What did you do to your Yamaha today?

This year it will be a GoPro... if we can get some warmer weather

 

I got caught in a downpour on the way home from work today. Thankfully I had my rain suit on, but I was stuck in traffic during the worst part, so I just sort of had to sit there and let my helmet get soaked.

That aside, I think I actually like riding in the rain. Gotta be a little more cautious about traction, but the air cooled engine seems really happy to get water sprayed on it while I ride. And I enjoy the pitter patter sound against my helmet.

 

If you don't ride in the rain you aren't a real rider.... I have had some real memorable, in a good way, rides in the rain. I like riding in the sunshine better but the rain isn't always a bad ride.

 

Went for a longer ride across town today. When I got to my destination, I noticed I was missing something…





I’m assuming this heat shield on the exhaust pipe doesn’t do anything besides look nice and keep my foot cooler… right? Even so, I’m still bummed about it. I guess the bracket holding the back of it on rusted through. That thing was welded, so I don’t think there’s any repairing this unless I replace that whole part of the exhaust.

 

I have a couple that I have removed to clean up/repair the exhaust box. You can have them for the cost of shipping from 27511. You will have to weld them back on but I am not going to use them.

 

Dangit! Went to wipe the grimy fork oil off and it just crumbled in my hands. Something else I have to fix.



Brakes are lookin' spiffy though.



The speedo gear was feeling kinda crusty and looked a bit rusty...but by the time I got it cleaned up it was just solidified grease. Gears look good. After a fresh smathering of grease it's smooth as silk.
(forgot to take an "after" shot before I greased it up)



Getting close. I got the plate yesterday. Maybe a test ride tomorrow...

 

I don't know what your brake symptoms are, but most problems can be solved with a brake fluid change. Brake fluid turns to goo over time, and can also solidify.
You'll hear people say that brake hoses can collapse on the inside and cause calipers to stick, that is a myth. The brake hoses cannot do this, all that is needed to fix this problem is a guitar string. Also, check to make sure that your brake rotors don't have oil on them if you have weak brakes. If the calipers aren't leaking there's really no reason to rebuild them

 

It's got one piston dragging and wearing the pad faster than the rest. They're overdue for a rebuild anyway. Also need to change fork oil and rebuild the anti-dive since I cheaped out and didn't do it when I replaced the hoses. Now that I've done the 900 its fresh in my mind so should be a breeze. Might as well do it all at once.

Just gotta get the 900 finished up and out of the way, then do some work in the KLR, then get the exhaust fixed on the Shadow, THEN I should have room on the table for the 750.

 

It's not just the leaks. Corrosion sets up behind the lip of the piston seal, sometimes the piston itself gets a little rust and starts hanging up. To say there's no reason to rebuild other than for leaks is really asking for trouble... ask me how I know.

Do you want to trust your life on some unknown condition brake lines? Again I must say this is some really bad and borderline dangerous advice. Brake hoses can swell internally and act as a check valve of sorts with the higher pressures during application pushing the walls out slightly more, return is only the release of pressure which will drop to a point where the swollen wall will hold the fluid back slightly and drag the pads. This is the collapsing that people often refer to that however is mislabeled is real and potentially dangerous. Only thing a guitar string is going to do is compromise the interior of the brake line, sorry but you're not working on my bike.

 

Yes, I've seen brake hoses "close up", also seen Ali corrosion under seals make them bind up. So a calliper rebuild every few years seems sensible - what's the recommendation?

 

Yamaha recommends that your brake calipers should be rebuilt every 2 years.
Yamaha recommends that your master cylinder should be rebuilt every 2 years.
Yamaha recommends that your brake hoses should be replaced every 4-5 years.

 

I don't think there's any hard numbers for when you should rebuild the calipers but personally I'd say to check them out every season at the minimum especially if you ride in the rain or regularly wash the bike. I like to check the pistons to make sure they're free moving by using C-clamps and seating them fully and pumping them up again. This will also push out any air bubbles and give me a good feel for how things are moving while extending out the dust boots for inspection and cleaning. I'm also going to order a set of the stainless lines from Chacal for my eventual conversion to a top side brake master.

And of course Chacal beats me to the POST button.

 

There you go, fixed that for you.
Other than that, what you wrote is drivel.

 

So what did I do to my Yamaha today? Ordered up a set of stainless brake lines from Chacal.

 

Took a 60 mi. ride to BassPro to pick up a new rifle.

 

Today I:

Installed self made brake lines for the AntiDive system
Installed a Messner Throttle assembly
Installed a Helicoil in two brake bleeder ports
Installed new brake speed-bleeders from Russel
Designed in cad a mounting bracket for the taillight
Installed front turn signals to test this location for them
Fabricated an air intake plenum with internal velocity stacks,(just need to weld them on)
Installed heat shrink braided loom on a few lights and other components
Prepped the horn bracket to be cut apart and modified for Suzuki horns
And ordered a large lot of things on ebay.

