Central New York Carb Clinic #11 -June 9, 2018

Awesome!!!

 

And the rest of the legend is that when the gremlins lose their grip and fall to the ground, they get run over and squashed by the tires.

The ringing from the trailer didn't drive YOU insane, did it?

 

No, the trailer that I borrowed in fact was really quiet... with the exception of the bell... I'm going to look into keeping it permanently. The owner mentioned that he doesn't need it anymore because he has 3 others... Ahhh to be sitting on a lot of land where you can park many toys.

 

I meant the ringing of the bell on the bike on the trailer.....being heard from inside the truck

 

Yeah.....

 

I was taught you don't buy them for yourself, it has to be given to you.

 

Hi!
I'm a little late to the party, we were trying to track down the pictures that go along with the write up on installing engine guards for the '82 XJ650 RJ Seca, but that hasn't panned out. So, here it is, possibly not 100% accurate, but to the best of my increasingly unreliable memory:

Road Rage(?) Engine Guards installation writeup

We had a great time at the Central New York Carb Clinic XI (CNYCC11) and three luck attendees received brand spanking new engine guards for their bikes! Two 700's and a 650RJ got outfitted with some seriously shiny new bling, and I got to help install a set on member Elliot's 700. The set of guards he go by the name of Road Rage, and were of a similar style to ones that he had on his bike already. One of the first things you notice after your eyes adjust to the GLARING light being reflected off these pristine examples of polished steel, is the major difference between them and the old ones: Len's guards are adjustable! Although they come pre-adjusted in a position that should match your bike, you can have them tilted forward or back as you see fit. Did I mention how SHINY these things are? Elliot commented that he was going to have to remove them from his bike when he got home and bury them for a year so they would match the rest of his bike.

The first thing we had to do to install the new guards was to remove the old ones. The old guards utilized the upper engine mount (the long bolt that goes through both sides of the engine) and the two lower engine mount bolts on the tubes. Removing these was no issue once we realized why those upper bolts just kept turning while we were working on opposite sides…

I will take a moment here to remark that Elliot and I, as two MANLY men, hadn't glanced at the instructions before embarking on our little journey here. The resulting process was certainly much more interesting, and a veritable roller coaster of emotions. There was pain, joy, and sadness; there were times where we questioned our very sanity! However, once we completed our task, and actually read the instructions the whole way through, instead of just looking at the pretty pictures, we both let out a collective “Huh, that would have been good to know before hand”. Let our experience serve as a cautionary tale for those that come after us. You have been provided with a great set of instructions, not the maliciously cryptic ones the sadists at IKEA come up with, use them!

At any rate, once we had removed the old guards, and began making sure that we were documenting which bolts and nuts went where, we realized that the new guards came with beautiful new hardware as well! Not only had we failed to read the instructions, but we failed to take stock of what was even included. Don't try this at home, kids. While we got a few extra “Cool! Look what else this came with”s , this kind of inattention to detail led directly to aforementioned questioning of our mental faculties. BE WARNED!

So, now that we removed everything from the bag, and glanced half interestedly at their contents, we began working toward installing the new guards. We got the top bolt installed just fine, but realized that the weight of the engine had moved the brackets lower after we removed the bolts holding them in place. If only there was some way that we could have known that this was going to happen…. Oh, wait. It was in the instructions! In order to get them to line up, you can use a pry bar, crow bar, lift, or something else to GENTLY lift the engine back up into place. We used a motorcycle lift first , then a pry bar (the bar was much more efficient). Once we had everything line up and the bolts installed, we tried to put the nuts on and realized there wasn't enough space between the bolt and the oil filter to actually install them. At first we assumed that it was because Elliot had the spin on filter kit installed because, surely we couldn't have made a mistake. However, while going through the parts that we received, looking for the smaller bolts/ nuts that we had obviously missed, we found some spacers! Apparently Len knows what he is doing and provides some spacers to install on the lower bracket between the tube and guard to prevent just this problem! With spacers properly assembled, the bolts and nuts fit just fine and we were on to the next side.

Armed with the experience and knowledge from installing the first side, we dove right into the second. Alas and alack! At some time during this process we lost a nut. We searched frantically in the grass around us for it. We checked all the bags we had opened. All the bags other people opened. We emptied the trash bag. We waved magnets around the underside of the bike and in all the little cracks and crevices it might have fallen into. We conscripted the help of a bloodhound! I may have made that last one up. After searching high and low, reading the instructions (finally) , trying to reason with ourselves that it was never there to begin with, that we had both collectively had a brain fart, that there was a glitch in the matrix, we found it camouflaged under a blade of grass. Handily, the instructions come with a list of all the tools needed. While going over this list we noticed it called for a 17mm wrench. We both scoffed, we didn't need one of those, Len must be slipping! With all of our pieces accounted for, we began work. We retrieved the second guard from its bubble wrapped cocoon and held it up to side it was about to be installed to and noticed that it didn't line up as beautifully as the first one had. Fortunately for us, as previously mentioned, these brackets are adjustable, but they needed a size we hadn't used before: 17mm. With our mouths full of crow, we got them loosened up and put on.

All told, the process probably took us between 45 minutes to an hour. Should you choose to avail yourself of the provided instructions, I would anticipate that you could have this task completed in less than 30 minutes or so, if you have a helper. It is nice to have two people when you are lifting the engine up using your preferred method to line up the holes. The new guards are quite the complement to an already dashing motorcycle!

 

For those who have been to CNYCC over the past several years--- the 700X that I have been building from scratch.....project "ScratchX"now has a heart!! I found a 1986 MaximX engine with only 18k on the clock. I brought it home last weekend, -it has been degreased and shined, some paint touched up, case sidecovers swapped, and engine trim find polished. Now to sort out the myriad of smaller parts.

Funny, I started this because I didn't have a MaximX.... now I get to this stage, and I have two 700X's, two partially assembled X's, and two other frames waiting to be turn back into X's.... and I think I have enough parts to do almost all of them, too. We'll see as time goes by.

This is a long term project... it started with a bare frame. I mean BARE..... it doesn't even have a serial number. Every part that goes on is either refinished, repainted, polished, or new..... unless I just can't do it to that part. So, I hope it'll be pretty sharp when it's done.
Here's an update in pics:

ScratchX as it's been in limbo


The new heart


Cleaned up


Fins

Fins polished


Heart transplant


Ready to be tucked away til next time to play

 

Looks nice!

Please tell us you took the time to check the valve clearances before putting in the frame?

Tony

 

Only 18k on it. Iirc, for the X the first check is at 25k, then every 15k after that, yes?

 

26,000 miles on the interval. Just thought it would make sense before dropping it in.
One that I had with just 12,000 miles needed 8 or so out of the 20 re-shimmed to get them within spec.

Thought it wouldn't hurt to check earlier than the recommendation. Could also be that I'm just a bit anal.....

Tony

 

You need to file off the model number on the engine to match the frame.

 

I was hoping to find a replacement engine, which would have been blank

 

Wow, Tony. More ocd than Dave? You might have a problem...

 

Well maybe just a little OCD on the maintenance.

Can't believe you didn't have a case without a stamped engine #..... we thought that you've horded all the unobtainium?

Tony

 

No----I only have two or three frames with no number

 

I have numbers, but no frames!

 

nowyou have to ride with a 8 ball hanging from the frame. then pass it on to the next rider you know who crashes.

 

Can't wait for details on carb clinic #12!!!