Mailman’s XS2 a full on restoration

[FB71]

an update on SuperTech engine oil;
source of oil seems to be regional. I've found MSDS from Shell, Exxon/Mobil, and Castrol for base stock oils. The primary bottler is Warren Performance Products. East of the Mississippi is served by their Pittsburg plant. West comes from the California plant. They state they are the supplier of SuperTech full synthetic oils for WalMart, and blend and bottle in-house. They also stated that any further info about the base-stock would need to come from WalMart, as they establish those contracts. From what I can tell, WalMart has a spec that they shop to various bidders for the base-stock, and WPP does the final additive package blending and packaging.

 

[Mailman]

TRUING MY GASKET SURFACES

All of my top end parts are clean now and I’ve been wanting to take a shot and planing all of my gasket deck surfaces. There were lots of little edges and small dings and scratches and surface imprints left by gaskets and such.
In keeping with the spirit of keeping costs down , I wanted to do this myself. I watched lots of YouTube videos on the subjects and even though there are some real dip sticks out there, I found some good ideas.

I needed a really flat surface to work on. Hmmm.....my first thoughts went to my own kitchen. We have granite counter tops that I thought would be perfect, however I have been testing the limits of my wife’s patience lately, first with a two day marathon of cooking cylinders in her oven for swapping liners. ( She felt the need to clean the oven after I was done, go figure). Then, after she had cleaned the kitchen and applied a polish to the granite she comes home and found me with engine parts all over her freshly cleaned counter tops.
“ But honey, it’s hot out in the garage.”
She wasn’t sympathetic and made me promise to keep my motorcycle hobby confined to the garage.
“ Oh all right....”

So I ran to the home center in search of either a granite floor tile or a piece of thick glass. They had neither and I came home with a 24” ceramic floor tile with a smooth shiny surface that to my eye looked flat. I threw a straight edge on it and it had a crown in the center of it must’ve been 1/8”. Back to the drawing board.

Next up I went to the local Goodwill thrift store, in search of an old mirror or something with a thick piece of glass, and eureka! I found the perfect item. A glass topped bathroom scale, it was a piece of junk with a visible crack in the plastic base and missing one foot. But! For $3.99 I had me a large piece of thick tempered glass that was in perfect condition. The kid at the cash register looked at me and said “ Man that looks kinda jacked up.” I told him I only wanted the glass, the kid shrugged.

I laid a straight edge across it and tried to slip feeler gauges under it, but it is bang on flat! Yay!
Next I laid a sheet of 400 wet sand paper down with a little water and dish soap and just started gently working the pieces back and forth, constantly changing directions , rotating the piece, working on different parts of the glass.

Nothing big and dramatic but it really did a nice job of smoothing and cleaning the gaskets surfaces. It removed all but the deepest scratches and dings ( they are minor really ). I did all gasket surfaces, it really didn’t take much.
$3.99. And a few sheets of sandpaper, ding ding ding we got a winner!

 

[5twins]

Those came out really nice. Small nicks shouldn't be an issue. The Yamabond will fill them between the head and top cover, the gaskets will do the same between the head and cylinder, and cylinder and block (base gasket). I use a similar piece of tempered glass for my flat sanding needs. It came from a buddy's old scanner/printer. I don't have a need for it often but sometimes it's just what the job calls for.

If you want to get the combustion chambers looking like new, use a little chrome polish on them.

 

[59Tebo]

5twins,
Would a felt-tipped Dremel smeared with the chrome polish work, or would that be too aggressive?

 

[Jim]

....or would that be too aggressive?

Chambers are steel. You'd be hard pressed to damage 'em.

 

[59Tebo]

Thanks Jim. I type faster than I think, and I type reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally slow.....

 

[5twins]

As Jim said, the chambers are steel so you probably wouldn't hurt them. But, just normally applied chrome cleaner (with a rag) does a nice job, quick and easy. It gets rid of all the discoloration and dark staining left behind after the actual carbon removal.

 

[59Tebo]

Great tips/information guys. If I'm going to go that deep into an overhaul, I'm going to want as clean-clean/new looking as I can get. At my pace, that might be an over-winter job on 'The Basketcase'. Build thread coming soon, to a motorcycle forum near you!