I think that covers most of what I did today so far.

 

Sounds like you had a busy but productive day. Good for your XJ.

 

First summer-like day here. Got the 750 and 1100 out to shake off the cobwebs. I use a maintainer through the winter, but the battery in the 1100 was weak, likely needs replaced. Jumped it and got it started. The 750 decided to be more dramatic with a stuck float. Cranked and sputtered until it puked gas and oil out the airbox. Fixed the float and did two oil changes to purge to gas. Time to ride.

 

I cheaped out and just used some DupliColor ceramic enamel. I'll probably regret it, but obviously the factory coating wasn't all that resistant to brake fluid either since half of it had peeled off. Worst case I guess I paint it again.

I debated back and forth on the gloss vs satin. Kind wish I had gone satin since the gloss looks quite a bit shinier than the original. Maybe it will look more natural once it gets a little dirt on it.

I also modeled up a full set of 3D printable caps to cover all the various holes that shouldn't be painted. Worked awesome. At some point I'll stick them in Thingiverse and post in the 3D printing forum.

 

Use some satin clear coat over it............

 

True. Or just another coat of black that's not as glossy. Unfortunately, this is the type of paint that you have to wait 5 days if you don't add coats within an hour. I really need to get this project wrapped up. The honey do list is going to take over soon...

 

I say l cannot concentrate on the to do list until my bike is fixed .

 

Just waiting for my stainless brake lines to arrive, need another excuse to work on my bike.

 

I bought an untitled 550 Maxim switched tanks, kept the carbs and and grab bar, switched a couple of turn signals and put it back up for sale on Facebook Marketplace in Minneapolis, Minnesota for $400 or best offer. If anyone on the Minneapolis area is interested, let me know.

The Frankentank goes with it (the one that's pop riveted, JB Welded, and Por 15 lined) I tested the tank with some windshield washer fluid and it didn't leak but the bike was for my son so I thought it best to give him an unpatched tank (I've discussed that the tank is patched).

 

I rode it!

Almost 9 months since I bought it, and I had never even ridden it. Heck, I hadn't even sat on it. After many hours and way more money on parts than I hoped, I finally got it back on the road today! The XJ-900 lives!

Didn't go far, just an 8 mile round trip to the gas station. I need to go back and give everything the once over before I take it very far.

Took forever to get the brakes bled and I am still not sure they are 100%. I can see where it's probably darn near impossible to get all the bubbles out of the line that goes from the caliper to the anti-dive since the high spot is in the middle of the hose. I'll let it settle for a while and try again. They aren't bad, just not as strong as I would have expected from a dual disc.

Also had an issue with a pretty serious leak of fork oil at first. Seemed to be coming from the anti-dive. I was cursing the idea of having to take EVERYTHING apart again to troubleshoot, but I think I finally figured it out. Seems it was the "top hat" seal that goes on the plunger that the brake side piston pushes. I took it out and reseated it and that seemed to stop the leak. Or at least slow it down substantially.

Still a few things to do. I never got around to cleaning the tank. I just added a filter for now. The turn signal switch is all gummy and sticks, and the self-canceler doesn't work. (it does have self-cancelers doesn't it?) Still need to rebuild the rear caliper too. Lots of little cosmetic things.

Gotta say, I LOVE this bike! Man does it run beautifully! Quiet, strong, purrs like a kitten at idle. Very happy! Now I just gotta get the 750 running this good!

Such a relief to finally have it on the road! Thanks to everybody here that helped me get through it!

 

Smashing bike looks great.

 

Six months after parking all my bikes for a knee replacement, I got the Yamaha out and went for a little ride today (I've been riding the Harley and the Himalayan for about a month and a half now; I haven't ridden the XJ because I'm short on those round tuits).

Last fall I bought new rubber caps for the carb-sync ports on the intakes, as the old ones were pretty hard and loose. They needed replacing, but alas did nothing to change the small-but-annoying problem idling--it idles just fine for a while, but then the rpm drops over the course of about a minute until it stalls. Adjusting the idle speed until it idles steadily at 1050-1100 causes it to not return quickly to idle after I blip the throttle. Last fall I went looking for vacuum leaks, particularly around the manifolds and throttle shafts, but found none. At this point I'm suspecting it's synchronization and/or idle mixture. About this time last year I had it running really well in terms of idling and making power and returning quickly to idle... but after a thousand miles it completely carbon-fouled the #3 plug. I returned #3 to the original factory setting (which was much leaner than the other three carbs), and that's when I got the current behavior. I suppose a little more tinkering is in order... but that's why we have summer.

Anyway, I only rode about a dozen miles, in part because I have a new set of back brake shoes sitting in the garage, and the Laws of Cartoon Physics dictate that if I go for a long ride with new replacement shoes in the garage, the 45-year-old originals will instantly and catastrophically de-laminate. Friday is supposed to be 70º but rain all day, and the Harley will be in the shop (and therefore out of the garage, creating some room), so I will probably swap the shoes then.

