It's 1979, it's purple, and it's Special

[fredintoon]

There's a fairly new chain/sprocket set on it and the PO (or whoever fitted it) hadn't the proper tools - chisel gouges on the nut - and it had loosened off. It was actually spinning loose and only the slight bend on the washer had stopped it coming off. I find it amazing that someone could have left it like that. If they had a chisel they could have at least used it to bend the washer up properly.
Close inspection of the sprocket area seems to show the oil seal there is ok, all the oil around there is coming from fling-off from the Scottoiler.

Hi Grimly,
perhaps the nut seemed tight when the PO chiseled it on?
There seems to be no middle ground with that nut.
I've spun one of mine off by hand after I'd tightened it with a socket and breaker bar.
OTOH, the one I tightened with an air impact wrench needed one to get it off again.
And yeah, a Scottoiler can get over-enthusiastic if it's set to maximum but the bog-pan sealant comment was about the chain looking like it was smeared with shite.

 

[Grimly]

Looks like it's worth keeping an eye on it then, check it every oil change until I see what the pattern is. The pic makes the chain look terrible, but it's actually much cleaner in reality, just oily dirt on the side plates.

 

[joebgd]

What is a scottoiler?

Posted via Mobile

 

[Grimly]

A vacuum-operated automatic chain oiler; worth having, if you live in temperate zones. Hot and cold zones, not so much, as they get a bit troublesome.
http://www.scottoiler.com/

 

[Grimly]

Been putting the front brakes on, rebuilding the centre stand and today I noticed the RH exhaust hanger stud is nearly worn through with vibes.
The brake lines had already been replaced with braided SS, but one of them fell apart, so I didn't feel too confident in the others, so a new set were fitted. One of the older ones might do for the rear. The calipers are sticky, but for now, the pressure in the system allows me to push the pistons out for cleaning and I'll get a set of new seals in the near future.
It's surprising the damage long-term vibes do to these bikes - the centre stand was nearly a piece of scrap. Every pivot point and bolt on it was worn away to uselessness and the front plate that stops it going over-centre was wrecked.
A new clutch cable transformed the heave to normal levels - shows the difference a cable makes. The heave is still a bit heavier than I think is standard, so a PO might have put a set of HD springs in there, and whether that's necessary, I don't know.
There's oil in it now, and no leaks (yet), so I'll be starting it up at the weekend, I think.
I think a clutch pushrod seal will be worth having, as it looks a bit moist round there.

 

[OakBehringer]

That muffler needs to be bigger

 

[fredintoon]

- - - A new clutch cable transformed the heave to normal levels - shows the difference a cable makes. The heave is still a bit heavier than I think is standard, so a PO might have put a set of HD springs in there, and whether that's necessary, I don't know. - - -

Hi Grimly,
the way the cable is run can also add to the pull effort.
Every sharp curve put in the cable run to deke it under the tank, around stuff and hidden away adds to the effort.
I ran my XS11's cable in a free air single swoop from the lever to the input.
It looks ucking fugly but it cuts the pull in half.
The XS650 has it's clutch cable input in the wrong place to do that but easing it's stock run to open out the sharp curves has helped ease it some.

 

[peanut]

same year & model as mine

you might find these two useful when looking up part numbers and ordering up parts .

I'd recommend that you don't use that horrible silicon gasket again though. Once a piece of that gets squeezed off into the crankcase its going to plug an bearing oilway or pipe sooner or later Get yourself some of that gorgeous yamaha liquid gasket Neo 1104 Three Bond . I've never seen it as cheap as it is at the moment .£6.00
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THREE-BOND-1104NEO-GASKET-CEMENT-SEALER-TUBE-MOTORCYLES-CAR-ATV-ENGINE-GEARBOX-/161349378588?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item25912c221c

 

[Grimly]

Hi Grimly,
the way the cable is run can also add to the pull effort.
Every sharp curve put in the cable run to deke it under the tank, around stuff and hidden away adds to the effort.
I ran my XS11's cable in a free air single swoop from the lever to the input.
It looks ucking fugly but it cuts the pull in half.
The XS650 has it's clutch cable input in the wrong place to do that but easing it's stock run to open out the sharp curves has helped ease it some.

I found difficulty getting a shorter standard-bar cable, and my normal supplier had the same part listed for Special and roadster versions, which means it's a bit too long. Even with that, I've managed to use the extra length to my advantage and run it in the least cramped way. Not pretty, as you say, but effective.

 

[Grimly]

same year & model as mine

you might find these two useful when looking up part numbers and ordering up parts .

I'd recommend that you don't use that horrible silicon gasket again though. Once a piece of that gets squeezed off into the crankcase its going to plug an bearing oilway or pipe sooner or later Get yourself some of that gorgeous yamaha liquid gasket Neo 1104 Three Bond . I've never seen it as cheap as it is at the moment .£6.00
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THREE-BOND-1104NEO-GASKET-CEMENT-SEALER-TUBE-MOTORCYLES-CAR-ATV-ENGINE-GEARBOX-/161349378588?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item25912c221c

Handy link. Thanks.
Fwiw, I have no problems with silicone sealer but that's because I'm not an idiot, unlike many who used it over the decades, and just slathered it on - hardly suprising it got a bad rep because of eejits. Factories have used it routinely for years in new-build engines, and their machines are calibrated to put just the right amount on case faces - if you do that, you won't go wrong.
That blue goop you see in the pic is Hylomar, btw.

