Mailman’s XS2 a full on restoration

[Mailman]

Status report

My carburetors are on my workbench awaiting reassembly. I gave the floats the hot water dunk test, they checked out just fine. I cut a new gasket for my choke assembly.

I forgot that when I assembled my carbs in the first place, I didn’t have a sealing washer for my float needle jet on my left side , it’s very thin so I cut a piece of gasket material for it. Well I have replaced that with a proper metal washer.

I have a received a threaded barb, to do my clear tube float level check. When I got it , the threaded portion was so long it would’ve hit my main jet before tightening , so I cut off the end of it and found a rubber o ring to fit and I’m ready now for testing.

I also just received and haven’t even cleaned it up yet, a clutch actuator from an XS400 for further clutch tests.

I have also ordered and am waiting for a new Motion Pro clutch cable and some new Autolite AP63 spark plugs.
So I have plenty still to do.

I am having hernia surgery on Tues. so I will be down for a while, then just some light duty work for a few weeks.
That’s why I saved my carburetor work. In the meantime I’ll hang around here and think of ways to spend other people’s money!

—Bob

 

[Jim]

Well I have replaced that with a proper metal washer

Unless that's a crush type soft metal washer, you might have a sealing issue there.

 

[Mailman]

Unless that's a crush type soft metal washer, you might have a sealing issue there.

It’s an original aluminum washer that came off of my 77D. I kept all the parts when I put a new float assembly in that bike.

 

[Jim]

........aluminum washer

 

[5twins]

That XS400 worm will require a small mod to the female nylon part to work. It's clocked slightly different than the 650 one, not quite as much. This will put too much freeplay in the cable.

The mod is simple, just sand about 2mm off the top of the nylon worm. You'll find the original overall length to be about 22mm .....

Sand the top (metal shell) side down until the length is about 20mm .....

This allows the male part to screw deeper into female part and re-clocks it enough.

 

[Mailman]

Good info 5Twins! Thanks!

Right now I’m having a kick myself moment. After looking at spark plug options last night , I decided to order some Autolite AC63 plugs, $9.95 and free shipping from eBay. I never once read that they were a resistor plug, and I already have resistor caps. I don’t know what made me think of it now, I just went to the Autolite website and found out. Damn! I couldn’t have done that an hour ago?

 

[Beags64]

Would workin' on a fiberglass fuel tank be considered light duty?

 

[Mailman]

Would workin' on a fiberglass fuel tank be considered light duty?

Ha! Heck no, it’s much more fun yelling from the bleachers! I’ve sanded enough fiberglass to get my fill of it.

 

[5twins]

NGK does make some very nice no resistance caps, the LZFH .....

 

[kshansen]

NGK does make some very nice no resistance caps, the LZFH .....

And they should be available though any good auto parts store, I know I can order those from my local NAPA store and have them in a few days if not in stock local.

 

[5twins]

I used them when I still had points and they worked well. They're more compact than the resistor caps too.

 

[Mailman]

NGK does make some very nice no resistance caps, the LZFH .....

Thanks for that, that’s probably what I’ll do, since I’ve got a box of plugs on the way.

 

[MaxPete]

That XS400 worm will require a small mod to the female nylon part to work. It's clocked slightly different than the 650 one, not quite as much. This will put too much freeplay in the cable.

The mod is simple, just sand about 2mm off the top of the nylon worm. You'll find the original overall length to be about 22mm .....

Sand the top (metal shell) side down until the length is about 20mm .....

This allows the male part to screw deeper into female part and re-clocks it enough.

Good grief - how DO you know this stuff 5T?

I’ll bet there isn’t even anyone at Yamaha who knew that trick about the XS400 worm.

 

[5twins]

The suggestion for sanding down the female worm actually came from 2M when we were discussing the various worms in his clutch worm experiments thread a couple years back. It worked out quite well. He had gone through quite a bit of modding to a stock 650 male worm to get the arm to step down instead of up, and to change the clocking slightly. Turns out this 400 worm is pretty much already made like that, just requiring a small amount of re-clocking, which that little bit of sanding accomplishes.

 

[Mailman]

Nice! You guys laid the groundwork for sure.
I would’ve never thought to start changing parts and modifying parts if not for research you guys already did.
I was amazed at how much I easier I could make the clutch pull with a few simple mods.
The fun’s contagious!

 

[Mailman]

What do you do when you can’t do anything else? POLISH YOUR DIPSTICK!!

Shhh.....don’t tell the Mrs. When she went off to her exercise class, I snuck out to my lair and did a quick polish on my dip stick!

And my cam chain adjuster cover,

And did a little spray paint test on an old tach cable to see how some silver spray paint would look on my new Motion Pro clutch cable.
Here you can see the test spray next to the silver cable that’s already on my bike. I think that’ll do! Only the most observant person would notice any differences

Speaking of my Motion Pro cable, I hung it up and drip oiled it today also.

Tomorrow I go back to see the surgeon and hopefully I’ll get cleared to be more active.
Either way, to hell with it. I’m getting things going again. All this sitting around is making me crazy!

I’ve got to catch up with GLJ!
Later, Bob

 

[Jim]

Shhh.....don’t tell the Mrs. When she went off to her exercise class, I snuck out to my lair and did a quick polish on my dip stick!

Hope you kept the garage door closed. Think of the neighbors man...

 

[GLJ]

Better hurry.
She's ready for first test ride.

This happened today. But it's supposed to be 70 on Tuesday.

 

[MaxPete]

GG

did a quick polish on my dip stick!

Eeeeyyyahhhh - Bob, I think that possibly I’m not the only member of the Forum who needs to work on his phraseology.

....OK, OK you guys. You KNEW that somebody was going to say something and I couldn’t let Jim be the ONLY one to do so.

Pete

 

[Mailman]

Hope you kept the garage door closed. Think of the neighbors man...

GG


Eeeeyyyahhhh - Bob, I think that possibly I’m not the only member of the Forum who needs to work on his phraseology.

....OK, OK you guys. You KNEW that somebody was going to say something and I couldn’t let Jim be the ONLY one to do so.

Pete

Haha! You know I was just setting you guys up and letting you Tee Off on me!

GLJ.......I heard a blizzard is heading your way, you should just relax and BBQ some chicken....or something.