What did you do to your Yamaha today?

I put a gang of LED's on the rear panel above the tail light (3 strips) and wired them in to fire with the brake light.

I GOT a "Back-Off Tri-Star" Ubit for Christmas and I'm wiring that baby in to give me the Modulating Brake Light and LED's ... PLUS ... Turn Signals coming-on with the Brake Lights ... PLUS ... functioning turn signals if I'm sitting there with my brakes on or using the brakes and signaling too.

Psyched I am ...
At Last ... some rear-end protection for the "Kah-roo-zerr Bike"

 

Dyna coils! DC1-1!! Brand new... $31+s/h, $46 to my door!

Gotta love eBay! Especially when the seller lists them as Dayna coils!

Looks like I'm gonna be busy this spring...

 

Bought material and foam for my seat. It's gonna be GROOVY!

 

Rick, what exactly was the product that allows you to have the turnsignals come on with the brake lights. My dad wants that. as for me, my baby lies in pieces...awaiting stripping and painting. TOO dang cold right now to do much. I've got to get a pair of studs out of the engine (one exhaust, one engine cover). The bike is completetly apart. It's funny because about three days ago, I rode it up and down the driveway, but the exhaust leak from the broken stud was driving me mad, so I decided it was time to pull her apart.

 

Back-Off Tri-Star from Signal Dynamics Co.

I'm wiring-in the one I got for Christmas right now. I think the Turn Signal Self Cancellation Feature on the Maxim and other Yamaha's ,akes this Unit need a bit of working-around the flasher unit,

I haven't got mine all in and working, yet.
I'll let you know.

 

mcrwt644,
You can use a trailor converter to make your turn signals come on with your brake lights. I use one on my Seca. You will need red lenses for your signals (or get after market ones like I did)
The converter I am referring to is one I got at an auto parts store. They are used to activate brake lights ona trailer from a vehicle that has separate turn signals from the brake lights.
I had a Nissan pickup and needed one to pull my boat trailer. It had amber turn signals separate from the brake lights, so when I hooked it up tothe brake lights, I had no signal lights. I never did install the converter (sold the truck)
So it activates the turn signals when I hit the brakes, and the turn signals work also, even when the brakes are on. It is fairly cheap (alot cheaper than the ones made for bikes) I think I paid a whole $12 for it when I bought it. They go for about $21 now, but that is still cheap.
You leave the brake light hooked up like it is now. You hook one of the wires (they're labeled) to your brake light curcuit, one wire to your right signal and one to the left. The wires coming out the other side of the converter hook up to the right and left signals (again, thier labeled)
There are a few different brands out there , so you may have to ask the person at the counter.
Mine is an older one and has two sided tape on it, so I just stuck it to the top of the airbox and left enough wire to make sure I can still access my air filter to clean it.
I just bought another model for my other bike, but have not installed it yet (I need to get red lenses yet)
If your lucky, some of the parts stores may still have the older models like mine, which is just a small(3"x2"x1/2" square) box with two sided tape on one side. There are 4 wires coming out of one side (brake light, left signal, right signal, and ground) and three wires coming out of the other side.
You have to use a resistor inline if you use LED lights for turn signals or they will not work properly.
If you have any questions, you know where to find me. >PD<

 

I put in a new battery. It starts right up in the cold with a good battery. The po had an el cheapo walmart battery in it. I got a maintenance free one with a lifetime warranty.

<rant>
I hate ups. I ordered a master cylinder and they said it was delivered but when I got home later that day, it was not here. The driver left it by the side door that is uncovered and in full view of the main road. I have called them once aalready about drivers leaving packages there and not on the front porch. I guess I am gonna have to put a sign on the door saying not to leave packages there. I have to order another one and have it overnighted so I can have transportation. I will deal with ups and the first package after that.
</rant>

 

For anything of Value ... have them indicate you need to have someone SIGN for it.

