Ikea 1984 XJ1100... some assembly required

Hello Everyone,

I am the newest member of the XJ club having purchased an abandoned project bike. It looks pretty good with the brakes and shocks rebuilt and the tires replaced. I have a good chunk of a parts bike and almost all the parts I need to get it together. The head is off and after some cleaning I should be able to get the engine back together, all in all it looks like a winner. I'll create an album somewhere and share some pics. The only 2 real problems are:
1) the exhaust is garbage with a cracked pipe and holes in one muffler
2) The tank looks awful, with a coat of red goop over the rust inside.

I'm waiting on a set of carb kits and intake gaskets but I think I have everything else. If nothing else this should be an adventure.

I've been googling "clean out motorcycle tank" but haven't found anything to take out a disgusting liner.

I'll try to keep posting the adventure and welcome any advice you might choose to share!

Karren

 

Congrats on the bike. That thing looks super clean. Extra parts bike came with it? Even looks like you already have stainless brake hoses. I've got an 1100 project also but mine is a bit rustier and totally disassembled .

The tank liners are controversial. I've used the KBS stuff, but was very careful about cleaning and prep. I suspect a lot of the issues are from improper prep, and if yours was coated on top of rust, that ain't good. If you have a pressure washer, the best thing for tank cleaning is a sewer jetter hose. The 1/8" kind is best...more flexible than the 1/4" hose. That will remove the loose stuff. I'm not aware of a chemical treatment that will dissolve the remaining tank coat, but one school of thought is make it reasonably clean, run inline filters and just let it be as long as the tank isn't leaking. Once you get pinholes on the seams, which means there's a lot of thin metal, acid treatments and other stuff are a delicate business.

Also I'm jealous of the nice heated shop and lift!

 

Nice setup, bike is looking good too.

 

As far as tank liner removers:
- Depending on what kind it is, acetone or methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) might work - which the older and crappier it is, the more likely one of these readily available options are more likely to work.
- If an easily attainable option doesn't work, Caswell will sell methylene chloride to "professionals"

Either way, it's a nasty job. No getting around that.

 

Thank you! I've been waiting for a decent garage for 20 years

 

So I got back into the garage today, I had a big side project to get done first, assembling a trailer. It went reasonably well with a few setbacks like putting the sides on inside out but in the end it turned out just fine.

After getting the trailer done I took a look at the bike, I've got a parts washer arriving today from amazon so I'll give the head a bath but I took care of cleaning of the old gasket material from the head and block (or is it more properly called a sleeve?). It's amazing how fast it all comes back, I haven't used my air tools in probably 15 years but they still work and I still remember how to use them! As I was taught I got the big chunks with a razor blade and then cleaned the rest with some gentle die grinder work and the 3M brush wheel. The block is now ready and the head is waiting for it's bath. all in all I'm pretty happy with the results. Depending on when amazon gets here I might even install the head tonight, if not tomorrow.

Thank you for the Shop love guys! I've been waiting for a real garage since 2004. That was the year I left the trades (I'm a journeyman Automotive Technician) and started a new career in the computer world, it's a lot easier on the knuckles! Since you seem interested I've got a 30 x 25 shop with a 12 x 20 extension that's heated and came with a 80 gallon 5 hp compressor. The bike lift was part of the deal along with the parts bike.

My goal for the bike is to get it up and running, inspected and on the road for the summer. The frame has some rust and the upper crankcase has a couple of the threaded holes for stator bolts partly broken. when I get it going and if I'm enjoying being on a bike again then over the winter I'll probably pull it apart again to swap out the upper crankcase with the undamaged spare (probably hone and re-ring at the same time and inspect the gear-train) and blast the frame and either paint or get a powder coat. If it's a keeper then I'll spring for the new exhaust. I got it for an amazing deal so I can put a few bucks in and still be ahead of the game. So far this is a really nice re-introduction to motorcycles and mechanic work again. I'll keep posting as things move along.

 

Also I've got an email in to Red-Kote asking how to remove an installed liner, I'll let you know what they say. Looking at the MSDS it looks like acetone and melting ie: 130 deg C (not at the same time!) might do it. I'll wait for a reply but I'm thinking acetone is the first thing I'll try.

Any suggesting for checking cam clearance? Am I better off checking it on the bench or with the head installed?

