Ikea 1984 XJ1100... some assembly required

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.

 

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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.