Miss November XS2 tribute

[Raymond]

Raymond persevered and won! I would’ve probably just shoved my ear plugs in and said “ What rattle?”

Bob, cannot tell you how it felt - rain coming in on a strong Westerly wind so just jumped on the bike in me overalls for a quick zoom up the road to the next village and no rattle! The bike felt and sounded wonderful.

 

[5twins]

Yes, you can't beat the quality of original equipment. The footpeg rubbers are another item that the aftermarket falls way short on. Those repops literally wear bald in a few seasons. Even used originals are better, lol. On a recent trip to a used parts place, the guy had a large rack of misc. parts near the front door he was throwing out. There were a ton of footpegs he couldn't be bothered with. He told me and my buddy to help ourselves, so we did .....

The rack also held numerous turn signals which we also sorted through .....

Hey, parts is parts and well, FREE parts are the best, lol.

 

[Raymond]

Gave the Orange lady her 34,204 mile service:





Have settled on using this oil:




because I have a feeling that a 20W50 designed for roller-bearing engines is better than using a 10W40.

The old oil was dark but not black and still good and oily. No unwelcome finds in the bottom of the drain tray.

Have checked list of fasteners, adjusted clutch, adjusted and lubed drive chain, etc. Still to check the cam chain and valves. Will check the tensioner tomorrow but might even leave the valves. Check them when I go over the bike in the winter - the gaps don't seem to change much over 1,500 miles.

 

[5twins]

Yes, I like to use a 50 wt. as well. I tried that 15-40 diesel oil many seem to like but didn't care for the increased topend noise and "clatter" that lighter weight allowed. I'm sure it was lubing things OK, I just didn't care for the added noise. So, I went back to using the 50 wt.

 

[Raymond]

The job isn't over till the paperwork is done.



I guess it's pretty sad, but with three bikes to look after, I always print off, complete and file a check list for every service. And before anybody asks, yes, checked the electrics - just took the photo before I'd made the tick.

***** Digression warning *****

When I sold a Victory Hammer through a dealership - there aren't many or any buyers for sommat like that in the Scottish Borders so I took the bike to a dealer in a large English city on a commission basis - he asked if I had a full service record. But when I showed him, he said 'That's not a service record. Without a dealer's stamp, how can anybody be sure the work has been done. You could have made those up last night.' So we had a chat. Eventually he agreed to sell the bike as having an owner's service record. I believe the man who bought the bike was more than happy that the bike had been serviced by a careful owner.

 

[MaxPete]

Gave the Orange lady her 34,204 mile service:


View attachment 197251


Have settled on using this oil:

View attachment 197252


because I have a feeling that a 20W50 designed for roller-bearing engines is better than using a 10W40.

The old oil was dark but not black and still good and oily. No unwelcome finds in the bottom of the drain tray.

Have checked list of fasteners, adjusted clutch, adjusted and lubed drive chain, etc. Still to check the cam chain and valves. Will check the tensioner tomorrow but might even leave the valves. Check them when I go over the bike in the winter - the gaps don't seem to change much over 1,500 miles.

…don’t forget to have a look at the alternator brushes….

 

[Raymond]

…don’t forget to have a look at the alternator brushes….

Thank you, Pete, good point. I'll check those soon, the engine started as <500 mile unit but will have done well over 6,000 by now.

I'll add the brushes to the checklist. Took a look at the factory manual, and checking those brushes is down as a 4,000 mile job. Maybe I will make up a new list with some of the long-term items as a winter service schedule, like the alternator brushes and changing the fork oil.

 

[Mailman]

The job isn't over till the paperwork is done.

View attachment 197287 View attachment 197288

I guess it's pretty sad, but with three bikes to look after, I always print off, complete and file a check list for every service. And before anybody asks, yes, checked the electrics - just took the photo before I'd made the tick.

***** Digression warning *****

When I sold a Victory Hammer through a dealership - there aren't many or any buyers for sommat like that in the Scottish Borders so I took the bike to a dealer in a large English city on a commission basis - he asked if I had a full service record. But when I showed him, he said 'That's not a service record. Without a dealer's stamp, how can anybody be sure the work has been done. You could have made those up last night.' So we had a chat. Eventually he agreed to sell the bike as having an owner's service record. I believe the man who bought the bike was more than happy that the bike had been serviced by a careful owner.

Wow Raymond! I feel like such a hack! I’m terrible about keeping good records, I note the big stuff like oil changes and valve adjustments, but I tend to play it by ear a lot, and I know I change oil more frequently than needed. I’m gonna have to up my game!

 

[Raymond]

Wow Raymond! I feel like such a hack!

No, you're not!

Maybe because I worked in an IT company which was big on keeping records of everything? Well, anyway, in my library I have the workshop manuals and a ring binder for each bike with stuff like service records, invoices for things I've bought, etcetera.

 

[5twins]

I don't get quite that detailed, but I do keep a log for every bike .....

