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Shiny's adventure with dirtbikes

30K views 571 replies 33 participants last post by  shinyribs 
#1 ·
So,I dig the KLR, but it didn't quite fill the bill in the offroad department. Who da thunkit? So I bought this '98 XR400R. Street title, partially installed Baja Designs dual sport kit. The engine was supposedly rebuilt, but who really knows without digging in? Looking the bike over I could easily see fresh gaskets where the cases had been split, and the seller had a clean looking shop...so I took the risk. His claim: new piston/pin, new rod bearings, new cam chain. Fingers crossed.


As I got it. Dingy, but looked solid. Hardware looking healthy, no crushed frame tubes, but a pretty badly bent rear rim. Started easily and felt strong, but I have no experience with these bikes to judge against. Talked him down to $1,200 and loaded her up. Baja Design kits are $500 and the street title has to be worth something. I figure if the engine dies I'm not in it too badly anyway.



As always, my new bike needed fork seals. But at least I finally own a bike that won't be needing a fork swap right off the bat! This is a first for me. Never had a cartridge fork apart before, but it wasn't a bad job. Turned up a fork seal driver and cleaned up a couple dings on the legs. Good to go.



Took her out for a ride and it had a pretty loud valve tick. Checked the lash, it was good. Did some research and found out the auto decompression system is known for going wonky on these bikes. When you press off the auto decomp it leaves oiling passages exposed. Typical approach is to put a sleeve over the passages and call it good, but there were a couple pressed in pins that I didn't like the look of. So I made a sleeve that would capture them as well.

Stock set up.



Exposed passages and pins.



Fixed.



Cam chain was supposed to be new, but it wasn't. Cam chain tensioner was just about at the end of it's travel. Found out that a CRF450 cam chain swaps right on, is a few bucks cheaper and is two plates wider, so stronger. Win-win. :thumbsup: Motor seemed clean inside. Cam lobes and rocker faces look nice.



Took her back out, tick was gone. :) With the auto decomp gone it was easier to start and a low speed stumble I was having was gone. Altogether just ran better. 2nd and 3rd gear power wheelies at will. The auto decomp was intermittently opening an exhaust valve. Motor was nice and quiet now. Went to change the oil and it was filthy. Black and speckly. :doh: Ran a couple gallons of gasoline through the motor, frame, oil lines and cooler. Figured the PO didn't clean things as well as he should've. The lie about the cam chain isn't giving me much hope about the engine in general. Didn't find anything alarming in any of the oil screens, though.

With the engine running strong, the clutch started slipping in higher gears. Pulled her open and found glazed steels. Springs and frictions are well within specs. Scuffed up the steels, back together....4th gear power wheelies if I hit it right, 5th gear clutch wheelies are easy. This thing is a horse. :shocker:

But....clutch started slipping again after a few rides. Tore back in to the clutch. Steels are completely polished smooth already :wtf: Took another look at the frictions plates and they're hard. Almost feel like ceramic. Dropped the oil to have a look....black and speckly....fook. Maybe the frictions have gone hard somehow ( baked? overheated?) and are grinding up the steels to make this dirty oil? Engine runs too strong/quiet to take a chance, so it's time to dig in.
 
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#367 ·
Somewhere very near the Blue Ridge Parkway if I`m not mistaken.
 
#370 ·
Got the engine buttoned up and hung back on the bike today. I'm stoked :rock:

Clutch basket was in pretty rough shape for a bike with only 9k miles on it. I think it was 9k'ish miles? I don't think bike saw a ton of street use. Looks like it was used as a play bike, so not really unusual, I reckon.



Dressed smooth and ready to rock. Might actually be able to find neutral now :D



Magic fuel mixer is cleaned up and put together with all fresh rubber bits.



My digital camera sucks so bad. Everything looks so washed out under the shop lights. Need to pick up some fresh fasteners to detail the engine, but I had to stick the chrome headpipes on for a look. I'm getting excited now.





About these tires. The front Shinko 700 is the same I ran on the KLR. That tire works much better than it's looks suggest. I was really happy with it, so it was an easy choice. On the back of the KLR I ran Shinko's 244 which is their version of the Kenda K270 I have on the back of this bike. The 244 was an ok tire, but it would slide on wet pavement fairly easily. Because of that I decided to try this Kenda instead. No idea about the compound yet, but the tread is way beefier on the Kenda in person compared to the old 244. Very happy to see that. Guy on another forum is running a 270 on the back of his Sportster, so it oughta hold this bike fine. It amazes me I can buy these tires with this massive amount of rubber on them for around $50 each. Sport bike tires are an absolute ripoff.
 
