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My other bike- '81 XS400
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doubleg Offline
Break-In Period

wisconsin
Posts: 14
Joined: May 2015
Post: #1
My other bike- '81 XS400
Just thought I would post some pics of the latest iteration of my ongoing project bike. Bought it last year for $500 (with valid title). Was pretty much stock, black in color, missing a few items such asair filters. Engine ran when I bought it, but carbs were not quite set up correct and would die almost instantly as soon as put it in gear and set out on the road. Bought some generic pod filters, rejetted, and replaced leaky exhaust, what a difference.

I should have kept better track of what i put it into it money wise, I'm guessing between 1000 and $1500. Probably wont get the return on my investment, but I bought it just to have something to tinker with.

Made the seat/rear cowl myself out of fiberglass and a ton of bondo.
Rattle can paint job, holding up better than I expected, althought the frame is showing signs of abuse. I may have to touch some of those spots up.


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05-29-2015 08:46 AM
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Rocky Offline
Been There

Nova Scotia, Canada
Posts: 3,397
Joined: Apr 2014
Post: #2
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
Nice Thumbs Up Thumbs Up

Still rockin', rollin', and ridin' after all these years
'67 BSA 441 VR, '70 Triumph Tiger 100, '02 Honda CB900F, '06 Triumph T100 Bonneville, '14 Honda CB1100A
05-29-2015 09:24 AM
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Scoobynut Offline
Running Like a Top

Dickinson, ND
Posts: 497
Joined: Apr 2013
Post: #3
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
Really nice looking bike, doubleg, nice work! You mentioned touching up the paint on the frame -- when I was restoring my RD400, the frame paint was in really good condition, except the front downtubes where the previous owner had installed clamp on crashbars; there was surface corrosion where the clamps had removed the paint.

I used some POR15 products to touch up those spots and you would be hard pressed to know where the paint has been touched up. From the POR15 starter kit I used their Marine Clean degreaser and the Metal Ready prep to clean and prep the corroded spots, then after drying I used their black gloss Top Coat paint on the frame. Rather than taping everything off and spraying the paint onto the frame, I sprayed paint onto a piece of cardboard and used a foam brush like you would use for house painting to dab the paint on. The POR15 Top Coat paint when applied with a foam brush doesn't show lines or 'orange peel' when applied with the foam brush, it just lays down flat like you sprayed it. In any case, I got very good results with this method, so you might consider giving it a try. As a bonus, the paint when applied with this method will hold up much better than typical spray paint and will arrest any further corrosion. I can get you some photos of the results if you want to see them.
05-29-2015 09:31 AM
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doubleg Offline
Break-In Period

wisconsin
Posts: 14
Joined: May 2015
Post: #4
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
(05-29-2015 09:31 AM)Scoobynut Wrote:  Really nice looking bike, doubleg, nice work! You mentioned touching up the paint on the frame -- when I was restoring my RD400, the frame paint was in really good condition, except the front downtubes where the previous owner had installed clamp on crashbars; there was surface corrosion where the clamps had removed the paint.

I used some POR15 products to touch up those spots and you would be hard pressed to know where the paint has been touched up. From the POR15 starter kit I used their Marine Clean degreaser and the Metal Ready prep to clean and prep the corroded spots, then after drying I used their black gloss Top Coat paint on the frame. Rather than taping everything off and spraying the paint onto the frame, I sprayed paint onto a piece of cardboard and used a foam brush like you would use for house painting to dab the paint on. The POR15 Top Coat paint when applied with a foam brush doesn't show lines or 'orange peel' when applied with the foam brush, it just lays down flat like you sprayed it. In any case, I got very good results with this method, so you might consider giving it a try. As a bonus, the paint when applied with this method will hold up much better than typical spray paint and will arrest any further corrosion. I can get you some photos of the results if you want to see them.

Would love to see those photos! Most of the touch-up area's I would need to do is on the swingarm. I think that might be because i completely stripped the paint off that, and I'm guessing the primer I used wasn't up to the task. The rest of the frame I just sanded as needed and painted over and it seems to be holding up better.

I like your idea for touch up using the foam brush, I really don't feel like taking everything back apart or doing intricate taping jobs! (at least not until I get tired of the current color scheme)
05-29-2015 09:52 AM
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EmptySea Offline
Lives On Two Wheels

Chicagoland, USA
Posts: 7,004
Joined: Jun 2013
Post: #5
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
Great looking bike. Love the Rt. 66 graphics. I have a long way to go on my project bike.

