Welcome!

2005 Yamaha SR400 - $9,900

It was bought new by me from Deus in stock form in 2007 and over the last five years I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time and money building it into an angry little café racer. I’m looking at going back to study full time, so I need to free up some funds before I cut back my work hours. Deciding to sell this bike has not been easy for me.

There really has been no expense spared and very little of the bike is stock. I’ve wanted a café racer that not only looks great but goes like stink and handles beautifully as well.

The engine makes it a very different bike to the standard SR400. It puts out double the horsepower as a stock 400 (The same as a WR450 in standard trim or a LC4 engine) but is still very sensible and easy to ride around town. That being said, when ridden with a bit of aggression it’s a thumping nasty little bastard that is very, very quick for an air-cooled SOHC bike. Fueling is spot on. It starts very easily at all temperatures and idles beautifully. The exhaust is considerably louder than stock but still sensible - It’s got a beautiful tone and isn’t obnoxious.

All servicing has been done by me, with oil changed at half the recommended intervals

The bike would be great for anyone wanting a great looking bike that is really one of a kind, is dead reliable and fantastic fun to ride. It’s learner legal (Insert Evil Laugh) in all states that have LAMS. Here’s the run down on what the modifications to the bike.

Engine Modifications

·         High Compression ceramic-coated oversized piston

·         Keihin FCR 39mm flat slide carburetter

·         Hardweld Cam

·         Carillo Rod

·         500cc Crank

·         K&N Air and crankcase breather filter

·         High Strength Valve Springs, new valves, valve seats cut

·         Ported

·         High Quality stainless exhaust system. Larger diameter header, 3 ½ inch constant wound perforated steel core

·         All engine work involved a full rebuild to take it from 400cc to 510cc. The rebuild Included all bearings, races, cam chain and tensioner blade, valves, gaskets etc. All engine work done to a blue print level by Carl at Café Racer in NSW. He’s had around a million years of experience in modifying, rebuilding and hopping up XT, TT and SR500 and 400’s. I have receipts for all the work completed on the donk.

·         Mike’s XS Fuel Tap (No vacuum line on the Keihin Carb)

Suspension Modifications

·         Ohlins Piggyback shocks at the rear SR-specific models. Non-adjustable type.

·         Ohlins fork springs with heavier weight oil.

·         Steering Damper.

·         Fork Brace.

·         Daytona Stainless steel brake line.

·         Alloy box section swingarm. Same dimensions as stock, but more rigid. Able to fit a much wider tyre than standard.

Controls

·         Clipons – with Posh mini switches. Electrics run through the hollow clipon mounts and into the headlight bucket making the handlebars look a lot cleaner.

·         WM Rearsets with kick start lever

·         WM Single Cable Throttle body

Frame Alterations

·         All unnecessary tabs removed, including the centrestand mounts and pillion foot peg mounts.

·         Rear frame has been cut and shortened, with a loop running underneath the seat.

·         Rear indicators are mounted directly into the rear of the frame, set further forward than stock

·         Frame cutting, welding and painting completed by Craig from The Mischief Makers

·         Shortened front stainless steel fender

Instruments, Electrics and Lighting

·         Stock headlight, mounted on aftermarket brackets.

·         Posh mini brushed indicators

·         Mini-Idiot lights. Indicator (Yellow) engine on (Red) Neutral (Green) and hi-beam (blue) mounts on a bracket to a Daytona mini speedo

·         Lucas-style tail light

·         Single Mirror

·         Daytona bar-end weights

·         Ignition is now underneath the seat, facing forward, making it barely visible from the outside.

·         All wiring work not done by me – a professional mechanic who usually plays with old Ducatis. If he can get the electrics to run smoothly on one of those…

Aesthetics

·         Engine Sidecovers, top triple clamp and various other bits and pieces machine polished this month. With little care and attention, should look like this for a long time to come.

·         Fork top caps

Consumables

·         Pirelli Sport tyres less than 1000km’s old.

·         Front brake pads are around 4000km’s.

·         Rear drum is standard with plenty of feel and adjustment left

·         520 Chain and Sprocket is 4500km’s with minimal wear. 17/40.

·         Fork Seals replaced 2500km’s ago (When the fork oil and springs were changed)

·         Engine Oil, cam chain and valve clearances checked, set and changed regularly – done by myself.

