Okey dokey - today, I finally got a few hours in the Disaster Central Workshop to begin addressing some of the beautification and reliability enhancement issues on my 1976 XS650C Standard - the infamous Lucille.
Yesterday I had a quick 210 mile ride which included a 5000 rpm blast up the superslab to a brunch meeting at a large blueberry (really!!) emporium near Chatham, ON and then a leisurely return ride along the back roads. I stopped in on Lakeview and had a full tour of the new country estate. Very nice place he's got there with tons of room for storing his bikes....and possibly one or two of those belonging to a buddy......(ahhm jest sayin'
).
Lucille ran very well - now that both high tension leads are securely attached to the coils - BUT - all the way there and back I couldn't rid my head the image of her oil delivery pipe (that chrome pipe that runs right up the front of the engine immediately in front of the cylinders). I have had her fuel tank on and off MANY times and had noted that the oil pipe was corroded and that the chrome was flaking off - and that the tops of the two banjo bolts that secure the pipe to the cylinder head were badly rusted. Even though the oil pressure in the pipe is very low (2-5 PSI, I think) that corroded pipe and fasteners were prime candidates to fatigue and burst and subsequently leak.
With no oil pressure gauge or level light on the bike, such an under-tank leak would likely go un-noticed for some time but the effect on the engine's top-end (valve, cam, timing chain etc. would be catastrophic. Here are some photos of the new pipe and the old pipe after I got it off.
NOTE: Removing and replacing the oil pipe is not a difficult job by any means whatsoever. I would estimate that anyone who has a set of metric wrenches, and can do anything with them, should easily be able to this job in 1-2 hours tops. The only special tools required are two 22mm open-end wrenches - which is a little larger than those included in most sets - or a couple of good-sized adjustable wrenches - or, one of each. DO NOT use pliers!!!
Anyhow, on my last trip to XS650 Direct, I bought a new oil pipe (p/n 05-0030 $109 CDN), two new banjo bolts (p/n 49-0720 $11.95 for two), a new base fitting (p/n 05-0047 $12.95) and a bag of 10 new copper crush washers (p/n 18-0886 $6.59/10). The total cost of the job is therefore about $135 - if you buy all new parts. If your base fitting and banjo bolts are OK (mine were not) - it would be around $113 CDN (which is about $2.43 USD right now). I had gotten a couple of used pipes but one was bent and the other had the lower nut badly corroded like mine - so I just went new to avoid any grief.
NOTE this job requires four crush washers, but six of the same parts are used on the brake lines as well, so get a bag of 10 and DO NOT re-use the old ones. Being a cheap-@ss bastard has its limits - even for me.
Once you have the fuel tank off the bike, it is simple nut and bolt job to remove the top engine mount (lots of bits and pieces here) and then you have clear access to the banjo bolts. Simply loosen off those two banjo bolts (they are not very tight) and the big nut on the bottom end of the oil pipe. You will need a 22mm wrench for that task AND you'll need either a second 22mm wrench or a large adjustable wrench to hold the base fitting in place while you remove the nut.
Once you have the banjo bolts and the base fitting loosened off - simply lift the complete oil pipe out and away. BE SURE to remove the copper crush washer from the seat of each banjo bolt and from the seat of the base fitting (if you are changing it). On Lucille, each of these washers was slightly stuck to the engine castings - which simply showed that they were all doing their job of conforming to the imperfections on the sealing surfaces of the castings. A photo of the LH banjo bolt seat is below and the crush washer, believe it or not, is still there.
Assembling the whole thing is simply the reverse of disassembly - but there are a couple of minor glitches:
Take it easy on that base fitting - it only needs about 20 ft-lb of torque and so don't go "Neanderthal" on it. The banjo bolts require a torque of only 14-16 ft-lb and that is easy to do with clear access from directly above. You just need to thread the extension & socket through the wiring harness/HT lead/cable bundle.
This job has been bugging me for a long time - and now it's done!!!
Next up - the PAMCO installation!
