Aussie Cafe build

[phil1rowe4]

I realised that there were no shortcuts when setting up the carbs, so I stripped them down, adjusted the floats levels, cleaned them thoroughly, balanced the throttle stops and cables and then using the dead cylinder technique (and colortune) got them idling nicely. I also found the ign timing slightly advanced so backed that off slightly. The bike is now running quite well on the standard 25 pilots with half a turn mix screw setting. I've bought a range of pilot and main jets so I can try more tuning later on.

I've continued on with some of the fiddly bits and got the rear brake cable fitted, clutch and gear levers working and some other brackets made. Fixed a small oil leak in the RHS camshaft cover. Not much left now except to finish the instruments and cabling.

The biggest challenge has been trying to get the tacho to work. I can get a weak signal by coiling some wire (tried several insulated and uninsulated) around the spark plug lead but only get a couple of LCD bars at best. I've tried resistors, sine wave to square wave converter circuits, rectified signal from PMA, all with no success. Without an oscilliscope and wave generator I cant determine a) what signal the tacho wants and b) what signal the coil is providing. I can see a pulsing 12V signal from the coil using a multimeter but no more detail.

It looks like this instrument panel is about to become a thousand small pieces against the wall and I'll have to go buy a better quality one. This also means new dash mount and some re-cabling so I'd rather get the current one working, if possible.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate them.

Cheers,
Phil

 

[Brassneck]

The biggest challenge has been trying to get the tacho to work. I can get a weak signal by coiling some wire (tried several insulated and uninsulated) around the spark plug lead but only get a couple of LCD bars at best. I've tried resistors, sine wave to square wave converter circuits, rectified signal from PMA, all with no success. Without an oscilliscope and wave generator I cant determine a) what signal the tacho wants and b) what signal the coil is providing. I can see a pulsing 12V signal from the coil using a multimeter but no more detail.

It looks like this instrument panel is about to become a thousand small pieces against the wall and I'll have to go buy a better quality one. This also means new dash mount and some re-cabling so I'd rather get the current one working, if possible.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate them.

Cheers,
Phil

Nice work on the carbs... but bummer about the Tach... I was going to suggest a resistor, as that seemed to work for me in the past, but since you've tried that... my only thought is to go with a manual tach for the time being.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Phil. Kettering (points) ignitions produce ringing waveforms, with multiple hi-freq components. Not sure about your ignition. The tach may have a sensitive input that's confused by these 'noise' signals. Might try a passive low-pass filter using discretes (caps & resistors only)...

 

[Signal]

Have you checked that you have a good ground on the tachometer unit. It probably is ok as the self test works but dud earths can cause some curious faults.

 

[phil1rowe4]

Thanks for the ideas TooMany and Signal,

Everything else is working fine on the instrument cluster, so I don't think it's a grounding problem.

I'm using a boyer ignition systems so shouldn't be getting too much noise. I found (on a European moto guzzi forum!) and built a low pass filter tonight with no success. I also tried some alternator winding cable wrapped many times around the plug lead and managed to get up to four bars visible, but no more when the revs climbed higher.

The rest of the bike is basically finished mechanically, apart from this issue and I've tried everything I can think of, so it looks like I'll need to go and get a name brand instrument cluster.

Anyone want a slightly used instrument cluster!?

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

...I also tried some alternator winding cable wrapped many times around the plug lead and managed to get up to four bars visible, but no more when the revs climbed higher.

Back in the '60s, a friend of mine wrapped 10-12 winds of solid-core wires (6) around the plug wires of his 6-cyl Mustang, and ran them to a circular dashboard display of 6 neon indicator bulbs. It produced enough voltage to fire the 20-volt bulbs, and made a mesmerizing orangish rotating display.

I used the same trick to make a permanent-mount timing light for my 327 Chevy, 6 winds was plenty enough to trigger a transister controlled LED. Fun stuff.

That's too bad about your tach. Interesting that you're not alone in this issue...

 

[staggers]

Nice build!!

I'm from Brisbane too! nice to know there are others here

here's my build so far. Not much but working on it.

cheers

Paul

 

[phil1rowe4]

Hi Paul,

Thanks.
There's another active builder in Brissie I've been talking to also.

Let me know if you want to catch up sometime or need any help.

By the look of the tank, you're going for a tracker style build?

Cheers
Phil

 

[staggers]

Hey Phil,

My ideas for the build seem to change daily haha but at this stage I'm aiming towards a cross between a bobber and a Brat bike. I'm not going to hard tail it though (couldn't imagine what that would be like on our roads?)

So far just a strip down as this old girl was left outside for about 15yrs!
I'm ordering a bunch of parts so I can get the motor running like PMA, ignition and new carbies for now.

