New here, where does this go?

Trust me, I tried Vise-Grips! My dad briefly worked for Vise-Grip, so I’ve got OG Vise-Grips from before they sold out and got bought by those rummies at Irwin!

I’ll die on this hill: Irwin Vise-Grips are junk! They’ve got so much slop in the jaws...
 
Update: I tried my Vise-Grips one more time, just for the hell of it. Nothing. It’s at that point where... You guys are bikers, I’m sure everyone’s gone through their share of stubborn Phillips head bolts, who with an old bike hasn’t? So either you clamp them down normally and they just rotate, or you give ‘em some REAL muscle and clamp the s*** out of ‘em... and the steel is so soft that it just scores the bolt. Fun.

The heads are already done for, they’re completely “FUBAR” at this point. I’ve tried Nut Buster, Tri-Flow, nothin’ doin’. Another idea is maybe slot them with a Dremel and use a flat blade? But at this point, I think the smart money is on drilling them out.
 
I feel your pain. Do try the dremmel and straight slot first! Then as a last resort, use a drill bit just a tad bigger than the dia of the screw. Try to stay centered. Hopefully later you will have enough screw shank to get hold of, or better yet they may not be frozen. Fingers crossed.
 
Left hand twist bits......

Once the heads are drilled off and the bracket removed, there will be enough sticking out to grip with your needle nose Vice Grips.
 
RadMax said:
Haha! Thanks! You guys seem like a pretty friendly and helpful group! I’m 26 and I’ve been wrenching my whole life. Not gonna lie, I prefer the old stuff. The new stuff is cool, don’t get me wrong, but like my dad always says:

- Fuel
- Compression
- Spark

It sure beats chasing electrical gremlins all day!
Click to expand...
Don't be too surprised if some electrical gremlins raise their ugly little heads - these bikes are 35 years old at least, with oldest closer to 50! Lotsa info on this site to help you, good wiring diagrams available - make sure you have a good voltmeter. If you still have the original fuse block, the fuse clamps can look OK but be too weak to grip the fuses properly, in worst case, just break off - they can endure only so much vibration, and these bikes are shakers!
 
If I'm not mistaken, those screws holding the angle bracket on were loctited in by the factory. That means that if you drill the head off, the rest of the screw still isn't going to come out easy. It will still be stuck in there real good. I'd resist the urge to drill the heads off. I'd try applying some heat instead. I usually use a hand impact to break them loose, then a T handle screwdriver to remove them the rest of the way. All have the proper fitting J.I.S. screwdriver tips on them so I don't bugger up the screws to begin with. Once out, they get replaced with Allens.
 
I don't think it was specifically red Loctite, but some sort of thread locking compound was applied. I've gotten away from using open flames for heating stuff like this. I just use a heat gun now. It gets stuff plenty hot enough.
 
Thankfully there’s no fuel in these carbs, they’re the ones I rebuilt. And the rule of thumb has always been:

- Blue Loctite (or equivalent) comes off with torque, and a little bit of what my grandfather called “well-placed violence”.

- Red Loctite (or equivalent) comes off with heat, and anything mentioned above.

Correct?

Unfortunately, I’m also in the process of moving, since my team got kicked out of our last race shop. So as of right now, most of my tools are in Upstate New York. Since we didn’t have anywhere to keep our s***, our driver just took everything with him after the last race until we could find a new shop. Life sucks sometimes.
 
Let this be a warning: This is what happens when your no-show #2 driver gets a big head, and gets all butthurt because the #1 driver gets more attention than he does because your #1 driver is actually committed to racing, and your #2 driver just wants to d*** around and pretend he’s a racecar driver.
 
RadMax said:
So I rebuilt my carbs - haven’t started it yet, still waiting for parts - and I’ve noticed there’s a bit of “play” in the fuel Tee that connects the fuel line to the carbs. Should I be worried? Will it still seal, is that normal?
You know that piece of angle that holds the carbs together? Those Phillips bolts are ready to strip, so I’m gonna have to drill them out (and my drill is back at my old shop), so I haven’t been able to get my carbs apart. I’m wondering if I need to invest in a new Tee? There’s a rather-expensive billet Tee on MikesXS, but if it works better, why not? I just don’t want fuel puking out of my carbs for a number of reasons...
And don’t worry, I made sure it ran before I bought it. It runs, just not great, clearly a carb problem. The carbs I’m installing weren’t the ones that were on the bike, they’re a rather-nice set of stock carbs I rebuilt.
Click to expand...

Hi RadMax,
pull "dodgy" crosspoints (They ain't Phillips BTW, they're JIS and work best with JIS drivers)
by putting the carb assembly on a drill press platform, chucking the appropriate driver, bearing down hard on the feed lever
and backing the screw out by hand-turning the chuck. Throw the effin' worthless crosspoint screws away and use Allen screws instead.
The stock slanted base lever works OK when tilted. Problem is, it's sized to work two calipers and North American XS650s only have one. Swap the lever for one that has a smaller piston OR fit a second caliper. Replacing stock brake hoses with wire braided plastic hoses is a good thing, too.
 
Last edited:
Thanks! I hate to tell you this, but my Dremel, torch, drill, drillbits, and drill press, and all my other fun stuff won’t be here until Friday.

And sorry Thuban, as Kurtis Blow says, “That’s the breaks!”
 
RadMax said:
Thanks! I hate to tell you this, but my Dremel, torch, drill, drillbits, and drill press, and all my other fun stuff won’t be here until Friday. - - -
Click to expand...

Hi RadMax,
OK then, you have until Friday to get your work area arranged to fit in all your fun stuff and the entire weekend to un-crosspoint your carb set.
Me, I gotta wait until at least next April before nature warms my unheated garage enough to work in.
 
Haha! Sir yes Sir! What do you think I’ve been doing!? And I’m at home, just thrashing away with the electric heater on... Quite a good investment, this thing has to be... Hmm... 10 years old, give or take? Still freezing!

I couldn’t help but notice how, uhh, “tight” the workspace is between the cylinders and the backbone though!? Certainly takes some fenangling!

It still beats working on LD Chrysler 300s in college - they REALLY stuff that Hemi into those things, no room for a half-inch ratchet in most places! Packaging on a lot of Mopars (JK Wranglers, PentaStars in general) is a bloody nightmare these days!
 
Nice! I started WAY earlier than 26, been riding for almost 20 years now since my first PW80! This is going to be more “traditional, low-buck café racer”. I’m going era-correct, but I can dig a restomod! I just want a seat-of-the-pants “touge” bike.
 
PJC, if you don’t mind me asking, what front master cylinder is that? I’ve got the exact same year/model in black! And, like you, I went with some old-school superbike bars, but I’m a bit concerned about how the front master cylinder reservoir sits on different bars.
 

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