We had a problem like that, here in New England, this Holiday Season.
Crooks were following the Brown Trucks and Mail Trucks and helping themselves to whatever got delivered when the people who it was sent too weren't home!

 

Started painting my tank on a budget. Ordered the last few things to get the bike tuned for the spring.

 

I finished up sealing the tank with the 3 stage Kreem kit. I also replaced the foam padding around the speedo, and got the choke and throttle cables routed correctly. Still jonesing for warm weather, just rain and the occasional freezing rain flurry around here. cruzerjd

 

I went for my first ride in '08 today with my son. I was warm as you can see :lol: But on the way home my hands froze as it rained for about 20 miles with the temp in the 30's. I was a little leery of freezing rain on the road. It was nice to get out. My son chuckled at my getup ! LOL !

 

I soldered all the wiring to the Brake Lights and Rear Turn Signals after removing a Module that didn't work as I had expected it would. I think the Turn Signal Module detected the alteration to Flash the Rear Turn Signals along with the Brakes and I kept blowing the fuse to Both the Unit and the Rear Lights.

Now, I have three strips of Red LED's above my Rear Brake Light that come-on with the Brake Light. They are exceptionally bright and add a new element of safety between my Rear Tire and who or what is following me.

The "Back-off Tri-Star" Unit seems to be incompatible with the Turn Signals and the Rear Turn Signals didn't come on when the Brakes were applied.

Now, that's going back for the simpler "Back-Off" Brake Light Modulator which does not involve wiring-in the Turn Signals.

With only one scorched index finger from doing all that soldering ... I'm feeling ahead of the game.

 

Moved the XJ550 to another part of the garage to make room for my new ride... 2007 VStrom 650 in blue. See pics in my gallery.

 

Today I started to clean and polish my carbs. I also started to clean up some of the chrome on the old bike.

 

Painted more on Black Betty. Also gave her a back rest. The wife likes it on there, says it looks real good. Still undecided on the look as permanent, but it is easily changed out for the regular gab bar. Biggest problem I have is that it is chrome, but I will get over.... or repaint it. Nah, just joking, it even has the original sticker on it from yamaha. Gotta love ebay.

 

I really love those gold carb hats on the Midnight models........

 

Me too, trying to figure out how to polish them and keep em gold, and also how to strip and repaint the carb bodies. The bodies are peeling like crazy. As is the rest of the engine.

 

put plugs in my other x
stripped and primed the frame, swingarm and centerstand. It's getting painted today....

 

I went out to the barn and started it up. Noticed a lot of condensation all over the bike, noticed the thermometer said 61 deg. Dug the gear out of the closet and rode it until all that nasty water blew off.

Anyone who saw all that condensation all over everything in my shed would instantly realize why you should never store a bike without a full tank.

 

61 degrees F!!!!????!!!
My God man it's January!!!

Where are you.......... Arizona?
Be careful you dont fall on a cactus!

Just kidding. I wish I could see 61 degrees here in north eastern Arizona.
our highs have been around 40 at best.
In fact it just snowed last night about 2" and its 12 degrees F out right now.
My bike is still tucked in bed, with dreams of highways in its head.

Come on summer!

 

I kinda wish it was snowing. It's January and I want to ski. Oh well, today it is supposed to be about 67F here today. I brought out the new VStrom to ride to work.

 

Yup it's already 64 here! (Richmond, VA) and my bike is once again not getting fuel to one cylinder! YAY! I think I may have a float stuck or something... Who knows! Last week it happend and I fiddled with the Petcock and it cleared up, no such luck this time though, so I guess I will have to take it easy on her on the way home today... guess it's time to tear her down and fix everything up.

 

Philly has a high of 73F today, and I swear my bike started with one tap of the starter button. I'm glad it still needs the key to start, or it would have been out riding without me I bet. Great ride to work, and I'm gonna try to go buy my fuse block over lunch. I still have the old one, and have had a hard time finding one that anyone carries in stock.

