Vintage_Metal
XS400 Member
Hi everyone. New guy here. Name's Aaron...
So a friend of mine has had this '81 Yamaha for years and it languished among her seven other bikes. Only getting ridden once or twice a year, rotting under a cover in her backyard. I'd ridden it a few times over the years and really had fun on it. It's a great little bike for mountain roads! Anyway... recently she decided to start downsizing her collection and offered it to me in return for some landscaping work. How could I say no?
So here it is after I cleaned it up a bit. The battery was toast, it's only holding about 8.5 volts after being on a charger. It's a junk WalMart NeverStart. There was a family of roaches living in the battery tray. Carbs are going to be cleaned when I get some time. Basically all I've done so far is wash it. BUT...I have questions.
PO said it last ran in February of 2017 which isn't that long but the crankcase seems really stiff. I pulled the plugs (which were black and wrong) and sprayed some liquid wrench/deep creep in the cylinders. Gradually the kick start would move but it still took almost all of my 160lbs to get it going... with no plugs. I put new plugs in and it was still really stiff. Yes it was in neutral.
My question is... can anyone describe how much effort it should take to kick these bikes? I'm just used to two-stroke Vespas which take no effort at all. I watched a few vids and it seems like people can kick them fairly easily. My plan is to spray a whole bunch more deep creep in the cylinders and let it work itself out.
Any other suggestions besides cracking the cases?
Second... If my battery was still holding some voltage... should the bike start when kicked? I get the 'tick tick tick' when I hit the starter button but it doesn't have enough to engage. Kicking it didn't get me a pop like it was even sparking. I'm also not sure if it's getting fuel to the carbs. The gas in the tank is pretty old and probably had nothing in it to stabilize it.
So the list is starting to get long.
New correct plugs. I only had new B7ES on hand, no BP7ES
Drain old gas, add new.
Oil and filter change.
Clean carbs
New battery
Maybe new plug wires.
Change fork oil.
Maybe wrap the pipes and lower the forks a touch.
Thanks for reading my long post!
I have brought a few bikes back from the dead and I'm really excited about this one!
So a friend of mine has had this '81 Yamaha for years and it languished among her seven other bikes. Only getting ridden once or twice a year, rotting under a cover in her backyard. I'd ridden it a few times over the years and really had fun on it. It's a great little bike for mountain roads! Anyway... recently she decided to start downsizing her collection and offered it to me in return for some landscaping work. How could I say no?
So here it is after I cleaned it up a bit. The battery was toast, it's only holding about 8.5 volts after being on a charger. It's a junk WalMart NeverStart. There was a family of roaches living in the battery tray. Carbs are going to be cleaned when I get some time. Basically all I've done so far is wash it. BUT...I have questions.
PO said it last ran in February of 2017 which isn't that long but the crankcase seems really stiff. I pulled the plugs (which were black and wrong) and sprayed some liquid wrench/deep creep in the cylinders. Gradually the kick start would move but it still took almost all of my 160lbs to get it going... with no plugs. I put new plugs in and it was still really stiff. Yes it was in neutral.
My question is... can anyone describe how much effort it should take to kick these bikes? I'm just used to two-stroke Vespas which take no effort at all. I watched a few vids and it seems like people can kick them fairly easily. My plan is to spray a whole bunch more deep creep in the cylinders and let it work itself out.
Any other suggestions besides cracking the cases?
Second... If my battery was still holding some voltage... should the bike start when kicked? I get the 'tick tick tick' when I hit the starter button but it doesn't have enough to engage. Kicking it didn't get me a pop like it was even sparking. I'm also not sure if it's getting fuel to the carbs. The gas in the tank is pretty old and probably had nothing in it to stabilize it.
So the list is starting to get long.
New correct plugs. I only had new B7ES on hand, no BP7ES
Drain old gas, add new.
Oil and filter change.
Clean carbs
New battery
Maybe new plug wires.
Change fork oil.
Maybe wrap the pipes and lower the forks a touch.
Thanks for reading my long post!
I have brought a few bikes back from the dead and I'm really excited about this one!