1986 400 Xc Rebuild

My book says Bel-Ray 85wt. gear oil.
I've heard straight 30wt. is better for the clutches
But I have been using Lucas 10w30 for Motorcycles

I just saw that too, but all other years before and after are 20w. what the h*** lol

View: http://youtu.be/pOhSdNruXOk



What a blast, first little ride was an hour long. Made a little vid.

View: http://youtu.be/8azEJuJu27Y


1 more

Rookie guy with the camera lol

Bike Sounds Goood!

I like using synthetic 0-30 Castrol Syntech. You can use any synthetic as long as it does not say "Energy Conserving" the the round API label on the back of the container. If it does say that, it has friction modifiers that ruin wet clutches

Good info thanks jimspac

the bike sounds brilliant well done on the build

I HAVE ALWAYS USED STRIGHT 30. HAVE TWO 86'S AND ONE 87---H

I have straight 30 in it and thanks oneal.

nice job 86 sounds gr8 camera man not so good LOL

Snow on the ground around here still.

Was looking around at foot pegs and decided to rework mine, i add a nice 1/8 flat stock around it.

Cut some teeth on them and welded them in
.









Then i bought some new bearings to make a new chain guide, these use a 8mm bolt.
Made it a touch longer and wider, the old one was draging on the chain a lot.





Found another use for my tranny jack, its good for 450 lbs





and found a nice stand at princessauto for $75

I was advised by Rick at Vintage Iron not to use synthetic oil because it may cause the clutch to slip. He said to use the cheapest oil you can find.

I had that same thought about syn.

Got my new personalized license plate today and got the bike loaded.
Going to the track right here in town Saturday.

Hope to get some video, going to let the wife this time try working the camera.

Thats an amazing picture, when I'm not not messing with old motorcycles I mess about with old film cameras. Thats a great shot of the track , wish I'd taken it !!

Me too, its not my shot. I wanted to share it though.

Using synthetic is only an issue if the container has "Energy Conserving" in the API label on the back of the oil container. That means it has anti-friction modifiers that will make a wet clutch slip. I have run Castrol Syntec 20-50 in my 2004 Road Star Midnight for the last 15000 miles and it has never slipped unless I feather it myself. On 2 strokes that do not lube the top end like 4 strokes I have been told you can use ATF for just clutch and tranny

So i got a really nice vintage cross bar pad off ebay. NOS in the package.





After a few rides i started to hate them old bars, they are bent in too much.

So i went for some fat boy bars and went with ktm/kaw style handle bar clamp.

I had to make a 1/2 riser to make the long bolt adapt.







Back when i was picking up the clamps i saw some XR wide foot pegs on the wall



So i went back with one of mine to see how close it was to the Husky.

With a little cut off the frame tube and left an angle on it. The pegs were fitting.



So i capped the tube with a weld, touched it up the with some paint.

Best part they only cost 50.00 bucks

So i hit some jumps and a few good whoops with the ol beast.

Was feeling way to soft up front, like saggy springs.

when i did the forks seals i thought the top cap went on to easy, no preload on the springs.

I saw a spacer on top of the spring and in the back of my mind i was thinking valve spring from a car.

so to today i took the spacer out and threw in a spring from one of my turbo 2.3 ohc Ford heads.

Fit right in and left out the spacer, that gave it some nice preload, i cranked up the rear shock spring a bit the get the balance back.

It sure feels better, going riding tonite to see what its like.

Any thoughts on this quick fix?