My 20+ year project

Thanks for the thread, it is a great story and you have a beautiful bike brother: well done!

Thanks Boog, glad you enjoyed the read.

I have since gone to 12.7mm, not a big change in piston diameter but a substantial change in braking.
Yes Paul it's amazing how much difference that smaller diameter piston makes.


When you're polishing - don't forget to do the INside of the chain links. It is essential that you really make this old gal shine! ;)

Funny that you mention the the inside of the chain links Pete. The only thing the mechanic faulted on the test was the clip on the joining link was just touching the chain guard, the aftermarket shocks just pushed it in a tad causing the clip to just scrape it each revolution of the chain, so he turned it round and put it on with the clip on the inside with instructions for me to keep an eye on it.
So yes, those inside links will be kept polished;).
 
Time for an update,
Since my last post I have finally been able to get the bike registered, as I am going to be running on club registration this takes a bit longer than normal as the forms have to be sent off to the club member who runs the scheme for them to sign.
So finally after a couple of weeks wait I was able to register it last week.:bike:

So that moment I had been waiting for had finally arrived where I could take the bike out for a proper ride and see how everything feels.
I was really surprised on the first ride as to how well the bike went, acceleration is good with no flat spots, brakes are good, rear brake was too good actually.
Had a bit of drama after about 15 K's bike was slowing wouldn't pull, no throttle response, pulled in the clutch and bike stopped straightaway, looked down to see smoke coming from the rear disk, luckily all it was, was I had the brake rod adjusted up too much I'd packed some tools so a quick adjustment and I was on my way.
After riding modern bikes the XS feels very low geared, and lots of vibrations that I had forgotten about since I last rode it.

The engine feels great heaps of torque and pulls well.

The worst thing so far would be that same problem lots of owners have, finding neutral, but I can live with it as it is for the time being.

When I first got the engine back in the frame and got it started around this time last year I said to myself I was going to try and get the bike finished to ride on our local Toy Run this year, well the Toy Run was today and here I am.
Toy  run 2018.jpeg
 
Yes, the "finding neutral" thing. I've just gotten into the habit of tapping it into neutral while the bike is still rolling, before I've come to a complete stop. It will go in easy as long as the bike is still moving. So, it seems your "franken-carbs" are working well? Once you feel they're well enough sorted, if you could list the jetting specs that could help others in the future who may want to try the older slides in a '78-'79 carb set.
 
You and your bike looked fab at the ride. I agree with what 5twins says regarding neutral. I have noticed that if you adjust the clutch to maximize the ease of getting neutral you run the risk of clutch slip beyond 4000rpm. So if the clutch slips on you when riding just loosen off the handlebar adjuster a little and the problem will go away.

Enjoy your XS!
 
Yes, that snicking it in to neutral whilst rolling came back to me real quick from when I last rode the bike 20 years ago.

It's just one of those annoying little traits that some bikes have.

I played around with the clutch adjustment Paul and know what you mean about adjusting it too much, I think I have right now.

So, it seems your "franken-carbs" are working well? Once you feel they're well enough sorted, if you could list the jetting specs that could help others in the future who may want to try the older slides in a '78-'79 carb set.

Yes, 5T thanks to your invaluable help, may just need a little tweaking, I think it may be a touch rich around idle as it starts and idles really well with the enrichener shut off as soon as it starts.

I'll just get a few K's up on it and get the feel of it before I start playing with it.

Plus I'd like to get a few tanks of fuel through it and see what sort of fuel economy it is getting which may help.
 
Yes, mileage is one of the things you use to judge your jetting with these CV carbs. If you make a change and the mileage goes to shit, that's a pretty good indication you're too rich. CV carbs are rather forgiving. They'll mask over minor jetting glitches and the bike may seem to run fine. They work on engine demand so just because you whack the throttle wide open, that doesn't mean the slide will lift all the way. It will only lift as much as the engine needs and can use. This makes it easy to over-jet them, install mains that are too big. The slide won't be lifting all the way and that too large main won't be flowing at it's max, so the bike will still seem to run OK. You have to push them hard to test the jetting and reveal any glitches.
 
Lookin' pretty snazzy there Mick. :D
How you liking the Commando's?

Thanks Jim, Commando's are good, not real loud which suits me fine, just a nice mellow sound.

Thanks 5T some good info there.

Nice going Meddy! You hit your time target and have a beauty of a bike! Well done!

Thanks Bob, appreciated.
 
I've got about 300k's up on the bike now, still just keeping to the local area and getting to know the bike.

I still cannot really believe that I had this bike stripped down to it's individual components and then put it all back together again 20 years later, every time I ride it I have to keep reminding myself that I went over every nut and bolt at least twice, but I still keep thinking something is going to fall off, I should have more faith in myself I think.

It runs beautifully, accelerates cleanly up hills, no flat spots that I can detect as yet, volt meter on the speedo shows 14.1v to14.2v with the headlight on or off and the temperature sender that is hooked to one of the exhaust valve covers shows between 75-85c although does get a lot hotter when in traffic.

