What did you do to your Yamaha today?

While waiting on some new jets from Chacal, I upgraded the cluster lights to LED’s. Nice and bright now

 

Are these just direct replacement bulbs?

 

Are the LED lights just install and that's it or are there other modifications necessary?

 

For the Atari cluster, they're drop in. For bikes with a single turn signal indicator, you may need a mod because of the way that lamp is connected between the two sides.

 

Done with the groove.

 

Good home made adapter plate. What kind of O ring is on it to resist oil and engine heat?

 

It's the one that came out of the stock oil filter cover.

 

Of course I should have realised that.

 

Made up a pair of side covers, formed out of alumium, tig welded, with locating tabs welded in. The airbox is an xj 600 I'm trying, I just didn't like the look of the chinese pods, and they kept falling off. Since the carbs are xj600 I thought I would try the airbox. I think it looks better than the 650 one, and it's bigger too, and unbelievably, you can fit it without a load of hassle.

 

Side covers look great. Any pictures of the back of one? How did you shape them?

 

I'll take a pic tomorrow. I was hoping to form them by beating, but sadly I don't have the skills. So the face is a 2.5mm (i think) piece of scrap, the sides and bottom piece were from some ally I bought to make the tailpiece..
not sure how to finish them, paint or polish and laquer?

 

Great job be interesting seeing the pictures. There is a guy on You Tube called Pete Williams you can have a look at his work and he explains how he shapes the parts he makes. Here he is

 

I bought T5 wedge LEDs from EBay. They fit the stock light bases.

 

Great need to get them for my bike.

 

There was a guy not far from me who did this, I think he died a few years ago and his Daughter or Grandaughter took over the business - still oxyacetylene welding, making one off special tanks.
Anyway - couple of pics of the insides of mine, poor tigging I know, but I don't do enough of it.

 

I have not welded anything a skill l need to acquire. Panels look great and there is the bonus of the mounting lugs and pegs not breaking. l need to get some scrap material and a welding machine and try it. I wouldn't bother about the welds look ok to me you have done a great job.

 

Welding for steel is easy and cheap to get into. Wire feed flux core machines do a decent job with an entry point of a couple to a few hundred dollars US. Welding other materials, like aluminum and stainless steel, is more complicated and expensive. TIG welding requires more expensive equipment and more training and practice. I think you're looking at probably $900 minimum for the welder, plus supplies (argon bottle, etc).

Nice work on those panels.

 

Hmm, no, not for stainless, 2 to 3 hundred will get you a dc inverter tig to weld steel and stainless. It wont do ally thou, you need ac for that.

 

Link? With solenoid, gauges, and hoses? The bottle alone, for the smallest one, is probably going to run you $125.

Incidentally, you don't need AC for aluminum. You can do it with a spool gun and argon shielding in MIG. Still expensive, though, but maybe a bit easier than TIG.

 

I need to go on a welding course.

 

I looked at a 650 sidecover and it is a jig saw puzel the way it was made with interlocking tabd to snap the parts together

 

Ok, I forgot about the bottle of argon - I see it as a consumable, but yes it would be a significant amount.
Do an ebay search for dc tig - if you want to mig ally you will need a 180 plus amp mig to make it work. And it won't weld "thin" sheet.

 

Do you have a photo of it? Be interesting to see it.

 

i will get one. you can see the dovetail

 

I see it on the panel that's good. I used to do a lot of them in wood, a long time ago. Very strong joint.

 

I got one basically done today..... just gotta get the correct battery to install, then the cover goes on, and all done. For now...... I can do minor upgrades as time and $ permit—-

it’s one of my little cousins..... the Baby J. Hey, maybe that it’s new name

i bought this a number of years back, I think 6, and it had to go into my shop to live for awhile. First startup today. I just took it for a 6 mi ride.

introducing a 1982 XS400RJ Seca

 

Nice bike you got there.

 

Nice Baby J!

 

Thank you!

 

Over the past couple of day, I've been installing SS braided lines on the FZR1000. I think one of the front lines is wrong, so waiting to hear back on that. Man, what a pain bleeding the rear brake! I also serviced the EXUP valve (this is a servo-controlled valve in the exhaust to vary back pressure with RPM so you can have really high flow with high revs, but enough back pressure in low and mid revs to keep it drivable). That came apart pretty simply and I lubed with copper never-seize. So, still need to sort out that front line, change the clutch line and bleed them all. Oh, and my bike came with tires from '98 and '99, so yea, getting new tires, hopefully this week.

 

I did. None of the cheap ones included the hoses.

The gas in the bottle is a consumable, but you need to buy the bottle, too. I stand by my original statment: you can weld steel with a flux core box for $200 to $300. Doing stainless is more expensive. And doing aluminum is more expensive still.

