Post by bigbol on Dec 5, 2013 15:31:43 GMT
Well I’ve added another thing to my garage! A bit of a story to it.
I did a clean-up job on a Suzi T500 for a mate, 7years ago as it happens. Well as I would not take anything from him he said there’s an XS400 in the shed you can have. Well that was the end of that until a few weeks ago. I’d been storing an XS1100 for him so he was moving it on so swapped the XS1100 for the XS400 from his shed. Well it was a shed too. His shed was obviously open to the elements a little, chrome totally gone to pot, engine seized, wheels flaked and corroded and very sorry looking. Anyway 3 weeks back I took the pressure washer to it, get rid of creepy crawly things for a start. As it happens the paintwork is fairly good, virtually rust free.
So what am I going to do with it, they were never a favourite bike of mine so we’ll tinker and see what goes. Well strip down commences and I bin the no longer shiny stuff. As it happens the frame is fairly good, even the carbs still open and close. All fasteners and bolts loosen easily so it’s not too bad at all.
On to the seized engine, kicker won’t budge so it’s on the bench to be stripped and if it’s beyond repair then scrap/sell everything. Out with the plugs, one shears off and leaves just the threads behind, no real hardship as it’s coming to pieces. Off with the cam cover, it’s like new inside, very clean oil and not a blemish anywhere. Ahh, I have to rotate the cam to get at the bolts holding the camchain drive cog, hmm could be a prob as it’s seized. However I can get a spanner on both bolts, just. And knock me over with a kipper, the engine rotates freely, so the bugger ain’t seized. So cam out and head off. Apart from carbon deposits it’s all good. And with that I reckon the engine is ok and I know the bike had only covered 18k miles. The mate I got the XS off sold the bike to a guy where my mate lives after buying the guys house, the bike never turned a wheel from when my mate sold it to him.
As the frame is ok and the engine seems good, tatty but usable and possibly the wheels and brakes too. Ok there’s going to be some effort needed but I reckon a long term project. I’m thinking Café Race for knocking about on.
And if you want I’ll show pics too.
Colm
I did a clean-up job on a Suzi T500 for a mate, 7years ago as it happens. Well as I would not take anything from him he said there’s an XS400 in the shed you can have. Well that was the end of that until a few weeks ago. I’d been storing an XS1100 for him so he was moving it on so swapped the XS1100 for the XS400 from his shed. Well it was a shed too. His shed was obviously open to the elements a little, chrome totally gone to pot, engine seized, wheels flaked and corroded and very sorry looking. Anyway 3 weeks back I took the pressure washer to it, get rid of creepy crawly things for a start. As it happens the paintwork is fairly good, virtually rust free.
So what am I going to do with it, they were never a favourite bike of mine so we’ll tinker and see what goes. Well strip down commences and I bin the no longer shiny stuff. As it happens the frame is fairly good, even the carbs still open and close. All fasteners and bolts loosen easily so it’s not too bad at all.
On to the seized engine, kicker won’t budge so it’s on the bench to be stripped and if it’s beyond repair then scrap/sell everything. Out with the plugs, one shears off and leaves just the threads behind, no real hardship as it’s coming to pieces. Off with the cam cover, it’s like new inside, very clean oil and not a blemish anywhere. Ahh, I have to rotate the cam to get at the bolts holding the camchain drive cog, hmm could be a prob as it’s seized. However I can get a spanner on both bolts, just. And knock me over with a kipper, the engine rotates freely, so the bugger ain’t seized. So cam out and head off. Apart from carbon deposits it’s all good. And with that I reckon the engine is ok and I know the bike had only covered 18k miles. The mate I got the XS off sold the bike to a guy where my mate lives after buying the guys house, the bike never turned a wheel from when my mate sold it to him.
As the frame is ok and the engine seems good, tatty but usable and possibly the wheels and brakes too. Ok there’s going to be some effort needed but I reckon a long term project. I’m thinking Café Race for knocking about on.
And if you want I’ll show pics too.
Colm