New Member, New Rider XS 400 Seca!

First of all, hi all. Stumbled across this forum while looking at LED light conversions, google came up with a youtube video referencing this site. I've been reading it for a few days now and have to say it's FREAKING AWSOME!!!
The bike is an 82 XS 400 Seca I snagged for $200.00. It had been sitting outside for 5 or 6 years and was a big ? mechanically, and the tank was holier than the Pope (no offense meant!!!). I rigged up a lawnmower tank (please don't laugh, I've heard enough jokes from my friends about it!) changed the oil and jumped her up to a car battery. Barely made it past 1 turn before she roared to life! However she'd die if you gave her any throttle, but I knew a carb cleaning would be in order. I disassembled them and soaked everything icky in carb cleaner. Now she has some pretty kick ass throttle response! I've done some odds and ends, and am finally at my last 2 things: issues with bleeding the front brake, and the gas tank of course.
I haven't tried a vacuum bleeder yet, but am hoping I don't need one? I've read a few of the posts here about it and am going to try bleeding at each banjo tonight. Does anyone know of a source for a replacement tank, or is there any other tank that will fit? The side panels pop into holes in the tank, and I really like it's shape, it's quite unique from the regular round and teardrop cruiser-ish tanks.
Pics will come, as soon as I solder my camera's USB cable that my freaking DOG CHEWED THROUGH!!! ARGH!

 

Welcome I would love to see the pics. Tank may be a bit hard to find - I am rehabbing an XS400J and watching ebay for parts. I have seen a few tanks but I don't recall a Seca tank.

 

Thanx Bill! It was actually seeing your project that made me decide to join and post! I fixed the USB cable for my camera, so here are some pics! Please ignore the filthy/cluttered garage. Too much stuff, not enough space!

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

You're probably going to have to go the salvage yard route for your gas tank. The XS400 Seca was even rarer than the 400 Max; parts can be found but kinda few and far between. Go here: http://www.uneedapart.com/used-motorcycle-parts.php and register with their "parts locator" service; then wait. If a salvage yard has what you need, they'll contact you. I got two sets of Seca 550 mufflers, a gas tank, tail section and other bits that way.

***NOTE*** If you get a response from Ben Caldwell of Caldwell's Motor Toys in Russell, PA: DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS with this man!!! He ripped me off for nearly $400, and it took Mastercard to intervene to get my $$$ back.***

Definitly watch eBay though you might get lucky.

CHECK and adjust your valve clearances right away!!! It's even a bigger PIA on the twins than the fours (accessiblity "issues") so was often neglected altogether by any POs.

And read this right away: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15874.html

 

Well at least I inspired someone with my rants My garage is a mess I need to take an hour and put my tools back from this project so I can find them as I need them.

Not bad looking you definitely have more to work with then where I started.

 

Thanx BigFitz, I'll take a look. Money is kinda tight right now, so I don't know when I'll be able to get my license, insurance and gear. So I'll probably be stipping her down to the fram to take car of the rust and clean her all up. And I was already up on the delamination, got new shoes for her ^^. Made a google Picasa account to upload more pics, bare with me while I figure this out!
The tank had rust in the bottom 'corners' just aft of the petcock and then at the very bottom sections. I do a poke test... I poke it all over rather hard with a pointy little screwdriver, and if she goes through, or feels week, I know there is trouble in that section. So I ended up cutting out little sections here and there, and a couple BIG sections, maybe 2 inch triangles in the mid corners? Long story short my friend's cousin is a welder and offered to try to patch it up for me. I put a bunch fo heavy nuts and bolts inside, sealed it up, wrapped it in a blanket and wedged it in the dryer to spin for a few hours, then shook the crap out of it by hand till my arms went numb. No more rust on the inside.

 

Saw the pics. Good find! Looks like a solid resto base; take your time and learn as you go.

These bikes were very solidly engineered; always a good project.

 

I wanted to share this, 'cause I think I'm just SOOO smart, eh? (Yes, I'm Canadian. Winterpeg, Manitoba)


Rare earth magnet from a 10k RPM SCSI harddrive. The poor man's magnetic drain bolt.



15818 Kms. And the very useful LED key light thingy. Canadian Tire rocks!




I know, I know. A lawnmower tank? But it works. I have an inline filter in place, and it's on there pretty securely. It's a source of never-ending mockery from my friends. But they don't have a motorcycle...

 

Sweet, I wat a Seca 400 to match my Max
Saw a sweet one at my local shop getting some work done, but sadly not for sale, in great shape.....

Good luck on the tank, keep an eye on e-bay, most likely your best bet, occassionally some stuff pops up as someone parts out their old bike.

Always nice to see another XS'r

 

So I've been smacking my head against a wall trying to bleed my breaks off and on for a few WEEKS. I'm a bike newb, but not a mechanic newb. I was almost about to just bite the bullet and go buy a vacuum bleeder... for some reason only 1 place had one, at $79.99!!! Ouch.
Then I went grocery shopping, and as I have motorcycle fever my brain never stops thinking about this stuff. I got to thinking, why do I need to SUCK the fluid out? Why can't I PUSH it in?
Which lead me to this:



$2.99 and I had a length of tubing to use from bleeding.
Process is simple. Attach to bleed screw, open and push without depressing the lever. Man, you should see all those little bubbles come out!
That fills the system, but I wasn't getting any pressure the way I normally bleed breaks... depress, bleed, close bleed and release.
Now I had pushed the caliper cylinder all the way in while lubing the slides and putting in new pads, and I could feel a bit of pressure with my fingers in the way, but it wouldn't close the gap... which brought me to this process:
With the syringe still attached and placed upright to hold the fluid:
Pull lever, open bleed, RELEASE LEAVER, close bleed.
Rinse/Repeat.
It closed the gap after about a dozen or so repetitions, and the lever feel is perfect! I had to fill the reservoir twice, and empty the syringe a few times. A bigger syringe would have been better, but my 3 Dollar bleeder did the trick!

 

Nothing wrong with a lawnmower tank. I'm using a snow blower tank right now to tune the bike until I clean my gas tnak out. These things make the best test tanks because they have a simple valve and are made for gas.

 

I keep "borrowing" the one off my son's minibike for tuning and then putting it back before he notices...

 

Thanx, glad to know I'm not the only one that uses whatever works well, regardless of where it came from!
So my tires are deffinatly needing to be replaced... out in the sun/elements for at LEAST 5 years... cracks all over. Possibly dry-rot. Anyone know of the widest tires we can fit on stock rims? The front is a 90/90/18 and the back is an anemic 110/90/18... lots of clearance between the rubber and the swingarm. I figure it could take at least a 120, but am hoping 130, 140 or even 150 would fit. Anyone have any experience with this?

 

Interesting my XS400J Max runs the same as my XJ650J 100/90/19 and 130/90/16 - I know most of the SECAs run the larger read tire (diameter). I don't know if you can run the wider tire - check you current clearance.

 

your tires are incorrect. you need a 100 or 110 up front and a 130 out back

 

That's for the Max dw,

The Seca stock set up was, (from the manual)

3.00S18 up front
&
4.10S18 in rear

I'd like to see the rear up close, I'm guessing a 130 won't fit

 

There ya go. And the clutch switch is driving me nuts, I had to take it out for some reason (can't remember) and now when I put it back it doesn't work. It seems like I'm missing a contact that fit into a circular cutout that would touch one of the switch leads, but I don't remember any such thing and it worked before! HELP!