The bad: Well, there isn't too much at all. There is small, 5mm chip in the paint on the lower left hand side of the fuel tank. It's covered by a small sticker of a... erm... dog at the moment. I only have one key for the bike, and this has been the case since I bought it from Deus. A few years ago this was a bit of a worry for me, but now days many locksmiths can do coded keys very easily and cheaply. I'll be looking into this shortly, possibly before I sell the bike.

If you’ve got any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I’m flat out working and studying these days so if you’ve got any questions of a general nature it’d be best to check into the SR500 forum or pop along to an SR500 club meeting.

I can help sort interstate shipping if you’re in NSW.

The bike has 1 year of rego left on it (Just renewed). If you’re in Vic, it does not come with a RWC.

Bike is available for a look at in the Melbourne CBD area. Test rides are dependent on your experience and size of deposit. And if you bin it... you've bought it!

Yamaha Garage Girl Story

Alright, there's something a little unnerving about a few scenes in this but the message is nice. A homosexual looking father and his attractive daughter almost end up screwing after working on their brand new SR400 together after it fails to start. Nice sentiment, if the execution is a little... odd.

All boxed and ready to go.

Jesus, that cat in the background looks like mine!

All for about $170AUD to ship the thing internally. The fun bit is getting it from Japan down to Melbourne, but I think I might have it sorted. We'll see.

Update from Japan

A little closer now...

Nakajima Sakae - 14 Cylinder Air Cooled Goodness

I think I prefer the sound of this to the Merlin...

Skip to the 1.00 minute mark for audio porn.

I've got an engine!

1993 SR400 399cc of oil-leaking goodness.

Woooooo!

It'll be a while before it arrives but here it is...

It'll be a while before it lands - quite a while actually, as it's still in the frame in Japan, but I think I've nutted out a working shipping option. I'm told the engine itself is in need of a rebuild - but it still has compression and still runs.

The trick will be for it to keep running after I'm done with it.

I got me some books...

And I can't read a word of Japanese. But they're fun anyway. Ordered from Amazon Japan.

A Microfiche! I've already tracked a coupel down, but It can't hurt to have a physical copy...

It's interesting to see how visual the Japanese guides are compared to our Haynes or Clymer...

Although I'm missing out on a wealth of information by not speaking Japanese I still think they're worth taking a look at. I can't have enough photos when I'm pulling stuff to bits. The first book in the pic would be the most useful - mostly about engine based things and performance hot ups. The second cover would be the least useful as it shows really basic things like adjusting brake cables and so forth.

Hacked off a mirror...

I've left a fair few of my tools at my girlfriends house, which is also a building site. What hasn't been stolen* is now underneath a metric ton of furniture and insulation and I couldn't get to them. So picked up a hacksaw and chopped off my mirror today.

It was rusted on so tight I couldn't undo it without the nut starting to slip. So I chopped it off to get a socket on it. Came off with a bit of a struggle, but at least I didn't have to drill it out. Only problem is... I don't really have a good replacement. The hunt continues.


*My bass amp and cabinet, which was kept at her house too, has gone missing. Grrr.

In Sydney

I was back to my old stomping grounds for a week while I was on leave from work. While doing the touristy thing in the CBD, I came across this guy...



Having a bit of a professional interest in ESO's it was great to see ambulance single responsers on bikes. I've often wondered why we use sedans and territorys down here in Victoria when they don't offer any real advantage over a standard ambulance unit.

I also went to Deus and caught up with a mate who now works as a mechanic there. Spending all day playing with bikes. What a shithead.

And the case splitter works too!

The flywheel puller works a treat...

Nice SR

This was that at an SR meeting a few months back. Really, really, really, really, really clean. Lots of nice bits on it.

Bits and Peices

Two weeks ago I ordered some bits and peices from German company Kedo, and today it arrived! I haven't ordered anything from them before and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. Although you have to create an account to log in the whole system is ruthlessly German - well organised, click here, click here, take this soap, walk into this room and you've got your order. Fantastich.

Pre-oxidised (Hmm) case seperator. (Kurbelgehäuse-Trennwekzeug)


Meine flywheel puller tool und brass protection thing. (Polradbzeihe)


There were two other little tidbits that made the order kind of neat. A colour catalogue about the same size as a Munich phone book:


And a bit of liquorice!


Well there you go. Big thumbs up for Kedo from me. I think I'll be using them again. It's a bit of a shame that Thumperstuff don't really do the email thing but hey, this worked pretty well. But anyway, Kedo are good.

A+++++++ will bid again etc.