 

"The frame has some rust and the upper crankcase has a couple of the threaded holes for stator bolts partly broken. when I get it going and if I'm enjoying being on a bike again then over the winter I'll probably pull it apart again to swap out the upper crankcase with the undamaged spare"
No you won't, not if you want that engine to ever run again...
Crankases are machined together as a pair, crankshaft main bearing tunnels are final honed as one. Your answer to the broken lugs is to give it to your local friendly tig welder person, buy him some beers and then refettle the holes and tap.

 

Ok that's a good tip! thanks.

 

My parts washer showed up and looks like someone dropped a cinder-block on it, no cleaning today, I ran out to princess auto and got the local version, probably should have done that in the first place. I'll clean and mount the head tomorrow.

 

It can be done on the bench, but easier when installed with the timing chain on. Cams have to be pried around by the sprocket bolts otherwise and when one is up to measure, another is straight down and can snap one way or the other from the valve spring.

 

Cam chain cavity cylinder seal?!?! can anyone confirm that this is not needed anymore?

I don't have one, I'm going to hold off installing the head for now, the manual say to install it, but I found a post on the XS1100 forum that it is no longer a thing.

 

Back in the garage today, side project and a little bit of work. My blast cabinet showed up so I got it mostly assembled and all the seams sealed with silicone, I left the glass out and the gloves off to give it all the airflow I can and so I don't get any silicone on them. I still need to plumb in the dust collector and get some parts for the gravity feed mod but I'll be ready when the carb kits show up. I've got 50 lbs of soda ready to go. I set myself up to check valve clearance and I'm glad I did it on the bench, pretty much all of them were out of spec. Three of the valves were running zero clearance, but I confirmed nothing is seized everything turns as it should and it looks pretty good. I don't have the right shims to get all of the valves in spec so that another parts order. I've got the table from the manual so I'll try to get them ordered tonight. overall I'm pretty happy with how it's going, I'd like to have got the head mounted but, this delay is for the best. I think it's easier to check and adjust on the bench. The head is still pretty grubby so another clean is on the list. order.

 

Good news and bad news today. The new shims arrived and bring the valves into spec. bad news I've got a sticking intake valve, no good reason it was moving 2 weeks ago but it's sticky today. I'm going to see if the local engine machine shop will take it for a rebuild. This is getting awfully close to no longer worth it price, hopefully it's not too much to bring it into spec.

 

Is anyone even slightly interested in this or am I just sharing with myself?

 

We are reading with interest. Maybe use a brass rod and hammer to tap on the valve stem to see if it will move.

 

415 views is pretty good
Keep on posting

 

Hi Everyone,

I've got no fresh pictures unless you want to see my new riding mower and weed wacker. As for the XJ I brought the head to a local machine shop and after disassembly they reported a bent intake valve, as suspected. The good news is the machine work is within budget, the bad news is I had had to source the valve and some new stem seals. I did a bunch of shopping around and found a N.O.S. valve and some modern stem seals that are within budget. The seals arrived today and the valve is supposedly arriving Monday, it's not beyond possibility that I'll have the head back for next weekend. I'm pretty sure that after touching up the valve faces and the seats I'll have to redo all the valve shims, I'm just hoping the ones I have will work (I've got 18 in a small variety of sizes) if not then more shims will have to be ordered. I'm considering just ordering the full shim kit just to make some progress. I'm going to take a peek at the carbs soon, supposedly they were rebuilt but I want to be sure they're in spec and really clean. I'm getting impatient to move this project along.

 

The Valve showed up today, and looks about right. I'll be stopping at the machine shop tomorrow.

 

The valve is wrong, please insert several of your favorite curse words here (I sure did). Another valve is on the way, this time from XJ4ever. Please stand by.

 

Ok The valve from XJ4ever showed up and it was a perfect fit! Thank you Len!!

The machine shop finished up and I picked up the head on Friday, I think it looks great. Unfortunately as expected with the valves and seats re-faced the valve clearance completely changed everything is a bit more snug than before the machine shop. Today I double and triple checked the clearances and it's time for a new set of shims. yippee.

 

Hello Everybody,
So I went through the Shim game and came up short, I needed a different shim post machining. I ended up taking it back to the machine shop and they cut down the offending valve. Everything fits and is in spec! Yay!!!! so I got the head installed tonight and screwed up, again. I managed to drop a cam cap nut down the Cam Chain slot. Does anyone have any advice on retrieving it? I'm probably going to pull the oil pan tomorrow. I've tried fishing with a magnet with no success. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Just read through your thread, you sure have a nice shop and some really nice toys coming in of late, good for you. Yes, we all have dropped something into them motors at one time or another. Stuffing shop rags into anyplace that a part could drop is a good plan for the future. As for now, do you have a long magnet stick type thing. If you dropped a metal cap down there, just be careful and try to trace the path it went down. Most times, if you are lucky, the chain will have stopped the fall and the small magnet stick can retrieve it.

