new bandit 400 owner in the states

[insulinboy]

Hello all. First a little introduction. My name is Adam and i am 30 years old with 15 years of riding experience. My current daily driver is a Honda VTR1000F superhawk (firestorm in the UK i believe) My previous ride was a Yamaha YZF600R thundercat and a whole lot of smaller displacement junkers before that. Basically whatever I could get out of a junkyard cheap to fix up and ride for a while till it was just completely used up.

I like to tinker, which is why I bought this Bandit. It was in rough shape when I bought it. Missing the sprocket cover, carbs, clutch cable, airbox covers, and spray painted with a 50 cent can of flat black with no masking. it was horrible.





But I did notice some trick parts on it. Jardine exhaust, aftermarket rearsets (Gimbal), end I ended up walking away with the bike, title and all for $250

Anyway a little Xylene went a long way to making it look better (and a bench grinder with a wire brush wheel to go at all the removable alum. bits)





all together I have $700 in the bike, including tax and tag right now.


So I'm trying to get her started now, I still have a few things to sort before I can ride her (im using my super hawk battery to try and get her started and I need the adjuster nut for the clutch still, and I'm waiting on my gas cap to show up) but I cant even get her started right now. Carbs are freshly rebuilt with a Factory Pro jet kit, I know the bike is getting fuel (plugs are getting wet), it has new plugs, good vacuum that can be felt through the carbs, plug wires are in the right spots (whoever posted the factory service manual I love you forever) but the bike isn't starting. Its bucking and snorting and poping every once in a while and trying like hell to start but it just wont. Its backfired out the carbs and the exhaust a couple times like its out of time so I'm going to pull the valve cover off today and do a valve clearance check and a valve timing check.

So can I get any other suggestions, or do I seem to be on the right track? I just don't put it past myself to be turning this into more of a problem than it really is and missing something very stupidly easy. I was up till about 1am last night in the garage trying to sort it and am more than willing to take suggestions of things to look at. Bike has just north of 11K miles and is a 92 model

[insulinboy]

Well after pulling the cam cover I found I was 100% right. Both cams were 180* off. I have more parts to order now as the cam chain tensioner failed, but at least it did it out of the bike rather than in it. I'd rather have a manual one anyway.

At least I'm 100% certain that once I get the tensioner in it and button it back up with new fluids the bike will run. just going to be a week or two before I have the additional funds to throw at it.

Id just like to say that there are some people that shouldn't be allowed to have tools

[Capey]

Hi, I also bought a 400 Bandit because I like tinkering with bikes. I'm interested in what you found on yours, that the timing was 180 deg out. I too have struggled to get mine started. It eventually did start after much work on the carbs, all which I done myself. It starts now but runs rough.
I noticed when I checked the valve clearances that the process detailed in the workshop manual seemed to be wrong. The photos showing position of the cams were wrong way around in the manual. Now I'm wondering if the manual is actually right but my timing is 180 deg out?
How did you come to the conclusion that your timing was 180 deg out? What did you do to rectify this?

Thanks