MTC

"If you can’t go home again, at least you can enjoy the ride” — Peter Egan


2013 CB1100 non-abs
2013 CB1100 abs
05-29-2015 10:10 AM
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Papa Weeley Offline
High Mileage

SoCal
Posts: 1,110
Joined: Jan 2014
Post: #6
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
Very cool - nice job!

[color=#FFA500][i][color=#32CD32][color=#00BFFF]Ham and eggs - a day's work for a chicken, a life-altering experience for a pig.[/color][/color][/i][/color]
2013 CB1100 #056, with too danged many mods to list.
2015 Honda CB500x
05-29-2015 10:33 AM
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Motogeezer1949 Offline
High Mileage

Winter Park Florida
Posts: 1,123
Joined: Jun 2014
Post: #7
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
I had a 77, red, stock. Low miles, ran great.
Also at the same time, had a 77 RD400.
Pics of both in the albums on my Face Book page.
Fun bikes. Like yours, lots of creativity Wink

The ferret Jim Lucia, aka Motogeezer 1949
2010 BMW R1200RT
2014 Aprilia Tuono V4 APRS ABS
Past: Cafe'd 2014 CB1100DLX.
2016 Yamaha XSR900 60th. Anniversary
05-29-2015 07:10 PM
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Flynrider Offline
Been There

Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 3,233
Joined: Apr 2013
Post: #8
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
Beautiful bike! Great job bringing it back to life.

I had a KZ400 and my brother had an XS400. They don't make bikes like that anymore.

Phoenix, AZ
2013 CB1100 - Big Red
1993 CB750 Nighthawk - Tahitian Blue
05-29-2015 08:05 PM
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Scoobynut Offline
Running Like a Top

Dickinson, ND
Posts: 497
Joined: Apr 2013
Post: #9
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
(05-29-2015 09:52 AM)doubleg Wrote:  Would love to see those photos! Most of the touch-up area's I would need to do is on the swingarm. I think that might be because i completely stripped the paint off that, and I'm guessing the primer I used wasn't up to the task. The rest of the frame I just sanded as needed and painted over and it seems to be holding up better.

I like your idea for touch up using the foam brush, I really don't feel like taking everything back apart or doing intricate taping jobs! (at least not until I get tired of the current color scheme)

Sorry for the slow reply, doubleg -- I have a teenager back from college and being his butler is a full time job. I'll get some photos for you today and post 'em up. You shouldn't need to do any priming or sanding (unless you just want to smooth the surface down a bit more) with the method I use.
(This post was last modified: 05-31-2015 09:01 AM by Scoobynut.)
05-31-2015 09:00 AM
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Scoobynut Offline
Running Like a Top

Dickinson, ND
Posts: 497
Joined: Apr 2013
Post: #10
RE: My other bike- '81 XS400
Okay, doubleg, here are a few photos I took of the touch up I did on my RD.
I cropped an old picture I had so I could show what it looked like before I did the touch up (1st picture). The frame actually looked quite a bit worse than the photo shows, especially the other side -- sorry I don't have any 'before' pictures of the other side. One thing you've probably noticed on these old steel-framed bikes is that any frame joints and added frame bosses usually have some kind of rust around the welds. I treated all those areas too before the touch up as described in my original post. Anyways, here are the photos. Again, the first one is the only 'before' picture I have, the rest are other areas I also touched up, including parts of the swing arm (last photo).

Not a great picture, but you can see where there was some surface rust by the header pipes from the crash bars that were mounted on the frame.
İmage

Same part of the frame, after:
İmage

Other side. This side had surface corrosion all over the down tube. The little black lines are just a reflection:
İmage

This foot rest bracket was almost all surface rust:
İmage

This part of the swing arm had some corrosion in places, especially near any welds:
İmage

Again, all this was done with only a foam brush. You can see how smoothly the POR15 Top Coat lays down on the metal. It's also much tougher and resistant to chipping than regular paint. The Marine Clean and Metal Prep as mentioned in my first post are done beforehand to help prep the surface for paint, and will also prevent any further rust in the areas you treat with them as the Metal Prep has some chemical qualities that arrest rust and bond the paint to the treated corrosion. Hope you have the same good results I did if you decide to try this!
(This post was last modified: 05-31-2015 07:38 PM by Scoobynut.)
05-31-2015 07:26 PM
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