As for the cost of bringing back to life, one of our old beloved XJ bikes, it does add up. But the thrill of doing the work and satisfaction of getting the bike back on the road is well worth it.

Keep posting and sending them pics as often as you can. I am sure lots of folks are following this thread and wish you well in the bike resurrection progression.

 

The time it happened to me I used an inspection camera to poke around to find out where exactly the screw was located before and during extraction with a magnet.

 

Hey Timbox and Huntchuks,
So I ended up doing both of the things you two suggested, I picked up a bore-scope at Princess auto and did some searching down the cam chain slot with no luck. I also did a bunch of fishing with a flex magnet and a straight one, unfortunately no success. So I started taking the bottom off, oil filter then oil pan, and didn't find it in either. after a bunch of cleaning and scraping for new gaskets I jacked up the bike lift all the way and started feeling around. I found it resting on top of a flat spot on the left side above the crankshaft center line, Victory!! With a fresh oil filter and new pan gasket I bolted them back on, what the heck, it's never a bad idea to replace a 40 year old gasket right?! lol.

So with that done I went back to the top end, It took me a couple of tries to get the cams in and set, the biggest problem I kept running into was the cam chain would run beside the sprocket on the crankshaft. It happened 3 time till I pulled the cams, made damn sure I got it on the sprocket then secured it with a bungee cord so it stayed on the sprocket. That did the trick and I got everything on, the cams and crank in time and the chain under tension (with a fresh gasket). This took a lot of time both in finding the nut, taking everything apart, cleaning the bits and removing petrified gaskets but I'm happy it's all together properly. I got the valve cover on, fit a new clutch cable and monkeyed the exhaust on in place and tighten up. That took me a very full day! but I'm pretty much ready to put the carbs on next shop day (I'm taking tomorrow off!). It really is starting to look like a bike now and not like some modern art.

The exhaust is completely rotted out and as soon as the bike fires up and idles I'm ordering a new one, probably the 4-1 I found. That'll be my reward for succeeding.

On the shop side if you look ion the background of a couple of the pics the furnace is gone and I've installed a mini-split heat pump, I just need to book an electrician to wire it up, I really could have used some cool air today! The sand blaster is back in business after the great "firing up the vacuum dust collector with the vent cap still on" incident last month, new safety glass and a bit of reshaping via hammer and 2x4 got it back in working order. I really need to replace the air dryer coming from the compressor as it's not doing much of anything. I love having a shop but getting everything into working order is a bit of an adventure.

 

Nice, glad that you found the dropped nut, hate when that happens. I don't think I have ever seen a blue HF table, unless that is not a HF table? Looks like you are well on your way and know when to take a break in the action, can get burned out very fast sometimes. At least you are making good improvements when you do work, that helps.

 

No compression Cyl. #1.

I think I'm finished with this thing, if I had to guess I bent a valve getting the cams in. I don't think I want to take it apart again, buy a new engine gasket set, find another valve and go through this again. It was ready to try starting but we won't be doing that now.

 

Not to sure how you bent a valve if the timing was correct, and you didn't try to start the motor? Take the plugs out and get a socket on the crank and only turn it the correct way. Take a look at the first cylinder to make sure everything is working right. The valves move up and down, okay? Do they seat?

 

Hello everyone,

Sorry it's been a while. The day after my last post I took the cams out and with nothing touching any of the valves did a leakdown test, there was 100% leakage on #1 cyl and it was hissing out the intake. I screwed up on the install, it was very disheartening. I decided to keep moving forward and did some shopping. It took a month to arrive but I got a new valve, again. The guys at the engine shop got it in and sized and were very polite no matter how stupid I feel. That brings us up to today. The engine is assembled and tested with 120 psi compression on all 4 cyl. (My comp tester is probable reading high but I just wanted to confirm it's consistent across the whole engine). One of the carbs is a little leaky but I think I've got it sealing. when I went to try the initial start the battery dead shorted, completely gone, 0V, at least the bike is being a consistent experience. While charging up the new battery I've been looking over the rest of the bike and it's pretty good. The only other major problem is the crazy rear brake/one side of the front brake set up. I'm trying to get it bled but it refuses to co-operate. I've disconnected the lines to bench bleed it,(and I believed I succeeded), had the calipers of a raised up for a consistent, easy upward flow, used vacuum, pumped the pedal and I'm getting no pressure. I'm starting to wonder if the lips on the master cyl are torn. The crazy brake set up the last real problem, less getting the engine running and the carbs balanced.

