and begin riding
-Any part I remove to help with the repair/tune-up, restore to the best I can
-Once operating regularly, restore untouched parts and cosmetic plates (plastic pieces)
-Completely dismantle and reassemble

Any help or direction anyone would like to share would be greatly appriciated. I have two main questions/concerns at this point. First, I have removed the carburetor and thought the inside would be somehow 'dirtier' inside but I don't know that how to clean or if this is even my problem. Second, many of the exposed parts have an old look to them (rusty surface, oil, age) and I know nothing about how to improve the look. Any threads you could send my way for a good into to these and other topics would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise I will continue to look myself.

Looking forward to being a part of this community.

-New Guy

 

[bcware]

Carbs taken apart with some commentary:

A brass wire wheel attachment for a drill will remove rust very well. On some of the more delicate or shinier parts any oil lubricant and tin foil or ultra fine steel/brass wool will remove rust without scratching. Balled up tin foil also works quite well. Brass or aluminum is ideal as it is soft and won't mar the finish.

The carbs may just need to be cleaned further; even if they look clean the passages may still be blocked. The emulsion tubes and jets also have tiny pin holes on the sides that can become blocked.

Take the MSF course when you get a chance. Even with manual transmission experience in a car it took me a while to become comfortable smoothly starting in first on a bike.

 

[xschris]

Welcome! Any pics so we can see what you have?

 

[drewpy]

welcome, sounds like you have the DOHC bike

 

[XSLeo]

This was fritten for the XS650. It used the BS38 and BS34 carbs. Your XS400 uses the BS34 carbs. There are some differences between the XS650 BS34's and yours but the basics are the same.
www.amckayltd.com/carbguide.pdf.
A very good read. It tells cleaning and once clean how to tune the carbs and testing the tuning to figure out what needs to be done to tune them.
Leo

 

[snowsa]

Here are the pics I took. Let me know what you think...

 

[snowsa]

Thanks XSLeo! I read through most of the info and on page 9 it says "never immerse
carb bodies". So even if I remove all the plastic and rubber parts, I still shouldn't submerge the body in a cleaner? The local auto parts store suggests a dip for the carb. parts...

 

[XSLeo]

Quite often removing all the parts that will get damaged by the Chem Dip is hard to do and unless they are already damaged it's better to leave them together. There are several ways to clean the carb bodies that are as effective as the Chem Dip but safe for the rubber parts.
Some like cleaners like Simple Green. Ultra Sonic cleaners. Lysol. A search on this will find many things.
I've had good luck with the spray carb cleaners and compressed are. Try that first as described in the guide.
Leo