#373 ·
That sucks. When I started looking at spots on the east coast, seemed like North and South Carolina had some good off road trails.

Years ago when I used to build log houses all over the US we did one in Winchester, VA. Sadly, the only thing that seems to stand out was that VA was the most ******* state I had ever been to. And I grew up in east Texas where white cowboy hats and Coors Lite reign supreme...

Anything good within an hour or two's riding distance?
 
#375 ·
Anything good within an hour or two's riding distance?
There's a group of guys ( A and AA riders) that have some trails built on their own land. Nothing real gnarly, but those guys haul ass. Couple small hillclimbs. I haven't kept in touch with them this summer, though. The other trail I mentioned earlier is on a private farm. It sees a decent amount of traffic and get pretty rutted. But someone tries to maintain it. There's one section that set up like a MX course. I don't do jumps...unless bailing off counts :D Which is oddly fun to do.

I need to figure out how to hook up with likeminded people around here. I see dirt bikes being hauled down the road. People ride, I just need to figure out where/ make some contacts. People are so private around here that it makes it hard. Most guys I talk to at the bike shop only ride when they run a harescramble race. I can't imagine owning a dirt bike and ONLY being able to ride like that.

TURNIP, thanks man. I appreciate that.
 
#378 ·
I mentioned elsewhere that I picked up a powdercoating setup for cheap. Some hi-temp black is currently cooling on my midpipe :D Not a huge oven, but I can squeeze a 17 rim in there...good enough for me! Good balance of practical vs space hog.





HotCoat Pro 1100, which meant nothing to me, but the adjustable voltage knob looked nice. Seems this was about a $600-700 gun, but it's now discontinued. It's alright, I'm out of style, too.



I hung all the controls and gauges back on the bike to see how things were. Got a few cables to order and a few brackets to refinish, but all looks good. The speedo looks practically brand new, but the trip knob was broke off. I turned up a new knob and glued to to the remnants of the old knob that's still down inside the gauge. Oughta do the trick, if not I'll make another job and try again! Will need to fit up a piece of felt to keep dust out, too.





Large and knurled. Easy to use with a gloved hand.

 
#379 ·
Making shopping lists and sorting out details for the last little bits and pieces. Somehow it escaped my mind that I need a master cylinder up front. Sorting out a few other little details. I wanted to make a pair of permanently attached loops to strap my luggage to. You'll never get away from strap-on luggage rubbing side panels, but at least this keeps it off the frame tubes and away from exhaust heat. It also makes sure the straps never slide around on you. Side panels will always have a hard life offroad. Just get used to that.

Made these up with the intent to use them as washers for the upper,rear engine mount bolt, but the righthand side interfered with the kicker when folded in. Bummer. Not seeing any other great options I decided to stick it under a clutch cover bolt instead. Not super hyped about using a 6mm bolt for this, but I doubt it'd ever cause any problems. Turned up a little button since it was originally made for a 12mm bolt. Salvaging stuff :D






Lefthand side under engine bolt as planned.



On the topic of luggage...gotta have a rear rack. I originally thought to bend up some tubing to make a new rack, but this is actually a Hondaline rackmade for this bike. Honestly, if I made a new rack it would be the same size anyway. So then I figured I'd paint or powder the rack black...but that's gonna look scratched all to piece the first time anything touches it. Chrome is actually a better surface for this job. So I stuck the rack back on for a look and I have to admit...I really don't hate it.





My bag fits like it was made for this rack. The rear hooks fit the support rail on the rack perfectly. The racklengthis the perfect size to hold my tent behind the bag, and the bag is only sitting on the seat about an inch or so. Couldn't ask for a better fit!





All strapped in position. Man, I can't wait to ride this thing...



I did up the midpipe in some hi-temp sating black,so decided to stick that on for a look with the rack to see if I liked the look. Decided to stick the stock tailight back on for a look, too. Wish I'd stuck a front fender on so the bike didn't look so rear heavy in the pics.







I mean...nothing is exactly sleek or hidden, but I really think it looks fine. I have to fix the tag bracket from hitting the tire with the longer wheelbase, but that's easy. I planned all along to ditch this taillight and find something smaller, but I think it'll be ok. Am I just cutting corners now to hurry up, or is this rack/ tail light setup actually hideous and I need to slim it down? I can't decide.
 
