What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Not to sound like _that_ guy but that doesn't sound like proper biking gear. I never ride without at least my (leather) biking jacket and gloves. My pants look like jeans but they're reinforced with kevlar.

 

Stripped the paint from the outside of my fuel tank from the XJ, treated it with anti-rust and gave it a coat of primer. Pics are in my build thread. The rear brake on my other bike was dragging. Had a look at it and the pistons aren't retracting. Looks like I'll have to clean the pistons. But, I Can't get them of the rotor because the wear formed a lip at the rims and the pistons won't clear it. I'll have to bleed the brakes to see if that works. Thank God for Google! Never worked on brakes before so I ordered some more stuff yesterday.

 

In this situation l open the bleed valve on the caliper which allows me to push the pistons back enough to clear the high edge on the periphery of the disc.

 

Solid advice, friend! I'll be sure to give that a try.

 

Fixed a tear in the seam of my seat snd went for a ride, when I got home put some air in my front forks. Had to remove the handle bars to get at the air valves PO put different ones on that get in the way, good bend though and leans me just the right amount onto the air flow. Don't know if they will hold the air but time will tell.

 

Went for first ride since the CNYCC and that thing runs as smooth as ever! Wow! I cannot wait to ride again!

 

Got a petcock rebuild kit in the mail today so possibly tonight I will get that rebuilt and tested. Also have 4 new spark plug caps to install on the new autolite spark plugs.

 

Idle was a bit lumpy this spring, so yesterday I tweaked mix using colortune and resynched the carbs using my homemade manometer.
Running like a sewing machine now! Even my neighborhood bike enthusiast heard me stop at the stop sign outside his house. He commented now nice it sounded.

Gotta love these old bikes.

 

Went to car show in my Beetle didn't enter car even though guy at gate said I should. Saw one cool Suzuki GS750. Came home and did some cleaning on my Seca would have liked to go for a ride ...but more rain and temp dropped big time.

 

Went for a great ride! My wife took my daughter purse shipping for her grade 8 graduation and dragged my son along so I could enjoy my Father's Day ride. Got home and noticed my fork gaiter looked a little wet... blew a fork seal. Guess I shouldn't have put any air in the forks (6-7psi) so a seal kit is ordered. Sometimes life sucks, good weather finally for the next few days and I have to wait on parts.

 

Started cleaning the cylinder head of my XJ550. Any tips on how to easiest clean the head and pistons and get rid of the carbon build-up? I'm just using a toothbrush, sponge and dish soap (and a lot of elbow grease) atm, but some of those spots are being stubborn.

 

An aircooled Beetle with the boot at the front, great old cars they were.

 

Acetone and Automatic Transmission fluid I think the guys on the forum use, a 50/50 mix. Let the parts soak in it.

 

B12 Chem tool in a pour can works great as well. It really brakes down that carbon.

 

Changed the oil on Sunday and must have been distracted as I topped up the last little bit of oil because I forgot to put the oil cap back on.
I drove to work and back before noticing it missing. Heart attack ensued.
In the haze of my panic I looked down and there it was sitting caught up between the engine and the frame.
Amazingly didn't lose a drop of oil.

All is right with the world again.

 

An drill with a brass wire wheel will clean it up quick .

 

I did the same with my car and fortunately no damage was done. Caught it quickly.

 

still fighting with a carb bowl to clear enrichment wells

 

Try soaking in Berrymand carb B11 and acetone for several hours ..worked on mine anyways

 

Installed a new front tire and changed the bearings in the wheel.
Now its raining again.

 

One step forward one step back.
Fixed a leaking frork seal yeah!!!! Took it for a ride all good! Yeah!!
Got into the driveway heard the exhaust sounding different. Boo!!! The one spot I used exhaust putty on before I took off the crossover box and welded it a bunch(lost of holes) decided it let go but is still hanging on so lots of grinding in my future and welding on my back. Boo!!!
But I can still ride, yeah!!@

 

Nothing...again. SO many days of looking at her sit in the corner of the garage every time I have to cut a peice of molding for the house.

