What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Put in new wheel bearings and seals. New front tire - Bridgestone Spitfire- balanced both wheels.

 

Well not today; but, the other day, browsed the owner's manual for my bike on my new XJCD. I noticed the instructions for how to switch ignition from Off to Locked position. It turns out you just need to push the key in once and release. Then it easily turns from Off to Locked. I tried it out and darned if it didn't work! Much better procedure than the fiddling and cursing I have been doing since getting my bike months ago. )

 

Hahahaha! Awesome! I had assumed that my lock was broken! Now I can actually lock the silly thing!

Of course, the lock is fairly stiff and the key is worn, so there is still a lot of wiggling and cursing. I'll have to see about spraying some WD40 or similar in there to loosen things up a bit.

Nice tip!

Oh yeah, minor adjustment to clutch perch so that mirror is in a more useful place. It's fairly tricky to get those just right...

 

Ah...... so that is what the lock is. I wrongly assumed it was some steering lock thing that was broken. It works as well, thanks guys.

I rode today from home to work, 80ks of single lane highway, not much traffic and great scenery. My usual 70 to 100 kmh gives plenty of time to have a look around and enjoy the ride. Weather was perfect, no wind and around 15degreesC. Put a couple of pictures in the gallery taken from my favourite part of the road.

 

hmmm.. i didn't know, I knew you pushed down, but i thought, push and turn..

then i wiggle and jiggle and curse and finally it goes..

so i just depress it once, and turn it. NEATO

i haven't gotten to do much on the bike, it's been below 40 and raining

 

WHOA!

Another one joining the "holy crap you push in the steering lock then turn, I used to just jiggle the hell out of it until it worked" club.

 

Made rearsets.

 

Sold it

 

Rode it like a mofo.


Oh and if I was smart I would have been in this thread all winter.

 

Made an appointment to get it inspected next week! Woo hoo!

 

Removed Carbs from the 80 XJ650 Maxim I picked up. They were completely covered in Varnished Fuel on the outside. Someone had opened the petcock with the line off and drained the fuel all over the carbs and motor quite a while ago.

Rather than disassemble the rack and soak each one, I elected to tape off all of the openings and bead blasted the carbs at work today. Pilot plugs were still in place. I wish I would have had a pic of the before but I'll definetely take one of the after. They cleaned up like new.

I got started opening them up one at a time tonight at the house and they were not as bad as they looked from the outside...Removed the pilot plugs while I was there so they could be cleaned. All Emulsion tubes except one were really clean. That one carb (#2) had alot of varnished fuel in it so I soaked the float bowl in a gallon of carb cleaner for an hour and it cleaned right up.

Picked up a battery and some supplies(antiseize, carb/brake clean, fork oil) at the auto parts. While I was there I had them look up the filters for it... Amazingly they had an oil filter on the shelf for it ! $4.44 with O'rings!

Hopefully I'll be able to pop it off tomorrow.

 

I finally got sick and tired of all that oil collecting on the left side of my motor. Tonight I removed the left crank side cover, removed the ignition pickup and rotor, and replaced the left crank shaft seal.

No more leaky. Now I'm much happier.

 

Boy busy weekend here....finally hit the 50's so had to finish off refinishing the engine parts that were all pitted,crank case cover,fork legs,grab bar. Waxed the painted bits and went for my first (although illegal ride) no inspection yet.
Hopefully get that done this week and away we go

 

I may have made the appointment to get it inspected, but that doesn't stop me from working on it! I decided that I didn't like the way any of the cables up front ran, so I got out the cable routing diagrams, and after much cursing, jumping up and down, and candle-burning (inside, not in the garage where there are fumes), I was able to decipher them.

Got clutch, choke, and throttle cables all threaded through that little bracket in the center of the frame that holds the coils on and over the lil gas tank nubs. Funny how there's the right amount of slack and cables don't pull in turns when they're run properly.

Problem is that now I have to adjust the clutch cable... AGAIN. I hate doing that, because I'm never quite sure if I have it right. Seems to shift okay and the engine doesn't race during a hard acceleration. If I nose up to a wall and let the clutch out (first gear) the engine dies like it's supposed to. However, there is *no* freeplay in the clutch lever, which is odd compared to my other bikes, which seems too tight. If I put the bike on the center stand, put it in 1st, and clutch in, the rear tire still spins, which seems to *loose*.

Eh?

Replaced the battery again. Keeping this one on the charger. Even ran the bolt-on leads to make it easier this time. Bike starts in less than 1s now. Also ordered alternator brushes. I haven't even looked at them yet, but after everything else I've seen of this bike, what are the odds they're in good shape?

Workin' my way through it all...

 

^^^ Rear tire spin on the center stand in neutral or any other gear with the clutch disengaged is pretty normal. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I tried starting it again ..didnt work so I yelled at It . Still doesnt start . Untill tomorrow . Ill my digits in the carbs again .

 

Finished replacing the fork seals on the Turbo.

Finished cleaning up the 650G and took it for a short ride.

 

connected all vacuum ports together into one, and dented my tank
@#$%$#@*&%$#@#

 

So, today I got sick and tired of waiting for the warm weather, so I untarped it, chucked the battery in and STARTED it!!!! WOO HOO!!!

She was a little reluctant to go at first. Sorta like she was saying "get the %$&! off me and let me go back to sleep". Just when I was about to say "CRAP" she fired and died. One more blip on the starter and away she went. 2 or 3 minutes of warm up and she idled. I just sat on it and twisted the throttle a bit, so she could get reacquainted with my butt. It was wonderful!

She was idling a little rough at about 1,000 rpm. I had gone out and found some Seafoam today, so I figured it was a good time to give that a shot. I dumped about a quarter can in the tank and gave her a shake to mix. She started up instantly (always does when warm) and idled rough for a couple more minutes. All of a sudden she smoothed out almost completely and the idle went to about 1,600 and rock steady. Instant response to the throttle, too. Sweet! 8)

I'm smiling like a pig rolling in sh_t right now. And the missus is giving me that 'look', too, which is always a good sign. The look that says I'm way too excited about my 'donor-cycle'. That's the name they use at the X-ray department where she works.

Still gotta change the oil, change the exhaust gaskets and see if I can get the front brake to stop dragging. My mechanic buddy thinks I just need to back out the adjustment screw on the brake lever at the master cylinder. He's the one who got it running for me when I got it last fall and also gave me the parts list to order from chacal. He knows his stuff, so I'm crossing my fingers that he's right again. Also need to brush up on Rick's 'Old School' carb synch info. Got access to a vacuum gauge, so gonna give it shot. The way it's running right now, if I can get the carbs really synched and get the idle to set at about 1000 - 1100, all I'll need to worry about is the cosmetic stuff.

Anyway, the forecast is for +19 C (mid to upper 60s for my friends south of the 49th) by Sunday. Methinks I'll be making some miles by the weekend!

 

Replaced the clutch and springs. Changed the oil. Does anyone know what a good break in period is? This is my first clutch change on a motorcycle.