What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Finally replaced the generator brushes (first part bought, last part put on) and discovered that the attached harness has to go between the starter and the case. A much more involved job than I thought with lots of jumping from one side of the bike to the other. Did some cleaning while there and cleaned and greased the battery connections. Thought that running the harness would be a pain but two bolts and a wedge allowed just enough to squeeze through. Went for a ride and discovered two things - starts a lot better and there was no difference after changing the brushes in generator output. Below 1800 with lights and brakes applied, there is not enough juice to flash the turn signals. It is a start and lets me know that I have some connection cleaning and greasing to do over the winter. Never thought the battery connections would get loose and corroded so quickly, as the battery has been in and out at least 5 times in 8 weeks.

Great day for a ride - 22 degrees C (72 degrees F), sunny with a cool breeze - gotta love September!

 

I know the forum topic asks what we did to our Yamahas TODAY, but I was so pooped after working on the two bikes all day I went straight to bed after coming in. So, I'm bending the rules a little.

I worked on my wife's '82 XJ650 Maxim. The last time I rode her bike I noticed that the bike would stumble between idle and about 3000 rpm. I must note that I rode her bike about thirty minutes to work and had almost made it home after work before this mystery problem materialized. Hindsight being what it is, I think I now know why, but at the time I was in exploratory mode. I had just replaced her carbs with a used set I purchased from a local bike recycler, Bent Bike. I gave them a quick going over, but not as thorough as I should have. Keep in mind that I had not found this awesome resource (XJBikes.com), and I was totally oblivious to RickCoMatic's great tutorial on cleaning carbs. After reading that tutorial, I knew the carbs had to come back off!

Anyway, I spent yesterday going through the carbs. I will mention that the carbs still had their mixture-screw caps in place, and since I don't own [yet] a Colortune kit, I left them in. Additionally, someone had already tried to remove the fuel bowl drain screws, so I'll be enlisting the help of gremlin484 with that project. Seeing as how I now have an extra set of carb bowls, I think I'll work on the set not on the bike. That way I can rotate through the two bikes and get both carb sets done at my leisure. (I "discovered" a pretty accurate way of setting the float levels before reinstalling the bowls... if anyone is interested.)

After reinstalling the carbs and balancing them, I took the bike for an hour-long ride. I'm happy to report (fingers crossed) that the bike ran beautifully! I plan to ride that bike several times more before handing it over to my wife. I don't want it breaking down on her. If she's left walking, I fear it may put her off riding all together... and that would suck! Oh, did I mention she's going in this Thursday for the first part of her rider safety course?

And now, my bike: on Friday I picked up a set of soft saddle bags for my bike. I've been using a backpack to transport my shoes, lunch, rain gear, and what-ever-else I could stuff into it for the trip back and forth to work. Cycle Barn had a special on saddle bags (I think for around $130), so I figured what the heck. The wife wants my backpack, I'd spend nearly that on another backpack, so it just made sense. I should mention that I've never installed saddle bags on a bike before. I ended up fabricating brackets for them to sit/hang on. That's what yesterday’s project was for my bike--finishing making brackets. All-in-all, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. (Sorry, no pics... yet). I may write a tutorial on the process as I know soft bags are a real bear to mount. We’ll see.

Oh, and the mysterious stumbling problem with the wife's bike? On the way home about a week ago, one of the carb floats stuck, flooding the engine. It was so bad I literally had fuel running out of the air box puke tube. It never occurred to me at the time that the oil would become contaminated with the excess fuel. I hypothesize that the stumbling was caused when the oil temperature reached a point where the excess fuel began to quickly evaporate from the motor oil, thereby filling the air box with fuel vapor via the crankcase breather tube. This naturally would cause an overly-rich condition which appeared as a stumbling engine. The only way to correct the problem was the same basic way you clear any flooded engine: wide open throttle, i.e. lots of air to offset the fuel.

 

washed and polished it. Adjusted the steering head to make it tighter. Also lowered the forks about 1/2" lower than where they were.

Gamuru, I'd be interested to hear what you "discovered" about the float levels.

 

In tearing down the wife's new used carbs, I noticed on the sides of the floats a distinct "high water mark" left by the fuel in the carbs. A remembered seeing a dimension in my Yamaha Factory Service Manuel that showed the fuel bowl level should be about 3mm below the carburator mixing chamber body edge. I took a quick measurement and noted that the fuel level mark matched almost exactly with what the book called for...

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Then I compared that with how the float actually sat with respect to the carb's edge...

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After comparing this to the other three floats, I found that all were set essentially the same. Therefore, to set the float levels, all one needs to do is tweek their respective tangs until they line up evenly with the carburator's edge. Too much or too little would cause you problems.

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You can verify the setting by blowing into the fuel line with the carbs set upside-down and level. As you raise the float off the needle's plunger, you should hear and feel the air escaping...

