What did you do to your Yamaha today?

When I went to the manual I must have done that 5 times...

 

Went for an afternoon ride yesterday to verify that the manual fuel cock would be able to keep up with the demand. No problems even when I was in fourth at about 95 mph, you know just checking. All is good other than the rain storm rolling in this afternoon. Going to have to wait a few days before I get back out there.

 

Got the shims I needed from Chacal and got them swapped around. Not sure if it had ever been done on this bike. Went on about a 30 mile ride to test it out. Not a huge increase in power or anything but it does seem smoother especially lower rpms and pulling from a dead stop. Definitely does sound like a sewing machine now as others have mentioned. Thanks for the write up on how to do it. I bought the tool and it went pretty smoothly

 

Checked my valve clearances on my 1982 XJ650RJ Seca. All are out of spec tight. Ordered Motion Pro Tool to pull shims. Any advice on repacement shims? Shim pool active or just order new?

Intake
#1 .102
#2 .076
#3 .102
#4 .127

Exhaust
#1 .127
#2 .152
#3 .152
#4 .127

 

It went from 1 degrees Thursday to 61 degrees today. Woke the bike from it's long winter slumber and go her warmed up a bit on the road. Quickly reminded myself of how much I missed it! Spring can't come soon enough!

 

A helicoil is what I finally did, and I wish I had just done it sooner!

 

Lets just get passed the fact I am still running K&N POD filters.
I was looking at the crankcase vent tube, the one that is normally connected to the bottom of the air box.
I realized that the once white filter is now rather dark.
Any suggestions as to why I may be having so much blow by ?
I had the piston head honed
new piston rings
and the head and valves rebuilt.
Just wondering I suppose I could do a compression test to see if it is one cylinder or all.
Oh and there is snow flakes falling which for here in Medford Oregon is rare!
each day is another day closer to SPRING TIME

 

first, how long did this light to dark take? Why? it's normal, all engines have blow-by no matter how tight. what to think about is how much of that
stuff didn't find it's way to the filter and condensed inside the engine.

 

About a year I would say, I would have to think that when I had the original air box I never saw the blow by so I was concerned. Thanks for the info

 

you may be able to swap around some of your shims. so your next step is to remove shims 1 at a time to record the shim size. size will be stamped on the back or you will have to measure any unmarked shims.

there is a shim pool here or you can buy ones you need from dealership, or our supporting vendor www.xj4ever.com or new and used from ebay


read this thread before going any ferther
Bigfitz's AIRHEAD VALVE ADJUSTMENT with Pics - parts I & II


I purchased some placeholder shims to make swapping easier

 

Well tonight we are getting an ice storm , I'm so ready for spring , came home it was 35 degrees had to touch bike as had not in a couple of weeks , cranked a few times and fired right off let it run till valve cover was hot . Sounded so good

 

Currently writing a paper for College, priorities
Looking outside and the temp-o-meter says 38 hopefully by 2 pm I will be out riding for a bit.
Did caress the fuel tank for a minute before heading off to school.

 

Polished the front caliper pucks and pins. Cleaned and decreased the rest of the calipers, seals went in and looks and feels like good. Winter project with no thread yet...81 Seca 750 (went back to the airhead).

 

Mother Nature has been very gracious and kind to central and eastern North Carolina the last few days. To show my appreciation I got the Seca 650 out and wandered about 120 miles in the sunshine and warmth through Wake, Chatham, Orange and Alamance Counties. A spectacular day! The Seca ran just as spectacularly after having it's carbs "Hogfiddled", thanks Dave.
Ciao,
John
ps, sorry, not trying to rub it in to you guys in the snow or cold.

 

Ditto... rode a few days this week here in central VA as well

 

Hey now... Though it's been annoyingly single digit here in the past few weeks here on Long Island, we've had our temp spikes too. Unfortunately, my 700 has the salt to prove that I've been able to get out there too. Even on dry pavement, she picks up the white residue. Gave her good wipe down on Tuesday!

Seems like the good weather is an "East Coast" thing. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

I started my Maxim for the first time since monoshock conversion and new wiring.

 

Had the bodywork all off and repainted original silver. Finished clearcoat today, repainting misc small black parts,cleaned,painted emblems and all brackets and hardware.I’ll let it set for a while then cut-buff and start reassembly. My profile pic is the before. Probably another week at least before fire up. Going to ONE MOTO show in Portland Oregon tomorrow.

 

Nothing .... recovering from frozen shoulder/rotator cuff surgery. Going to be a while till I can wrench on my bike again. Really bummed, need my garage time to keep my sanity. Enjoy every day you are healthy.

 

Well my keeper 82 Silver Seca is near done.All reassembly complete. Some minor detailing on the engine and I’ll be done. Started it yesterday and did some minor adjustments but looked outside at 4” of snow on the road and a winter storm watch. Hasn’t been on the road since 88.Today rain and more snow.

 

Moved one project bike off the lift a KZ650 frame with KZ750 and the KZ650 carbs...what a mess I got handed. Anyway, my new to me Seca 750 got its turn on the lift. I have been working on it for a while. Took the carbs t church, rebuild front caliper and waiting on some shims in the mail. But I noticed as I started to bleed the brakes, the two lower bleeders at broken off. BP blaster in there soaking for a few days. We should be getting another 10" of snow here, so the blaster will have some time to work. Nice to have another Yamaha on the lift.

 

Gave it a new battery. Took it to Auto zone for testing/charging and they said it was shot. The PO claimed it was new and it looked pretty new. It died on me after my first ride on it and I jumped it with a jump and carry a couple times over the next two days. I left the jump and carry on it to try and charge it and I think I fried it.