 

70 here today took the beemer to work, got home and felt sorry for the xj so we went for a little ride, a little rough at first but after a few red lines, smooth as silk
after a few months off its easier to judge the two
the xj engine is smoother than the bmw but the brakes suck, the xj is cold blooded but the bmw has f.i.

 

Charged up the battery. Only 5 more months till riding weather. Dog sledding it for a while longer.

 

Hey, pretty new to the site besides some questions Ive posted... Bought a 81 maxim 650 over the summer (my first bike), rode all season, now doing a complete rebuild, just to learn the bike. Tore the whole thing apart, down to the last bolt. Rebuilding the engine right now, and tonight drank alot of beer and removed carbon, alot of carbon, from the pistons and cylinder heads. Would have taken the valves out but missed closing hours at the store do I dont have a compessor. This my first real job ive done mechanically besides a water pump and axels on my car and im learning alot every night, not to mention reading old posts here. Ive got some pictures of the process so far ill post this week, and im sure to have some questions to ask. Im going to ride it from NYC to seattle in late april. This really is a great site. Peace, Lou

 

Hey, pretty new to the site besides some questions Ive posted... Bought a 81 maxim 650 over the summer (my first bike), rode all season, now doing a complete rebuild, just to learn the bike. Tore the whole thing apart, down to the last bolt. Rebuilding the engine right now, and tonight drank alot of beer and removed carbon, alot of carbon, from the pistons and cylinder heads. Would have taken the valves out but missed closing hours at the store do I dont have a compessor. This my first real job ive done mechanically besides a water pump and axels on my car and im learning alot every night, not to mention reading old posts here. Ive got some pictures of the process so far ill post this week, and im sure to have some questions to ask. Im going to ride it from NYC to seattle in late april. This really is a great site. Peace, Lou

 

Hey, pretty new to the site besides some questions Ive posted... Bought a 81 maxim 650 over the summer (my first bike), rode all season, now doing a complete rebuild, just to learn the bike. Tore the whole thing apart, down to the last bolt. Rebuilding the engine right now, and tonight drank alot of beer and removed carbon, alot of carbon, from the pistons and cylinder heads. Would have taken the valves out but missed closing hours at the store do I dont have a compessor. This my first real job ive done mechanically besides a water pump and axels on my car and im learning alot every night, not to mention reading old posts here. Ive got some pictures of the process so far ill post this week, and im sure to have some questions to ask. Im going to ride it from NYC to seattle in late april. This really is a great site. Peace, Lou

 

Lou---you are a go-getter! Good luck to you, keep us all posted on your progress.

 

Today I fitted a new K&N high flow air filter

Picked up new brake shoes all round, new headset bearings & oil and dust fork seals for the up n coming front end rebuild

 

Pulled the front brakes. Yeah glad I am rebuilding the master cylinder and calipers... gross... If I had known how nasty it was, I would not have been riding this summer without doing the brakes. Fudged up the screws, so slit them for removal with the dremel. Ordered a new cover and screws, it was cheap enough to do that, then to try and save the cover that I have. Was there supposed to be dry gray stuff under the cap? I don't think so. Let the cleaning begin.

 

My lovely young lady came over and re-upholstered the seat of the 900 for me. I bought the cover on Ebay, and she showed me how to put it on properly (and did most of the work. My contribution consisted mainly of saying "You're doing a really good job" over and over again).
As a little thank you I took her out for a nice long lunch.
The job looks really good, and the lunch was delightful. Finished with a ride in the sunshine to test the new seat.
You can send me days like today as often as you like!

 

Ross,
About right now I envy you and all that warmth...... we're supposed to warm right up to 43 deg F today(right here in sunny Arizona)

I live in the high country not a desert like most folks think of

 

Ross,
About right now I envy you and all that warmth...... we're supposed to warm right up to 43 deg F today(right here in sunny Arizona)

I live in the high country not a desert like most folks think of

 

Hvnbnd, I don't think you'd envy us ALL of our warmth. It got up to 43 deg here the other day too, but that was 43 deg CELSIUS! That's 109 in Fahrenheit! I had to hose the bike down before I could sit on it.