I've promised her we'd take one good ride before she goes into storage while we look for a new house, but there is so much to do before the move, and so little time to do it in.

Moving sucks. The heat and humidity aren't helping either.

 

Looked at bike ...more RAIN and temp 61 degrees ..this is June last I looked ... Saturday guess what Rain this weather is so weird .

 

I've had enough rain, but will take that 61º.
It was 90 today, with near 60% humidity. 95 tomorrow.

 

got it done.

 

Turns out I have BR7ES plus and caps at Ohms at 7700, 4800, 4500, and 4800 . I know 3 of the 4 fall into spec but one is way out.

So now its time to order plugs and new caps.... question is that I can't seem to find an answer on.. which caps?

VB05FP and LB05FP?
or
LB05F and XB05F?

Bike is a 82 Seca 650

 

In Canada you got resistor plugs in the xj from what I have read on the forums.

you will need caps that fit the head to wire space with proper angles

if you use resistive plugs you can use non resistive caps

 

I can get non-resistor plugs so I am. And getting resistor caps... But I need to know which part numbers for ngk.

 

caps are sold for size of spark plug thread and angle

from XJ4ever catalog
inside cylinders
short 120-degree angled boot, for 14mm "B" plugs with a threaded stud on top. Suitable replacement for the stock plug caps on the outer (#1 and #4) cylinders. Slightly taller than original caps (2.0" tall for these replacements versus 1.3" tall for the originals), and the 120-degree angled plug wire end offers some additional clearance as compared to the stock 90-degree right-angled caps.
tall 102-degree angled boot, for 14mm "B" plugs with a threaded stud on top. Recommended on the inner cylinders (#2 and #3) as replacements for the non-available tall 90-degree tip caps. Approx. 3.25" tall vs. the 2.5" tall originals.

straight, for 14mm "B" plugs with a threaded stud on top. Can be used on inner cylinders (#2 and #3) as replacements, especially when using aftermarket plug wires and coils. Approx. 3" tall vs. the 2.5" tall originals.

out side cylinders
short 90-degree angled boot, for 14mm "B" plugs with a threaded stud on top. Great replacement for the stock plug caps on the outer (#1 and #4) cylinders. Slightly taller than original caps (1.5" tall for these replacements versus 1.3" tall for the originals)

short 120-degree angled boot, for 14mm "B" plugs with a threaded stud on top. Suitable replacement for the stock plug caps on the outer (#1 and #4) cylinders. Slightly taller than original caps (2.0" tall for these replacements versus 1.3" tall for the originals), and the 120-degree angled plug wire end offers some additional clearance as compared to the stock 90-degree right-angled caps.

this link tells how to read part number of the cap

http://www.ngkpartfinder.co.uk/files/NGK_Spark_Plug_Covers.pdf

VB05FP = 120degree long 14mm plug 5k resistor terminal stud special water proof cover

L is 90 degree

 

Well based off that looks like I'll be ordering VB05FP and LB05FP

 

Tomorrow I can look in the garage. I have the ngk part numbers for inner and outer cylinders both with 5k ohms resistance.

 

Spent the day at the casino for a change I lost but wife won so we went to an estate sale nothing I needed . On the way home we stopped by local gas station we got some scratch off was standing outside , a guy on a full dress Harley pulled up to another dude on his Harley , he told the guy he just bought it paid 7k for it with 65k miles on clock ( WOW) he was worried he over paid ( do you think lol) it is his first bike , he had a tough time moving from stop sign it did not sound real good. Came home got on my Seca rode around town passed 100 miles on my 2nd tank of the season , my bike might not be perfect and it is not a Harley , figure I have less than 2k in bike , between up grades,tires, brakes,clutch, spin on oil filter, braided brake lines, AMG battery, fork seals, I bought the factory hard bags, I have the factory front fairing I have to repaint and all the other parts I have bought. Guess my point is I can enjoy my bike with no guilt of making payments , since this year so far has been a bust for riding this season due to RAIN, RAIN, MORE RAIN, FLOODING and temps in the 50 to 60's . Cheers.

