New Member 77 XS 400

[zm_08]

Hey everyone,

Figured it was time I'd introduce myself on here. I've been trolling around for awhile lol. For starters my name is Zach, 22 years old, and I am currently going to school for civil engineering.

A couple years ago I had bought a 77 xs400 from a friend who had lost his license. Figured I couldn't pass up the $300 price tag. I tore it down and sandblasted the frame and then got it powder coated semi gloss black. I have decided to go all out on it now and unfortunately am going to have to get the frame sand blasted and powder coated again after I cut the extra brackets off of it and replace some of the tail section.

There is one question I do have on it though.
I'm not a huge fan of the front drum brake. I do like the look of the spokes though. Is there anyway to find a different hub? I am going to get new black wheels with stainless spokes and I really want to get rid of that ugly drum brake up front.

Thanks, and hopefully I can get this thing done over the winter instead of putting it off any longer.

 

[zm_08]

I forgot to mention there is only about 8,000 miles on this thing according to the speedo. It also had great compression so I figured there couldn't be a better bike to restore/turn into a cafe racer

 

[xschris]

You have a 78 2-E there. As for the spoke disc wheels I have seen a few fronts but never rear ones here in the states they where never used. Over in europe they where a lot more common. A member on here drewpy seems to be able to find a lot of them maybe he could get a few and sell some to us in the states.

 

[volcomskater77]

overseas xs250 hubs for the front. theyre like hens teeth here in the states
and for the rear found this, mught have to have axles machined and spacers, but aything will work with enough machining lol
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16021

 

[drewpy]

welcome ZM, the xs250 disk hobs are rare here too as spoke were considered old tech and not trendy.

I had to buy a whole bike just for those hubs they are on the resto and tracker with a spare rear I got cheap.

your front forks would need the later lowers to mount a caliper or you could try the SR front end OR the rs125 upside down forks!

 

[zm_08]

Well the scarce front hub for an xs250 was kind of a let down. I did see a bike with the hubs painted/powder coated which I didn't mind the look of. Hopefully the powder coating can handle the heat from the brakes? I can't imagine the drums get all that hot anyway.

Hopefully get everything chopped off this weekend and start building the seat.

 

[xschris]

It will be nice to see what you come up with.

 

[drewpy]

build in some cool air scoops with gold mesh inside

 

[zm_08]

Well I finally got back to working on the bike. Today I cut off all of the "extra metal" including a portion of the rear seat frame. I also got rid of all the tabs that were used to hold various pieces on. I now have to figure out what to do for a rear fender. Next on the to do list is make a new wire harness, put the clip ons I got off of ebay on and figure out where I want to mount the rear sets.





Clip ons from ebay. Look like pretty decent quality for $80



Not sure what I want to do for paint anymore. I like the look of the blue frame with the silver.



Also thinking about making this seat.

 

[zm_08]

Got rid of the stock mounts for the pegs. Still waiting on my rear sets I ordered on the 9th from speedmotoco.com. Not sure if anyone has delt with them before but I'm not a fan of the customer service. Called them 5 times and only got an answer once. Asked what the deal was on the rear sets and they said they were gonna figure it out and give me a call back. Never received a call back...

Heres a pic of the frame again. Still torn between what style of a rear seat I would like to do.


Tore the engine apart just to check everything over. Didn't even have a scratch in the cylinders. There seems to be a ridge in the top, not sure if thats a big deal probably just run a ball hone through them.



Looks like I have a lot of polishing to do. Luckily I have access to a sandblaster to clean everything up first.

 

[zm_08]

After a month my rearsets finally showed up. Spent a few hours putting them on today. I used a 1/4"plate and welded it into the hoops on the frame where the rear pegs were. May be a little over kill but don't have to worry about any strength issues that's for sure.

 

[zm_08]

Getting back into the swing of things. Made myself a lift table which was a lot more work than expecting but for $375-$400 I couldn't have bought one. Hopefully I'll get some work done on the bike soon. Found someone on Ebay who put a wiring kit together with 11 different color wires, multiple sizes of shrink tube and conduit, as well as some fuse holders, electrical tape, and zip ties. Some pics of the lift table.

 

[zm_08]

Spent some time in the garage today and threw together an exhaust. Got all the tubing and silencer from cone engineering. Overall pleased how it turned out other however I have to bring the left cylinder header in because I don't like how far it extends out on the left side of the bike. Still pleased with it being my first attempt at making a system.

 

[zm_08]

Spent some time in the garage today and threw together an exhaust. Got all the tubing and silencer from cone engineering. Overall pleased how it turned out other however I have to bring the left cylinder header in because I don't like how far it extends out on the left side of the bike. Still pleased with it being my first attempt at making a system.

 

[kshansen]

Spent some time in the garage today and threw together an exhaust. Got all the tubing and silencer from cone engineering. Overall pleased how it turned out other however I have to bring the left cylinder header in because I don't like how far it extends out on the left side of the bike. Still pleased with it being my first attempt at making a system.

Looks good, I have a 1978 XS400 that I have a sidecar mounted to and once I get it so I feel it is running good and feel it handles the sidecar like I like I would like to build a 2->1 exhaust for it down the left side. I checked out:

http://www.coneeng.com/motorcycle_components.html

Lots of good stuff and prices don't look bad.

 

[drewpy]

good start on ther exhausts. Like your determination to get them right as it makes a far better nachine in the end

 

[zm_08]

I really have no deadline on the bike so I figure I might as well make it how I want it. If I didn't have another bike to ride, this would probably get more attention. Hopefully I can finally get it going this year.

 

[zm_08]

Looks good, I have a 1978 XS400 that I have a sidecar mounted to and once I get it so I feel it is running good and feel it handles the sidecar like I like I would like to build a 2->1 exhaust for it down the left side. I checked out:

http://www.coneeng.com/motorcycle_components.html

Lots of good stuff and prices don't look bad.

The prices are alright. Make sure you check out the tech articles as well! Worth the reading.

 

[zm_08]

Cleaned up the exhaust how I want it tonight. Some pictures of the much better design and a picture of the bike that makes me procrastinate on this project.

 

[drewpy]

nice Zorst