New Member with lots of questions.

[Kais3rboy]

Hello everyone. I'm the new guy. =) Well, no questions yet, I just got her home late last night.


Picked up an 81 xs special 2, condition unknown, been sitting for a while in a shed. I rescued her in hopes of fixing her up and have her back on the street where she belongs. The bike has 8K miles, on the speedo, the pegs looked like it was new when put away, no wear but dry rotted, good news for me I guess there's a chance that the mileage is accurate. She gives resistance when kicked, so compression is there. She stinks of old petrol, rust patina everywhere. All the parts are there but will need serious restoration. The wiring has issues, I was going with the simplified stuff at the tech section anyways. Tonight, I get my hands dirty, I'm taking the Carb out to rebuild it, do a little compression test while I'm at it, then gutting the wiring out to close the night. My questions, will be raining down tomorrow, and the tech section is a great resource for that but I will bounce ideas to those who are wiling to listen =). For now my goal is to have her running by next week.

My first re-build was an 81 Virago, moved on to a '80 750 special triple, and FINALLY I got my hands on a 650. I have always wanted one of these, I have lurked in your forum for years. Thanks for skimming thru my rant, and thanks in advance for the help

 

[itsatoy]

I have the same model. Nice to get some more modern features and nobody gives you crap for customizing a special.

Sounds like your well prepared and have good experience so you should be fine but before you post questions make sure to research on your own first and list all of the pertinent info in the post. Some new members get frustrated because their questions won't get answered or get answered rudely if they don't do homework first.

 

[Kais3rboy]

Thanks man, well so far, the tank is rusty inside but shouldn't take much to be serviceable. Compression is great 135 on the left and right. Carb will need a total do over, or just get a newish set from eBay. No spark, no voltage at the coils. It might be from the clutch switch or some other safety feature that's broken or frozen by rust. All the fuses checked out. No broken wires between terminals well at least the ones i could see for now. I'm kicking myself for throwing away my front end from the 750. That one had dual discs. I mocked it up with a drag bar, then a 16" monkey bar I had laying around. Lol they both look darn good on her but the drag bar does not require buying more parts so that's the direction ill be headed

 

[Kais3rboy]

One more thing, for the chopper bobber gurus here. Do you guys relocate parts like the igniter etc. If so could you post some pics of where, I'm looking more to hide them specially the starter solenoid. Thanks in advance.

 

[itsatoy]

I actually ended up finding an '81 with dual front discs and rear disc. It was an option from the dealer I guess so the parts are out there if you really want it but from what I have heard one modern caliper would give you better stopping power at lower weight.

I removed my battery box and am planning to relocate all the electricals under the seat. Some hide battery under the swing arm if you are willing to ditch the center stand. Otherwise fake oil tank seems most popular but I think you need to replace the TCI if you want to go with a smaller battery.

 

[Kais3rboy]

Thanks itsatoy. I do have newer calipers somewhere, unless the wife threw them away on the last garage purge. I like the oil tank idea. I tried to quickly rig the wiring to at least hear her start with ether, no joy though. Still no spark. I was going to take my time and hide the harness in the frame but, that is time that can be put somewhere else. I had bad experience with smaller batteries, lol, I did that for my 750, these bikes take a lot to start smaller batt don't stand a chance, and if its an older yama it prolly doesn't charge at idle.

 

[gggGary]

If you are sticking with the TCI, pay attention to how Yamaha mounted it on the vibration isolated battery tray. Do not weld on the bike with the TCI attached.

 

[Kais3rboy]

Thanks for the tip gary, I'm nowhere near the cutting and welding part yet. But I finally got around to breaking the carb apart, the seals are intact, the slide diaphragm is intact. But the whole thing smells of varnish. The float valves or gummy and pretty much everything else. Just curious if you guys DIY it or send yours out. I've rebuilt them before but not to this extent, I'm sure all the micro passages are blocked etc. I have taken out all the rubber parts and it is soaking in gas right now. What product do you guys recommend for deep cleaning this thing?

The wiring has been worked on and it is comical how some people splice their wires, lol, wirenuts are for houses! I'm definitely trashing the stock and making my own.

 

[gggGary]

Too bad you didn't read the carb guide the throttle shafts have rubber seals. I am going to guess you didn't remove those........

 

[gggGary]

Other than the shaft seals (2 out of 4 aren't that hard to replace) overhauling the carbs is pretty basic. Proper fit screw drivers, an absolute commitment to not strip any brass jet slots. Are the idle screws open or do they still have the plugs? Do the shim washer mod on the jet needles.


100% you have to replace the o-rings on the float valves.

 

[Kais3rboy]

Thanks gary, I missed that. I have not read it yet, I figured I pre soak while I did research. It's soaking in gas, I hope it can survive that.
yup, those rubber rings were gone, they were just goo and so were the plugs that cap the main jet. thanks for the pics. I'll post pics tonight.

 

[gggGary]

Take em out of the gas already, yeah you probably didn't kill em but they are not designed to be soaked in gas. They tend to get hard and not seal so great anyways.
After all it's a 35 year old rubber...

See above, those o-rings ARE constantly soaked in gas and the rubber has had all the elastomers leached out, what's left are the brittle remains.

 

[Dman4222]

Mercury power tune is the best for cleaning carbs, comes in a spray can for about $10.