Right, I'm new. I like to work on things that consume oil, gasoline and money. I've been a wrench for a long time now. I like working in my garage, I don't really like people. Projects have been turbo'd Honda Civics, V8s stuffed in old Volvos, a love/hate relationship with my Nissan Frontier (recently converted from auto to manual), I've got a Harley that is too expensive to buy parts for so I don't, and then I picked up a basket case on Craigslist for $300.
Here it is, a '79 Yammie XS400.
Key thing I like about it is that the frame has a clear title. The guy dished one side of the tank as well as the top, lied about a seized motor, bent valve and flat spotted cam and a host of other issues. But hey, its a project so I'm cool with it.
I've been grinding on the frame, taking bits off it, smoothing things out. It's got a Yamaha Radian (unknown year) swing arm, a misc Yamaha front end, and had some bull#$%* front pegs welded to the frame. I grabbed an extra set of sportster shocks and mounted them up.
And then a guy over on TCU sent me an XS650 tail hoop that I straightened, widened and slugged into the frame. In retrospect, I shouldn't have straightened it, but more on that later.
All that took me about a year what with deployments and stuff (been in the Army 16 years now) and I've finally found some moto to get this project done. I got a killer (I think) deal on the CB750 motor with carbs and oil bag, but it turns out that a CB750 motor is way too big for an XS400 frame.
So I stretched the frame three inches.
With the slugs tacked in to place, I wanted to see what the stance looked like.
Yeah, I dig it. Went to Bull City Rumble in Durham a few days ago and saw a bunch of cool bikes that gave me some great ideas and motivated me to get cracking on the bike.
I bought a bag of play sand, scraped the rest of the paint off the tank and paused for a photo op.
Then I grabbed my ball peen hammer and did work.
Not bad for my first attempt. Sure I'll have some bondo work to do but I'm okay with that. I evened up the tank dishes today so they're nearly the same now, close enough that there isn't anything noticeable anyway. Then I welded up the two holes on the left side of the tank from the old emblem, threw some primer on it so she won't flash rust and set to getting it mounted properly. I cleaned up the tank mounting brace, positioned it where I wanted and welded it up.
Remember what I said about wishing I hadn't straightened the tail hoop? Yeah, with my fat ass on the bike, I had zero clearance for shock compression between the tail hoop and the tire. Instead of moving the shock mounts like I thought originally, a guy on TCU suggested I bend the hoop. Good idea.
Getting everything set up.
Donned my OSHA-certified welding shoes. Safety always kids.
Yep, got clearance now.
Next step will probably be tackling the rear fender because I want to see it, no other reason. That said, I have no idea how to wire this thing up. I've been searching around and have discovered the coils I need to use (5-ohm ones) and have looked at basic wiring, but need to wire the bike from scratch and all I have is a handful of odd XS400 wiring and whatnot. I know these are simple and the only thing I need really is the regulator/rectifier, a flasher for the turn signals (to help with resale when I'm done) and the brake switches. Oh yeah, brakes should be fun. Regardless, I'm learning as I go and having a good time. Once I do fender, I'll move on to motor mounts and then make the rear sets for it.
