What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Rebuilding another set of mikuni bs30 carbs.....

 

tested citri strip on a faded clear coat on side cover.
I had some jet paint remover left over and that did not work nearly as well.
Citri strip with enough put on, the old clear coat just rubbed off.
Here is a test section I did. I'll be draining the oil then pulling all the side covers off.
I recently purchased a bench buffer/polisher also.
Plan is to:
Citri Strip.
Progressive Sanding
Polish
Wax

 

BMW panniers fitted.



Need to get it back on the road.

 

Cranked over bike , actuated the clutch lever, did the same with brake lever. I try to do this every once in a while to keep things from siezing up . I keep the bike on the center stand so in theroy the oil level will be on at least half the clutch plates . Cranking it over will move the position around and actuating lever should keep them pliable. One Seca I had had been on side stand for years and the clutch was siezed up took alot of effort to free it up .

 

Was working on a master cylinder rebuild today. I had soda blasted and stripped everything before painting. Sanded the "Yamaha" back to aluminum and then filled the lettering with white paint and wiped it off. Turned out pretty reasonable.

 

Roast, that looks excellent. When you wiped off after putting in the white paint, what did you use to wipe it off with so it did not dig in the groove or smear?

 

Thanks! I'm no painter, so I just winged it. The black is Duplicolor brake caliper paint, gloss black. It had dried for 4 or 5 days. The white is Testors acrylic...the little jars for model painting. It was the only liquid white I had. Smeared it on pretty heavy, then after 30 seconds or so I wiped it off with a blue shop towel with just finger pressure, nothing fancy. This left some white residue on the flat areas, so after another 30 seconds I wiped again with the towel that had been spritzed with carb cleaner.

Honestly I was expecting a massive mess requiring a full repaint, but it sort of worked!

 

Sandblasted a wheel today. Figured I'd try repainting it instead of just cleaning. Also got the 550 out for a brief ride while the sun was shining. Still froze my ass off.

 

Prior head scratching enabled simple engine removal. I had a piece of stainless plate similar length as the engine and about 4 feet wide, so I jacked up the motor clear of the mounts, pushed the plate 1-2 inches under the sump (plate supported other end on a compact scissor lift). I tie wrapped the plate to the lower frame to stop it slipping as we jiggled the thing out ( no lifting required yet). Then just some webbing through the motor mounting points, and fairly easy lift for two onto the bench. My lifting buddy was quite impressed with the slick operation (I was quite surprised myself!)

 

Looks nice and clean.
What kind of paint are you using?

 

Gloss black Duplicolor caliper paint. I will put some clear coat over it in a week or so. I masked the rim with regular blue tape prior to paint and that worked great. Started out trying to mask the spokes as well, and that is a pain in the butt, so I decided to remove the spoke paint afterwards (prior to clear coat). Not sure if its going to work..........

 

Finally got my rear wheel finished today. Removing the paint from the spokes wasn't easy. Still not sure if masking them would have been better. Originally the paint was machined off the spokes and rim, leaving the circular grooves on the spokes. I ended up having to sand them down smooth, which is a nice look. Sprayed a couple coats of 1K clear on top.

I'm second guessing the gloss black a bit...something a little duller might have looked better. The front wheel just got a cleaning and isn't quite as shiny. Hmm, maybe it needs a paint job too.

I'm curious, has anybody had their wheels powder coated and preserved the bare aluminum color on the spokes?

 

I've owned a few bikes with the black and bare aluminum wheels before and had always been leery of painting them, someone needs to make a "used tire black" colored spray paint! Maybe using a matte clear would help?

 

I like the look of the glossy black and the look of it on the spokes as well. The smooth finish of the paint might be easier to keep clean around and behind the brake discs as well. Nice clean margins between the paint and rim. Well done. Amazing what a little patience can accomplish.

 

Well this was a pisser. I cleaned up a ring and pinion for my project bike. When I pulled the drive shaft out of the pinion, the splined coupler came with it. As I've only had one of these apart once before, it didn't immediately register as a problem. Cleaned and painted the whole thing, replaced the big seal behind the ring gear, had it all nice and pretty and went to reassemble. As soon as I went to plug the drive shaft back in, the light bulb clicked on....aint supposed to look like this. Pulled the drive shaft out of the splined coupler and there was the nut and half the threads from the pinion.

How the heck does this even happen? This came off a non running project bike I bought that the guy had abandoned. When last running it probably sounded fine under load, but must have been noisy when coasting.

 

Fatigue.
It's a not unknown failure on shafty GS Zooks, but not all that common either. Usually the output end of the front bevel drive is the failure on them. Exact same shear of the bolt section though.
I'd not be surprised if many of the failures are linked to running the suspension too low (either loaded or deliberately lowered).
Kind of hard to prove, though.

 

Dec 31, 2023 - took my 900rk out for a short spin. 30 degrees, cloudy but not snowing, roads moist so I’ll have to clean it down well. But I got squeaked my December ride in so I got the whole year. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and dry so maybe I can start the next year of riding.

 

Went to look at the rims of my XS650 thinking I'd touch up the paint with some brush on caliper paint. paint is flaking off so looks like an easy touch up is not in the cards.
Went to look at a 2nd XJ650, this is a 1982 and owner already started to mod it with a flat seat and different bars & turn signals. he has original parts he says but I did not see it.
Agreed on a price and texted him later that night that Ill do the deal. He included a spare set of carbs, 2 helmets and a riding jacket. also had engine guards.
I evaluated the bike, it would not run and its priced as a non running bike, but it had compression, spark, alternator magnet was working and with some carb start, it ran for a couple seconds. he admitted to doing the carb rebuild this summer himself and replaced all the brass with what was in the ebay kit (bad idea). and it would idle but not throttle up.
I have a spare set of carbs I finally wet set this week to hopefully just pop in there.
bike will also need some electrical work cause he buggered the turn signal wiring and fuse box.
Scheduled to pick up this morning but his wife went into labor so pick up is delayed a few days.
My wife may not be happy when she sees it but hey, I'm helping out the parents of a newborn! My civic duty!

 

Whenever I get a good buy on a bike, or a good sale of such or parts of ANY good buy or sale.... I say “hey I just made a good deal— let’s go out for dinner”

she hasn’t complained in 20 yrs now.

if no deal for awhile, and I start getting the “you bought something else again?” Roll if the eyes, I miraculously “Just got a good deal, let’s go out for dinner!” A week or so later. Can’t do it the next day.... she’d figure that out too easily.

 

See, Dave is a true professional................kids, don't try this at home!