 

Jetfixer, we could start a thread about Harley's and (some) of the people that ride them. I am metric all the way...Love my metric bikes and the cost and ease of maintenance is one of the reasons. Thanks for the story.

 

Worked on the rear brake. The calipers were dragging on the disc and not retracting properly, making it hard to get the brake assembly off. The pistons are stuck in the caliper; managed to squeeze them part of the way out by pumping the brake (first time bleeding brakes, now I know the pain, too). Tried compressed air to get them completely out but that didn't work. Luckily, a mechanic friend of mine will help me out (so grease gun option is off the table atm).

 

As a European, the Imperial system confuses the heck out of me. All my tools were metric already, so pretty happy I don't have to get everything double as I don't skimp on tools.

 

Some people need three sets. Older British motorcycles use Whitworth (BSW). The fun part with that standard is that the fastener head sizes changed a bit during WWII.

 

Interesting you mentioned it K-moe, below is a pretty good explanation of the fasteners on British bikes. Personally when I built my own BSA anything which needed a nut and bolt I substituted metric fasteners. If it screwed into a BSA part I used the correct bolt. I didn't actually buy a set of Whitworth wrenches, I was careful using an adjustable and in a few instances I made my own filing down 11 & 15 mm metric wrenches.


The Meaning of “Whitworth”

Included in this catalogue by kind permission from the author Charles Falco.

First, a bit of history. Although by the 19th Century England was well into the Industrial Revolution, every British
factory that needed to bolt something to something else devised its own fasteners to do so. Clearly, this caused all
sorts of compatibility problems. To the rescue came Joseph Whitworth, who in 1841 invented a standardized system
of course threads with 55 degree thread angle and rounded roots and crests. This was only one of his engineering accomplishments,
for which he was knighted in 1869.
Along with his form for the threads came heads for the bolts that were based on the length along the side of one flat,
rather than across the flats. Hence, there is no simple fractional number for the length across the flats, which is why
your American wrenches don’t fit. The fractional number on an English wrench refers to the diameter of the bolt
(which is 1/4”, 3/8” etc. just like in the U.S.); not the distance across the flats (which ends up being various weird
dimensions). Some years later the British decided they needed a finer pitch for some applications, so another thread
series was introduced (although using the same 55 degree Whitworth thread form). They also decided that the heads
were too big for the bolts, so for most of the applications they switched to using the next size smaller heads. Because
of this, and to add one more bit of complexity to your life, one manufacturer will mark a particular wrench (spanner),
“3/8BS”, while a different manufacturer will mark the very same wrench “7/16W”. They fit the same size head.
The first thing any fledgling Brit biker learns is that his or her motorcycle has “Whitworth bolts”. They think this is interes
ting , buy a set of “Whitworth wrenches”, discover these wrenches fit their bolts, and believe they now know everything
they need to know about British fasteners. Unfortunately, at this point they know only enough to make themselves
dangerous. Instead, what they should have muttered to themselves is “Oh my god, what other bizarre and incomprehensible
things have the Brits done to the fasteners on my machine?” The answer to this question is:

British Standard Whitworth (BSW)
These are the original, 19th Century, coarse-threaded industrial bolts designed to hold locomotives together. Because
of their coarse pitch, they are prone to vibrating loose, so are little used on motorcycles. The major exception is for
threading into aluminum (e.g. crankcase studs), where a coarse thread is less prone to stripping than a fine one. It
turns out that, other than for 1/2” (where the Brits use 12 tpi, and the Americans 13 tpi) the thread pitches are the
same as for American Unified Coarse (UNC). However, the thread form is different; Whitworth = 55 degrees with a
rounded shape, while UNC = 60 degrees with straight sides. In spite of this, mismatched nuts and bolts will mate without
apparent problem (even though the ultimate strength of the combination is somewhat less than it otherwise would
be), so you’re likely to find UNC bolts or studs where BSW should have been.

