81 xj550 project

Hey,
Sure, check out this link. I pretty much upload every pic there that I take during build.
I bought the hoop.

http://s1217.photobucket.com/user/saftie99/library/1981 Yamaha XJ550

 

That will be a big help, Thanks! Where did you get the hoop from?

 

Ebay or dime city

 

Love your bike look fantastic, did make the front fender or buy it? Thats the last thing i need, I get a little wet if I get caught in the rain.

 

Fuel line to nowhere. BITCHIN bike.

 

Original fender just cut. Don't think it'll do any good in rain.

 

Yeah, haven't hooked it up yet bc I still need to take tank off a lot.
It'll be installed once I synced carbs and put in new throttle cable. For now I use an aux fuel tank.

 

Got the tail section back from paint, btw. Both tank and tail now match perfectly in color.

 

Sorry for the basic question, but this was a maxim and not a seca to begin with, correct?

 

This was 550 maxim. Go back to the first post on the first page.....

 

That is pretty cool I like that

 

Hey,

It's been a while. Bike had been wrapped for weeks now.
Today, I took it out to fire it up. First time in months. I hooked up an auxiliary tank.
Had an issue: gas came out of air filter. It looks like from carb #2.
I still fired it up after cleaning up and everything was fine. Maybe related to long sitting?

Also, can you check out the video and tell we what's wrong with the sound? Maybe that chain is too lose and is hitting the inside of the valve cover? Sounds a bit odd and like a few nuts and bolts and flying around in there.

http://s1217.photobucket.com/user/saftie99/media/1981 Yamaha XJ550/20160221_162545_zpsm8pi2ufl.mp4.html

 

Hmmm.... Shouldn't be having a leaky float after the rebuild. Regardless, I guess one COULD stick-- I've Han anomalies happen too. Anyway, what was your petcock set on?

 

Hey Dave,

Petcock was set to on.
Everything else was dry, which is good but I could see the gas run into airbox from carb 2
Never had this issue before and would blame it on the long sitting for now. Also, the bowls were completely dry during that time because I had the bike run until it ran out of gas last time it ran.

 

Not too worried about carbs right now, more interested in the engine sounds.
And just ignore the idle not going down quickly, I still need to sync carbs.

 

That would contribute to a carb running over for the moment... If it continues, we'll have to trouble-shoot that....

 

Regarding petcock... there was none but result is the same. I had an auxiliary tank hooked up. Gravity, all ports on boots blocked off.

Worked on my GPZ as well and get confused. Getting old.

 

Here direct link to YouTube video.

 

Sounds like a loose cam chain... Have you tried resetting the tensioner?

Also, check to make sure it's not as simple as some exhaust collars that might be loose----

 

Yeah, I thought the same, would be great if it was just that. So thank you for confirming...
I will finally sync the carbs on the weekend, see what it sounds like after ad adjust the chain

 

If you haven't synced the cards yet… Then it doesn't surprise me that it's not running smooth yet either. The bench sync is just to get it to a runnable condition in order to warm it up so you can do a running sync. Nevertheless, any noises you can get rid of now will make the running sync even better

 

+1. Possibly rubbing against the valve cover.

Gary H.

 

Awesome. Will post an "after" video

 

Oh the fun I am having at the moment...

 

Ay-uh.......

 

I think I need to rethink the term "reset"...

 

Len came to the rescue and a replacement part, including gasket and o-ring, came by mail today. Monday afternoon ordered and it's already here. Love it. Thanks Len.
Bike is hopefully put back together on Sunday.

 

I haven't really looked at an exploded view of the engine, especially the cam chain tensioner. But if I tighten it by loosening the bolt, why the bolt at all?
Know what I mean?

 

To keep the plunger from being pushed backwards when the chain is being affected by the power stroke. If the plunger can move the chain will go slack. The spring makes sure the tension is correct; the bolt locks it in place.

 

Great, thank you.

 

Put the tensioner back on, carbs in and tried to start. Battery dead.
Charged battery for a bit, hooked it up and tried to fire her up. Bike cranked, kind of started, ran for a second or two and died on me.
And again i had fuel leaking out of air box, apparently coming from carb 2 again.
I'll charge battery longer over night and try again tomorrow. Strange that it wouldn't stay running.
Not sure if i, by accident and while putting carbs back in, misadjusted throttle screw? But even with choke not much happened.

Only nice thing is that while it was running the two seconds, the engine sounded so much better and the "nuts and bolts rattle" sound was gone.

Update tomorrow when I try again with full battery.

 

If need be, I'll go back into the carb to double-check anything.

 

Thanks Dave.
Let's see how it goes tomorrow. More worried about not starting at the moment, but it is probably related.
Once it starts and I sync carbs, I will look into the flooding again. Before I broke the tensioner and disassembled the bike, it fired up and ran fine.
I assume it should hold the gas even when there is a constant flow to the carbs (auxiliary tank only has on or off position)?

 

Yrs, because the floats should shut when the bowls are full. Maybe some dirt got through, or something that is causing the float to stick open..did you wet set them ?

 

No wet setting yet.

 

That's the problem then..... You need to finalize the float settings. Remember that I set them at the initial setting, but that does not mean its dead-on yet. The 550 carbs are more likely to be adjusted than the 650/750 carbs.

So much so, that yamaha eventually dropped even stating an initial setting for the 550 carbs. I still set then to where they used to suggest.....

So you'll probably find that wet-setting will solve things.

 

They need to be off of the bike to wet-set. Since you have an overflowing carb I'd reccomend pulling the carbs and wet setting after you inspect them to find and correct the problem (likely just needing ot wet-set them).

 

You can at least check fuel levels while they are still on the bike though....

 

So do that before sync or doesn't matter?
I haven't touched the carbs since I got them back from you, other than putting them in to start up the bike.
I haven't looked into wet setting yet but would assume it requires a special tool/equipment?

 

I'll read up on this topic.
Adjustment, if something is off, would require to open the carbs I presume?

 

Remind me, what fuel injected engine is a 1:1 swap with my bike again?

 

Wet setting involves a clear tube to check fuel height in the bowl, pulling the bowl to adjust the float as needed.

I do not wet set them...... I will not send a set out that has been cleaned but then filled with gas again. It is the responsibility of the owner to do that step, as well as do the running syn and colortune stuff

 

No, that's understood, no worries Dave.
I'll read about how to measure it etc. and try to do it tomorrow - unless I don't have the equipment needed to do it.

 

If the fuel levels aren't wet there is no point in doing a final dial-in of idle mixture, or doing a running synch.

 

Thats correct.

 

Coolio. Watched a video on how to measure.
When adjusting the float hight, it's a matter of opening the individual carbs and adjusting the floater in there? Then test again after I put it back together? Or is there a more simple way that does not involve opending and closing the carbs?

 

Ok, just found something...
So it's basically find one carb (and float) that is set correctly and use it as reference. Turn the carb body around and just measure and set the others how they "hang" in the air?

 

Or, you have to adjust one to correct, then make the others match......

 

Yes, exactly.
Worst part of this is to remove and get carbs back into bike. I reeeaaaallllyy dislike this part. But I already mentioned it a few times

 

That's why it's recommended to do the wet-setting before putting the carbs on.... Lol