In fact, I've made it into a PDF if you'd like to print some out.

 

[Raymond]

In fact, I've made it into a PDF if you'd like to print some out.

Thank you, 5T, but as you can see I have pro-forma lists for the service schedule for each bike which I print off and use as required. In fact, it gets worse than that, there are pro-formas for the indexes in the files. Banks have stopped issuing bank-balance sheets so I have pro-formas to record cash withdrawals . . . my filing system is reasonably organised.

 

[5twins]

Yes, mine is just a general log sheet to record everything I do to a bike. I do highlight some items in the margin (like oil changes, battery replacements, and headlight bulb replacements) to make them easier to spot at a glance. The log for my '78 has gotten quite long as it dates back to 2003. I've almost filled a second page now, lol.

 

[Raymond]

This morning took a look at those alternator brushes:




The matchstick is marked for 7mm so by inspection as our maths teacher used to say the brushes are plenty long enough.

Did I make a mistook removing two screws and pulling the brushes out? Maybe I should have taken the whole brush assembly off? Took me a while to realise that it was necessary to fold the copper wire and spring around the end of the little bracket in a way that just seemed wrong to get all back together. Hmm.

I've been aware for a while that the gear lever rubs on the alternator cover. It's coz the gear lever has lateral play on the shaft even though the screw is done up tight. Maybe one solution would be to put a strip of thin metal cut out a drink can between the notches in the lever and the shaft, but the easier solution I went for was to place two fibre washers inboard of the lever.



We'll see if that holds the lever clear of the cover.

Really getting down to the minor issues now.

 

[5twins]

Yes, your brushes look fine for length but, assuming you have the stock '79 and older charging system, it looks like you have two outer brushes there. On the '79 and older set-ups, the inner and outer brush brackets differed .....

The larger inner brush bracket attaches with 3 screws and it also allows it's wire to be attached at the far left .....

One more thing I'll mention pertains to the installation. The brush wire should wrap around the outside of the bracket. In the pic above, the inner brush has it's wire routed correctly but the outer one does not. You can actually see the little groove cut into the brush block where the wire should be.

The brush part numbers only differ by one number .....

Oh, and one more thing - original brushes will have a wear indicator line etched into one side .....

I like to use original brushes. I think they're made better and last better/longer. Although no longer available from Yamaha, they're all over eBay and if you're patient, you can get them cheap (same price or even less than repops).

 

[Raymond]

5T, you might be right and I have two outer brushes. They appear to be originals with a wear mark. The 2F0 engine is later than 1979 - in fact, I think it's 1980 - and I remember there was an issue about making sure the alternator wiring was correct way round. Do the later engines have different brush assemblies?

The good news is I've checked since putting back together and seems to be charging ok.

 

[jetmechmarty]

Do the later engines have different brush assemblies?

Yes, they do.

 

[5twins]

Yes, similar looking but different. The inner brush wire is longer so it can reach over and connect to the inner brush .....

Both brushes are the same on the later set-up and are, in fact, the "81611" brush used as the outer on the '79 and older systems. The easiest way to identify which brush block/holder you have is to flip the alternator housing over and look at the inside. On the later set-up, both brush wire connection screws are isolated from the alternator frame .....

On the '79 and older set-up, only the outer brush wire connection screw is isolated .....

 

[fredintoon]

I've been aware for a while that the gear lever rubs on the alternator cover. It's coz the gear lever has lateral play on the shaft even though the screw is done up tight. Maybe one solution would be to put a strip of thin metal cut out a drink can between the notches in the lever and the shaft, but the easier solution I went for was to place two fibre washers inboard of the lever.
View attachment 197347
We'll see if that holds the lever clear of the cover.
Really getting down to the minor issues now.

Hi Raymond,
another reason that the shift lever rubs on the engine side casting could be that it got bent inwards, perhaps when the bike got dropped.
Try removing the shift lever and giving it a few love-taps with a BFH to bend it back straight again.

 

[5twins]

Many times these shift levers don't clamp tight on the splines. If that's the case then you need to do a little filing in the slot. Often it's just casting flash preventing the lever from clamping tight enough so it doesn't take much filing to fix it. You must fix this. If you run a loose shift lever, it can eventually strip the splines on the shift shaft. Get into the habit of checking the shift lever often to see if it has come loose. These are rather stiff shifting machines so the shift lever is prone to loosening up. I've added a lock washer to the pinch bolt to help keep it tight.

 

[Raymond]

The lever is definitely a loose fit on the splines. I have put this down to wear & tear? Apart from adding fibre washers to try and keep the lever away from the alternator housing, the next thing I was thinking of trying to fit a thin piece of metal between the lever and the shaft, to get clamped as the pinch bolt is tightened.

I believe I can also buy a new shift lever - this should have undamaged splines so it should tighten up. Heiden tuning has what looks like original for 14.50 Euros and Yambits has an aftermarket one for £10. Think I might need to invest unless bodging works.