Street Tracker in works!

It was hand made by the lead fabricator, Benderwerks in Atlanta, GA. A lot of shops and even individuals can build their own exhaust. Took about 3 1.50" u-bends, a 2-1 collector, a 1.75" u-bend and one of our 1.75" mufflers. I wanted it to be quieter than normal so we used one of our "Quiet-er Core" mufflers as opposed to a straight-through muffler.

 

Here's the link to pictures of all the bikes at IMS Long Beach: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.700514006626824.1073741837.167857709892459&type=1

See if you can pick out the winners. I broke them down by class.

 

I rode it!!! Fired it up and rode around the parking lot. Started it immediately and idled great. No fuel leaks, no oil leaks. I got the last of the electrical now working too!

Still have to pull a sidecover and check the shifter adjustment. It will click thru all the gears but acts like first isn't even there. Doesn't matter whether it is stopped or running, rolling or stationary. And the starter seems like it doesn't disengage fast enough, sounds like its dragging a little once the engine fires up.

 

I know, I know, but it is just so against my nature! LOL

Digging thru this great forum helped me find the info on the shift adjustment. But it's so soon to drain the oil. I think I might run it for 5-10 minutes a day for the next week to get everything slushed around good then go ahead and drain this first batch of oil. Then I can pull the side cover off and check the adjustment on the shift arm. Just wish I had thought to check this when I had the side cover off last month to install tach drive plug!!!

As far as the starter, I am hearing from a lot of folks that these XS starters are very noisy. If it doesn't loosen up in the next week I may pull it out and see if the shaft got sticky from sitting. Fingers crossed hoping it clears itself up.

And by then it should be ready for an initial check of the valves before any real riding is done.

So now all I have to do is get through a CHP inspection and get my plate...

 

Decided to dig in the starter adjustment today. Not a easy as it looked in the book. After pulling of the side cover and the clutch I found the roller bearing washer had been crooked and got smashed. Ordering that up allowed me to order a clutch holder at same time. That will be better than how I got the nut loose.

While I wait for it to come in I need to find a thin enough wrench to fit onto the lock nut for the eccentric screw shifter adjuster. Not much room in there!! And do you think the lock tab can get too soft to hold in place? Mine sure has a lot of slop in it! Hopefully it won't move so much once I get the nut tightened.

 

Seems like I haven't had much chance to work on all the little bugs that seem to linger/crop up. Maybe it's because each time I fix one I find two more?

The clutch still slips like crazy but I am going to break in the motor, roach the clutch and replace it on the oil change in 50-100 miles. I think something got on the clutch to foul it, could be a couple of different things at this point. May check the left side adjustment before then to see if the clutch throw angle is correct but I think that would affect disengagement, not engagement. I bit the bullet and bought new friction plates and springs to start over. Using some Shell Rotella this time to make sure there are no bad additives.

Well at least I finally finished the ordeal of getting the license plate! Used to be in CA if it wasn't in the DMV computer you filled out a statement of facts, paid for a duplicate title and walked out the door fat and happy. Now you have to go to CHP for inspection and verification. I was lucky enough to get a great guy that didn't even make me take it out of the truck.

I was very grateful for that as the front tube had pinched and the tire goes flat in about 5 minutes. It pinched when I let the air out to try and short cut the install of fork brace. The good thing is I had to take off the front tire to replace tube so now the for brace will get installed when the tire goes back on.

And trying to decide whether or not to pull a fork tube apart. It seems like there is way too much sag in the fork, almost like the preload tube is missing. But really if it wasn't in there it seems like it should sag even more than I am getting (about 2" when it comes off side stand and set on). Anyone know if on a '78 the preload tube is at the top of the spring or at the bottom? Not the adjuster at the top of the tube, the 3.50" or spacer that is inside. I've seen it both ways in illustrations.

And the rear turn signal bracket that had been aluminum broke off. Too sharp of a radius on the bend. So we whipped up this nasty little number from titanium I had sitting around. Used more radius on it as well to see what happens. No I just need to do a little wiring as I hadn't thought to make turn signals removable. I hate being short sighted!

Will post up some more pics when I get the front tire back and go to mount it along with the fork brace. That's going to be intresting - these tires are freakin' huge!

 

By the way, I did get the shifter adjustment solved. Generous loctite on the on the eccentric bolt, let it dry well before trying the shifter did the trick. I made a wrench to fit by griding off most of a crows foot and using a t-handle. I had thought about putting a star washer behind the lock tab but was worried that it would chew into the case. If the loctite had not worked that would have been plan 12.3.c.5. So far it seems to be holding up but I have a whopping 5 miles on the bike! Need to go thru it and check bolts. Looks like a weepy valve adjuster cover and who knows what else!

 

Vibration can be brutal! Looks like I need to do a little redesign on the tag holder and turn bracket.

 

The pic above showed the sheared aluminum tag mount. Pulled it back together and welded the tear. Made a new turn signal mount from 16g aluminum and welded that to the back side to add strength. I think the titanium one was way too light and its vibration helped lead to cracking of the whole assembly.

One problem I ran into was we used M8 x 1.50 nuts and bolts to secure the tag bracket to frame. Have you ever tried to find that thread? The bolts we countersunk heads and the nuts welded to frame. They seemed to have stripped so since I couldn't replace them nor find a tap and die to match, I carefully ran a 1.25 tap and die through the bad side and applied the patron saint of the XS650 - LOCTITE! I'm finding using rubber fender washers as isolators really cuts down on vibration breakage.

Replaced the aftermarket fork springs I got from Mikes with a set from RaceTech. HUGE DIFFERENCE! Even though the MXS are supposed to work on a 78 special, I think there is some issue if you try to use the OE built in preload adjusters. Matt Wiley of Race Tech/Moto-Services.net got the measurements correct, ordered and installed the springs.

Next step is to replace the 130/90 progressive springs on the Hammerhead shocks out back with a softer 2-pc spring - hopefully this week.

Up to 125 miles on the bike! Not too bad when you ride one day, wait a week, fix, and ride another day!

 

Forgot to show off the new gas cap I made! Sure looks better than the stock black plastic cap.

 

And I wanted to mention the Golden Tyre performance. I had heard rumors that they were not well balanced, I have not found that to be the case at all. I have not balanced tires or wheels and I don't find that there are any issues at all.

Nice sticky tires too, I can really bite down hard on the brakes and the tires give very consistent feedback.