 

If anyone has some advice for bleeding the crazy combo brake set up I'd welcome some help. Or if anyone has junked it and converted to something more normal I'd be interested in that as well.

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BPC5HSXH?ref=fed_asin_title

 

Bad master cylinder. After running through the bench bleed and line bleed again I pulled the old rear master cyl off the parts bike. That one felt solid and was moving lots of fluid. After a quick hose swap and bleed I've got solid brakes front and back. I've been taking care of the remaining little things, fresh fluid in the final drive and mid-drive. tided up the wiring rats nest and got the new battery in. I've got the IV bottle on the carbs and naturally #4 is leaking from the drain, if nothing else I'm going to know absolutely everything about this bike. I've got the float bowl plus the extra 2 from the parts bike in the ultrasonic to see if more cleaning will fix it up. If not one of the right facing spares will have to do. I tried to fire it up but it's reluctant, sounds like only 1 or 2 cyl. are firing. when the bowl is back on #4 tonight I'll try again but I suspect that I'll need to go through the carbs myself. While I'm happy to have this project I was hoping for a little better from the stuff the last guy worked on. Oh well.

I've got a few days off so I'd like to have it running and ride-able for the weekend. Fingers crossed.

 

So The bike farted at me a little but never really ran, after a break to let rest and it would fart again. I suspect the carb rebuild I was told about wasn't much of anything and that the carbs are starved for fuel, the short rest lets more seep through. I've cleaned up the garage and put the tools away for the night. I've got a fresh set of gaskets and tomorrow I'll run the through the ultrasound and a good through clean, then set everything into spec. I'm getting worried about the fork rebuild that was supposed to have happened now. One problem at a time.

 

Bike Blitz week Friday report. Thursday was cleaning day, Ultrasound with dish-soap and water did the trick. All jets and orifices were run through with a brush or wire. It ended up taking all day and I really didn't snap any pictures, I have one of a float bowl post cleaning compared to a couple before cleaning. Everything is clean and everything can flow. The idle screw were set to the recommended preset of bottom - 2.5 turns as a baseline. That took all day, it's nothing if not fiddly.

 

Today was float level day, I didn't plan on it taking all afternoon but it did, I've refined my technique and got things into spec. I'd really recommend getting or making a carb holder jig but I made due with a vice and a level. For me it was an 8 step process to get all set correctly. with the float levels looking good I got the carbs into the bike and all the surrounding bits re-installed. I hit the ignition and it wants to fire and kind of ran but from the gauges only Cyl. 2 and 4 are firing making idle impossible, I chugged it along for a bit to see if they'd come to life but no luck. Tomorrow is supposed to be a crap day so I'll be checking the ignition. I'm really close now to a running motorcycle.

 

Well it took me about 30 minutes to test all 4 ignition coils, 2 from the main bike and 2 from the parts bike. All 4 are way out of spec. yippie.

I saw a tutorial thread on ignition stuff, time to research and go shopping. One hour later and I've got new coils and wires on the way. next installment in about 2 weeks.

 

I am still waiting for the new coils, hopefully they show up this week. Since I had a bunch of free time I decided to try and get ahead of the game and started working on a bunch of little things that need attention. I torqued and installed a cotter pin on the front axle, torqued the pinch bolts, torqued the fork clamps all the way up, checked that every other bolt and nut I could see is tight and so on. I then got into some fiddly stuff, I rebuilt the the turn switch as it was very sticky and after disassembly gave everything a good clean then lubricated it all with silicon dielectric grease. After re-assembly and re install, (Giving the rocker switch a quick spritz of contact cleaner and silicon spray) it functioned smoothly, Like new? (I hope). The lettering for the signal switch was missing almost all it's white paint so I re-painted that and it looks fine now, I'm probably going to give it a dab of clear-coat later on to try and keep it clean and bright. I then turned my attention to some broken plastic, the ignition switch cover and the thing that goes over the coils. The coil thing was the worst with a missing chunk at one side's screw hole plus some cracks, and the ignition cover was just cracked.

I bought some JB weld black plastic filler/repair, then got to work. I drilled out the ends of the cracks to stop them, die ground out some material on the back side and made some barriers out of a pop can and masking tape to give some limits to where I wanted new material. The results are functional, but not pretty. The JB weld goop dried solid and holds strong, I ended up adding some pop can as reinforcement and its good enough for me. hopefully it's mostly invisible under the tank. Body work is not my forte but this will do for now. I might try for something pretty later on, I've got another broken one to practice on this winter.