Yoshimura Japan

I'm doing some more research on SR engine mods, what to aim for with the rebuild, parts suppliers and all that kind of thing. As it turns out engine part supplier and designer of large green dinosaurs in Mario games, Yoshimura, are now selling a slip-on exhaust for the 03-08 and FI SR400. An interesting design...





Hmmm. Very "interesting". It looks like it retails for around $700, which, although it might shock a few people, is on par with other slip ons. Although I wouldn't like it on my bike I'd still be curious as to what is inside it.

Yoshi also sell other engine components on their website - cams, pistons, carbs, valve springs, cam chains and digital tach/temp gauge/shift indicator/stopwatch/clock/geiger counter. Interesting!

Website is here - Yoshimura Japan

Crank Hunting

Good news - I might be onto a SR400 engine. I'll have to see if it actually all works out but it's a bit of a double edged sword. On one hard it'll have a better designed head for oil flow, but I will have to change the crank for a 500. And here comes my friend Matt with a spare rooted bottom end he has. He needs the layshaft from it and I need a crank...

There's no vertical movement in the crank, which I'm told is a good thing? Doesn't look real flash though.

And it begins...

So we'll see how things go. It's great fun doing this inside my room. I've got the radio, the internet within arms reach which is important for my level of ability. (None). God. I'm such a product of the 21st century.

Er...

... That's dedication.

Taken from the ever-amazing http://yamahasrxtphotooftheday.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday To Me!

I got an SR for my birthday!



A mini champs die cast model. Not a bad little replica. Looks like it's got an XT engine instead of the SR, but it's got lots of great details about it - fuel lines, brake lines, carbs etc. I've never been a die-hard die-cast fan but to have one of the humble SR is quite neat.

New Project!

I don't have the money or the space for another bike project, but I'm still getting the hankering to start breaking things and paying other people to fix my mistakes. Rather than continue working on bikes in the yard the plan is to start smaller, with just an engine, and work away on that in my bedroom.

I picked up an engine stand from Hanks Engineering for $43.00 delivered. (If you've got a MIG and bits of scrap metal around Stew Ross has kindly provided the plans to build one yourself here.) So this is where I'll be working...




Notice something missing?

I'm hunting around for all the peripherals at the moment (I've always borrowed other people's manuals) but the real test is proving to be the engine itself. It seems the days of $500 engines are gone, with Vic Wreckers and Scotts Motorcycles wanting around $1100 for a complete 400 engine. I've got an ad up on the forum, on the SR500 clubs website the and have also tried Find A Part, all with no luck.

I'd be able to get a reasonably-priced 400 engine from Japan quite easily, but I want to keep trying to find a 500 first - just because the smaller niggly thing like cam chain tensioner set up are the same that most English-speaking engine builders have dealt with. I know there's not a huge difference between the 400 and 500, but I'd like to get answers to my stupid questions in English rather than worry about googletranslate. Very much be thanking you.

So the hunt continues, I'll start doing some research into getting a donk from America or the Fatherland. If anybody knows of an engine being sold for around $500.00, drop me a line!

SR500 - How to Change the Oil

Working for the (top triple) Clamp Down

I really struggled for a pun there.

Anyway, top triple clamp stuff is going well. A few days ago I purchased some VHT grey primer and some gloss enamel engine paint to have a shot. Figuring that if it went badly then I'll just strip it back again.

After two light coats of primer.



I masked off the inside of the forks and stuck two scews in so i'd be able to move it around the yard when painting it, and hopefully it'd block the threads too. Same goes for the ignition mount.



It actually looks pretty good for a first attempt. As per the instructions the can I'm going to wait seven days and give it a final coat. I'm not too sure if I should clear coat it or something like that. Some people are telling me I should be sanding between coats and stick it in the oven or something like that but it seems to be going okay so far*.

As an aside I've ordered some handlebar mounts for the clamp as well as I've managed to lose my immaculate ones that are... well, I don't know where they are. They're in pretty ratty condition so i've started sanding them back with some degreaser on 800 grit wet and dry and they're going well. I gave them a rub with some 1200 grit to finish with some autosol and they've got a bit of a sheen to them.

Turns out they're coated in some kind of lacquer...



One I refinished on top, the lower one I haven't had a shot at yet.



And the good one from above.



Looks okay! I wonder if I should clear coat these? I'm going to paint some more of the fittings, but other than that, progress seems to be going pretty well.

*That usually means I'll stuff it, when I don't listen to other people.