Yeah it would be cool to get together in someone's garage maybe with the other blokes too over a beer

 

[phil1rowe4]

Organised a new Koso instrument panel (from Italy!) and it's a rather clever little thing. Calculates gear position from revs and speed, variable backlight color and max revs, volt meter, and optional temp sensor, which I will look at getting too. Finished the rest of the electrical harness and tidied up nicely.



Finished the cable rear brake and made a lever mechanism to turn on the rear brake lights. Looks a bit funny but works well.




Finished up a lot of other small jobs, including a leaking fork seal, so mechanically it should now be finished!!
Looking forward to taking it out for its first drive and ironing out the bugs.
Just the final painting to go now......

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Your build is looking great, Phil.

Organised a new Koso instrument panel (from Italy!) and it's a rather clever little thing. Calculates gear position from revs and speed, variable backlight color and max revs, volt meter, and optional temp sensor, which I will look at getting too...

Now, that "gear position" IS clever! It's one of those "Why didn't I think of that" kinda things.

FYI, here's how I mounted my temp sensor:

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?p=425880#post425880

 

[phil1rowe4]

Thanks TooMany,

It's my first bike build so I'm pretty happy with it so far.

The temp sensor for this dash fits either under a 14mm spark plug or fits under a 10mm head nut (2 sizes).


Woo hoo !!
Took the beast for its first ride tonight

Took it relatively easy but it went really well; good smooth power and acceleration, tracked straight, two finger brakes, smooth gear changes and no obvious leaks. Need to play with the clutch adjustment a little bit and scrub in the new tyres but small stuff.

 

[staggers]

Looks great Phil

Looks like you've lowered it a little? what size shocks you running? and forks?

 

[phil1rowe4]

Hi Paul,

Thanks mate.

They are standard 35mm XS650 forks.

I did buy a billet aluminium top yoke (triple tree) that is flat rather than the standard top yoke which steps down 25mm from the centre bolt to the top of the forks. This effectively raises the top of the forks by 25mm in relation to the bottom yoke and lowers the frame.

The fork brace also takes up some of the fork travel capacity and visually makes the fork tubes look shorter.

The rear shock length on the bike is 340mm with some weight on them so maybe 345 unloaded. The standard ones that came off are 330mm.

Cheers,
Phil

 

[phil1rowe4]

Been out for a few short rides to find out the bugs and have some fun. Once the tyres warm up the handling is pretty good.

Having some problems with the clutch /neutral. Getting 1.75mm (0.068") movement at the pushrod but this doesn't seem to be enough to engage neutral. Cleaned, lubed and adjusted everything, but other than make the movement easier, has not significantly changed the pushrod movement. So, I've purchased a ducati clutch slave cylinder and have a brembo lever on order to convert to a hydraulic clutch.

I've also got small leaks from both camshaft covers and it continues despite re-cleaning and sealing. I suspect that I haven't seated the oil seals properly.

Sadly, I had to take the bike of the road again to start on the painting prep work, but that's going well and should make a good Christmas holiday project. Most of the hard work is done and first undercoat is on. These pics are the first time everything's been the same color and hint at what the final bike will look like.




Hope everyone has a great Christmas and keeps safe.

Cheers

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Hey, Phil. Yeah, you're having fun, sharp bike.
In theory, your 1.7mm clutch pushrod travel should be plenty enuff to get clutch release. But, your planned hydraulic clutch conversion would be an excellent apples-to-apples comparison. Anxious to hear your results...

 

[staggers]

Your bike is looking sweeet Phil

I get to work on my bike too during holidays, can't wait as it's been two months for me since last the tinker.

Merry Christmas

 

[phil1rowe4]

Hi TooMany,

I know you've done lots of work to investigate improvements to the clutch and cable system and I have enjoyed reading your very meticulous research.

I also thought 1.75mm should have been enough to easily engage neutral, from your research findings, but while it changes gear very smoothly it just doesn't want to find neutral unless I rev it up to about 2500 rpm. It also requires the adjustment change when hot.

I did note that some clutch discussions have been talking about 3.5-4mm of pushrod travel while others have been in the range of 1-2mm of travel, so I'm expecting that the hydraulic system will give me slightly more travel without too much level pressure and may get around the hot re-adjustment issue too. I'll certainly let you know how it goes.
The other possibility is that I've not assembled the clutch pack properly!

Thanks Staggers Can't wait to get it finished and back on the road!

 

[phil1rowe4]

Does anyone have any advice on fitting the camshaft oils seals?
How far into the camshaft end plates should they be? (flush with inside or outside of the end plates?) any pictures?

Thanks,
Phil

 

[phil1rowe4]

Just did a forum search and found some good info on camshaft oil seal fitment. (as usual)
I'll try the recommended install approach and see how it goes.

Cheers.