What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Chain and drag bars came in today!! Tonight will be awesome.

 

Checked valve clearances cleaned the block a little installed a 12 volt charger for my iPhone..

 

[mad]
I'll tell you what I WON'T be doing to my Yamaha this weekend. The fork seals. Why? Because FedEx is a horrible company. If you work for FedEx, do us all a favor and quit and let them go out of business faster than they already are. Quit and go to UPS. Fall down on your knees in front of the UPS headquarters and repent. Tell them what awful things you've done while working for FedEx hopefully they'll see the good in you and hire your package delaying ass. Then go to your family and tell them what a despicable scumbucket you were for working with FedEx. Tell them you no longer work for a company who's main goal is to contaminate society with nothing but evils towards the handling of packages. Start up a website and tell the world that you've seen the light, and FedEx no longer controls your life, your feelings, your emotions, and that your main goal for the future is to work with a company that enjoys delivering packages on time, and hires employees that actually take pleasure in their job. Maybe then you'll be able to reinstate yourself into society as a decent human being.
[/mad]

[stable]
With that being said, now I have free time to sand, prime, and paint this tank. Be prepared for lots o' pics.
[/stable]

 

I changed the oil and filter. I made sure to use a 6 point socket on that Filter bolt and broke it free. Thanks for the great advice here! Pulled the rear wheel, checked the brakes and found no de-lamination yeah! I gave the bike its first cleaning. Went for a ride then replaced the final drive oil.

 

Finished checking and adjusting my valve lash. then it started raining, did not get to test ride it

 

Left her at home cause it was supposed to storm... of course... no storms when i would have been driving.... lol

 

I couldn't do anything but gaze lovingly into her big rectangular eye; one more week in Minneapolis then it's SIN CITY bound!!!

 

This is pretty spot on when it comes to bikes

 

Put on brand new carb boots, leaks were so badon the old ones that cylinder 1 wouldnt even run. Started up the bike, set idle, and man did she purr so ever nicely. Finally got the chance to ride her to school. Long story short, oil level light on, thick white smoke spewing out the exhaust with dark black oil drippin out the tip.... oh baby why dont you like me? Oh well, at least she got me past 100mph on my birthday, a gift that i wont forget.

 

Tried the PineSol Carb cleaning trick.
Rejetted to #115 for pods
Did a carb Lower end rebuild
Bench synched

Reinstalled carbs and now I am getting gas leaking from the carbs.

I did get it running though, but only with the enrichment circuit. Still had a pretty rough idle, but it has stopped revving to 5000 with the throttle and slowly coming down.

Got a better look at the intake manifold and there are several small cracks in the boots. Hopefully not big enough to leak. Will have to check that.

Also looks like I am not getting flow from the the petcock in the on position, just in prime, so that might also be on the repair list.

Removing the carbs again tomorrow to check the floats (dry and wet).

Hoping to get a good enough idle to vacuum synch and colortune.

Two days ago, I changed the oil and put in a new retainer bolt for the oil filter. And removed the rear wheel to check the drum brake... no delamination. Phew! Oh, and removed the valve cover and checked the valve clearances.

 

Dry and Wet measured the carb floats- Check
Got it running again- sounded good, seemed smooth.
Took a ride around the block... it was still revving to 5000 and slowly coming down.

So I thought to myself, " Self, this might be a vacuum leak."
So I set up and checked with CarbTune.
Not too bad, but 3 and 4 were higher than 1 and 2 so I adjusted and things seemed to even out, but the idle was still finicky and kept revving high.

After a quick beer and some thought, I realized that all those readings were erroneous since the YICS tool was not in place (Aha!)

So I inserted the YICS tool, quickly to realize that it seemed a bit sticky and in an epiphany moment of Holy $h!# I quickly removed the tool to find that I had melted it.

The short drive around the block and all the futsing with the CarbTune and the idle had heated up the engine too hot. (I think I read about that somewhere...)

Alas, I learned a lot and made some headway.

Len is gonna love me...

 

I replaced the choke cable... and figured out why she was shorting out, and has been unrideable for the last few days...