Incidentally, I've done pretty well on aluminum with my Miller 175 and a spool gun. The 175 is rated 130 amps. Among other things, I used it to repair a cracked crankcase on my Virago 750.

 

My local welding supply shop (General Air Services, here in Colorado Springs) does welding classes. They're very reasonably priced. I suspect that most welding supply places offer such courses. We actually did one sort-of as a team building event with some guys from work. I wanted to get some instruction in torch welding, but, by getting three of my co-workers to also take the class, we got a private class of four hours or so, with all equipment and supplies provided, and got the torch practice, as well as torch cutting, plasma cutting, and some MIG work. IIRC, it was $50 or so per person.

 

That is good value at 50 dollars. I am a Carpenter by trade (although it has been a long time since I worked at that). I am looking at doing a course and getting information of what kind of machine to buy as in most cases that choice will depend on the type of welding I would like to do. I got interested in it what I watched Pete Williams making and Aluminium fuel tank on You Tube. I don't have the metal shaping skills either but I would love to get an alloy tank made for my 900 but it would be expensive.

 

I've been watching a lot of fab videos, lots to do with welding. I took a MIG class years ago, but now I want to get into TIG. I know it costs more, but figure I'll save up and this is the setup I can start with https://ahpwelds.com/product/ahp-al...-sold-out-now-accepting-pre-orders-early-july I'll need the safety gear, gas cylinder and consumables, but with practice, I think I can handle doing TIG. I have in mind doing Aluminum and this process can do it all (I know, special considerations for some metals like titanium). The AC helps w/ aluminum since it cuts through the oxidation layer.

 

So it welds a small puddle at at time and the process would not work if it could oxydize (not spelled right) . So the flux or the gas used in MIG for example keeps the atmosphere away from the weld is that right? I read too that with TIG you use a pedal also (cannot remember what it is for voltage perhaps). That machine you are after I see the pedal with it. Is there no pedal with the MIG welder I assume because the welding amps are set with a dial switch.

 

We should probably start a welding thread!

I can point you at some TIG videos, but yes, pedal sets current. You set max current for your job on the control panel, and then the pedal goes from zero to that setting. Yes, the shield gas protects the weld from oxidation. You can set flow rate, and pre-flow and post-flow (the amount of time before the arc and after the arc that the gas flows, so you have good protection when the weld is hot).

 

Which TIG videos are you watching? New thread title what did you do with your welding machine today

 

Adding exhaust wrap on my newly painted black exhaust, and adding new fog lights gonna be a whole new bike when I'm threw and threw with this bad B

 

Washed it.

Verified that the oil cooler adapter plate and related hardware are not leaking with that new O-ring in place (currently, at least... will need to see how things look after a shakedown ride).

Drilled a hole through the MAC baffle and muffler so water doesn't pool there. Added some high-temp silicone to keep the water from running inside the muffler through the gap between muffler and baffle where the new drain hole goes through.

 

MIG is easier to learn, since you basically have a pistol handle and a trigger. For TIG you have the pedal, but you are also holding the torch with one hand and feeding filler material with the other... so a bit more coordination is involved. On the other hand, TIG allows much finer control, so you can weld thinner materials, and create smoother, more seamless, welds, in any material. The other big advantage of TIG is that you basically just use argon for shielding gas. With MIG you need a different shielding gas mixture for each metal. Bottles are expensive, and shielding gases are expensive, so, if you're doing a variety of small jobs, a decent TIG setup can actually be cheaper.

TIG also seems to be easier for doing special alloys. Not sure if anyone uses MIG for things like magnesium or titanium.

 

Not sure anyone here is going to TIG Titanium either. It takes a very controlled setup.

 

I've seen titanium done with TIG on Rob Dahm's channel. I watch because he does a lot with rotary engines and it's mildly entertaining. My dad had a couple original-style RX-7s. Anyway, his welder was doing TIG on some intake plumbing and plugged the ends of the tubing and filled it with shield gas to keep things clean.

 

Picked up a new engine today for my XJ650 4K0

Motors from a Maxim 4H7.

 

Before installing ,pull the oil pan to make sure chain guide has not broke apart.

 

Thanks for the heads up!

any other tips of what to look out for?

 

check the valves and do a compression test on the motor to ensure its a good one before all the trouble of installing it.
I see you need to move your starter over, once that's done hook a battery directly to the starter to turn it over for the compression test.
Put oil in it before hitting the starter. If the compression test shows it needs top end work this is all infinitely easier with the motor removed.
A cheap compression tester can be had for $30.

 

A cheap compression tester many not be a good compression tester

 

Any recommendations? I just ordered the OTC 5606...

 

true, the one I have reads 20 psi at rest.

looks good, want to trade? LOL.

 

LOL maybe after I use it, I also bought a motion pro carb sync if you want to be sold that at a discounted price when I am done haha