I didn't think anyone cared, so I stopped posting. Thanks for reminding me!
So... things have moved along, but I got lazy and stopped updating. So here we go.
First, the painting is done. What a pain. So much sanding. I don't have a sander, so everything's been done by hand. That means that when I got tired, and thought I was done, the tank looked like this:
Which was okay, I thought, until my wife informed me that "it doesn't look like the paint on my car." Right. More sanding, polishing, waxing, and it finally looked like this:
To be fair, it does look much shinier now. The white bars are a reflection of some plumbing in my basement. Now, it does look like her car, only better.
So, painting done, I was very excited when my exhaust arrived. It was labelled on eBay XS400 all years. Right. Should have done my research.
Here's the old and new exhausts side by side:
Those of you with older XS400s will recognize the bends (if you're really nerdy about exhausts). But these bends don't fit the DOHC engine. See?
That's pressed as far in as it will go, and the exhaust is a little bit blocked by the engine. Back it went, stern letter to the sellers, and I purchased the correct part. Now I know that when looking for exhausts for the DOHC XS400, include the key word "Seca" and you can't go wrong (for engine parts, that is.)
New exhaust came a couple of weeks later, and it's a beauty!
The reorder also let me get the 2-into-1 that I'd secretly been lusting after as a second thought. Nice.
So, then onto the front brake. While pressing in the piston to put in a new pad, I heard a pop, and suddenly had no brake pressure at all. When I finally pulled everything apart, there were a couple of problems found.
1. The master cylinder had broken. New kits are pretty cheap, and while the circlip caused me a great deal of swearing, the new one fit in perfectly.
Here's the old cylinder with my specialty circlip removing tool. Two wood nails did the trick to break the circlip free enough to get it out with my circlip pliers.
Old to new comparo (new on the left.)
New master cylinder in, I discovered...
2. Rusted out bleed screw. I couldn't bleed the brakes because the channel through the bleed screw was completely corroded. I went hunting online for a replacement part, and couldn't find one for less than $80. $*)#U@!!! So instead, figuring I had nothing to lose, I soaked it in boiling lemon juice. Cleaned it up in no time!
Which let me bleed the brakes, with the new pads and seals installed. Nice!
Next task was the leaking front forks. The right was leaking, but I figured the left couldn't be far behind. Now, this job sucks. Trying to get the freaking caps off the tops of the forks was a nightmare! Little circlips that can only be freed when there's pressure on the fork? Who designed that?
I figured there had to be a better way. And there was. Take notes, people, because based on my internet research, this job is frequently cited as brutal.
First, I loosened the handlebars. I took my 3 inch ratchet extension and an 8mm socket, and carefully wedged it between the loosened handlebars and the centres of the fork caps. Like so:
A couple of things: a) don't let the socket press against the inside of the fork tube. No one wins in that situation. 2) make sure that you go slow, and try not to fire a socket extension into your forehead, and iii) if you try this too, and it works for you as well, you owe me a beer.
Cause it worked really well for me:
Next problem with the fork tubes is getting to that little recessed 6mm hex bolt in the bottom of the fork tubes. I couldn't use my regular allen keys, and couldn't reach with my ratchets. So, another makeshift tool:
First, get yourself a giant 6mm allen key, like so:
Next, chop off the little bit with something, like a dremel (I love dremels.)
And finally, load the long bit into your 6mm socket. Add a gigantic breaker bar, and you have an awesome new tool:
Which loosens your damper tubes, and lets you disassemble your forks, easy peasy. Well, except for getting the seals out, which is still brutal. In my case, it took a whole lot of swearing and elbow grease. I'm open to suggestions for next time.
At this point, I have done the following to the bike:
Repainted all the tins, plastics and the tank.
Replaced the fork oil
Replaced the fork seals
Replaced the front brake fluid
Replaced the front brake pads
Replaced the front brake master cylinder
Replaced the spark plugs
Replaced the head gasket
Cleaned the carbs
Balanced the carbs
Checked the float levels on the carbs
Replaced the gear shifter (it was held together with electrical tape)
Replaced the exhaust
Discovered that under all the grime, the swingarm is silver, not black
Replaced a 20 cent fuse
Replaced the tired out battery.
And here's the result:
This has been an awesome bike to work on. The whole time I kept thinking of things that could be modified. But instead, I think it's time to sell and move onto the next project. But you can be sure I'll be watching for anther XS400.
