...and THAT is Big Blue!
..complete with Tail of the Dragon sticker on the rear door.
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What have you done to your XS today?
- Thread starter I am Carbon
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- maintenance
...and THAT is Big Blue!
..complete with Tail of the Dragon sticker on the rear door.
Cant wait to see which way they end up ? Right side up or Right side down ? 
Pics??
LiveSlowDieWhenever
probably broke down. Just call me greasy.
Didnt get much at all done this weekend, but took a few minutes after work to wire in my taillight and popped on my new grips to match the seat. Oh and with my eBay pop up coupon they were $3.62!! Sometimes it’s the little things..:
When it happens. Pics will be taken...
HHMMMM... grips will be below the Fork tops, so whatever way that is. C'mon they are Café Racer bars! They are made to go on one way! Poor boys clip on bars...Cant wait to see which way they end up ? Right side up or Right side down ?
After the initial proving out ride of 19miles, the 79F got the oil drained & plugs pulled.
Nuttin .. Oil is purdy . Plugs are uneven, one lean & one rich.
Great news! the leaking petcock to tank screw gasket has apparently cured itself.
No real leaks yet even. It just keeps gettin better..
Hey AZman, this is the bike those cafe bars came off 
Nuttin .. Oil is purdy . Plugs are uneven, one lean & one rich.
Great news! the leaking petcock to tank screw gasket has apparently cured itself.
No real leaks yet even. It just keeps gettin better..
After the initial proving out ride of 19miles, the 79F got the oil drained & plugs pulled.
Nuttin .. Oil is purdy . Plugs are uneven, one lean & one rich.
Great news! the leaking petcock to tank screw gasket has apparently cured itself.
No real leaks yet even. It just keeps gettin better.. View attachment 138159 Hey AZman, this is the bike those cafe bars came off
Great work Randy! Are you sure you want to sell it?
Well, selling motorcycles, its a bad habit I have huh ? But ya, that is the plan. Actually going to help fund the 78E real nice. This is actually fun too !
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Sometimes you just have to move forward.
Good to hear you are back on it . Lets see that Shinko soon
Yessir, just jump thru these hoops first...
2 review sites have then at 2 stars out of 5......third site has them 9.04 out of 10............Doesn't make sense
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/jpcycles.com
https://www.yelp.com/biz/j-and-p-cycles-anamosa
https://www.resellerratings.com/store/J_P_Cycles/page/2
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/jpcycles.com
https://www.yelp.com/biz/j-and-p-cycles-anamosa
https://www.resellerratings.com/store/J_P_Cycles/page/2
and they did spin that night. At the same time a germ also wrenched itself in me and took me down toward the end of installation. It kept me down a couple days and while I'm not 100% back I'm almost there. Here's the promised pics before during and after. I did one last pic with me in the saddle to see how everything fit. I them put the old bars back on. Maybe in the next rebuild I'll use them with rearsets, although it wasn't bad without them.
After all that I installed a rebuilt rotor by Jim. Easy peasy. One can tell the quality of work he took rebuilding these. I swear it weighs more than a factory one. I took a ride to bikenight and it worked GREAT! I'm tempted to say it charged better that a factory one too but, I won't. Maybe its a better battery I usually get, New regulator. I dunno. It worked great whatever. 2 Thumbs up!
Attachments
Replaced the fuel line and added an in-line filter. She's running strong but there sure is a lot of clattering.
After seeing the responses of several of you gurus to another member's post of a video of his xs running, and you offering your observations of what the noises meant, I thought I should post a video of mine. Since I'm no mechanic I have to take mine to an independent to have work done. I never know if what he tells me is correct or not. So, if ya'll could take a listen to this and tell me how bad my problems are I would be really grateful. 2 basic questions:
1. The loud tapping sound in the engine.
2. The two different exhaust sounds - the right one seems to make a puffing sound that the left one doesn't. Left one sounds good to me.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
After seeing the responses of several of you gurus to another member's post of a video of his xs running, and you offering your observations of what the noises meant, I thought I should post a video of mine. Since I'm no mechanic I have to take mine to an independent to have work done. I never know if what he tells me is correct or not. So, if ya'll could take a listen to this and tell me how bad my problems are I would be really grateful. 2 basic questions:
1. The loud tapping sound in the engine.
2. The two different exhaust sounds - the right one seems to make a puffing sound that the left one doesn't. Left one sounds good to me.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
I’m no Guru, (yet) but that def sounds like valve clatter. A little is normal and healthy for these bikes, but you don’t want it too excessive because you could prematurely wear your valve adjuster screws. Yours sounds a little excessive, but you can’t really know until checking your clearances. You can adjust your valves easily enough on your own; it’s not much more complicated than changing out your bars. Shouldn't take more than 45 mins tops, start to finish. There’s a wide range of specs throughout the different years; it’s generally accepted practice to set the intake at .003” and the exhaust at .006”. Give or take a smidge to your preference for how clattery it is. Look up “valve adjustment” with the search function. Make sure to set your cam chain tension first, and set the valve clearances on a COLD engine. Set your timing last. No reason to pay a mechanic you don’t even sound too confident about. Good luck!
PS- Love your bike
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The engine noise could be valve clearances that are too large, but it also sounds like the timing chain is rattling. I would go through the entire valve adjustment process:
Now, after checking all of that, if the engine is still rattling, then I would remove the side filter and drop the sump plate off the bottom of the engine and see what you find. A little bit of metal stuff and some small specs of black plastic is fairly normal (though less of each is definitely better than more) but if you find large pieces of hard black plastic - especially if they are long, say the size of a toothpick or longer, then your front cam chain guide has likely begun to disintegrate - and that could account for the loud rattle.
Check out my thread: “Lucille pulls another one on me” to learn more about the front timing chain guide issue.
As for the exhaust noise issue - check and see if the above valve adjustment helps and if not, then you’ve likely got an ignition or carburetor problem and there are others on the Forum who can help way better than I with those issues.
Pete
- Torque the cylinder head (done cold - and DO use a torque wrench and follow the correct pattern)
- Adjust the timing chain tension (do it while running and not too tight)
- Adjust the valve clearances. (done cold)
Now, after checking all of that, if the engine is still rattling, then I would remove the side filter and drop the sump plate off the bottom of the engine and see what you find. A little bit of metal stuff and some small specs of black plastic is fairly normal (though less of each is definitely better than more) but if you find large pieces of hard black plastic - especially if they are long, say the size of a toothpick or longer, then your front cam chain guide has likely begun to disintegrate - and that could account for the loud rattle.
Check out my thread: “Lucille pulls another one on me” to learn more about the front timing chain guide issue.
As for the exhaust noise issue - check and see if the above valve adjustment helps and if not, then you’ve likely got an ignition or carburetor problem and there are others on the Forum who can help way better than I with those issues.
Pete
