What did you do to your Yamaha today?

When little things can make a big difference:

A quite normal servicing, Oil,oil filter, Air filter, Shaft drive oil and new plugs (the good ones, NGK BP7ES in place of the BPR8ES 8O i found on.

Just went to a 30 km (18 miles) test ride and...wow, really smooth drive, the gears are shifting in a lot better and that 10 w 40 Mineral cured also my slightly slipping clutch!

 

not a fun day. bench sync carbs (2nd time) tried to dial them in (useing just the one gauge). plugs still have lots of yellow on tips,runs rough, just can't seam to get the sync screws to "sync". to make it worse my car died so now i have to ride my poor unhappy xj to work.oh well its only a small problem compareitivaly i suppose.

 

Pulled the tank and side covers to prep for paint. Powder coated all the handlebar control housings, MC, and bars. Nice pretty high gloss black.

 

finally done bead blasting the swing arm, and other little parts for paint Now it is up to my friend with the paint shop he will ahve everything by the end of the day so hopefully next weekend I will be otu riding again in a new coloer and no chip, dents or scratches.

 

finished painting the tank for my cafe project

 

I spent all night rebuilding the XJ1100 master cylinder, so I could mount it on the 550! :-D

I had to switch the clutch perch as well, since the mirror angle is different.

BTW.. the XJ1100 got a big-bore MC from mikesxs.com, and with stainless lines, it brakes with two fingers.

 

like the paint mrkil: rattle can, or spray gun?

 

thanks
the paint is rattle can
that pic is before clearcoat and polishing.

i'll post a better one in a bit

 

Got her tag and registration! No more sneaking around the block. I feel like I'm 17.

 

mrkil: please do - would be interested in what rattle can type and clearcoat you used! ;-) (and how u did, you tape off the sections?? with what, etc ..etc..etc.. ;-P )

nice job!

 

I finally changed out the OE fuse box and...........the bike still runs. My first small victory!

 

Way to go Yamahamama!

Probably the most important victory is the first small one, but in this case, very important. This is one of those jobs that you will never know if you really did any good because there will be no trouble.

Nicely done, congrats.

 

Put my fixed ebay left side cover on.
Still searching for the elusive right side cover

 

Cleaned the bike from top to bottom. Waxed the tank, wiped everything down, changed the oil, check the tires, cleaned the windjammer, took a toothbrush and gunk cleaner to the gunk off of carbs and motor. It looks awesome. I rode it for a while this evening to cool off. (It was 100 degrees today and I needed some air) The ride was short but the bike was in top form.

Desperado

 

Cleaned the bike from top to bottom. Waxed the tank, wiped everything down, changed the oil, check the tires, cleaned the windjammer, took a toothbrush and gunk cleaner to the gunk off of carbs and motor. It looks awesome. I rode it for a while this evening to cool off. (It was 100 degrees today and I needed some air) The ride was short but the bike was in top form.

Desperado

 

So this is what she looks like yesterday:




If you want to hear her running click here and start the video. She is the loudest XJ you have ever heard:

Loudest XJ650 YamaHOG

So right after the video was taken I ran her a few more times until she seized on me. I pulled open the valve cover to see I was missing a cam chain sprocket on the exhaust cam. The casting was cracked across one of the bolt holes but the other one looked untouched. The sprocket blew into 5 pieces. Two halves and some debris.

I am thinking one of the bolts holding the sprocket on backed off somehow and the imbalance caused the sprocket to shear. I pulled off the heads and the cylinders and spent about four hours fishing all the metal out of my bike. The crank sprocket looks fine. It didn't really get run with the brocken sprocket because the front chain guide wedged into the crank sprocket and prevented the engine from being turned over. I put the bike in gear and pushed the tire backwards to get the guide out of the sprocket. It was really wedged in there.

Needless to say I'm going to put her back together tonight and try again. I'll use a cam, sprocket, and guide out of a spare engine.

What could have caused this? I put the chain back in and there was no slack. And cranked the cam over a few times and the timing marks maintained their positions. Give me some ideas guys. I'm truly stumped.

 

Dude, you are one dedicated trooper! Better luck this next time!

Mmmmm, lamb souvlaki, one of my favorites!

 

So, I got to go see Batman, and thought it was great, the only trouble was getting to the theater on time. It's only 10 miles away, and I had given myself 30 min to get gas and get there, I just didn't plan on giving the bike such a bath. In a huge thunderstorm, almost the whole way there, and after the movie (which was great and I felt obligated to shivver all the way to the end) all the way home. Lots of water in the roads, lots of lightning, and the one accident to gawk at wasn't me.

So, I filled her up and gave her a bath.

 

Dude, EXACT same thing happened to me except the sprocket stayed in one piece. Never did figure out why.

 

all i did was ride it today!