New here in town, and about to be back out

New here to the forums, and just want to introduce myself a little. I started riding when I was very young on dirtbikes and quads, and got onto the road for a brief bit in my late teens after I picked up a basketcase Honda CX500 and got it going. I was always a Honda guy, no matter what. Well, my early 20's came along and I discovered the wonders of Wine, Women, and Song. Suddenly, I didn't have the time to worry about motorcycles anymore, and I got out of the wind.

Fast forward 10 years, and things change. I decided one day I wanted another motorcycle, and let everyone know I was looking. I don't ride new bikes. I cannot and never will be able to justify spending $15,000 on a motorcycle when there is a wide world of deliciously cheap motorcycles out there. So what if it's 30 years old! It will run great with a little TLC and soap and water. Well, a guy from work came to me and said he had a bike for sale. It was old, it had no miles on it whatsoever, it ran, and the price was definitely right. I bought it without doing much research into that particular model. I soon found out why a 37 year old motorcycle could only have 8000 miles on it.

A beautiful bike that turns heads. I can't go into the gas station to get a candy bar without coming out to at least 3 50somethings standing around it reminiscing about the good ol' days when the old lady let them do fun things.

That is, when it is running and not currently catching on fire, blowing yet another seal or gasket somewhere, and most recently the primary chain has begun sawing it's way through the sidecover. I decided it needs to go, and it's currently in my kitchen having the smoke put back into the voltage regulator and other wiring, and Im concocting something to tame the primary chain. I put the word out I was in search of a "new" bike.

Ask, and you shall receive. I was presented with this beauty, sporting only 14k on the clock, no rust, and had only been dropped once. (There's a dent in the tank. Previous owner painted the dent black and replaced the emblem while they were still available.)

I paid the hefty sum of $500 and got a bill of sale. Unfortunately, the title was long gone, and the bike had been sitting for 7 years in the garage of the guy who bought it and never transferred the title.

New Jersey does not, under any circumstances, allow anyone to obtain a title for a motorcycle that is not titled in their name. There is no work around. Nothing. So after some research, I registered the bike in a certain Green Mountain State that will remain nameless. :wink:

Before I even started it, I replaced the brake shoes per the suggestions (and warnings!) of everyone at this site. I checked out the brake fluid situation, replaced all of the fluids and filters. Fresh gas in the tank and float bowls. Hit the choke, and pressed the start button. No stumble. It didnt even crank a few times. It fired and ran the instant I hit the start button, like it had never even been parked. This really was the insanely reliable Yamaha I had read up on before buying. Needs a little work. The fuel sending unit is gunked and doesnt work correctly, previous owner used a sealed battery and the battery sensor is missing, and the carbs aren't quite right after 2 tanks of Seafoam. They are coming out to be cleaned (correctly) this weekend.

As I said before, things change, and I am being forced to move far away. Nevada, actually. My car is a piece of junk, and even myself being an auto technician cannot justify what it would take to make it roadworthy for such a trip. I have to sell it and take the only reliable vehicle I have. September the 15th, I am setting out on my SECA from New Jersey to Nevada.

Ill be here a lot between now and then, and probably even when I am on the road. I look forward to sharing information with all of you.

 

Welcome

Bike looks great.

There are some things that you will need to attend to. You did the brake shoes... Springs???

Carb... There gonna need to come apart.
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14692.html or
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2 ... n+own.html

Valves are gonna have to be done...
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=1 ... xj550.html

Brakes m/c, lines, caliper rebuild and pads (most likely)

Forks need to be rebuilt. They'll probably go out soon after riding some.

Check the starter. At least clean it...

TIRES. A new set will help you out.

Fuse box...
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=28006.html

I sure I forgot something's but THAT should get you to Nevada. 8O

Unless everything has been done and then you won't have anything to do.

Hope this helps. That a pretty nice bike.

 

The original owner who had it before it was parked in the garage had the valves done every 6k miles, and It came with the records to prove it. I got everything with this bike. It really is a gem. Ive put about 1k miles on it since I got it a month ago, and so far no leaks in the fork seals. They are still nice and soft and pliable. As far as the carbs go, I used to ride on the dirt and had to clean carbs due to crummy fuel and dirt that made its way into the tank on the regular. Ive rebuilt a carb before, even a CV carb. Just not 4 at a time. I have the block off tool for the YICS (came with the bike). After the rebuild and cleaning, Im going to have someone who knows what they are doing properly balance them just to make sure.

Funny you should mention the fusebox. I went on a 200 mile ride yesterday... You know, trying to condition myself to being stuck on this bike for days on end. It started getting dark, and I got headlight flashed by an oncoming truck. Pulled into a convenience store, and sure enough, both lights were not working. A peek into the fusebox revealed the headlamp fuse had not only blown, but melted the connector for the fuse.

I was stuck, at 10PM, 100ish miles from home with no headlamp and a route back that took me through the Jersey Pine Barrons, where streetlamps don't exist. Dark, real dark. The nearest Wawa supplied me with a roll of tin foil and some packing tape. I rolled the old fuse in foil about 5 times larger than it is normally, then crammed the fusebox lid down to hold it in place and secured it with tape. I made it home. Cheers to making things work out on the road! I am also going to replace the fusebox this week, either with a blade fuse homebrew or something aftermarket.