 

It sounds like needle & seat is over filling carbs. What happens when you shut the gas off while running on center stand?

 

Installed my stainless brake lines on my SECA 750 Sunday afternoon, most everything was smooth despite a few little wrinkles. The braking performance has a much different feel than with the OE rubber lines and there are a number of factors at work here. There was an earlier post that said the stainless brake lines made the bike feel 100 pounds lighter and while that might be true to a certain extent one must be cautious, the braking action is faster with less finesse or fine control over the application. The window between where the pads touch the rotors to when things begin to exceed the limits of the front tire is far smaller and this requires a complete relearn of the braking capabilities and how to master them. One thing the stainless lines will not do is give you more "braking power" as this is defined by the few square inches of pad and friction coefficient at a given pressure, the only thing the lines really do is drastically reduce the hysteresis or deadband that's caused by the expansion of the rubber brakes lines during the application and putting this energy back into pushing the caliper pistons.
From my own experience the one thing I can't emphasize enough is to get a feel for the brakes before hitting the streets.

The installation was good overall and it took about 200 ml of fluid to completely fill the system making sure the reservoir remained full, I used a large 60ml syringe and these can be found on Amazon or any coop that sells live stock supplies & medicines. Do keep in mind the brake fluid is going to swell the rubber plunger of the syringe in short order, I got three hours out of mine before it got stubborn. To bleed my brakes I first seated my caliper pistons then used a vacuum pump to pull the fluid thru the hoses until they ran clear first starting with the calipers then moving to the anti-dive valves making sure the reservoir was topped off with a new jug of DOT-3... you can use whatever flavor fluid suits you just make sure it's fresh. All the copper washers were replaced and this is of high importance as the old washers will not conform to the new banjo fittings.

Overall I will say the difference in price between the OE rubber and stainless is an excellent investment and money well spent. Chacal was very up front and honest about the pricing with no surprises and the overall experience was a benchmark for others to follow. With the numerous postal service issues going on I'd strongly recommend going with an alternative be it FedEx or UPS, I don't see the dismal USPS conditions improving any time soon.

Fresh from the envelope with that new stainless brake line smell. Good quality lines that are properly crimped and marked with red tape to indicate which end goes UP.



The one wrinkle I encountered, the angle of the lower banjo needed to be adjusted slightly with a rubber mallet to relieve the stress, the line itself wasn't compromised and I don't know why this wasn't addressed during the assembly. Just hope this doesn't become a failure point in the future. Both anti-dive line fittings had to be adjusted to fit.



Lower valve control line after the slight adjustments.

 

Took her out for a little after dinner ride up to the foothills to try some twisties.

If you're from the Denver area, you might know the spot.

 

gorgeous bike!
You need to have some tank scoops 3D printed if you can't find them.

 

I have one scoop. I've been working on a 3D model of it that I can mirror for the other side, but my skill at organic shapes leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

 

Oh, and it's not quite as pristine looking in person. The stripes on the tank are all cracked, there are a couple dings in the tank, quite a few chips in the paint all over, the clear coat on the polished parts is all yellowed and/or flaked off. Some of the red is faded on the tail and front, crack in the fairing...but it's mostly it's all there and serviceable. Need to save up for paint someday. With some cosmetic work it could be a real showpiece though. I'm happy with it.

 

It's a nice ride regardless of the little things.

 

It slows down and eventually stops running. Nothing out of the ordinary.

One of the things I did after getting the insides of the carbs "zestfully clean" was to set the float levels using the tedious and smelly factory process (clamped in a vise, checked for level, clear plastic tube to measure fuel height in the bowls; measure, curse, drain, adjust, repeat, repeat, repeat), so I am pretty sure they are OK. I've checked for signs of vacuum leaks and can't find any. I believe it's just a matter of adjust, sync, repeat until I get it dialed in. I suspect that replacing the hopelessly rusted-out stock mufflers with a pair of Harley Sportster take-offs has had a minor effect on tuning, so a bit more fiddling is likely to be required. I don't have an exhaust gas analyzer or colortune plug (and am not sure my color perception is good enough for me to use the latter anyway), so I am mostly going by behavior and reading plug deposits. The interesting thing is that the bike runs very nicely but for the idle issue, and that is easily addressed by blipping the throttle every 15-30 seconds while waiting for the light to change, so I'm not horribly motivated...

 

It sounds like the problem started from sitting 6 mo. Mouse? Oil in gas? The thing about factory settings is if someone cranked the mixture screws too far, the factory settings are out, you have adjust for smoothest idle and acceleration.

 

Not today, but yesterday. We went to the NC DMV and applied for the bonded title and got the license plate for the XJ650 Maxim garage find. Back on the road after 30-ish years. It had been kept in doors and not terribly neglected with just under 10k miles. A bit of exterior patina rust on the tank but the inside was clean. What appears to be the original tires even hold air but I don't want to ride them farther than the driveway. Now tires and go ride!