Hi! Another XJ newbie here

Well, I just picked up my '81 XJ550 (6480 miles)last week. It really doesn't run, to speak of - it would start when cold, race up to 2400rpm's, and then die after 30 seconds, not to run again for several more hours. After lurking here for the last week, I've already yanked the carbs, and I'm in the middle of cleaning the bottom ends. The main jet in carb #2 fell into 2 pieces as I removed it - the head, and the threaded part. Luckily, the threaded part did come out of the carb body OK. I'll hopefully find a jet locally and be able to replace it this week. I'm not looking forward to fighting with the air cleaner boots, but I am looking forward to the feeling of having gotten it running by myself. Wish me luck!!!

-Vince

 

Well Good Luck Vinco, this is an awesome site here, filled with lots of information and knowledgble people about these bikes!!
good luck!

 

Consider yourself wished! Sounds like your off to a great start on the DITY front. The jet fell in two pieces??? Yikes! Somebody done superglued the broken parts back together I reckon. Best of luck!

 

I stopped at the dealership this morning on the way in to the office, and I got a new jet - $4.25 after tax. Darn things oughta be a buck-fifty! Hopefully I'll be able to update with a clean/tune success story soon!

 

vinco:

Just go at it slow and steady. Take your time and do a through a job as possible.

The reward for getting 'em Cleaned~Tuned is GREAT!

 

Thanks Rick and Robert and everyone else! Rick, I keep reading your signature, and I want to follow the advice therein, but I think I'm too schtoopid to find the how-to's on the brushes and timing chain tensioner here in the forums. Could you please point me in the right direction if it's not too much trouble? Thanks!

 

Sure ...

Brushes first ... real easy.

Undo the 3 Allen Bolts holding the Alternator Cover on.
(Round cover just to the left side of the starter)

Look inside the cover on the inside back wall.
There's the brush holder.

Measure how long the Carbon Brushes are protruding from the platform that is they're mounting bracket.

11 mm or less and they need to be re-newed.
The length of news ones is 17 mm.

 

A word of advice on the carb boots... Be VERY VERY careful trying to get the head bolts out. If they are stock boots (and they probably are), then there is 26 years worth of galvanic oxide on the threads (steel bolts + aluminum head = ), and that stuff is like metal superglue. Buy yourself a can of PB Blaster at any auto parts store. DON'T use WD-40, because it is worthless for breaking loose frozen bolts. Starting at least a day (preferably more) before you intend to take the boots off, liberally soak the boot flanges with the PB, and give the vicinity of each bolt a couple sharp whacks with a hammer (not too hard though, the head is aluminum and you can wind up breaking off fins or worse). Do this several times per day. Basically you want to give the PB a chance to soak as far into the bolt threads as possible to dissolve the oxide. Then, you pray. Try taking them out, and hopefully you will not snap any off. The longer you do the PB/hammer ritual, the more likely you are to get the bolts out intact.

If you DO break off bolts, DO NOT MESS WITH IT! Take the head off and bring it straight to the closest machine shop and have them drilled out and Heli-Coiled. Don't even try to use an EZ-Out or any other method to extract the bolt yourself. As I unfortunately found out when I did mine, the bolt is so small that the EZ-Out required couldn't take the torque and snapped off inside the bolt. So now I had a broken off bolt with a broken off EZ-Out inside of it. You can drill out a bolt. You can NOT drill out an EZ-Out. It cost me an extra $100 at the machine shop because the EZ-Out has to be burned out of the hole with a laser.

Just don't want you to make the same mistake I did

Good luck!

 

Taz:

Wouldn't have been nice ... if YAMAHA had added 5-bucks to the Price of buying the bike ... and used some hardened Cap Screws on the Manifolds, in the first place?

 

Hey Vinco. Go to the XJ Chat forum (The technical discussions) and get the link to buy the XJCD. The best 10 bucks you'll ever spend.

Sounds like you're on the right track, but even the best need the specs. Without them you're just peeing into the wind :lol:

Good luck