What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Didn't do this today, but over the last few days I've:

Rebuilt my clutch.
Replaced stator brushes
Replaced Clutch Lever switch
Fixed choke cable (it works again!)
Replaced horn button
Replaced light in speedo


Today I'm going to rebuild my brake caliper...inside (its raining).
I get a new brake line tomorrow so I'll be installing it, the SS lines, and a new MC tomorrow.

Then its off to the Talimena Drive all weekend (if we don't get rained out ):

 

Today I rechecked all my specs and compression. Reset all my Mixture Screws. Retested my Sync. Tested Battery charge. Tested Coils. Cleaned plugs. Marvel Mystery Oiled my valves. Checked airbox and filter. Started it up, and proceeded to bang my head on the table. Then I limped it home and parked it again. One of these days I'm going to post that I went on a long ride through the mountains and it ran perfectly, and I'll explain in detail how wonderful it was.

 

Shad:

I don't mean to "Burst your Bubble"
But, with those low compression numbers its going to be pretty unlikely that you are going to go for any long rides without doing something about the Piston Rings.

With Compression Values below 90 psi ... The Plugs are likely to be Oil Fouled in just a matter of minutes.
Without higher Compression ... EVERY time you fire the Bike up and run-up the rev's you risk "Throwing a Rod"

The Compression in a Cylinder not only compresses the Mixture and makes it viable to Ignition from the Spark Plug ... Compression also "Puts the brakes on" the upward movement of the Piston.

If there isn't enough Compression in the Cylinder to act as a force against the weight and upward motion of the Piston ... the Piston is going to KEEP on rising with NO opposing force to check its upward motion.

This places enormous stresses on the Connecting Rods which can't handle the continued action of having to Stop the rising Piston and nearly immediately having downward force applied to them.

Eventually a Connecting Rod will not longer be able to withstand the extreme forces applied to it and breaks.
You "Throw a Rod"
It can thrash about in the engine.
It can become wedged and immediately seize the engine.
It can punch a hole right through the side of the Block.
You could get hurt.
If your Bike was an aircraft it would be "Grounded"!

I don't think it's a good idea for you to be running that Engine without addressing the low compression.

Something bad is just waiting to happen!

(This Post also PM'd to the Member)

 

I rode HER today, Rode HER good and hard.
I've been laid up with a broken ankle for 9 weeks, 6 with a cast and 3 more with a "Frankenstien" brace.
I've been gimping out to the garage at least once a week to fire HER up and listen to the purrrr.
Finally the doc said I could do what I want to the tolerance of pain.
Well there was no pain as SHE got warmed up and lept through the gears.

It was 50 degrees tonight on my ride into work, the only thing on me that was cold, was my teeth from the huge grin on my face.
hahahahahahaha
Should be at least 45 for the ride home in the morning.

 

Two days ago I used some 3/4 " gold pin striping to cover the SECA 550 emblem on my side cover. The striping had some wrinkles in it that remained after installing it. It still looks better than it did before. I give it a B+.

This morning I hooked up the battery charger. Haven't ridden in over four weeks. Waiting on parts. At lunch time today my new tach drive housing arrived. I skipped lunch, installed my new seal and o-ring, courtesy of Chacal, in the housing and installed the tach drive. Petcock to prime for a few seconds, choke on and hit the starter. Started instantly and I spent the last 10 minutes of my lunch listening to it rumble. The weather is awesome today so I will be heading out on the road as soon as work is over.

 

Ranger experiences the a Hollywood Moment: another happy ending!

 

Took it for a ride after work, bought some oil and did an oil change. Took it for another ride after supper.

 

well i put the carbs back on
they where sent out to be completely clened checked and adjusted.

runs nice and smooth but if i rev it there is a lag in returning to idle.
if i push down on the right side adjuster it goes back down to a proper idle.

 

Shoot some Carb Cleaner on the Throttle Shaft pivots when it running.
You might have a problem with Air leaking-in through the Throttle Shaft Seals.

Having to "Touch" the linkage to get the Idle down is a hint.

 

i'll check that.

it's almost like it's not returning all the way, when the throttle is released

 

Yesterday, Did an oil change, replaced the exhaust gaskets, replaced 2 broken exhaust studs and found another stripped
Also, was offered a good deal on a set of carbs. There's an old independent bike shop I go to. Run by two older gentlemen. The mechanic used to race an '81 550 seca until a bad crash got him off bikes completely.
He bought the bike new, ran it 2-3 mo. then pulled the carbs, cleaned and dried them out, and stored them. $200 for me...not in the bike budget, but I'll find a way to pick these up.

 

drove 400 km (250 miles) in 2 days and my odometer went over 60.000 km (37.290 miles)

 

I drove a good 400 km as well yesterday. Took a nice drive from Tavi to St Catharines to visit a bud and came back home a diff way. Was a real nice day for a long drive, but wow did i have sore butt when i got home hahah.

 

Rode it to the store and purchased 1 Milky Way Midnight, 1 5th Avenue, 1 Chunky, 1 Twix.

 

This past Sunday, I did the following to my XJ700XN:

- Drained coolant and removed radiator
- Moved some of the valve shims around in prep for the 'new' ones from HAP
- Drained/refilled final drive oil
- Replaced front brake switch
- Replaced clutch interlock switch
- Disassembled T-140 plug boots
- Cut old ignition coil signal wires and attached them to my new Dyna coils, then mounted coils to butterfly bracket
- Adjusted rear brake pedal and linkage

I'm glad to be finally getting stuff done! I'd have changed the oil as well but my oil container's too full at the moment. Once the new shims come in I need to put those in, reinstall the cams and such, finish the ignition system rebuild, and put the carbs back in with new intake boots.

This weekend I'm planning to meet up with a coworker to dig into the carbs to make sure they're ok.

 

Girchy: (Others with Dyna Coils)

Could you provide a photo of how the Dyna Coils Mounted, please?

 

On the bracket but not in the engine, or in the engine, too? HAP's got some pictures on his site where he goes into the conversion:

http://www.maxim-x.com/dyna_coils.html

I can certainly take some, however. It might be a few weeks - I'm waiting for my shims from the pool, then put all that stuff back together.

 

I took, what was probably my last ride of 2008. Working and hunting will eat up all the rest of the good riding days. I managed to get a few decent pictures today. I'm happy to report that the repair of my tach drive is 100% oil tight. At home I added fuel stabilizer and ran the carbs dry. I was testing out my heated vest that I had purchased in the spring. It was even a little too hot at times today. It was about 15*C/62*F. I had wired in an on/off switch that I can use while riding so I just added heat when needed.

 

Ranger.......beautiful bike and beautiful photo.

Hope your winter is short!

 

Thanks Len. May is about the earliest it is practical to begin riding again in the spring. That's a long 7 months!