British Standard Fine (BSF)
This is a finer pitch series, using the same thread form as BSW. BSF is analogous to American Unified Fine (UNF), although
- unlike the case of BSW/UNC - none of the pitches are common with UNF. Many fasteners and parts with BSF
threads are found on motorcycles.

Cycle Engineers’ Institute (CEI) or British Standard Cycle (BSC or BSC)
These are different names used for the same threads.
These have straight sides and a 60 degree thread angle, rather than the 55 degrees of BSW/BSF. By far the most common
pitch is 26tpi for all sizes from 1/4” through 1/2”, although 20 tpi appears as well. Most, but by no means all, fasteners
on post-War BSA’s were CEI. That is, until the late 1960’s, when it got more complicated. Although both the
thread form and pitch are different than BSW/BSF, the heads on CEI– threaded fasteners use the same “Whitworth”
wrenches you bought for your machine. Also, since 1/4”CEI and BSF are both 26tpi, you will find these fasteners interchangeable,
even though they are of a different thread form.

British Association (BA)
BA has a 47 1/2 degree thread angle which, oddly enough, is the same angle as the angle between the cylinders on pre-War Series
A Vincent engines. Normally, I would assume this was a coincidence but, when dealing with British engineering, one never knows.
Anyway, BA is a metric thread system devised by the British for small screws used in components like speedometers. Not metric
like you might expect, but with the thread pitch and diameter determined by multiplicative factors of the number 0.9 to the power
BA. Hence, the bigger the number, the smaller the size. I couldn’t possibly be making this up. Ah, the English. You’ll find lots of BA
threads on any British bike, but only for fasteners smaller than 1/4”. BA fasteners have their own set of wrench sizes. Typically, a
set of “Whitworth” sockets will include a 0 BA and maybe a 2 BA socket.

British Standard Pipe (BSP)
These are based on the Whitworth thread form, and come in both a straight and a tapered series. You’ll probably
find one of the former threads on your bike’s petcock, while the latter is the self-sealing thread system used on such
things as galvanized water pipes.

Unified Course (UNC) and Unified Fine (UNF)
In the late 1960’s, when even the U.S. was thinking of going metric, the giant BSA Corporation decided it was finally
time to scrap that old 19th Century Whitworth-based system, and switch to …..yes, you guessed it, American. Since
they had lots of money invested in tooling, the switch wasn’t made suddenly (or completely), so starting in the late
1960s bikes had a mix of all sorts of thread forms. Typically, engine internals (e.g. the thread on the end of a camshaft)
stayed with whatever form it used to have, while simple fasteners (e.g. holding the fenders on) switched to UNF. A
typical wrench for UNC/UNF fasteners is marked with its size using a notation like “3/8 A/F”. Many people mistakenly
believe “A/F” means “American Fine”. Not so . It simply means the measurement is taken Across the Flats. Also , although
this thread form is commonly identified as being “American” (and, indeed, is based on the older Society of Automo
tive Engineers, SAE, standards), in fact it is a British Standard as well. This particular standard was developed in
1948 as a result of the painful realization that it would be convenient if during the next war Nigel’s spanners and fasteners
worked on Joe’s Jeep. The short term solution was to flatten the crests, and round off the roots, of the SAE
thread form, which allowed UNC and BSW to interchange.

Model Engineering (ME)
These are based on the Whitworth thread form, but have threads with finer pitch than BSF. They come in a range of
diameters, but all are either 32 or 40 tpi. Miller used ME for at least one fastener on some of their electrical equipment.