 

[Grimly]

That muffler needs to be bigger

I've been looking at one of these...

 

[peanut]

Factories have used it routinely for years in new-build engines, and their machines are calibrated to put just the right amount on case faces - if you do that, you won't go wrong.
That blue goop you see in the pic is Hylomar, btw.

Yamaha recommend that owners use a non-silicon based liquid gasket cement . Yamaha developed and used their own non-silicon liquid cement called Yamabond , (Due to health and safety issues it was recently replaced with the Neo 1100 series.)

Silicon cannot seal as well as a liquid gasket because it is almost impossible to apply it uniformly ,as your images clearly illustrates . With the added potential for silicon to block small critical oilways I cannot see any advantage in using silicon except that it is usually less than half the price. especially given the number of oil leaks and oil blockages that you read about on this and other auto forums
Incidentally the Hylomar is silicon based fyi

 

[Grimly]

Well, I've never blocked an oilway or had surplus silicone in the engine. Otoh, I've come across plenty traces of OPs and other idiots' work, where they seemed to think the more the better. This pre-dates silicone of course - back in the days of Red Hermatite and Stag, you'd take cases apart and the insides would be hanging with the stuff.
I'll keep using it, sensibly.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

I used Hylomar for the first time a few years ago. It's amazing stuff, developed by Rolls Royce aircraft engineers. It doesn't set up like silicone, but stays as a sort of putty. You can even re-use it when you take stuff apart, if it's not full of embedded crap. It's pretty damn expensive over here though. It will also put carbon monoxide into your bloodstream through a chemical reaction, so gloves are recommended when working with it.

 

[Grimly]

Further to the above, the clutch is now a model of propriety, pulling in and releasing with just a hint of gruffness about it.
Anyway, today's adventures had me rooting around under the seat, preparatory to actually starting the thing up. The tank's on (but I'll take that back off and give it a proper flush out) and when I was looking at the wiring to / from the battery I started to cuss and swear quite a lot. Some PO has done their level best to create an underseat ass warmer - the main starter return current was being carried by a skinny 2.5mm cable from the frame to the battery box - the main negative lead was connected to the battery box and no further. This meant all the normal electrical returns were fine, but not the starter, and as a result the skinny wire was toasted nicely. No insulation left on it at all.
Also, in an attempt to fit the more commonly available YB14L-A2 battery (as is fitted to GS850s for example) which has the terminals on the opposite sides to the one normally fitted to the XS650, the utter brainiac of the PO had extended the Pos lead with a piece of braided ground strap and covered it with insulating tape. All brilliant stuff.
Jeez, where do these people come from?

 

[Yamaha_chop]

I'm a service tech for a living, and I stopped asking why people do what they do a long time ago. That being said, I still see stuff that boggles my brain sometimes. One of my recent favorites was a rancher with his $50k dodge truck, he broke the mount for his headlight against a fence post or something, his solution? Why a three inch sheet metal screw down through the fender into the headlight housing of course!

 

[fredintoon]

Hi Grimly,
If it weren't for all those stupid people we'd only be of average intelligence, eh?
Hi 'chop,
Met a Porsche 924 owner who'd bought it cheap because it leaked fuel.
The PO had fitted a huge stereo in the trunk using sheet metal screws that were long enough to punch holes in the fuel tank.

 

[Grimly]

I'm a service tech for a living, and I stopped asking why people do what they do a long time ago. That being said, I still see stuff that boggles my brain sometimes. One of my recent favorites was a rancher with his $50k dodge truck, he broke the mount for his headlight against a fence post or something, his solution? Why a three inch sheet metal screw down through the fender into the headlight housing of course!

A classic example of every problem looking like a nail if all you have to hand is a hammer.

Hi Grimly,
If it weren't for all those stupid people we'd only be of average intelligence, eh?

Just as well they're around - gives me a couple of points, tf.

Hi 'chop,
Met a Porsche 924 owner who'd bought it cheap because it leaked fuel.
The PO had fitted a huge stereo in the trunk using sheet metal screws that were long enough to punch holes in the fuel tank.

<holds head in hands>
I'm not saying I didn't do something like that when fastening a plywood floor down into my Transit, but it was only one screw and it wasn't much of a leak and I fixed it, ok.

 

[Grimly]

WooHoo! <happy dance>
It's running at long last. After some of the normal reluctance you'd expect (after all, it's been sitting for a decade) it fired up. Once the precautionary oil I'd put down the bores a few years ago had cleared away, it started quite willingly on the kickstarter. That bore oil don't arf make the workshop stink, though <cough>
It's got a nice thrummy twin feel to it, not harsh, but just as I recall them - of course, after having spent so long on fours, this feels like a different kettle of fish entirely and my immediate impression was something was misfiring badly No, it's just two cylinders are missing.
Occurs to me that modern twin owners, with their balance shafts and all that, are missing something of the real feel of what their engines should be like. Old-skool, yeah.

 

[Grimly]

It became obvious that one cylinder wasn't pulling its weight and this is what I found when I stripped the RH carb...

Dropping the drain plug on the LH carb revealed more of the same crud, so I'll strip that tomorrow.
Turns out they're VM34s with 185 main jets, so I'll have a poke around the Mikuni specs and see if there's a clue there that might give me an inkling if any tuning work's been done on the engine. I don't really know, at this point, whether these carbs, with that jetting, might have been nothing more than an off-the-shelf upgrade to a standard lump or not.