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

In the machinists forums, they generally disapprove of plate glass as reference surfaces, preferring thick granite reference plates instead. But, if your glass plate passes the flatness test, as Mailman did above, then it's fine for these kinds of resurfacing projects.

Good job, Bob...

 

[Mailman]

In the machinists forums, they generally disapprove of plate glass as reference surfaces, preferring thick granite reference plates instead. But, if your glass plate passes the flatness test, as Mailman did above, then it's fine for these kinds of resurfacing projects.

Good job, Bob...

Thanks Steve,
Granite was my first choice too. I kept encouraging my wife to go out shopping, I only needed an hour or so, but she just wouldn’t leave so....you know, glass had to do.

 

[YamadudeXS650C]

For $3.99 I had me a large piece of thick tempered glass that was in perfect condition.

Great find, Bob !
Back in the mid-80's I found myself a section of 3/4" thick bullet-proof glass, which I have used since then for this purpose.

 

[Mailman]

Great find, Bob !
Back in the mid-80's I found myself a section of 3/4" thick bullet-proof glass, which I have used since then for this purpose.

How the heck did you just happen to find a piece of bullet proof glass?

 

[YamadudeXS650C]

How the heck did you just happen to find a piece of bullet proof glass?

I talked my way into a Syracuse commercial/industrial glass company and pressed them to show me their scrap stock, and voila:

 

[gggGary]

Yup got a smaller "out of service" tagged granite reference plate tossed in with a lathe I bought, major use is a flat surface for surface sanding.

 

[cra-z1]

Bob if your interested, before you assemble the engine you may want to consider my solution for carb balancing. First you need to drill and tap for a barb fitting for vacuum. After you adjust both for vacuum you can adjust them to open at the same time.

Then install barb

Hook up your homemade vacuum gages or equivilent.

 

[Mailman]

Bob if your interested, before you assemble the engine you may want to consider my solution for carb balancing. First you need to drill and tap for a barb fitting for vacuum. After you adjust both for vacuum you can adjust them to open at the same time.
View attachment 121682
Then install barb
View attachment 121683
Hook up your homemade vacuum gages or equivilent.View attachment 121685

I really like that idea, in fact I had considered doing just that. I saw that on ( I believe ) 650 Centrals website. Do you leave the barbs in all the time and just put a rubber cap on them or do you put a screw in that hole when you are not using it? I think that’s what the top photo shows, a screw stuck in that threaded hole?

 

[kshansen]

Just did a search for granite surface plate and came up with this one:
http://www.wttool.com/index/page/pr...MI7cyK5vGN3AIVj7jACh0F6QZgEAYYASABEgJOw_D_BwE

Price seems very cheap but does say it needs to go by motor truck so don't know what the shipping may be on that!

I might be tempted to at least check on it. I could have it delivered to the place I worked at and that might be cheaper being a "commercial" as opposed to "home" delivery option. 9X12 would be just right to use with a full size sheet of sand paper!

 

[cra-z1]

You could just put a cap on the barb, but i us a screw with nylon washer.

 

[Mailman]

Just did a search for granite surface plate and came up with this one:
http://www.wttool.com/index/page/pr...MI7cyK5vGN3AIVj7jACh0F6QZgEAYYASABEgJOw_D_BwE

Price seems very cheap but does say it needs to go by motor truck so don't know what the shipping may be on that!

I might be tempted to at least check on it. I could have it delivered to the place I worked at and that might be cheaper being a "commercial" as opposed to "home" delivery option. 9X12 would be just right to use with a full size sheet of sand paper!

45 lbs. now that a pretty good chunk of rock! Haha! Let us know if you decide to get it. I gotta tell you though, I’m pretty jealous of Dudes bullet proof glass!

 

[robinc]

Seems Like a good time and place to post this question. Could we drill a hole in a non-barbed carb manifold and install a piece of brass tubing? I know we'd have to notch the manifold cover to clear the tube as well, but could easily do that with a dremel.

I've been thinking of modifying some non vacuum barb manifolds this way.