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What I found was that as I blew air past the needle, it would cease the moment the float came to rest at it's level position relative to the carb's edge. Unfortunately, I don't possess a single carb bowl with a working drain screw (yet), so I can't verify my findings. However, if anyone wishes to test my observations and get back to us, I'd be interested to hear your results.

 

Flooded it.

 

<nevermind>

 

Put the head back on and now im trying to find out the way to time it.
OBTW it a 84 fj600

 

Today I paid for my registration on my bike and took it for a legal ride through town . Heaps of people stare at it , i guess they are wondering what sort of bike it is or who is the stupid rider. Who cares it was a great ride on a great day with lots more to follow. Magic

 

Do they not have motorcycles in New Zealand? Or do you have a dead cat tied to the handle bars?

Sorry, I just couldn't resist...



My apologies to those I most assuredly have offended.

 

Today it was replace the busted-up handlebar grips. Day before yesterday (Labor Day), I labored on the bike changing the oil (local Kragen had a discount on Castrol GTX, so I had picked up a case of 20/50). It was whining at me that it wanted some; I guess my fears that the oil level sensor had been gunked up and rendered inoperative proved unfounded.

Problem being, yesterday I went down and sat at the DMV for half an hour; took the bike. Partway down there the bike seemed like it got louder all of a sudden, and it almost kindasorta felt like the engine was straining. Get there, do my business, go to hit the starter, and it cranks for half a second then starts grinding like mad. Made a couple other pit stops on the way back home, and it did the same thing at every stop. Haven't tried it yet today.

I don't know if it's battery or, as a quick search of the forums turned up, the oil was too thin for the starter clutch to grab. Funny thing is, the last oil change I did was also 20/50, but I think it was the Wally-Mart brand, and I had zero problems. No, the Castrol doesn't have the "energy conserving" bit on the bottle.

:shrug:

 

I'd be curious for a measurement from the bottom of the float to the carb body edge with the carbs inverted. Mine are at 9/16"

If you've still got them off will you measure that for me?

Thanx.

 

Yesterday I removed the tank, air filter and battery and got everything ready to go for today.
Today I drained the tank, swished some carb cleaner around and drained that as well. Didn't notice any rust or discolouration coming out. Removed the fuel level gauge and confirmed that it works. Sprayed fogging oil into the tank and set it aside.
I removed the carbs from the bike and began the Whole Nine Yards Carb Cleaning process. Right off the bat the head of the Main Jet broke off, leaving the body of the jet in the post!
I finished removing all the float bowls, jets, floats... and left them to soak in Seafoam until tomorrow.
If anyone knows how to get a broken jet body out of a post, PLEASE let me know.

Yeehaw! First gear!

 

Installed a new GT501 rear tire, then the bike crapped out when I went out to gently break it in. After a great deal of confusion I found I'd fallen victim to the dreaded gas in oil fiasco.

Once the bike warmed up the mixture was screwy due to the gas evaporating in the crankcase and vapors being drawn into the airbox through the breather tube.

I guess my next post in this thread will be about pulling my carbs to fix the float valve...

 

I installed a fuel filter and fuse box on my bike and a fuse box on my wife's bike. I also wrote two tutorials documenting the procedures on how to do both for future XJers. They're posted here and here.

(h/t to RickCoMatic for the inspiration. )

 

Thats not a Post.
That's the Bottom of the Emulsion Tube.
Take off the Top of the Carb and pull-out the Diaphragm Assembly.

That part will Drive right out of there through the Top side of the Carb.

With it Out ... You should be able to wrap it in some Duct tape, stick it in a vice and Easy-out that Jet Fragment if it isn't falling out of there before you get it Driven-out the top.

 

Oil change, rear gear oil changed (both to AMSOIL), and put in an inline fuel filter.
Rode 50 miles yesterday. 221N from Blowing Rock, NC to Grandfather Mountain, then parkway back to Boone, NC.

I have to say, 221 for that stretch is great fun. Lots of banked turns, no speed limit, little traffic. :-D

 

Took off the top of the carb and the diaphragm assembly, tapped out the emulsion tube, taped it up, put it in a vice and used a drill-out to get the broken body of the main jet out of the tube.
Thanks for all the advice guys. It worked like a charm!

 

picked up some exhaust gaskets at the yamaha house (along with some proper headpipe collar nuts) for a total of $105 OUCH!

im getting more and more wrapped up in this bike every day. im HOPING im all done buying for it. other than the tank that got knocked over somehow and got DENTED :evil:

d

 

kicked the wheel because the tach drive is leaking AGAIN!!

 

Degreased the Engine.
Scrubbed my GOLD Wheels with the Tooth-brushes I ripped-off from the Men's Room at the Dentist Office.

Sprayed STP Degreaser on a nicely warmed-up engine.
Followed-up the Degreaser with some 60-Percent Lestoil Solution.
Soaked the warm block with it.
Rinsed.
Started it up and dried the CLEAN-O-Matic Engine until dried.
Looks New!