XJ550 Ratting idle - video

Hi everyone,

this is my first post on this forum, but I'm following treads for a few months now! I found a lot of posts very useful

So i own XJ550 4V8 Seca 1981 for a year now and I'm in love with the bike! My very first motorcycle!
It has 50 000 km on the clock and I'm her second owner.

So, briefly to summarize what I have done so far.

Done by mechanic:
1. Cylinder head and valves clean up - new valve seals
2. New cam chain and tensioner repair
2. Carbs cleaning and balancing
3. New front brake hoses and brake calliper repair
4. Fuel petcock repair
5. New ignition coil and spark plugs

Done by me:

1. Installed new drive chain and sprockets
2. New intake manifolds
3. New tires
4. Tank rust clean up

So I uploaded a video because I'm left with one concern and that is rattling sound while idling.
I saw a few treads on theme in this forum but i would like to hear a few comments after posting a video of mine.

So, the video is on the link below and any suggestions would be useful.
Rattling goes away when revving as you can hear so i believe it could be primary chain slap due to imbalanced carbs?
Could carbs get off balance because of new intake boots? Because they where balanced recently...

Or could it be a clutch basket, because the rattle is less prominent with clutch pulled in...

What do you guys think?



Thank you in advance,

Dino

 

Sounds great for a 40 year old bike. As you say balance the carbs and maybe increase the idle a little to 1200 rpm and I'll bet it sounds even better

 

Primary chain tensioner on the 550 operates with oil pressure and the chain can be noisy at idle.

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/550-owners-worried-about-primary-chain-noise-read.12547/

 

So, is this the magical "you must rev your engine when idling at a stoplight" reason?
I thought Harleys were the only ones that required to do that when idling for a while?

 

Thank you for your answer Franz! So you think by the sound on the video that it concerns primary chain?
I would like to eliminate any serious issues on the bike I want it in safe riding condition!

Dino

 

Raise the idle slightly to see if the noise goes away. Yes it's a possibility.

 

Mine sounds worse - but I no longer think about it.

 

check your "exhaust to head " nuts for tightness, they can cause the rattle you describe

 

As the rattling goes away when you rev the engine it will be the primary chain tensioner taking up the slack. Nothing to worry about.