 

Lost a mirror on the freeway last night on the way home, just rattled off it's post, leaving the actual mirror mounting hardware

 

wow, thats rough. I had a hard time trying to take off my mirror with my own effort and even soaked it in pb blaster overnight. I ended up using a cutoff wheel and chopped it off lol

 

You do realize that the right hand mirror on these bikes is reverse threaded, right? That it unscrews in the "wrong direction?"

The locknut has "nicks" in the corners between its flats that the other side doesn't have. Notched flats like that are the universal symbol for "reverse threaded, beware." The right-hand mirror unscrews clockwise.

 

New in line fuel filter installed! I had no idea how long the old one had been there, so I decided to replace it.

 

drag bars ;-)

 

Installed my new valve shims! She sounds much better now for a test spin to see how she rides!

 

Installed Vista Cruise throttle lock, new gas tank, fuel filter, sensor & petcock o-rings, sync'd, aired up the forks, polished the rear brake backing plate, detailed....and some other things I can't remember.

All in preparation for the Rice o Rama in Mass. on Sunday.

 

brught her finally to life for the first time since...just touch the starter. Id list what all I did but isn't there a word amount limit? easier to say resurection rebuild with some customizing fab work- Seca Cruiser?

 

Contemplated setting it afire and hauling it's burned out carcass to the scrap yard to watch it be crushed. While I laugh with manic glee.

Outside of that pulled the carbs again to find out why the number 1 carb still leaks gas after a rebuild and the appropriate adjustments.
I have lost count the number of times I have pulled the carbs.

Pardon the vent, Not a good day with the bike. Someone remind me this is suppose to be fun.

 

swapped out my final drive. Discovered a broken shaft. Might be was was making the noise on deceleration. Doing a 240Mile ride tomorrow. Hope she holds up against the modern sportbikes Im going with.

 

Cleaned and put some new parts in carbs. New spark plugs. Oil change and filter. Charged battery. Cleaned gas tank and petcock. Lubed her up, been a little over a year since she has ran.

Had a fun time with an impact screwdriver getting out and *fixing* carb drain plug screws. (luckily they have plenty of thread that is not used, extended flat head biting space that will work for now ~ghetto til i can order some more screws).

Have the fun task tomorrow of several installs and removal of carbs until i get floats set right, but I am looking forward to the experience/work.

First time messing with the carbs besides getting them in synch ~ hopefully I got em good enough!

Only wishing I had more $$$ to spend on my bike, been a while since I've had her running and I want to do so much more.

 

Installed a spitfire wind screen! What a world of difference that makes!

 

I was honestly thinking about that this morning, sailing down the freeway in completely unblustered comfort at 80, with no windshield. It's really about riding position. If you have a windshield it's not so important any more.

Doc, you got your badges stuck on? 3M to the rescue?

Oh, sorry. Rode mine, 122 miles; put gas in it. Got wet for a minute.

 

Took your advice and found the tape at Autozone and used it. They are on the bike and look pretty good, so yeah 3M to the rescue!

As for riding position with the stock bars I just couldn't find anything that really worked for me at 75 + MPH. And I was tired of getting knocked around by the wind so I got a screen.

 

i started her up and rode her didnt have time to diddle with anything, and she didnt ask for anything special..... so we enjoyed the beautiful 70 degree summer day!

 

today I reinstalled the factory rear rack that the tour pack panniers and trunk mount to. Prepped the trunk for matching paint. Yesterdays long ride made me realize how nice it would have been to have some hard luggage on the bike.

I also changed out my gauge bulbs for red 194's. Going to try that for now, but I think some brighter LED's might be in order.

 

Changed the oil and the plugs on one bike.
Changed the plugs, checked valve clearances, polished the vacuum piston and bore, changed float heights, vacuum synched. Still a pain in my ass.
But I'm getting closer.

Looking from the top into the bore, it looks like the jet at the top of the emulsion tube is corroded and may be part of the problem...

Do I need to have the YICS tool in place to Colortune?

My guess would be yes, so that each carb is isolated, but just checking...

