That's great news, Rob.
Fingers crossed that the oil stays clean...
Fingers crossed that the oil stays clean...
-
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On the road again at 40.............the bike that is
Beautiful day, headed North, let's see where we end up.
First stop Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Mary's ON. Sadly closed for renovations.
One of several diamonds on the property.
If you've got concrete the cement in it mighta come from here. The St. Mary's Cement Co.
Next stop to get a pic I owe Daniel Black from last year. Never got there till now. The famous Stratford Festival.
The famous White Swans on the Avon river.
Then a healthy back road trek west to Goderich on Lake Huron.
And if you live in an area where you need road salt, it may well have come from here, the Sifto Salt mine.
Had to head home early so only put about 250 miles on today.
A perfect summer day on a long weekend. Saw some bikes on the road today!
Wonder where I'll end up tomorrow?
First stop Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Mary's ON. Sadly closed for renovations.
One of several diamonds on the property.
If you've got concrete the cement in it mighta come from here. The St. Mary's Cement Co.
Next stop to get a pic I owe Daniel Black from last year. Never got there till now. The famous Stratford Festival.
The famous White Swans on the Avon river.
Then a healthy back road trek west to Goderich on Lake Huron.
And if you live in an area where you need road salt, it may well have come from here, the Sifto Salt mine.
Had to head home early so only put about 250 miles on today.
A perfect summer day on a long weekend. Saw some bikes on the road today!
Wonder where I'll end up tomorrow?
Beautiful - nice pictures and a great ride!
Thanks Pete, Ya it was a great ride, just too short!
Jim, she likes it a lot better at 4000 - 4500 than she does at 5000 - 5500.
Jim, she likes it a lot better at 4000 - 4500 than she does at 5000 - 5500.
Let's talk about sumthin' else.
How about this other pic for Daniel that my phone stylized.
How about this other pic for Daniel that my phone stylized.
I'm gonna take that as "still leakin'."
Here's a thought.... go 1mm smaller on the ID. 24-40-7 seals.
Man, those are some nice photos Robin! You sure are puttin the miles on here lately. Something tells me your digging that new again bike. I’ll bet the way that bike feels right now is how it must’ve felt the day it drove off the lot 41 years ago.
Maybe even better, because you have obsessed over tuning it. So happy for you, keep it up!
Maybe even better, because you have obsessed over tuning it. So happy for you, keep it up!
Thanks Bob. Ya she's runnin' great, I can't get out enough and then feel guilty for not spending time on my other projects...lol.
Ah well, they'll wait! I did!
Ah well, they'll wait! I did!
been THERE! 
Haha, thanks Gary. Ya, got called back early. Gotta get one of those seat cushions you've got!
Gotta get one of those seat cushions you've got!
Mailman's experience with epoxy plugs has me thinking,
If those plug coatings are indeed an aluminum paste, I can envision those breaking loose, floating around, eventually getting ground-up into a fine powder by the crank bearings and tranny. Later showing up as flake swirls in the dumped oil. Just thinkin'...
If those plug coatings are indeed an aluminum paste, I can envision those breaking loose, floating around, eventually getting ground-up into a fine powder by the crank bearings and tranny. Later showing up as flake swirls in the dumped oil. Just thinkin'...
- Messages
- 683
- Reaction score
- 1,477
- Points
- 143
This thread seems endless, and I'll prolly find out that someone has suggested this. Just a thought. Teflon or nylon strip screwed or riveted on the holder, kind of like the old riveted brake shoes and pads. As you guys may know, Teflon and nylon are both tough, very slippery, easily machined and somewhat soft and should be quiet. Not as soft as Mikes guide, though. I used to make nylon rims for my HO racing cars in the 60's.
Did any one answer the question whether the present OEM guide surface is hard and brittle like the one's I've pulled from my 72 and 75?
Marlin72XS Maxpete has started another thread that has turned into a lot more discussion about these front guides. Lucille Pulls another one on me....
Some discussion yesterday about guide rubber hardness starting at post #158.
- Messages
- 683
- Reaction score
- 1,477
- Points
- 143
Yep! My 1st 2 oil changes at ~600 and ~1400 showed aluminum pearlescent swirls on the 1st, not a lot, then little, hardly noticeable stuff after the 2nd. I'm experimenting with the Castrol synthetic 10-60, so I'll update at the next OC, (oil change). LOL.
Thanks for that report Marlin72xs.
Look forward to the update.
Look forward to the update.
- Messages
- 683
- Reaction score
- 1,477
- Points
- 143
Thanks for the heads up, Robin!
I'll see you over there.
- Messages
- 683
- Reaction score
- 1,477
- Points
- 143
While reading the many pages of this thread, it just dawned on me. I pulled the bottom plate and side filter on the 2nd oil change. The bottom filter was clean but the side cover filter was dirty. Not grit or sand or metal. I'm used to seeing lead shavings from the old 72 crank, but dirt? My father always told me that cleanliness is next to Godlyness. When I saw the dirty filter, I thought, there is no way I left all that dirt in the cases. (And there is no way.).
Oh, front and back are both from Mike's. The 2nd OC was at about 1300 or 1400 miles. With the Castrol synthetic 10-60 I plan on going the full 2000 before changing again, but now I might lay it over and check the side filter at 1000. If I'm lucky, or should I say we for those of us who went to the soft side, it may be just the initial "wear in" of the rubber to the chain. I am, of course, trying to be optimistic. Oh, and no strange sounds yet.
Oh, front and back are both from Mike's. The 2nd OC was at about 1300 or 1400 miles. With the Castrol synthetic 10-60 I plan on going the full 2000 before changing again, but now I might lay it over and check the side filter at 1000. If I'm lucky, or should I say we for those of us who went to the soft side, it may be just the initial "wear in" of the rubber to the chain. I am, of course, trying to be optimistic. Oh, and no strange sounds yet.
Good luck with your investigations Marlin72xs.
Let us know what you find.
Let us know what you find.
In the Old Garage photo w/your XS thread a couple of days ago Bob said:
Well good Ol’ Punkeydoodles let us out Bob, but didn't totally let us go.
Spent this last weekend of the summer chasin’ my tail with a problem, instead of the planned upon riding.
Although we made it home from Punkeydoodles Corners just fine, the next morning didn't go so well.
Was heading out for a ride with a neighbor on a beautiful, but posted weather warning, extremely humid long weekend Saturday morning. She started fine as usual, idled and warmed up as normal. As soon as I took off it stumbled just like I had forgotten to turn the petcocks on and it was running out of gas. That wasn't it though and had a full tank of gas. Drove around the block and it keep breaking down/stumbling under load.
Back into the shop. Then it was only running on the right side.
Once it cooled down it would run fine, then when it heated up the left side would shut down again, then wouldn’t start at all.
Cleaned the points with a contact cleaner soaked business card thinking points might be oil comprised from my leaking cam seals. No joy.They looked a little pitted but didn’t have a real good close look. (That’s a clue…...sigh)
Pulled and grounded the plugs, weak intermittent spark on the left side, strong blue spark on the right.
Then no spark either side and it wouldn’t start. Kept testing and got spark on both sides intermittently. My kill switch is a little loose so I pulled it apart, no problem. Checked all wiring connections, inside the bucket as well, all good. Tested all spots and had ~ 12V everywhere.
Both coils (originals) ohmed out fine but wondered if the left coil might be breaking down when hot. Put in a spare coil on the left side, new plugs, and got good strong blue spark on both sides.
Again starts and idles fine, hooked up a timing light, OK, but on a test ride still stumbles under load when I open up the throttle. Only two other things I can think of….
So, I do have another working set of 78/79 BS38's on my 78 Black Betty that I could swap in but wanted to road test them on another bike to confirm they’re still good.. Against my better judgement was left with no alternative but to test ride BB. (for the first time)
No problems with these carbs stumbling on a different bike, (if I had indeed done that) so I swapped them into Ol’ Blue and test rode. All good for a few laps around the block, then after it warmed up still got some stumble when opening up the throttle from 40 - 50 kms. Not as bad but still…...Huh.
Ok. Rule out carbs for now. Can't really think the condenser has failed so gotta be timing or maybe points? Timing had checked out OK though.
Took some pics to have a close up look at the points. Huh!
Right point is pitted.
7400 kms/4600 total miles on these points and 3940 kms/2450 miles since rebuild and new seals. I know we should get 10-15K miles out of a set of points.
The left especially looks pretty rough to me. Not so much pitted as caked. Right is somewhat pitted. I'll bet this oil rich environment due to my leaking cam seals has compromised that left point. It kinda looks like baked on oil to me.
Maybe oil is flying around in there as the cam end is spinning inside the leaking seal as well as dripping to the bottom of the housing.?
Ok, let's put in a new set of points that we just happen to have in one of the parts boxes.
New points in, timed, running fine again except for a new worrisome noise in my oil pump area. will get to that in a bit. Let's finish with these danged leaking cam seals.
Sure wish I could afford a Pamco, but that’s just not in the budget right now. I have to stop the bleeding. And still gotta solve this cam seal leak. I have been removing the covers after each ride and wiping it up with Q-tips as well as cleaning the oil off the fins but obviously that hasn’t been sufficient.
Really didn’t want to pull all this apart right now but I can’t keep going not knowing when this will fail again and all this unnecessary cleaning is certainly annoying. Going to order new smaller ID double lip seals as per Jim’s suggestion from here as it would appear that my leaks are around the seals more so than behind the housings. We’ll see how they work. I have read other threads where others have had cam seal leak problems. XSLeo suggests no gaskets solved his. Although oil is getting into my housings so this would suggest a leak around the seal and cam to me as opposed to behind the housing at the gasket.
So I'll hope these seals will solve the leak but before I do any more riding I picked up on a new noise around my oil pump and filter cover that I don't like.
Me and my noises eh?
I have verified that the oil pump is working fine.
Cam chain is adjusted.
Using my mechanics stethoscope it's definitely loudest at the 2 side oil filter cover bolts and at the last A in YAMAHA.
