What did you do to your Yamaha today?

I’m late posting by almost two hours, but I loaded onto a trailer.

 

Drove 900 miles today

 

You ralise that bike will be making a strange bodoom boodoomp noise don't you?

 

I do. Though it's not the potato-potato sound of that one brand.
It's a bike that I refurbished 10 years ago for a friend, and it's coming back to me as a gift.

 

Talking of unusual sounding bikes, I’m tempted to look into making a Big Bang xj engine, imagine Yamahas 4 cylinder sounding like a rasping parallel twin, with 12,000 rpm available..

 

custom camshaft?

 

Indeed, maybe a cut and shut, if indeed they are forgings. If they’re chilled cast then no chance. Would also need to be a 900 head I think.

 

Took a long, lazy ride this morning and rebuilt the forks when I got home. They needed it pretty desperately, with hardly any oil left in either.

 

It’s odd how after a while riding you get to “tune in” to little (or not so little) things that need doing - I got my front brake performing really well, then thought I felt a little “skewering” from the front end under braking. Decided to rebuild the forks - well the seals were knacked but there was oil in there, however, one of the mudguard mount bolts had been sheared off. Given this is a fork brace I wouldn’t be surprised if this was what I was feeling.

 

1981 xj650 4KO (uk) full rebuild. Finished valve clearance check, fired her up, didn`t sound too awful, but not quite right. Plugs examined, 1,2, look ok, 4 was a bit sooty, 3 was wet. I tested the coils on the bench before reassembly, and they checked out ok. Spark does look weak on 3, but 1,2 and 4 plugs also similar, no fat blue sparks evident at all. I am prepared to accept the 42 year old coils/leads are goosed, are there any other suggestions please?

 

Make sure the caps are screwed into the wires good. You might try nipping off 1/8 - 1/4 in. and screw the caps back on.

 

You can fit Honda CB750 coils if you want to change them. There is a thread on the forum @Jetfixer did.

 

No fat blue sparks ever came out of the Yamaha coils - that’s just how they are.

 

Thanks guys, we`re getting there!

 

Good little ride up to Mt St Helen's today. This is the east side at the Windy Ridge viewpoint. The final 16 miles up the hill are a bike dream...great road, incredible scenery, fun twists. If you're around SW Washington, definitely put it on your list.

It was an eclectic trio of bikes on the trip with a Road Glide, a Tiger and my old XJ. The bike did great today, other than my tach quit working...Hopefully just a parted cable.

212 miles total trip. Good time.

 

A while back I wondered why all my main wiring connections hung below the headlight bucket, but figured out shortly after that I had an aftermarket bucket without enough room inside. I found an original bucket in good shape and swapped that in today. Nice to have the wiring contained, although I really preferred the bulb retaining method on the aftermarket unit which was a simple twist lock on the trim ring.

 

Finally got my carbs exploded open for a full rebuild. Without an ultrasonic this is gonna be a chore…

 

Get a one gallon container of Berrymans carb cleaner from Autozone it has a small bucket inside dip each carb body in it for about an hour, take it out wash carb body in some hot dish soap Dawn is what I use , and let it dry blowing with an air compressor helps to .

 

Bummed it has been monsoon season here , today was nice BUT I had to work and had to work late even though I work from home was not in my plans . Finished for the day , aired up my tires on my truck and decided better check tires on bike they were low on the rear tire aired up and went for a short ride ohh wanted to go for a longer ride . Every weekend I plan to go it has rained or I've had to do something else , fall is going to be here soon so riding season will be ending .

 

Took a ride to a bike swap meet today. Didn't really know what to expect, and turned out to be pretty much old Harley, Indian, etc. Stuff that has just never struck my fancy. I'll take a Japanese bike anyday. But, it was a beautiful day for a ride.