XS400 Hardtail - Project Black and Gold

[rafanomenon]

Been awhile since I posted on here! Been tinkering around a bit with my other two builds, which I have come to accept will be the longest builds ever. Here's another one that I'm HOPING won't drag on as long as the others.

Been itching to build a chopper, so I bought a bike and got started.

1981 Yamaha XS400 Special. ~5,000 miles. Bone stock.



Started out as a simple bob, shortening up the rear, installing drag bars, cherry bomb mufflers and turnout tips and cutting some weight.



Winter came, and I got bored of the bob, so I moved on to starting the chop. Plenty of beer, a couple cutting discs and some welds later...

Stripped down:


Engine out:


Parts:


AAAHHH!!!








And this is where it's at right now:


Hoping to wrap this up in the next couple weeks. Let me know what you guys think!!

[stript.714 o/c]

looking good bro!!! wish i had welding skills like that..

[rafanomenon]

Thanks! I do plan on putting in some mini-gussets where the tail tubes meet the stock frame. There were some slight gaps on the bottom. No slugs - butt-fit, so there was a lot of steel squirting to join the two. Already got a few crossbars in at the top for the tank mount, seat mount, and fake oil-bag mount.

[SloKrt]

I like the initial progress!  interested to see where this one goes!

Keep up the progress.  and keep the pics comming!

[RotaryDane]

This is gonna look bad a** Keep up the good work 

I too agree that it needs a bit of support, and if I may, have an idea for the lower brace. Cap the whole where the old supframe connected, from there run a brace down to the new, should be plenty strong.

[rafanomenon]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. More support will be added, but thanks for all the concern for safety 

My new Spiegler SS brake line and new banjo bolts showed up today. Custom made, fitted and shipped to my doorstep in 3 days. Good company.

I also ordered a clutch lever, brake lever, throttle pull, grips and 33mm clip-ons. Low and tough. Now that I have my final height for controls, I need to order a new clutch cable and throttle cable, and the controls are finished.



I also finished up the wiring and fired her up this weekend. Sounds and looks mean having everything tucked away in the fake oil bag, and the reg/rec tucked under the tank. I'll make sure to post up video soon...

[Cafe-Zuki]

agreed

[rafanomenon]

Agreed.

[rafanomenon]

Made some more progress today... Finally got to welding on the bungs for the seat springs, chopped and re-welded the kickstand, fitted the new front master cylinder and brake line. Tomorrow I'll be welding on the brake stay tab and bar, and this one should be ready for an around-the-block shakedown. Photos and video coming soon... But first - sleep.

[hillsy]

Where I have drawn a line is an obvious point of stress or maybe collapse to my eye.It is necessary to weld some kind of support there.,,,,

It IS a safety issue....

I don't agree.


Putting bracing in that area is shortening the lower frame rail and concentrating the stresses at the new join area.


Have a look at this:




By all means you want lateral bracing between the rails on each side, but the longer you have the rails the more flex and "suspension" you have in the rear end. Hardtails are actually supposed to flex to absorb road bumps and be rideable. Where you have connected the bottom rails is fine.

Another thing - if you do gusset the joins, make sure you weld the gussets to the outer of the frame tubing, not at the centre radius because this puts stresses on the tubing as it flexes and will cause fractures over time.

Looking good all up - I like the lines 

[rafanomenon]

More Issues!!

I had it fired up this weekend and rode it around the block. A few blocks down, it dies. Limp it back to the garage and hook up a multimeter to the battery, and it showed 18V + when it was running. Not good. Looked at the wires and noticed that the alternator wasn't grounded. Woops. Fixed that and fired it back up.

After firing it up, the multimeter was jumping from 6ish volts when idle, to 10v when revving. Any idea what's wrong? Bad reg/rec? Connections? Did I fry the battery when the alternator wasn't grounded the first time to where it can't hold a charge?

I'm running bare bones. Head light (on/off), brake light and field coils. No turn signals, instrument clusters, front brake switch, etc.

Wiring Diagram:
Go here to view (plus many other simplified wiring diagrams): http://www.bellicomoto.com/

Brand new Reg/Rec combo from Oregon Motorcycle Parts:


And a 12V, 3.3AH battery:


Everything has been rewired where the old wire has been removed, and old harnesses used. Before the teardown, everything worked fine, and the stock battery was charging perfect. I'm running 14g marine wire, and most connections have been replaced with bullet or spade connectors.



I plan on redoing ALL the wiring, using new connectors and solder - after reading some troubleshooting posts.

Anything else I should look out for that might be the culprit?!

[Cafe-Zuki]

Did you see the pieces of handlebar that the Dime City guys used to re-enforce the new backbone on the DCC400? Just thought you would think it was interesting with the frame work your up to. You can catch it on the 3rd disk of season two of cafe racer tv. When i saw it i thought of this project