 

Body work is always interesting with our bikes. Looks like the JB weld did okay. I like to PVC weld myself. Just have to get the right equipment and a good fan for ventilation. I like the outcome and the area is very strong when finished. Good luck with the coils, hope she comes back to life.

 

I've used ABS plumbing glue on a plastic headlight bucket with good success. I'd like to try the welding sometime though. That does seem like it would be the strongest fix.

 

So the coils were delivered on Saturday evening, I took a look at them and they're wrong. They are too short for the mounts on the bike, I checked with my meter and they are way outside spec according to the manual. Since they are brand new I threw them in with a single bolt at the front and tried them out, I got no spark at all. So much for a quick fix. I'm going to have to try again, I was working through the no start flowchart in the service manual and this was where I found a fault. I think I'll pick my way through the rest of the flowchart to see if there are any other faults. Additionally the front tire goes flat overnight so I did the soapy water test and found the bead is leaking, while moving the bike I gave the suspension a good bounce and sure enough the front forks are leaking like crazy, supposedly these were rebuilt. I've order new seals but I think I'll rebuild the untouched ones on the parts bike. If anyone has a suggestion on the coils I'd welcome advice.

 

I'm happy enough with JB weld, it's feels very solid. I'd like to do better but this will do for now.

 

I've been out of town for work but I've been doing some shopping. I have a set of coils on the way from XJ4Ever, I decided to get the entire coil, wire, plug cap kit to make life a little easier. They should be here in the next couple of weeks.
Since I had nothing else to do I took a look at the leaking forks. When I drained them the oil came out clear, so there was something done to them. Once I got them off the bike and on the bench I found my answer for the question why are these leaking? If you want to diagnose it yourself look at the pictures now.

Ok, did you spot the problem? yup the seals are installed upside-down, oops. They were rebuild but not correctly. Anyway I bought a new set of fork seals from All balls racing (hmm I wonder if a couple of 20 year old boys came up with that one?) kinda cool looking with a garter spring on both sides. after a quick cleaning I installed the new seals but only partly assembled the forks.

I measured the springs and sure enough one is out of spec, too short. I decided to look into my options before ripping apart the parts bike. With a bit of Google-fu I found that the Progressive Suspension fork spring kit 11-1110 works for my beast but sadly it's no longer offered. But thanks to clean living or just plain good luck there was a set on eBay! I just got them today and sure enough the beast is listed as the right bike for these things. I just need to make some spacers, from poking around the forum and reading the instruction sheet I see that heavy PVC or metal pipe will do the trick so I'll hit the hardware store tomorrow.

In a final bit of "Progress" I took the front wheel to the local bike shop to get the leaking front tire bead fixed. They did their thing but it's still going flat, ugh. I'll be visiting them again tomorrow as well.

 

Very clean operation you have going there, look good. Very little pitting on those forks and not too much rust in the pics from the top of the fork seals. I have done some that need to soak in blaster just to get the clip to move. Bike looks great and the wet set pics were nice. Keep doing a great job of cataloging all that good work.

 

So I ended up buying some galvanized pipe to make my spacers, it was the cheapest option by about $20. So with a bit of hacksaw work and filing, then a cleanup I had a pair of spacers to the Progressive susp. spec 3.5". With those in hand and ready to go I filled the forks with oil then used my genuine, Yamaha OEM, direct from factory fork oil checking tool to confirm the levels were correct. With that done the forks were assembled and installed. Only a couple of pics as my hands were busy.

 

The next step was installing the new coils. I got them on the bike and to my complete lack of surprise, no start. I checked the coils and wires, all good. Then I worked down the rest of the list. Pickups - good, kickstand switch - good, tip over switch - good. so we're left with the ugly final step. Replace the TCI. This makes the rather large assumption there is in fact a good TCI available. So I tried the unit from the parts bike and no dice, still no start. A quick google led me to eBay where there are few used, untested TCI's for about $80 and a couple New Old Stock ones for $415 !!!!!!

Since I've got nothing to lose and two bad units I though what the hell, let's take a poke a fixing one of these things. A long time ago when I was a dealer tech at Acura I made a fair bit of money repairing Daytime Running Lights relays. So I'm going state the fatal phase that condemns me to unending frustration.

How hard can it be?

