What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Northern Indiana weather is bad , looking at forecast a couple of 40's for high and of course rain, snow mix .

 

I am lucky then it is not too bad in Scotland.

 

It was 37 here yesterday (Indianapolis area). I couldn't help myself and went for a ride. It wasn't that too cold but I was riding in a subdivision so nothing very fast.

 

We're spoiled down in Texas. I only ride when it's above 68°.

 

I used to live in Houston, way to hot most of the time and no one knows how to drive . I was going to Louisiana was doing 80 and about got ran over by a corvette, Ferrari, Maserati, and two Lamborghini's all doing at least 130 .

 

Went to the BMV today; Forked over $161 for registration/plates. First real ride on the ol '81 $300 XJ project. Placed insurance on it also. Rode around my town almost 10 miles! The loner I rode the more noticeable carburetion issues surfaced. Rough idle, leaving a stoplight required higher than normal rev's, upper rpm was congested. I had been partially through the carbs when I first picked up the bike, along with frozen f&r brakes, fuse box issues, and so on. Anyway I let her cool down after the ride, pulled the new ngk's, #1,2,4 coal black. #3 clean. Placed new plugs in, fired it up, shot carb. spray all around the intake boots and carbs. #3 instantly revved from the spray. I pulled the carbs, inspected the boots and gaskets, WOW I failed. The china gaskets were not sealing completely. Bought the gasket material and made 4 to match the oe shape off an old boot. Pulled the bowls, just WOW, I blew it guys! Main 122 and pilot 43 from a china carb kit.. I cleaned up all the old jets and reinstalled. Tomorrow the carbs. go back on. This is the first of 2 xj650's I bought recently. I am learning so much.

 

I have rebuilt 2 carbs now, I like the xj4ever bowl gasket and throttle shaft seals but not his float needle and needle valve with the flat (not 1/2 bowl) filters. I used some of the parts from an amazon kit that has paper gaskets and not rubber ones and like the float needles better.
I used none of the carb kit brass. Either jet size was not appropriate or the threading was rough (emulsion tube) so I just cleaned up the original brass. One carb had larger jets and purchased original factory size jets from xj4ever.
If you clean up the original parts, not much reason to use carb kit parts from the cheap carb kits.
This xj650 I got was a great learning experience too. I went on short 5-10 mile test runs to sort things out till I was happy.
Good luck

 

Last night used a Colortune plug and rented Carbtune Pro/YICS tool to get the carbs dialed in.

Today, sanded and polished the paint on the fuel tank. It came out real nice. The only real downside to the 2K aerosol clear coat is it's an aerosol can so it doesn't feed properly when spraying at an odd angle. Like when you're spraying the top of a fuel tank that's sitting on a sawhorse. So there were a few specks and spittle spots that came out once it was sanded. In hindsight I should have hung the tank vertically, but after 600, 800, 1000 and 1200 grit wet sanding and buffing with some Meguire's ultimate compound it looks far better than what you might expect out of a $100 paint job done in a garage.

 

To get a real good finish out of rattle cans , boil a pan of hot water let cool for 15 to 20 mintes . Put the can of paint in water for a few minutes, take it out shake it up several times , put it back in water for few more minutes. Remove from water shake it up and spray in even coats . The heat increases pressure in can and thins paint . JUST BE CAREFUL , you don't want the can to explode .

 

Roger that, I did the hot water immersion trick with the base and clear. The clear has a smaller aerosol compartment you puncture from bottom to release hardener so I'm not sure how it feeds. It takes three coats - one light, then a medium coat, then a heavy coat to finish. I started on the top of the tank on the last coat but even with half a can left it was sputtering a bit at a ~45° angle. Probably why most spray guns feed from the top.

 

Slapped the tank back on and took her for a spin. Need to wait a couple more weeks to wax the tank and reinstall the tank emblems.

 

You know what is a problem with Maxims, at least with the original seats? They always rub on the back end of the tank and ruin the paint finish.

 

Right, I had the upholstery shop bring the front lip of the seat back about a half inch so there's a bit more space and it doesn't press against the tank quite as much.

 

Hello friends.
Walking around with my xj750 I noticed a buzz and a strong vibration at the input of the dash.
Note that if I loosen the cable thread the noise disappears but appears at times even at low speed.
With the motorcycle moving I adjust the cable and it stops vibrating.
Behind the headlight the cable is in contact and could be making an axial force.
Any suggestions?
Is it lubrication? What is recommended to lubricate with? Oil? fat?
Greetings and thanks!!

 

Pulled out my yellow seca , first ride of year whooo , bike is dusty , and I pulled the mirrors , windshield, side covers so need to put it all back on .

 

Spoke wheels!

 

Nice job looks great

 

I am not fan of having spoke wheels but I do have to say that does look Sweet!

 

Did my Secas front end, new seals and oil change. PO had messed up, (what a surprise). left one had one spring washer squashed in the bottom of the fork lead, both bolts at the low side of fork legs had wrong size copper washers and right side had 0 oil in it. They were different to each other too, internals and fork leg both which is weird. Well, got it done anyway, went with Motul fork expert sae15 and took a little test ride too, seems good so far.

 

So, I've been riding my XJ650 alternating with my other bike. Back when I first got it running a couple months ago and I was fiddling a lot with it, the plugs were really black from all the idling and starting up with fuel enrichment. Now that I'm just riding it, and I have new plugs, I pulled them yesterday to look at them now that the weather is a little warmer.
They all 4 look great. Very pleased with how the bike is running right now. I still have not ventured more than 30 minutes away from the house on the XJ though, I may start to do that soon.