When I was working on and rebuilding the carbies I reckon I read through the carb manual in the tech section about 10 times plus all the help 5Twins gave in advising on jets to use was a big help.But I was concerned I would have trouble getting the carbs balanced once I had it up and running and I wasn't real confident in making one of the balance measures with the 3 foot rule and hose and oil or some other fluid, I kept having visions of it all being sucked into the engine:yikes: so I just followed the process of feeling the difference between the 2 mufflers and adjusted the carbs till I thought they both felt the same.

I still wasn't super happy with this as I needed some way of checking visually that I had it right.
I had a couple of vacuum gauges in my parts stash so I got some plastic tube and a couple of inline valves used on fish tanks from the pet shop and knocked up a set of balance gauges, hooked them onto the bike and there you go I had it pretty well spot on after all.
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Over 2 months since I've done an update, I'm getting slack!

Coming up to 1000k's on my bike and all's good, just thought I'd note a few observations after not riding it for over 20 years and how it feels to be riding a 40+ year old bike.
1. Clutch still a bit grabby when going into gear the first time after it has sat for longer than a day, sometimes enough to stall it, after that perfect, snicks into gear perfect and all other changes are nice, Oh and finding neutral when hot and stopped, damn near impossible, seems to be a common thing, might play around with it over Winter.
2. Rear brake squeals like a banshee, I've had the pads out a couple of times and roughed them up but no change. Another Winter project there I think might have to disassemble the whole rear brake system and start again.
3.When I first started this build I thought I would get away without a centre stand, but I'm really missing it so I dragged it out of my parts bin and made a start at cleaning it up. At some stage in it's life a PO had broken the foot rest off it, as seems to be common and then did a very average repair on it. I have been trying to clean up the crappy welds as best I can and have made up a piece of steel to get welded on and strengthen it.
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A bit more work to do on the stand once I get someone to weld it up for me, and then add some grease nipples as per 5twins suggestion in one of his posts.

Apart from those little niggles ( and really they are no big deal) the bike is really nice to ride, just perfect to jump on once or twice a week and go for a little cruise.
And that's all I want it for, I didn't build it for interstate cruising although I'm sure it would take it in it's stride.
Oh. almost forgot, did an oil and filter change at 500k's old oil looked good still pretty clean with no sign of any metallic particles, adjusted up the timing chain then and the tappets. I will do it again at 1500k's

And speaking of interstate cruising, it's that time of year when I head off on the annual trip with a bunch of mates, this year we are going North up into New South Wales, mostly riding back roads and hoping to make it to the Australian Motorcycle Museum at Nabiac on the North coast. This year will be a bit different as my usual ride buddy has injured his shoulder and cannot ride so we will have a support vehicle with us. Looks like where in for some pretty hot days so will be handy having cool "refreshments" on hand.
The boy's reckon I should be taking the XS as I won't have to carry anything, maybe when I've done a few more longer rides and see how it goes then. Besides I've got an extremely comfortable Street Glide sitting here ready to go.
IMG_20190228_140101.jpg


See you all in a week or so.
Mick.
 
The boy's reckon I should be taking the XS as I won't have to carry anything, maybe when I've done a few more longer rides and see how it goes then.
She looks a little forlorn sitting in the back of the shop Mick. Better give 'er a pat and promise her next year..... ;)
 
She looks a little forlorn sitting in the back of the shop Mick. Better give 'er a pat and promise her next year..... ;)
She's been pretty spoiled and at the front for the last 3 months Jim ;) They just have to share me.:D

I would try first replacing pads and see if they got oil embedded, no cleaning will stop squell..

Yeah, got some new ones coming just in case MB.
 
She's been pretty spoiled and at the front for the last 3 months Jim ;) They just have to share me.:D



Yeah, got some new ones coming just in case MB.
...that harley i bet fun to ride...
... you see all the different electric bikes from mountainbikes to the "livewire" harley working on?
...harley in future may be more buell without buell as far as innovation and no way like typical models they have now...
...or maybe not, they pretty resistant in way to change
 
Bracing the centerstand tang is a good idea. It would eventually break off again if you didn't. I've done up several. A short length of heater hose placed on the tang will pad the stand in the "up" position so it isn't "clanging" against the muffler .....

QOF59xn.jpg


While at the welder's, also have him add a couple little blobs of weld up on the pivots where you intend to place the grease fittings. The tubing by itself isn't thick enough. The fitting will stick through and rub on the pivot bolt. I place it on top of the weld where the pivot tube attaches to the leg .....

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In my post above one of the niggles I wrote about was the rear brake squealing, so after some research it seems that most of the noise comes from the pads or the pad retainers themselves vibrating.
So with my ever useful tube of Hylomar I put a dab on the back of the pads and the retainers and what do you know, instant fix.
And as a special bonus, I used the last of my tube of Hylomar on this so ordered a new tube and a couple of days later the parcel turned up with 2 tubes in it.
And both twice the size of my original.
Here's a pic of the retainer with said Hylomar applied.
IMG_20190403_144134.jpg
 
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