 

pulled my front wheel, checked bearings and they seem fine but Ill probably change them any way. painting the lower part of my forks now.
other than that I bought a little chinese flywing 100 dirtbike for my youngest son. 50 bucks and loaded it up. we pulled the carb and cleaned it, put in a new plug and kicked it over a few times and it came to life.
he put it in gear the front came up and removed most of the rear fender.
After a good laugh ( me laughing, him looking like a deer in the headlights)
he got it going and soon after my front yard had couple of ruts but I got a happy kid. we'll get another fender later.

 

Finally pulled the rear wheel to check the brake shoes. They were in excellent condition. The friend that was helping me is a Harley guy, and he was amazed at how quickly we finished.

 

It is what the factory recommends, yes (having the YICS tool in place for fine-tuning mixtures.) Of course, the factory was using an EGA; but the ColorTune is our "visual substitute."

I wouldn't spend too much time trying to sync the carbs though; with valves as tight as yours are, once you get the valves adjusted it's gonna throw your vacuum sync way off anyway.

 

Rode bike up and down the road like "a bat out of hell" to tweak the carb settings. Looks good! I have a number of bikes I'm watching, to choose one from, to line up a new one to work on after the new year. The hard part is that choosing which one, none of them is over $500!

 

Last night I pulled the tank checked the plugs, routed everything out of the way, gave the frame a needed dusting - tonight I'm checking valve clearances.

 

Bled the front brakes and remounted the carbs on the bike.
Finished putting the trim pieces and footpegs back on.
Getting closer to it being back on the road!

 

Finally got a new modular headlight installed. WOW! Let there be light.

 

Pulled the front end off and took the triple clamps to the machine shop to have the stem transferred to a virago 750 tree.

 

Turbo is up on the lift. Rebuilt the forks today, rebuilt the calipers, new brake pads, shoes, Goodyear stainless brake lines, and last but not least fresh set of Pirelli Sport Demon's

 

Getting set-up for paint but right now it be all about the ride 500+ miles a week. Nothin better than a good bike & 70+ MPH down the highway.

 

I rode it to work with a big smile on my face.

 

Checked the valve clearances. Unfortunately, I'll be ordering a valve shim tool and new shims in the near future.

 

Get her in for the 2 year inspection...all good to go

 

Just getting the carbs back on after cleanning. Oh what a great feeling.

 

Tank off, carbs off and disassembled, back fender off...making way for shorter suspension, a bobber rear fender, solo seat, and new paint...oh and a bigger engine!

 

Had to retorque the cylinder head crown nuts, 2,000 miles after the top end rebuild. I thought it was odd that the thing started leaking a little, and sure enough, they needed tightened.
It scared me when they "snapped" free during the first turn, but after that it took a few quarter turns (on one nut especially) to get it back up to torque value. Weird.
I seem to remember Len (XJ4Ever) recommending in his catalog that the studs be replaced during a rebuild, for torque reasons. Maybe I shoulda oughta dunnit.

 

Well lessee.....scrubbed the tank with "Goo Gone" to get some glue residue left by a removed tank protector. Took carb #4 off the rack for a cleaning. I've had this bike just a few weeks. I rescued it from a garage so the carbs are frozen up. Fixed one of the snipped off connecters on the handlebar switches. Took off the petcock to get some of the loose garbage out. No keys. Put some JB Weld on some extra drilled holes and a crack on the side covers. More to do....

 

After reading about battery issues went down and checked my batt and sure enough levels were low. Yikes!!! Pulled it out, filled levels and then put on tender (2a although I just read it should be 1a gahhh) Then read about winter riding. So went down again and checked air pressure and needing 4psi in front and 8psi in back!!! I will need to get that done before riding again. I'm living in a building, so luckily for me, my underground parking spot has a light right over the center of it, so can do stuff.

Thanks to XJ community, I'm learning all the good things to do before bad things happen (learning the hard way). 8)

 

One of my many projects is a long slow build of a Maxim X. I dug through my parts today and was able to put together a complete matching set of handgrips for it. Otherwise, just sorting and arranging other parts.

Dave F

 

Showed the Maximator her new speedo glass that came from the eBay gods! Started process of opening Mikuni deep clean biz. Maximator is smiling. Dogs have decided it's one strange black & chrome beast since it all comes apart!

 

I made some 10" crescent wrench struts for mine. Its looking pretty sweet