 

I made soup... :lol:

[flash=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/v/mb0Gq2f0lmk.swf[/flash]​

This actually worked fairly well. Back before Christmas I purchased from Chacal his stainless steel drain screws and decided to install them.

But before I did, I wanted to get the bowls really clean. I added to the water an automatic dishwasher detergent tablet. We did this trick when I worked at a diesel repair shop, too. The Detroit diesels had an oil cooler that was cooled be radiator coolant. If that cooler failed, it would milkshake the cooling system. To clean it we'd refill the cooling system with water then add automatic dishwasher detergent. After running for about a half hour you could eat off the inside of the radiator.

After that was all done, I reinstalled the bowls on the wife's carbs. I also installed new needles and seats (thanks, Chacal) while I was at it. Oh, and I replaced he petcock with a refurbished one from... you guessed it, Chacal!

Last but not least, I also finished putting the wiring together for the battery tender on my bike. I originally wanted to have the tender permanently installed, but there just wasn't enough room to do it. I decided to hook a two-wire plug to the battery so I could plug the tender in while it was hanging off the side of the bike while it was parked. Of course, when I want to go for a ride all I need to do is unplug it and set it aside. The wiring for it hangs down just below the right-hand side cover and is hardly noticeable when not in use. It seems to work pretty well.

 

Completely disassembled and cleaned Front Brake Calipers
Installed Caliper Rebuild Kits
Replaced Pads
Installed S/S Brake Hoses for all 4 Lines

 

Gamuru....you're welcome x 3!

Was the bottom fuel outlet plate on your petcock also warped?

P.S. bummer, the video doesn't work.............

 

Yeah, sorry about that. After I uploaded the video I discovered a typo. I had to recompile the video then upload it again to YouTube. It should be working now.

 

Much better. Very interesting. Nice stove! And the tongs look like they were made of 18-8 stainless? First class all the way!

 

I tinkered with my mixture screws just a tad. So far I've opened them up about a full turn. They responded well. Still not quite where they need to be. But I'll have a colortune here soon enough.

 

Great idea Gamuru and BTW the video works fine. I wonder if there is a control not activated on Chacal's PC.

Washed the 80w90 off the housing and tire (50F here today) and started to look for a QEW to put lighting in the shed so I can pull the starter.

 

Attemted to remove the alternator rotor, still swinging ... #&**@?

 

What did I do to my Yamaha today? Not much, but I got cut off in my Subaru yesterday and hit a curb pretty hard. That means my bike part $$ is going to some new steering and suspension parts for the car. Hmmph!!

On a happier note, my Dyna's arrived on Friday. Brand new DC1-1's shipped to my door for $46!

 

Today I finally finished off the front fork project that I've had on the go for a number of months...

My 900 is about to get a mint set for forks with new progressive springs, oil & dust seals.

I went with 20w oil and a 25mm PVC spacer and they are going to be a whole lot better than the ones on her at present

 

Ok so since my last post I have removed the old forks, taken the triple clamp off, fitted new headset bearings and put the new forks on....

Just took it for a wee ride up the motorway and abck and OMG what a difference... I think I just went faster than I've ever gone before on land and it felt like I was doing 50kmph.... kept a perfect line, no wobbling, no vibration, smooth as....

I'm happy

 

Replaced both of my tires.

 

sealed up and re-drilled lift holes on the carb slides, and put about 60 miles on the clock! :mrgreen:

 

I removed the non standard (Suzuki!) headlamp from my new 1985 XJ900N and replaced it with an RD350 unit I had lying around. Looks better, works better, and is closer to the original. (Which I suspect I shall not find!)

 

I wired up the indicator lights on my speedo mount today, and installed the new speedo cable. Now to hide the wiring below the speedometer, behind the headlight - I'm thinking of a chrome piece of pipe with a 45 degree bend in it. I'll figure that out tomorrow. Photos to follow. PD