XS 400 modern racer

[Nuno]

Hey folks,
I'm going to show you what I've been doing for a lot of time in my garage.
The reason why I'm starting this thread is to force myself to proceed steady with operations and, very important, to take pictures of everything I'm doing. So plz, blast me if I disappear for too long.

I started to build this little '83 XS 400 6 years ago but at the beginning I wasn't taking it seriously so I actually started to work on it a couple of years ago and now I dedicate every minute of my (never enough) spare time to it.
Truth be told, I finished building it twice but I was never fully happy with the result so I started over. Now I'm close to what I define "perfection", at least for my concept of motorbike.

I know that a lot of people won't like my "modernization" on this old lady but....hey...motorbikes are like breakfast, everyone has its own.

This is how everything started (almost...I had already removed the headlight and the handlebar)

Built a first mock-up of the seat and this was the first version

Not really impressed...

Started over again. New tank, new seat, new front caliper, lower handlebars ... now I start to like it but...not enough, sorry

'til this point I was trying to keep things cool and easy but it was non-sense...if I have to build my bike I want it to be like MY bike.
From now on it's just a loooong way of parts from anywhere, cutting, welding, designing and sketching. I spent hours in the garage but weeks in my bed thinking on how to make it better, faster, bitch-er, lighter, MYer.
There is not much left of the original (awful) XS 400 DOHC and it's not over yet.
I'm sorry I haven't got pictures of every step but I'm rather lazy when it comes to "take off gloves, take the camera, take a picture, take a better one, put the camera back in its bag, put the gloves back on, go back to work" so there is not much stuff to show.
Sorry for the bad quality of some pics...a lot of my photo gears has been stolen a couple of months ago

What I've done 'til now:
- Ducati Monster fork and clamps with new spacers to fit the standard wheel
- Yamaha R1 discs (320mm)
- Brembo calipers
- Honda CX 500 tank, modified to fit my frame
- custom seat
- Kawasaki ZX10r handlebars
- new headlight, throttle and stuff...
- Honda XR 400 rear shock (I'll have to find a setup for the spring and the idrauilic damper but at least I have the height I want at the back)
- minor works to make everything stay in place
- classic mods like battery holder, cone filters, etc....

I'm currently rebuilding the engine (waiting for the rings...) and rewiring the original harness. I like to solder and don't like messy wires going everywhere so I'm rebuilding the harness to be fully hidden under the seat and inside the headlight.

Well, that's it for now. I don't think I'll have any news before monday so please give me some slack before insulting me

 

[johnu]

I like it! What is the swingarm off of?

 

[Nuno]

I like it! What is the swingarm off of?

that's one of the few stock parts

 

[johnu]

Well that's pretty cool then. I must admit I haven't really ever paid much attention to xs400's, seems like a good base bike for modernising.

 

[Nuno]

I'm exactly a week late...I made a few steps forward, just had no time to fix the pics and upload them.
I'm still waiting for the new rings from Yamaha so I'm moving forward with other stuff.
Cylinders are fine, no wearing or scratches anywhere...that's a good news.
Tonight I finally put the headlight back on using the new sub-frame and cutting/grinding the two holders. Now the headlight sits really close to the frame with no (ugly, for me) empty space in between.
I had to drill two new holes and cut the extra material from the headlight clamps and...well, looks good to me. I have to polish the new clamps but at least the headlight is in, what it should be, its final position

and this is a picture of the 320mm disc and brembo caliper. It's HUGE

That's it .... I really have to finish the engine and put it back on to proceed with the final steps but I feel like the hard part of the work is gone.

C ya!