1982 Yamaha XS400 Seca

What did you think of the XS400 at the link in my earlier message? It has the stock tank with a white knee dent. I'll try mocking up some ideas with a paint program. I have a way to go before anything gets painted.

zap2504 said:
Your tank shape is so pronounced, I think it would be overkill to outline the knee dent area with stripes (came OEM on a couple years) or a lighter paint. I was thinking bright yellow tank, flat black knee dent area (maybe tank gripper material?), flat black underseat area and maybe a small Yamaha block decal on the yellow tank area instead of a "Yamaha" decal. MS Paint is your friend.

I think there were some yellow Yamaha tanks on their dual-sports and off-road bikes back in the '70s but I can't think of a road bike with a yellow tank and white knee dents (maybe burgundy tank with white knee dents like the XS750?).
 
hdscarbro said:
What did you think of the XS400 at the link in my earlier message? It has the stock tank with a white knee dent. I'll try mocking up some ideas with a paint program. I have a way to go before anything gets painted.
To my eye the paint combo (while well executed) further emphasizes the disconnect between the curved tank line, the seat and the tail. I would say that this bike really needs a connecting side panel to form a cohesive line (that's what Yamaha did with the OEM side panel); maybe even a curved one to carry the gray paint/orange line concept from tank to tail. But in its present state, that flat seat does not help the lines.
On your bike, you might be able to get away with just extending your seat base to the bottom of the tank curve; if the knee dents and the seat bottom were the same dark color (and the rest of the tank a much lighter color) the lack of connection between tank and tail (via a somewhat flat seat) would be minimized. IMO
 
Here's the tank after all of the body filler work was done. In addition to the big dent that I straightened before filling, I found several smaller ones that I just filled.

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Here's what the tank looks like with a couple of coats of primer.

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That's a GT380 tank. I got it to my SR250. It would look a lot better on this bike than stock I think.

Took some welding, but it fits great now.
 
cosworth said:
That's a GT380 tank. I got it to my SR250. It would look a lot better on this bike than stock I think.

Took some welding, but it fits great now.

I put a DS7 tank on my SR250. Getting it to fit required cutting out the tunnel and fitting new mounts front and rear.

For the XS400, when I happened across the Seca tank (which I like the shape of), I decided to take the easy route.

I searched for GT380 and ran across this photo. What would you call this style?

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With my first cafe build, the SR250, I didn’t think about mounting the electrical components until the seat and tank were in place. This made mounting them more difficult than it needed to be. For this bike, I’m getting this stuff sorted early.

The stock rear fender didn't fit under the seat and had a raised mounting spot for the fuse panel. I cut the stock fender back to allow a flat fender to be attached to it. The fender I made is low enough to allow the electrical components to mounted to it and fit beneath the seat.

Here's the rough styrofoam plug for the fender I'm planning. It's a little undersized to allow for the thickness for the fiberglass.

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The finished plug, taped, waxed and ready for fiberglass.

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The fender after six layers of fiberglass and a topping of release fabric.

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The new fender after removing it from the plug.

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The new fender, bolted to the trimmed original plastic fender.

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The electrical components roughly positioned to fit under the fender. Things fit well enough that I might be able to avoid modifying the wiring harness.

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I have a couple of updates on my XS400 build which will be posted shortly. I haven't done a lot recently. I was out of town for a week and also got sidetracked on a 1974 Yamaha Moto-Bike. Here's a before and after photo:

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Details of this build are here.
 
The wheels were badly oxidized. I sanded them starting with 220 grit paper and progressing up through 1500 grit before polishing.

This is the second set of XS400 wheels that I've restored. I put a set on my SR250. For the SR250, I polished the aluminum and painted the inset areas dark silver. I decided to leave these black and painted them with SEM Hot Rod Black.

Before:
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Primed and ready for paint:
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After:
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Wheels back on the bike. I installed new valve stems and a Bridgestone Battlax 100/80H-18 on the front and a 120/80H-18 on the rear.
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Currently working on the front brakes. Prepping the caliper, master cylinder and rotor for paint.

To improve the looks of the rotor, I drilled it using a pattern that I like.

Ready to be drilled. Pattern has already been glued to the back side.
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Pattern used.
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Drills used to spot, make pilot hole and finish hole in rotor.
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Drilling the pilot holes.
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Drilling the finish holes.
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Finished holes after chamfering.
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Excellent work all around! Also agree with Zap regarding the paint scheme. I'm sub'd.
 
hdscarbro said:
VERY nice work! I think with that tank and those wheels I'd be tempted to re-use the OEM front fender as it has that '80s panache.;D
Have you decided on what kind of headlight to use (i.e., OEM rectangular, large round, small round, multiple HID, etc.), or tail/turn signals?
 
Thanks.

The OEM fender is really boxy. I originally thought a rounder one would look better (hence the fiberglass one that I made). I'll take some photos of both and get a group opinion.

Haven't made any decisions on the headlight, turn signals, etc. I have a Lucas style rectangular taillight that I could use. I think there is a photo of it in an earlier post. I used a large round chrome headlight on the SR250 and had been thinking of perhaps using the same one again. Hadn't considered a dual headlight, hmmm.


zap2504 said:
VERY nice work! I think with that tank and those wheels I'd be tempted to re-use the OEM front fender as it has that '80s panache.;D
Have you decided on what kind of headlight to use (i.e., OEM rectangular, large round, small round, multiple HID, etc.), or tail/turn signals?
 
Haven't done a lot on the XS400 recently. Did get the electrical bits mostly sorted.

Made this battery holder for the LiIon battery that I plan to use.

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Here's everything bolted in place. I fabricated the bracket that regulator sets on. The one in front of the battery was relocated from about where the battery is now positioned. I plan to mount the seat to this bracket and the one in front of the CDI box.

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Here's the seat loosely positioned over the electronics. Plan to make brackets an mount it after getting the seat/tank integration sorted.

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I'm planning to add "wings" to front sides of the seat and shape them more or less like this. The idea is to carry the curve of the tank onto the extended seat panel and blend the extension into the existing seat.

This photo also shows the headlight I'm planning to use. It's an Emgo Lucas clone. I like big headlights. :)

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I like your take on the seat "wings" and I would add a suggestion - slightly change the leading edge of the seat from a straight line to a curve with the same radius as the bottom of the tank; it will probably move the seat base corner closer to the frame tube just forward of the seat so that could be covered too. Yamaha did this consistently in the '80s with their curved vs. straight design lines.
 
Thanks. I like this idea. The photos don't show it, but corners at the front of the seat need to be reshaped to get the tank and seat cleanly fitting together. Should be able to incorporate the radius you're suggesting at the same time.

zap2504 said:
I like your take on the seat "wings" and I would add a suggestion - slightly change the leading edge of the seat from a straight line to a curve with the same radius as the bottom of the tank; it will probably move the seat base corner closer to the frame tube just forward of the seat so that could be covered too. Yamaha did this consistently in the '80s with their curved vs. straight design lines.
 
I finished relocating the electronics. The wiring for regulator/rectifier had to be reworked to get the connection away from the rear seat mount. A bracket for the started solenoid was welded to the frame. The battery ground is temporary. I hope to be able find a less obtrusive way to route it. :)

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Extensions were added to the seat so it and the tank look more integrated. Also about 1/2" was trimmed from the bottom of the seat.

I also mounted the fender that I fabricated a while back. I will shorten and finish shaping the fender at some point.

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