Engine mount point suggestions

[Orangetuesdays]

Hello everyone,

I picked up an 80 XS400 Special last summer that's in pretty rough shape body-work wise but it does run. I was in the process of tearing everything down to get it all cleaned up to repaint the frame. After cleaning and scraping off the inch-thick layer of grease and dirt from the underside, I came to find some suspicious looking welding.

Sure enough, it looks like the rear-bottom engine mount points were broken off and poorly re-welded with the entire engine off-set to the right by about a quarter inch. This makes it impossible to get the left exhaust pipe off since the header collar hits the tube where the fork assembly goes in.

^^Left bottom rear engine mount point

^^Right bottom rear mount point
As you can see, one of the mounting bolts is actually welded over so I'm not sure where to go from here. I don't have the tools or skills to cut these mounts off, fabricate new ones, and weld them on properly. Any suggestions? I was thinking about asking around at some body shops to see if they'd be able to do the work but not sure what a fair price would be.

Thanks everyone.

 

[JPaganel]

Holy crap...

That is some of the worst welding I have ever seen.

This isn't a hard job for a competent metal worker. You don't necessarily need a body shop - even a regular machine shop should be able to fix it. They might need a pattern to work from, though.

Whereabouts in MN are you? I might know some people.

 

[Orangetuesdays]

Whereabouts in MN are you? I might know some people.

I'm up North around the Bemidji area.

 

[JPaganel]

Uffda.

All the welders I know are a ways from there...

This is going to take some careful work with a grinder, then cutting a couple of plates, and putting them in. Any decent metal fabrication shop should be able to do it. Not all of them are going to want to work on a bike, but certainly ask around. General fab shops are probably going to be cheaper than body shops.

 

[Orangetuesdays]

I'll definitely ask around. Tough part about up here is that a simple search doesn't reveal many businesses. Lots of small shops and stuff with no web presence, but I'll definitely try to find a fab shop before anywhere else. Thanks much for the advice.

 

[JPaganel]

Yeah, fabricators usually aren't great with this newfangled online stuff, and don't really need to be. They are small, and have a lot of work from regular clients and word of mouth.

You can even look for "machine" in the name. I have a place near me that's like that.