1980 Yamaha XS400G Cafe Racer

[Cysquatch]

I picked this barn dweller up last October for the sum of $100, with big dreams of making something of it. As you see it in the picture is how I picked it up. It appears someone tried their hand at some customization, lol. A lot of parts were missing, Including the seat, air boxes, battery box, mufflers, fenders. The fork stanchions were badly pitted, It's a bit hard to tell from the picture. Tires were dry rotted.

This is her all tore down

I did a horrible job of taking pictures. So at this point I replaced all the wheel bearings, and stem bearings with the All Ball kits. I managed to find a rear fender, air box, battery box, pretty much all the missing parts. I got a local machine shop to re-hard chrome the stanchions. Oh and of course..... clubmans...

I rebuilt both sets of brakes, got a new throttle, and clutch cable new fork seals and dust covers. Found a factory seat on ebay. This is it getting close to where I have it now. Fitted up some shorty mufflers, which are way to damn loud.

I sanded the tank down due to the surface rust, primed and painted with what I had sitting around, satin white. I thought it looked pretty nice.

I added some Amazon cheapo shocks. Used all the factory lights. This is the way she sits right now. It will be this way for a while, but I have some plans to do a complete tear down, and rebuild. Including powder coating the frame, vapor blasting the aluminum parts. Hopefully simplify the electrical.

 

[DuckStew]

Off to a great start!!

 

[Cysquatch]

So this past riding season I managed to put about 500 miles on the bike. I started to notice one one cylinder burning oil pretty good. I decided it was time to tear it back down. I have a tight budget at this point, so it will be slow going, but hoping within the next year to have a fully rebuilt cafe. Including rear sets, all LED lighting, and some suspension improvements. I will be much better with updating with pictures, if anyone is interested in following my build.

 

[Cysquatch]

I managed to pull the motor and get it just past this point pulling the cylinder jugs off. My dumbass dropped the cam chain in the case . At this point im trying to decide whether to get everything vapor blasted, or degrease, paint, polish. Any opinions, or input on that matter?

 

[ridesolo]

Looks good. One of the things that the long-timers on here advise is to get your bike running and use it for a while to get things sorted out before tearing it down. Sounds like you've done that, good job! Keep on keepin' on, guy. Sometimes it's a little discouraging when nobody answers, I know, but hang in there and if something specific comes up ask a direct question about it, usually there's somebody on here who'll be able to give you an answer.

 

[Cysquatch]

Looks good. One of the things that the long-timers on here advise is to get your bike running and use it for a while to get things sorted out before tearing it down. Sounds like you've done that, good job! Keep on keepin' on, guy. Sometimes it's a little discouraging when nobody answers, I know, but hang in there and if something specific comes up ask a direct question about it, usually there's somebody on here who'll be able to give you an answer.

Thanks for the encouragement! It's been fun tinkering with and getting it up and running. I really look forward to getting into the fine details. Honestly I've never been much for posting builds/projects on forums, but I thought I'd give it a try and see if anyone finds it interesting to follow.

 

[Jimbonaut]

Welcome to the forum mate - a friend of mine was working on one of these last summer, it's a great bike and a great platform. Have fun making it your own, looking great so far

 

[Popeye SXM]

I'm in. Looks like a fun project. Polishing is a lot of work and high maintenance but looks great

 

[Cysquatch]

So Im starting to slowly strip all the loose parts off the pieces im sending out to get vapor blasted.

Of course everything was going fine until......f#%k!

Any suggestions? I really do not want to even attempt an easy out, ive had a success rate of 0%

 

[Brodie]

Heat and penetrating oil.
Give it a few rounds of heating it up, then spray it with the oil. Let it cool. Do that for a week to get it nice and loose.
Then try a set of reverse drill bits. You will either drill it out or the bit will catch and bring the stud out as normal.

 

[Cysquatch]

Thanks Brodie. Since I took this picture I had a buddy at work weld a nut to try and get it out that way. After two attempts that didn't work. Honestly at this point I'm thinking of sending it to a machine shop. I didn't think of trying a multiple day heat/cool cycle. I may give that a try before sending it off.

 

[Maritime]

also you can start small, and go up a size and drill most of it out before you get to the threads and the use a reverse bit/easy out and lots of penetrating oil.

 

[Cysquatch]

I guess the most important part is trying to keep it centered, thanks for the input gents!

 

[Maritime]

that's why you use like a 1/32" first, easier to center, then go up a 32" at a time until close to threads, if off center a little you reduce the chance of damaging threads, getting most of the old stud out allows the penetrating oil to get in and then do the heat - oil - cool, heat - oil - cool a few times.

EDIT = grinding it flat first is a good idea if you have welded a nut etc.