Restoring a xs400 Seca 83 (new to the forum)

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gregge78

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Hello my name is Johan.
Live outside Stockholm Sweden
I am sorry for my poor spelling at times but I am sure you have seen all sorts here before. hoping to have some nice discussions with all of you here on the forum in the future.

I just got my hands on a Yamaha xs400 Seca from 1983.

I have been looking around this forum for a wile now and I thought it would be fun to share with you all my progress in restoring my xs 400 seca

I was lucky to get it really cheap, I only paid 450 SEK or about 70 USD.
Ofcours it had its problems...
It had been standing around for 5 years under a tarp so it had som rust, didn't start, no battery, no brakes that worked, back weel locked up and looked horrible in general.

Don't have a picture of what it looked like when I got it home but you can see what it looked like after I got most of the dirt off it.

What is done so far:

  • Gotten the back weel free, was just the brake that was rusty and to tight.
  • front brake was just old and crappy, got a new handle with mastercylinder from ebay, didn't feel like paying yamaha what they where asking for one (USD360)
  • Fixed the sadel with some new leather (old leather coat lost it life in the process)
    will upload a picture tomorow and you can tell me what you think of it, imho I think it turned out pretty nice :)
  • cleaned out the carburators
  • got a new shiny battery

Now I got it started and it sounds really nice imho :)

I am pretty sure I will be asking you guys for some information and tips soon :)
 

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Thank you for the warm welcome.

Indeed I will re-paint it, not sure witch color but the tank has a nasty dent in it so that needs to get fixed. I have considered red but my girlfriend is insisting on orange or purple...
 
Your girl friend has good taste, orange is a beautiful colour, especially in candy. This is not my bike, but it's an inspiration to me. Welcome to our little forum.
 

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welcome fellow secarian and european :p

of course the seca is best, only the experts ride it.

Good job on getting it started and functioning, what else will you have to do before it's rideable? New tires perhaps? How's the electrics?
 
Specdog that is a nice orange indeed. I am trying to talk her into the candy line of colors but she wants something more.... basic like this picture I attached. But I am considering the candy orange or a dark grey metalic. Have to experiment some in photoshop before actual painting :)
 

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Willem
The electric looked fine to me. I used to work with electricity and I give it a thumbs up :)
Gonna need new tiers for sure seeing they have been just standing around 5 years. guy told me they where new at the time no more then 30 miles on them but I don't know about 5 year old tires on a bike tbh.
other then the tires it is ready to go for a MOT test and see what they got to say about the old girl.
 
Wanted to share with you the home made sadle cover I made two days ago :) rather proud of the results myself.
 

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Welcome to the forum! It's a great looking specimen you have there. With respect to the tires, I'm just replacing the set I have on mine now which were manufactured in 2000 according to DOT markings. I wouldn't recommend letting them age that much, because it just starts getting unsafe. Nevertheless, a 5 year-old tire, in the right conditions, should have no problem passing.
 
gregge78 said:
... Gonna need new tiers for sure seeing they have been just standing around 5 years. guy told me they where new at the time no more then 30 miles on them but I don't know about 5 year old tires on a bike tbh ...
Click to expand...
Sometimes a seller will say they were "new" when put on based solely on tread depth and not the date of manufacture.

But if the tires were brand new "new", and it was sitting for only 5 years and in a cool, dark place away from direct sun, you might well be able to use the tires for a season or 2.
Check the 4-digit manufacture-date code on one side of each tire. First 2 digits are the week#, the second 2 are the year. Lots of people are using tires made in 05 or 06.
 
gregge78 said:
Hello my name is Johan.
Live outside Stockholm Sweden
I am sorry for my poor spelling at times but I am sure you have seen all sorts here before. hoping to have some nice discussions with all of you here on the forum in the future.

I just got my hands on a Yamaha xs400 Seca from 1983.

I have been looking around this forum for a wile now and I thought it would be fun to share with you all my progress in restoring my xs 400 seca

I was lucky to get it really cheap, I only paid 450 SEK or about 70 USD.
Ofcours it had its problems...
It had been standing around for 5 years under a tarp so it had som rust, didn't start, no battery, no brakes that worked, back weel locked up and looked horrible in general.

Don't have a picture of what it looked like when I got it home but you can see what it looked like after I got most of the dirt off it.

What is done so far:

  • Gotten the back weel free, was just the brake that was rusty and to tight.
  • front brake was just old and crappy, got a new handle with mastercylinder from ebay, didn't feel like paying yamaha what they where asking for one (USD360)
  • Fixed the sadel with some new leather (old leather coat lost it life in the process)
    will upload a picture tomorow and you can tell me what you think of it, imho I think it turned out pretty nice :)
  • cleaned out the carburators
  • got a new shiny battery

Now I got it started and it sounds really nice imho :)

I am pretty sure I will be asking you guys for some information and tips soon :)
Click to expand...
I'm so jealous of your bike, I always wanted a blue seca... so hard to find nowdays.. sigh.
 

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