I know I am overly sensitive to every noise after this rebuild but don't remember this being this loud.
Does this sound too loud to you guys?
Should I be pulling the right cover.................again...........and checking all's good with the oil pump?
Just noticed it's 1000 miles since last oil change, better get some oil.
If it ain't one thing it's another........eh?
Well good Ol’ Punkeydoodles let us out Bob, but didn't totally let us go.
Spent this last weekend of the summer chasin’ my tail with a problem, instead of the planned upon riding.
Although we made it home from Punkeydoodles Corners just fine, the next morning didn't go so well.
Was heading out for a ride with a neighbor on a beautiful, but posted weather warning, extremely humid long weekend Saturday morning. She started fine as usual, idled and warmed up as normal. As soon as I took off it stumbled just like I had forgotten to turn the petcocks on and it was running out of gas. That wasn't it though and had a full tank of gas. Drove around the block and it keep breaking down/stumbling under load.
Back into the shop. Then it was only running on the right side.
Once it cooled down it would run fine, then when it heated up the left side would shut down again, then wouldn’t start at all.
Cleaned the points with a contact cleaner soaked business card thinking points might be oil comprised from my leaking cam seals. No joy.They looked a little pitted but didn’t have a real good close look. (That’s a clue…...sigh)
Pulled and grounded the plugs, weak intermittent spark on the left side, strong blue spark on the right.
Then no spark either side and it wouldn’t start. Kept testing and got spark on both sides intermittently. My kill switch is a little loose so I pulled it apart, no problem. Checked all wiring connections, inside the bucket as well, all good. Tested all spots and had ~ 12V everywhere.
Both coils (originals) ohmed out fine but wondered if the left coil might be breaking down when hot. Put in a spare coil on the left side, new plugs, and got good strong blue spark on both sides.
Again starts and idles fine, hooked up a timing light, OK, but on a test ride still stumbles under load when I open up the throttle. Only two other things I can think of….
- Bad condenser (although it's new one from Mike's/XSD last year)
- Carbs - starts and idles OK, so pilot jet probably OK, I know there's some overlap, but maybe something plugging the needle jets (or main jets?) as it breaks up when giving some throttle. Seemed like it wasn’t getting enough fuel through.
So, I do have another working set of 78/79 BS38's on my 78 Black Betty that I could swap in but wanted to road test them on another bike to confirm they’re still good.. Against my better judgement was left with no alternative but to test ride BB. (for the first time)
No problems with these carbs stumbling on a different bike, (if I had indeed done that) so I swapped them into Ol’ Blue and test rode. All good for a few laps around the block, then after it warmed up still got some stumble when opening up the throttle from 40 - 50 kms. Not as bad but still…...Huh.
Ok. Rule out carbs for now. Can't really think the condenser has failed so gotta be timing or maybe points? Timing had checked out OK though.
Took some pics to have a close up look at the points. Huh!
Right point is pitted.
7400 kms/4600 total miles on these points and 3940 kms/2450 miles since rebuild and new seals. I know we should get 10-15K miles out of a set of points.
The left especially looks pretty rough to me. Not so much pitted as caked. Right is somewhat pitted. I'll bet this oil rich environment due to my leaking cam seals has compromised that left point. It kinda looks like baked on oil to me.
Maybe oil is flying around in there as the cam end is spinning inside the leaking seal as well as dripping to the bottom of the housing.?
Ok, let's put in a new set of points that we just happen to have in one of the parts boxes.
New points in, timed, running fine again except for a new worrisome noise in my oil pump area. will get to that in a bit. Let's finish with these danged leaking cam seals.
Sure wish I could afford a Pamco, but that’s just not in the budget right now. I have to stop the bleeding. And still gotta solve this cam seal leak. I have been removing the covers after each ride and wiping it up with Q-tips as well as cleaning the oil off the fins but obviously that hasn’t been sufficient.
Really didn’t want to pull all this apart right now but I can’t keep going not knowing when this will fail again and all this unnecessary cleaning is certainly annoying. Going to order new smaller ID double lip seals as per Jim’s suggestion from here as it would appear that my leaks are around the seals more so than behind the housings. We’ll see how they work. I have read other threads where others have had cam seal leak problems. XSLeo suggests no gaskets solved his. Although oil is getting into my housings so this would suggest a leak around the seal and cam to me as opposed to behind the housing at the gasket.
So I'll hope these seals will solve the leak but before I do any more riding I picked up on a new noise around my oil pump and filter cover that I don't like.
Me and my noises eh?
I have verified that the oil pump is working fine.
Cam chain is adjusted.
Using my mechanics stethoscope it's definitely loudest at the 2 side oil filter cover bolts and at the last A in YAMAHA.
I know I am overly sensitive to every noise after this rebuild but don't remember this being this loud.
Does this sound too loud to you guys?
Should I be pulling the right cover.................again...........and checking all's good with the oil pump?
Just noticed it's 1000 miles since last oil change, better get some oil.
If it ain't one thing it's another........eh?