With a bit of hacksaw work I sacrificed the case of the spare unit to the hacksaw gods and exposed the guts, I've got a lot of bit's and pieces to test and hopefully there will be an obvious problem. Don't be fooled by the clean looking back of the board, it was gooped up pretty good, this is a post cleaning pic. I've read over the repair threads on doing this and I'm going to take a crack at a repair.

 

The last 2 weeks have been educational, I decided to make this a systematic process. Identify, test, replace (if needed). with that in mind I began by de-soldering at least 1 side of all of the components to test and identify each one. This took a while but I have a good setup and all the time in the world with the riding season pretty much finished for the year. I kept track of what's what and how it tested on a spreadsheet and some paper. All of the capacitors actually tested OK, which really supervised me. I broke 2 diodes and since I planned on replacing all the capacitors anyway the diodes got added to the order. I had to bodge a couple of traces from general butchery but everything tested OK in the end. I connected the "repaired test TCI" to the bike and got no spark at all, oh bother.

I then gave the "production" TCI the same treatment, plus replaced the transistors as well for good measure, all with less collateral damage. Same result, no spark. This did not make me happy.

I don't have the ability to test the IC's (Integrated Circuits) or the daughter board that is apparently the data storage and contains the spark maps.

So today I tested the wiring going into the TCI and got reasonable readings from everything with a questionable amount of resistance on the power wire, I'll repeat with a fully charged battery later.

I think my next logical move is to test on a known good XJ1100.

If anyone here rides an XJ1100 and is willing to participate in the learning process message me and I'll ship you a TCI to try on a working bike.

I'm really hoping there's an electrical gremlin somewhere other than the TCI but it's starting to look like I have 2 bad units. I have desperation plan B, (or am I on plan C by now?) but I'd like to confirm the status of my TCI's first.

 

You didn't mention side stand relay, it has a set of normally closed contacts that disable the TCI as part of the ignition cutoff safety feature.

For troubleshooting no spark you can just remove the side stand relay and defeat the ignition cutoff safety feature. And, not real familiar with the XJ1100, but it appears to have an emergency stop switch that does the same thing as the side stand relay and applies a ground on the B/W wire on the TCI. It may be best just to remove that B/W wire from the TCI 8 pin connector and test for spark.

 

Hi Rooster53,

I followed up on your suggestion and I have spark! Thank you!! I won't call it amazing spark but it's there. Both of the repaired TCI's are functional.

I don't have a running bike but it's trying, I suspect I need to look at the Carbs again, they were incredibly grubby.

 

I pulled the carbs off again, and this time decided to really be sure they're clean. I picked up the Gunk brand, dip bucket of carb cleaner/solvent. I disassembled the carbs again one at a time and they each got a 12+ hours bath in the solvent. After that it was time for a rinse in hot water, then into the ultrasonic cleaner in warm soapy water for another bath. After a final rise and drying I chased all the orifices with welding tip cleaner set. I confirmed I could see light through all the holes and it all looked clean and there was no sign of any varnish or dirt inside or out. I then carefully re-assembled the carb with fresh o-rings and a new bowl gasket.

After repeating the process 3 more time I joined them all together, I checked the fuel level height for all the bowls and only had to tweak 2 just a little, then I was satisfied they were in spec. The next step was set the idle mixture screws to 2.5 turns out and then using some 3/64 drill bits in the butterfly valves I set the balance screws so all the carbs felt like they had the same drag when pulling on the drill bits. With that done I think I have the butterfly valves all opening pretty close to in sync. At this point I was finished everything I could do on the bench.

I re installed the carbs and after a long and sincere prayer to the carburetor gods I pushed the button.

Va-room.



I'll call that a success, I moved the bike outside and ran it for about 5 minutes, I didn't see any leaks and it seems pretty stable at idle. It has one hell of a tick but I can live with that, clearance is an air-cooled bike's friend right? The vacuum gauges are not in sync and I need to balance them but I've called it a day. I haven't tried to balance carbs in about 20 years so I've got some reading to do.

I've been at this for 8 months, off and on and it finally feels like I have a bike. I still have a list of things to do.

1) Balance the carbs. it looks like I'm going to average around 10"HG I need to figure out where that should be.
2) I need to hunt down the gremlin in the wires for the kickstand and tip over safety switches.
3) The starter is reluctant to work when hot, I need to run that down.
4) Install and test the headlight.
5) Set the fork pressures.
6) The 3 new things that I'll find while working on this list.

I finally feel like I'll be riding this bike next spring, I'm going to have a celebration drink and relax for the rest of the afternoon.