#381 ·
Man reading these stories of yours and seeing your builds has lit a big spark in me to go trail blazing... I can't do it with a dirtbike because it's forbidden to ride a motorized vehicle anywhere where it's not spesificly approved but there is a loophole which tickles an another fancy at the same time... Really gonna have to see if I could raise enough money so I could electrify my MTB, and while at it do it properly... To be able to ride on public bike lanes the limits are 1kw and 25km/h max but who the fuck's gonna come bitch at me to the woods if I got a 3kw motor without speed limiters... Might not seem like a lot but if you can lift the whole thing up with one and and not change faces that thing will climb trees as long ss there's traction...
 
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#383 ·
Not really... There's an MX track in the nearby city but they only allow club members there, and other than that it would have to be on someone's private property... I suppose I would have access to one sand pit but TBH that gets old quick. Besides the concept of being able to move through the forest at speed making very little noise is intriquing as is.
 
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#388 ·
On a side note, vacation time has been requisitioned for October 22nd-26th. So far the plan is for me and my riding bud to truck/trailer a couple of street bikes to the Tennessee/North Carolina area for some Smokey Mountain riding.

Don't think we'll be loading the dirt bikes, although it could change, but most likely just street.

Probably going to do Tail of the Dragon fo sho, rest of the week is still up for planning. You (or anyone) interested?
 
#389 ·
You know I'm interested. :rock:

It was rightfully brought to my attention that my midpipe was way too long. Since the great loop bag sits much further forward than I realized I didn't need the muffler so far back, so I shortened it up about 5-6". Much,much better.





This is something i normally can't stand to do. But I cut a vintage part smack in two. Had to be done. :CK187:

 
#390 ·
You know I'm interested. :rock:

It was rightfully brought to my attention that my midpipe was way too long. Since the great loop bag sits much further forward than I realized I didn't need the muffler so far back, so I shortened it up about 5-6". Much,much better.





This is something i normally can't stand to do. But I cut a vintage part smack in two. Had to be done. :CK187:

 
#391 ·
It's the nickles and dimes that really kill you on builds. Master cylinder rebuild kits, caliper rebuild kits, brake hoses, assorted bolts, filter elements, tubes/straps, carb kits cables, sprockets...should have everything needed to finish this up minus a chain & paint/decals.

Got an issue with the fuel cap that I'm not sure how to handle. The fuel cap drag on the tank. Not much point in painting the tank onlt to have the cap drag the fresh paint off. The tank really doesn't seem damaged and the gasket isn't missing. Gotta figure something out.
 
#394 ·
Nothing special, but muffler bracket means all exhaust fab work is done.



Sorted out the tag bracket. Pretty massive looking, but not as heavy as it looks. Weighed it at 3.2 oz. Actually lighter than the plastic chunk I took off the tail light housing if you can believe that.







Will hide once it's done up in black.



Rode out to the hardware store to pick up the last of the buttonheads to finish out detailing the engine.



Cleaned an lubed the cables I'll be reusing. Almost comical how many cables this bike used in stock form.

1- Front brake
2- Rear brake
3- Clutch
4- Choke
5- Pull throttle
6- Push throttle
7- Manual decomp
8- Auto decomp

Ends up almost 30' of cable :D



Got to play with my EZ Bake Oven today :rock: Experimented with the "chrome" powder which, unsurprisingly, isn't chrome-like at all. But it makes for a really nice look on the levers. Looks factory fresh. Really happy with the finish on the satin black parts,too. Nice OEM look.







The gloss black parts in the back are the mounting plates for the electrical bits and the headlight/ gauge mounts. Hope to get all the wiring hung back on the bike soon.
 
#398 ·
Or fix the reason it rubs...
That's the only option IMO. I did figure it out, though. Yes, the gasket has gone flat,but the teeth that hold to cap to the tank is actually a spring-loaded crossbar that was frozen. Lots of fiddling has it freed up and sitting high now.




 
#399 ·
10 hrs in the shop today and not much to show for it. Spent most of the time cleaning up the wiring harness and getting it mounted. I hate dirty wiring and getting it all clean is slow going. Had to get the airbox cleaned up and in place first. Lots of busy work with no visual impact, but getting closer all the time.









There are some lugs ont he KLR fork legs that were unused on the KLR. Never did figure them out. But they work perfect to hold the cable guide that came off the XL. Probably not really needed, but I think they look cool.