The tires are 11 years old, so technically no good. I am riding on them now, but will be replaced before I shove off. I have mixed emotions about motorcycle tires. Ive had better luck as far as traction goes with cheap tires than good ones. Cheap tires always seem to be sipey as heck. Good tires are always smooth.

 

Here is my repair on NJ Route 9. Tinfoil.

 

Replace your clutch, choke and throttle cables before the long ride.

 

Got the carbs out to be cleaned yesterday. I decided it needed to be done because the idle situation wasnt getting any better and the power seemed to be "peaky" for lack of a better way to describe it. Sort of like it was running lean. They came out easy enough. Slid the airbox back and had just enough room to squeeze them out.

Got to the kitchen table and began removing float bowls. I have never, ever, in all of the carburetors I have cleaned and rebuilt, saw what I saw yesterday. Scale. Absurd amounts of scale. It was like someone had taken sand and filled the float bowls. I guess previously I had been blessed with working on carburetors that had real gasoline in them. Not this ethanol garbage.

Needless to say, I cleaned the jets and bowls myself. The carb bodies are off to the shop to be cleaned in the tank to make sure all of the passages are clear. Im too afraid that that crap got sucked into the idle circuit and I wont be able to get it out with spray cans. This is what E10 fuel does to your carburetor. Imagine what it's going to be like when they start using E15 and higher. Disgusting. Photos below. I didnt resize them to show "texture".

 

Ethanol sucks

 

I agree. I almost feel compelled to write my congressman and include these pictures. Ethanol fuel is bad, and will destroy all of the older motorcycles... and lawnmowers, and snowmobiles, and boats, and any number of old powersports crafts that are still commonplace today. 10 years ago, I would have had some varnish to deal with and that was that. This... This was sand in my float bowls and tank destroying my motorcycle.

Not only was there scale, but there was ALGAE! Freaking algae.

A metal component that spends its whole life submerged in a petroleum distillate should never corrode. Even if that distillate is gasoline. No air is present. It shouldnt grow algae. This is horrible.

 

Carbs have been getting gunked up from sitting since long before ethanol was blended with gasoline. I like my E10. It's been good to me for 30 years (even in my 1964 wood chipper that sits unused 11 months of the year).

 

I hope you're right k.

But I've never had so much trouble starting any engine that has sat for winter as I have had in the last 5 years.

 

Anything thats going to sit for more than a month has to be prepped for sitting.

Oil change, add stabilizer to a fresh tank of fuel, drain the float bowls, fog the cylinders with oil, plug the exhaust and intake to keep the vermin out.

A story for you (bear in mind that the plural of anecdote is not evidence, so have the salt handy).

When we moved to Kansas I had to leave my truck behind. My initial plan was to fly back out and get it later that spring, so I didn't prep it for storage. The reality that occured was it sat in my father's yard for three years, with E10 in the float bowl and both tanks. When I finally went to get the truck I had to work exceptionally hard to get it to run. I needed a new battery, and had to crank the engine over three times instead of just once. I proceeded to drive it from Oregon to Kansas without any fuel problems. Maybe I got lucky, but when I did finally pull the carb for a rebuild (I found a vacuum leak at the accelerator pump rod) there wasn't a trace of corrosion or gunk inside.

I guess my point is that E10 is not the devil. It's been avaliable as a motor fuel in some areas since the mid 1930's, and almost every engine that is avalible in N. America will run on it without issue.

 

Theres gunk from bad gasoline, and then there is scale and algae.

I once cleaned a tank and carb on an old quad that had sat with fuel in it for almost 10 years. The float bowl was dark brown and everything inside was coated to the point the varnish was hard. A long soak in a Berrymans bucket cleaned everything away. There was no algae or white scale. Just varnish.

When I pulled my fuel sending unit out, it should have been brown and covered in varnish, not look like I had just pulled it out of the sea. While it is true that just about any gasoline engine will run on ethanol fuel just fine, running on it isnt the issue. Its storing it and transporting it. It goes bad faster. Ethanol is organic and hygroscopic. Gasoline is not. Ethanol fuel absorbs water, and being that its organic it allows other organic organisms to live in it and consume it.

It's no secret that EVERYTHING on the planet loves ethanol (myself included!). Algae wont grow in gasoline, but it will in ethanol, especially ethanol that has absorbed some water. You dont have to improperly store your bike to get tainted ethanol gasoline. You might just happen to stop at that one gas station that NEVER sells any premium and is selling you fuel that has been in its tank for months.

Some would also argue that ethanol fuel attacks fuel system parts made of rubber and plastic. I dont have a stance on that at the moment, but I will say that the rest of the rubber on my bike is nice and soft. My float bowl gaskets turned to stone and crumbled in my hands. Now I get to try and locate new ones.

Enough of that debate, anyhow. I got my saddle bags and tail bag yesterday and installed them tonight. It's dark outside so Ill take a picture and post it tomorrow. They look and fit great.