Metric
I can’t think of any examples of classic British motorcycles that left the factory with metric fasteners, but have every
confidence that there were some. But, even leaving these aside, unless you bought a machine that was never uncrated
before reaching your hands, don’t discount the possibility that some previous owner substituted metric fasteners
when he couldn’t get his hands on proper ones. At this very moment the rear fender on one of my British bikes is being
held in place with metric fasteners. Although I don’t intend that they stay there to vex some future owner, you
never know. They’ve temporarily been on the bike for more than 15 years thus far. And don’t assume all metrics were
created equal. Prior to the creation of the ISO standard in the mid-1960’s, the Japanese JIS metric standard was different
than the German DIN standard, which in turn was different than the French standard. Although the bolts were the
same diameters, in many case the pitches were different.

“None of the Above”
While the above systems account for well over 95% of all threads you will run across on a British bike, they are by no
means all threads that were in use during the 20th Century. Also, some manufacturers couldn’t restrain themselves
from inventing a few oddball pitches of their own. This is why, when dealing with British bikes, you should assume
nothing. You must have a pitch gauge and calipers.
So, let’s say you would like to buy a set of “Whitworth” taps and dies to use on your British motorcycle. My first recommenda
tion is that you buy a HSS set (rather than carbon steel), even though it will be at least twice the price. Then,
in order of overall usefulness, I believe you’ll find in first place will be a CEI set, then BSF, then BA. Unless you really
get deeply involved, I suggest you make do with UNC to “simulate” BSW, although you’ll want to buy an individual
1/2”-12 at some point to supplement your UNC set. Thus, if you follow my recommendation, one of the very last
things you’ll want to buy for working on your British motorcycle is an actual “Whitworth” tap and die set.

 

Unrelated update: I no longer want any British bikes in my stable.
That is all.

 

And I been really wanting early 80s GS750

 

I was able to put together and bleed the rear brake yesterday, so I took the bike to work today. It makes for a better start of the work day. =)

 

Interesting read, thanks. Def. something to consider before getting a British bike.

 

Ya, that was a interesting read for all the different standards...can you say "proprietary" . Used to run into that all the time with electrical stuff in the service, why not in the mechanical fields.

 

Took the ole girl out for Applebee’s

Tinkering as well with the new to me 750r parts bike

 

Welded a hole in the collector box, doesn't look that great but I didn't take it off the bike so that's what I get. Reinstalled the front fender with a coat of truck bed liner sprayed over it, I like the look. This bike has so many dings and pitted chrome that I'm starting down a blacked out paint scheme. It sounds so much better with that hole filled.

 

Go fast parts for the seca 650

 

I've been having a horrible break of the bike around 6500-7000rpm where the bike just doesn't stumble and I've been working slowly through everything to get it fixed.

Found out the following:
1) Bike is using resistor caps with resistor plugs - proper plugs and new caps on the way
2) Coils measure within spec although the primary spec for both are right at the tail end of 2.8
1/4 P = 2.8 S = 11.45
2/3 P = 2.8 S = 11.05

Replaced pods for airbox and adjusted mixture screws to 2.5 turns but going to to out to 3

Started getting parts to get the oil cooler back on the bike

Tonight or maybe tomorrow its going to be valve check time.

 

Took the girl to work. Shouldn’t take her here coz it’s too dang dusty

 

Please note the idle mixture screws do not have to agree , I use a colortune plug on my seca started at 2.5 most of mine are at 3 to 3.5 , I check plug color once in awhile I pull the plugs to check color. Another thing your valve adjustment can effect carb settings .

 

Today temp in the high 80's , I worked yesterday on my wifes Chevy HHR replaced both hub bearings , and rotors and pads ( love Rock Auto) only took me about 3 hrs temp was in 90s after that I rode to gas station to buy Powerball ticket , was not in mood to ride , but today I rode ran some errands and rode to a buddies house , looked at his ATK 605 cool bike . Headed home and the sky looked mean storm rolling in ,wind really blowing , was moving me around , made it home just in time. My wife was worried about me , when I got home she showed me the radar BIG red and yellow storm. Oh well was a nice ride till the last 10 miles, would have not been first time I've riden in the rain.

 

Hmmmm... this guy good or bad luck just before a ride?