 
#400 ·
it of a snag on throttle cables. Mine aren't fraying, but they have slight kinks from sitting motionless over the carb linkages for 20+ years. Figured I'd grab fresh cables and keep these for spares. Couldn't find any readily available anywhere, including Motion Pro's site. Shot Motion Pro an email and they said they don't have specs for these cables in their database. I would have to pay to ship my cables for them to copy, then the "custom" cables would run me $110-160 PER CABLE + more shipping of course.

Business lesson from a self employed idiot ( that's me): if you are a cable company and some random dude has generally pristine cables that you can copy and add to your arsenal of products to sell.... don't try to bend him over!

They still aren't going to have XL500S cable specs, because I know a dude in town that will whip up custom cables for around $30 each. :thumbsup: I'm not paying Motion Pro for the privilege of giving them cables to spec out. Rant over...
 
#405 ·
Ebay seat cover. For $20 there's no point in dragging out the sewing machine. There's two things that always make any bike look good: fresh tires and a nice seat cover.



Got my sprockets in. The stock image for the rear sprocket looked like this.



Wasn't crazy about that look, but was happy to see what actually showed up. The simple design suits the style of the bike much better. Never had an aluminum sprocket before. Not sure how I feel about it, but it was the only one readily available with the tooth count I wanted for this hub.



Caliper kits came in. I did up the KLR caliper without thinking about pictures, but snapped a quick one before putting the XRL caliper together.



My air filter was missing it's element ( just the wire cage left) and I ran across several posts where guys were talking about having to rig up some sort of whatever. I was kinda stressing about that, then I went looking around and it's still readily available from Honda.



Got the headlight bucket painted up after fixing a bunch of gouges. All the mounting inserts are missing so I'll have to turn those up so I can mount the bucket and get the wiring nestled in to place.



I absolutely hate spray paint, but couldn't bring myself to drag out the HVLP for this little job.



Need to measure for a chain and pick up some brake hoses. Slowly creeping up to the point where paint and bodywork is in order. I'm seriously dreading all the layers of spray paint need to be shaved off this poor thing.
 
#406 ·
Trying to find one of these front fenders.



That was the style fender that came on '79 models. I'd like to pick up a front fender so I can get the local paint company to scan it and color match the paint for the rest of the bike. Not having any luck searching for a '79 XL500 fender. Reproduction places are only making the massive hooked over jobbies. I have seen a couple listed as XL100 or XL250 fenders. I wonder if they will work, or if they are physically smaller?
 
#407 ·
#409 ·
Step away from the XL for a bit and show some love to the XR4. I mentioned earlier that I can fly on the little XR250 compared to the 400, but there's not a huge difference in weight. I actually weighed them myself and there's only about a 20lb difference. Admittedly, the 400 holds it weight a little higher, but damn...that torque. Even though the fork on the 250 is extremely basic ( basically a damper rod with a non-adjustable compression cartridge snuck inside) it is veeeeery plush in the woods. It doesn't take a whole lot to overwhelm it, but up untilit starts bottoming it, it's great. So I decided to dive back in the the 400 forks and really make a difference.

This is what I found. The compression valve is stoopid. It's a bending shim valve, but it's reverse bending- meaning the I.D. of the shims bend in to flow oil vs the outer lips lifting.

Oil flows through these parts left to right. Only one shim shown, but stock carries 12 shims. A popular "mod" is to remove 6 of the 12 shims and lots of guys rave about it. I did it and saw nothing. These forks are known to be harsh. Playing with the external clicker on the base valve shows zero effectiveness on the bike. Playing with the clicker with the valve in my hand I saw that the clicker valve can completely stop all oil flow. That tells me that a lack of oil flow is what's choking up the system, not just being out of adjustment. If there was adequate oil flowing through the valve and shims then the clicker would be effective.



Here's how much of the top plate the shim blocks. Keep in mind the inner portion of the shim needs to bend in, and the oil pressure being directed way towards the outer edges where it is supported by the bottom plate of the valve. This makes no sense to me. Scribed a line to show exactly where the shims sits.



I chucked the top plate up and removed some material to allow more oil flow towards the I.D. of the shim, then I drilled the oil holes slightly larger while angling the holes towards the I.D., too.

Stock vs modified




Reassembled everything (with only 4 shims)and took the bike for midnight run through a short section of trail. Is it perfect? Probably not. Was there a difference? Hell yeah! I was pretty happy with my recent tuning on the rear shock, but now all I feel is harshness out back. That tells me the forks are now soft enough that I'm noticing the shock needs more work.

I'll log some more miles tomorrow to really make a decision, but it feels like I'm on the right path. :thumbsup:
 
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