Cheers,
Pete
Yesterday I had a quick 210 mile ride which included a 5000 rpm blast up the superslab to a brunch meeting at a large blueberry (really!!) emporium near Chatham, ON and then a leisurely return ride along the back roads. I stopped in on Lakeview and had a full tour of the new country estate. Very nice place he's got there with tons of room for storing his bikes....and possibly one or two of those belonging to a buddy......(ahhm jest sayin'
).Lucille ran very well - now that both high tension leads are securely attached to the coils - BUT - all the way there and back I couldn't rid my head the image of her oil delivery pipe (that chrome pipe that runs right up the front of the engine immediately in front of the cylinders). I have had her fuel tank on and off MANY times and had noted that the oil pipe was corroded and that the chrome was flaking off - and that the tops of the two banjo bolts that secure the pipe to the cylinder head were badly rusted. Even though the oil pressure in the pipe is very low (2-5 PSI, I think) that corroded pipe and fasteners were prime candidates to fatigue and burst and subsequently leak.
With no oil pressure gauge or level light on the bike, such an under-tank leak would likely go un-noticed for some time but the effect on the engine's top-end (valve, cam, timing chain etc. would be catastrophic. Here are some photos of the new pipe and the old pipe after I got it off.
NOTE: Removing and replacing the oil pipe is not a difficult job by any means whatsoever. I would estimate that anyone who has a set of metric wrenches, and can do anything with them, should easily be able to this job in 1-2 hours tops. The only special tools required are two 22mm open-end wrenches - which is a little larger than those included in most sets - or a couple of good-sized adjustable wrenches - or, one of each. DO NOT use pliers!!!
Anyhow, on my last trip to XS650 Direct, I bought a new oil pipe (p/n 05-0030 $109 CDN), two new banjo bolts (p/n 49-0720 $11.95 for two), a new base fitting (p/n 05-0047 $12.95) and a bag of 10 new copper crush washers (p/n 18-0886 $6.59/10). The total cost of the job is therefore about $135 - if you buy all new parts. If your base fitting and banjo bolts are OK (mine were not) - it would be around $113 CDN (which is about $2.43 USD right now). I had gotten a couple of used pipes but one was bent and the other had the lower nut badly corroded like mine - so I just went new to avoid any grief.
NOTE this job requires four crush washers, but six of the same parts are used on the brake lines as well, so get a bag of 10 and DO NOT re-use the old ones. Being a cheap-@ss bastard has its limits - even for me.
Once you have the fuel tank off the bike, it is simple nut and bolt job to remove the top engine mount (lots of bits and pieces here) and then you have clear access to the banjo bolts. Simply loosen off those two banjo bolts (they are not very tight) and the big nut on the bottom end of the oil pipe. You will need a 22mm wrench for that task AND you'll need either a second 22mm wrench or a large adjustable wrench to hold the base fitting in place while you remove the nut.
Once you have the banjo bolts and the base fitting loosened off - simply lift the complete oil pipe out and away. BE SURE to remove the copper crush washer from the seat of each banjo bolt and from the seat of the base fitting (if you are changing it). On Lucille, each of these washers was slightly stuck to the engine castings - which simply showed that they were all doing their job of conforming to the imperfections on the sealing surfaces of the castings. A photo of the LH banjo bolt seat is below and the crush washer, believe it or not, is still there.
Assembling the whole thing is simply the reverse of disassembly - but there are a couple of minor glitches:
- You can remove the banjo bolts without removing the top component of the engine mount (see the photo above where it is still in-place) - BUT - you cannot torque the banjo bolts without removing that plate. So, I'd suggest simply removing the whole darned thing in the first place.
- I could not figure out how to get a socket and torque wrench on the base fitting because it is so close-up against the front of the engine cylinder barrel. I tried all manner of deep and shallow sockets, extensions and u-joints - but nothing would fit So, I just used the 22mm open end wrench and the good ole' "Armstrong" torque wrench.
Take it easy on that base fitting - it only needs about 20 ft-lb of torque and so don't go "Neanderthal" on it. The banjo bolts require a torque of only 14-16 ft-lb and that is easy to do with clear access from directly above. You just need to thread the extension & socket through the wiring harness/HT lead/cable bundle.
This job has been bugging me for a long time - and now it's done!!!
Next up - the PAMCO installation!
Cheers,
Pete
Last edited:
