5twins's latest activity

Drilling the holes did, not sure about the resurfacing. But I would think that having a fresh, textured surface for new pads to bed in...

Some more Lucas humor. Sorry, I can't help myself, lol .....

Yes, I heard the fuel system sort of "self-tunes" itself for minor mods. That's pretty cool. Are the bends that angle the mufflers out...

Well, the old BMW mechanic's "blend" was moly grease mixed with anti-seize. I have a jar I made up that I've been using for years.

I might swap in the new relay, to an important circuit like the "Ignition", and carry the old one as the spare. It would be interesting...

I think with that much movement, I'd go with grease. I only use anti-seize on non-moving parts (threads or the bolts themselves), or a...

The cut-out in a Special chain guard may not align with the more upright Standard shock mounting position. It's farther forward to align...

Yes, when I replaced the carb boots on mine, all I could get was the ones without vacuum barbs. So, I drilled them and pressed barbs in...

I've never had any issues getting the carbs in or out. I put the bike on the centerstand, straddle it and grip the sides with my legs so...

According to the Australian UNI site, you should use a 50-50 mix of motor oil and gas on these black pods. The regular foam filter oil...

Just like cars, Yamaha started making the new model year bikes in the late Summer or early Fall of the previous year. So, it's very...

Yes, definitely a '78 Standard model. As mentioned, it's a very good year. I've had one much like it for nearly 20 years now and just...

I would say 18ga. wire is fine. LED signals don't draw much and signals are only intermittent use besides.

Several years back, I got a couple of the Vintage Connections kits, one for bullets, one for spades, and the crimping tool. It wasn't...

I feel the same way. I have a 32T on the 16" rear wheel of my Special and it's wonderful. I had the sprocket already because I tried it...

What about cam chain tension? Is there an automatic tensioner or do you have to manually do it like on our 650s?

Looks like you've got it squared away now. Since the advance backing plate is just raw steel, you'll want to keep it lubed for...

Yamaha still makes and sells very nice vacuum caps and the retaining clips for them. You want and need the retaining clips because the...

Looks like my $50 HF drill press paid for itself with the first rotor I drilled, lol.

It's just a standard M6 bolt. I think the pitch is 1.0? I replace them with stainless ones, with the extruded numbers ground off and the...

Although I don't have that early 2 piston caliper, I've read that a 14mm MC works well with it. That was the standard size on the later...

For what they charge, I'm sure you can buy a lot of flap wheels, lol. I never tried a flap wheel. I was afraid it might be too...

Your sprocket nut was too loose if you could get it off with just channel locks. You'll notice as you torque it that the nut doesn't...

Yes, that is an odd pattern. The holes are supposed to overlap the ones next to them slightly. This insures the whole swept area of the...

I drill my own discs, resurface and re-finish them as well. For removing the grooving and smoothing them out, I found some 4" Roloc...

OK, I had a look at the pic of your banked carb set and they appear to be a matched set of '76-'77 carbs. Both have the external float...

Before buttoning things back up, you should probably insure that the bushings in the end of the cam are well greased to keep the advance...

Well, that depends on whether or not both locating pins (for the points cam and the little advance disc) are pointing in the same...

I just use one of these for soda, much cheaper than that tank. Total loss, yes, but soda breaks down quickly so is only good for a few...

I know you haven't ridden it much yet but I'm really looking forward to your take on how it compares to our 650. I really like the RE...

There's one more locating pin involved in the set-up and that one is for locking the advance unit to the cam in the right spot to get...

OK, if the points are wired as Yamaha intended then the timing will be 180° off the way you have the advance assembled. Fixing it is...

I guess all you can do is try them. It looks like you may have one good original spring but the other is too long, maybe bigger in...

Yes, it's a shim and probably also a thrust washer between the weight and the base. They are often lost because folks aren't aware that...

Watching your video, it appears your advance unit is assembled incorrectly, not timed right. The way you have it will throw the timing...

OK, I've got some spring info for you. The total length appears to be just under 22mm. Length of just the spring coils is about 10mm...

I have one of these T-handled spring pullers. It makes removing and installing the sidestand spring pretty easy ...

Then you used the wrong spec, lol. That's why you had to bend the tang so much. The plastic float spec is 22mm ± 1mm. That 27.3mm spec...

You measure the diameter of the hole in the banjo, or the diameter of the banjo bolt. But, the 650 uses M10 banjos and banjo bolts, and...

These are the replacement e-clips I've been using. They fit and work well. So far, I haven't had one fail. It's handy to have extras on...

I have some N.O.S. originals I could measure. Managed to find them on eBay. The originals on my bike are a bit loose and sloppy but...

I plan on swapping Standard ears onto my Special to gain more room for cable routing. I'd like to swap in an XS850 triple headlight...

Yes, it's 36mm. Another size you may want to get is 27mm, for the oil drain plugs and rear axle. Front axle is a 22mm.

The early models actually spec it a little tighter, 94 ft/lbs. That's what I use and it seals well. I started out using about 72 ft/lbs...

I usually fill mine to the upper line. Check and verify the level using the dip stick because as I mentioned earlier, the window isn't...

The best springs are originals but they're not available anymore. However, they do come up on eBay from time to time, so I'd start...

Once you remove that notched ring, the advance unit backing plate should just slide off the end of the cam. But, being that all these...

The cam has a couple bushings in each end for the advance rod to ride in. The outside bushing should have grooves cut into it's I.D...

You'll often find the drain plugs really tight the first time you go to remove them because the P.O. never changed out their seal rings...

Yes, just standard dot3 brake fluid, but if you want a bit better (higher boiling point), you can use dot4. Don't use the silicone based...