 

just bought one... on it way to me... excited!

 

Came home from work, my 2nd spare carbs , after soaking in PB blaster got the butterfly's to open and spring back. Finally got the slides out they are really gummed up going to take some work . Pulled one float bowl EWWW black goo and float needle stuck , 3 of the 4 float bowl drain screws came out , will have to work on the 4th. Plan is to get religious ( church of clean) on these always good to have a spare . I have a spare engine,tank, side covers, tail piece ... all I need now is a frame, forks and wheels and I have another bike

 

So on Amazon Prime , watching Chips have not watched it in years feel really old , love seeing all the cars and bikes was such a predictable show but I LOVE IT LOL

 

Today I installed a new brake piston and seals, and I pulled and replaced the front bearings. The pads drag a little, but hopefully they will settle in. Come to think of it, I think I forgot to lubricate the pad pin to help them slide along. I also found out my Acewell gauge that hasn’t been letting me change setttings lately (the buttons do nothing) is actually getting 12 volts, so that’s not the culprit.

 

Put air in the forks, adjusted the idle, stared longingly at it through the window.

 

hoping the ground hog is correct.....

 

Went through all the connections, cleaned them up and put some dielectric grease on the. The Power leads coming from the bike to the three wire connection were nasty. The rectifier was all in need of some TLC and grease. Still waiting on my last two shims, should be here Tuesday.

 

Got it running for the first time since 1995.

 

Changed out the spark plugs today. Solved the last issue I had which was cold starts. Old plugs looked great and low mileage although they were like 5 years old. I've been following all the cold starting problems posted lately trying to solve. Adjusted the valves, looked for vacuum leaks and carb issues with no success. Seemed weird as the bike runs great. Idles perfect, runs smooth, enrichment circuit working and was getting 50 mpg but below 60 F needed to bump start. Would fire right up with a bump start. Changed the plugs and a quick touch of the starter button and it fired right up! sometimes its the simplest things. Like $9 for a set of four. No embarrassing push up the slight grade in front of my house anymore!

 

I pulled the snow off the roof of the bike shed. Now there's about 5 feet of snow piled against the side of the shed and 2.5 feet against the doors. The solar battery tenders are still clear so I'm hoping the batteries are fairing ok. The temp is supposed to go up into the single minus digits tomorrow so I'm hoping to dig my way through and take a peek and possibly start the XJ and Triumph Sprint ST. With both snow blowers biting the bullet I've gotta do it manual.

 

Last February I was riding my XJ550 to work several times a week. This year...still below zero. 4 inches of snow last weekend, another 5-7 predicted for this weekend.

Sigh...today I walked past the covered bike in my garage, and gazed at the green led on the battery tender.

Will spring ever come?????

 

got a new neighbor up the street been riding his dirt bike ALL WINTER past my house around town

 

I said to hell with my crazy expensive Acewell gauge that stopped working and I ordered a cheap eBay version instead. And removed my valve cover for the first time in anticipation of adjusting the valves.

 

Installed 5 valve shims within 30 min. of receiving them in the mail. [chacal]. then went for a ride.

 

Join the club had my shoulder surgery on the 11th start PT tomorrow

 

Had a bit of a scare just now putting a shim back in. As I slowly rotated the cams with the tool removed, the shim went *ping!* and flew across the garage. I calmed down, reseated the tool, and reinserted the shim and after the tool was out m I spun it around again to pop lightly into place. Did that ever happen to anyone else? Did a herd of elephants disappear off the earth?! What the frick

 

Wishing you a speedy recovery mate

 

You as well, of course

 

Got the 83 750 Maxim I bought a month ago started and took some pictures for the before and after...... the work starts now. Lots of buffing and painting ahead i wish the forecast looked better, no heat in the garage.

 

Went to start it and it will only start with the choke on, so I'm going to pull the carbs and go through them again. This gas is such crap. So it's on the charger, going to pull the plugs and install new ones. And new gas, aviation fuel mix seems to work pretty well .

 

Just warmed her up in the garage... I'm still on shoulder rehab.
Just like the other threads... had to let the petcock sit open 3-4 minutes then she started up, bowls were low. I worry that letting that happen all the time is building up varnish somewhere...

 

You can mix in a few oz of paint thinner/zippo fluid (Naptha) in a temp tank with around a qt of high octane and let it set in the bowls. Seafoam is essentially Naptha and coloring in a fancy can.

 

berrymans 12 in a spray can or liquid in a can or the berrymans dip bucket would be my choice..

 

For heavy varnish and all 2-stroke carbs I soak carb parts in the gallon pail. I was just suggesting Naptha mix as a quick flush to clean the bowl, float, main jet and needle without removing the carbs.

 

Finally rolled them out of their resting places!! And then it promptly snowed. Oh well, much work to do before they hit the road anyway.

 

Rolled the Seca 750 from the workshop to the storage shed. Need a bigger space to color tune as the temps here are still not very good. Now as Chitwood said above, we have more snow. Spring will get here......yes it will.

 

So temp hit 47 came home pulled bike out, put my new Viking trickle charger battery connector on . Fired up bike and rode around block several times , since I did not have helmet and , was still in slacks ,and had removed mirrors to store below cabinet on wall decided not to go further. I still have a smile can't wait till temps stay steady want to pull out and do some clean up , getting a little clutch slip so this is on list . Cheers

 

more like a grin ………………
I laughed