$200 Special

[5twins]

Well, time for a little update, wouldn't you say? She's a runner boys. Fired her up several weeks back. Charging issue was the cut wires, but them probably shorting out after being cut took the regulator out too. A used reg/rec unit from the parts stash got things fixed. And, as is often the case, after several short runs, the pilot circuit on the right carb got plugged, so off with them again, lol. But now things are good again and hopefully will stay that way. God, I hate dealing with those airboxes, lol.

So, let's do some "before and after" pics. First up, an overall view of the bike .....

Major cosmetic change is, of course, the Euro bars, and $5 Banggood handgrips which I quite like so far .....

I was surprised at how well the chrome cleaned up. The P.O. put Allens in the carbs but they were the black oxide type so rusted up (why do people do that?). Right cover was polished in place as well as I could. It'll get done better when it's off .....

Left side ..... Both footpeg rubbers were obviously aftermarket replacements because they were worn nearly "bald", lol. Good, used originals were swapped on. Left cover was off so got a better polish job. Shift lever was swapped for an older cast one. I think the one on there may have been aftermarket as well because I couldn't position it right. It was either too high or too low. The P.O. used Athena valve cover gaskets plastered with gasket sealer (they still leaked, lol). New 3mm thick silicone o-rings were installed and fixed that issue .....

Oh, copper washers on the outside 4 cylinder head acorn nuts too .....

New (used) tach from the parts stash and the "beauty" (more like "butt-ugly") plate removed from the bar clamps .....

This shot also nicely illustrates how well the sloped Special MC sits on the Euro bars because of their drooped down ends .....

All the turn signals were straightened, along with the headlight ears, and the rear signals were moved back to their proper and stock location. The front brake system was torn down and thoroughly cleaned out, then got a new Banggood stainless line .....

 

[robinc]

Looks great 5twins! Fantastic job. Man you've sure got it well sorted and cleaned up nice. Wow! Beautiful bike.

 

[Superjet]

Looks clean and nice now wowzers! It's funny how little it takes to make a bike look great again. Good find and work.

 

[5twins]

Steering head bearings have been replaced but there's still much to do. A TX750 swingarm will get swapped in along with longer than stock aftermarket rear shocks. Forks will get the Minton Mods along with 1" spacers added to the stock springs and slightly more than the stock amount of oil. Side and centerstands will get the grease fitting mods. Well actually, the sidestand will be swapped for an earlier version without the added tabs for the safety switch. I didn't do much with the wheels at all because they will get replaced eventually with the flanged alloy ones.

 

[Jim]

Lookin' good 5t.

 

[5twins]

It will get better over the next few seasons but at least now I can "ride and wrench" it. I'm quite surprised at how nice it seems to ride even with the clapped out original rear shocks and swingarm bushings. I like to make changes and "upgrades" incrementally so I can better judge the effect they've had. Steering bearings and the front brake needed doing like right now, but the rest I can just chip away at.

 

[59Tebo]

That is one rockin' bike and a smokin' deal! For $200.00 (and 3 bottles of booze), all I got was a '75 "Basketcase". If it ever gets finished my '79 is next. What are you thinking of doing with the "mega-spoke" wheels? I'll swap you for the alloys on the '79....

 

[Mailman]

That’s a great update 5Twins, I had actually forgotten about that bike. You’ve done a great job of bringing it back without breaking the bank. It always amazes me how nicely these finishes can be brought back. There is a really well reviewed product for bringing back the look of black engines that have lost their original look. It’s called S100 engine brightener. I bet you could make that motor look like new, and compliment all the hard work you’ve done on the brightwork.

 

[delagem]

What a find...probably what my heirs will do with my stuff when I go, just give it away.
Do you want to double your money?

Reminds me of a funny quote I heard once: "My biggest fear is that my wife will sell my things for what I told her I paid for them..."

 

[gggGary]

brush on semi gloss rattle can paint hit the fins with rolloc disks.

Next time I'm going to cut back that vertical fin on the jugs about 1/4" and leave it black.

 

[angus67]

5t, if I may....perhaps swap in the Canada needles and emulsion tube, and let use know exactly how they rate? I have a set on a 1980 , and feel smoother transitionally than the stock sets. Perhaps use this bike as a test mule of sorts? I know you did most of the testing on your 78, but having two bikes with different carbs styles could really show what a bs34 can do.

 

[5twins]

I know, I sort of planned on using this as my "test mule". It'll never be pristine cosmetically but that's OK. As long as it's healthy mechanically, I can do all sorts of "experiments" to it, lol. I don't have the Canadian parts but I do have the Cruzinimage kit with their adjustable needles and needle jet. That's probably what will get tried 1st. But I kinda want to try it out for a bit all stock. I never had an all stock one before, lol. Many say these run best with the factory airboxes. I can find out now.

 

[Jim]

Many say these run best with the factory airboxes. I can find out now.

I'd be interested in the answer to that. I got a cardboard box full of stock 80 airbox stuff... courtesy of @halfmile . Been debating on that vs. pods.....
I also have the Cruzinimage kit with their adjustable needles.... courtesy @gggGary Keep us posted.

 

[aldo5468]

I know, I sort of planned on using this as my "test mule". It'll never be pristine cosmetically but that's OK. As long as it's healthy mechanically, I can do all sorts of "experiments" to it, lol. I don't have the Canadian parts but I do have the Cruzinimage kit with their adjustable needles and needle jet. That's probably what will get tried 1st. But I kinda want to try it out for a bit all stock. I never had an all stock one before, lol. Many say these run best with the factory airboxes. I can find out now.

I ran the stock airboxes on my '82 with K&N filters in them for awhile after I bought it. I had installed XSJohn's needles and the jets he recommended; it ran pretty good that way. Later on I saw his post describing some mods he made to his airboxes, thought they made sense and did them on mine - can't remember all the details, but one was to add a third entry hole in the rear of each box. I also trimmed some material off the rear flanges of the side covers to allow outside air a straight shot into the airboxes. Dunno if it all made any detectable difference; it just seemed that the OEM design of the airbox internals was more restrictive than it needed to be.

 

[5twins]

Time for some updates I'd say, lol. I've mentioned lots of these in passing in other threads but it's time they were put here where they belong.

Next "mod" done was removing the safety relays and switches for the clutch and sidestand. Also swapping in an earlier "simple" sidestand without the extra switch brackets. The sidestand switch and relay are easy, you just remove them. No need to jump any wires .....

The clutch switch can just be removed but after removing the associated relay, a jumper wire is required. This clutch switch and relay cut power to the starter motor. That means power to the solenoid on the red/white wire passes through the relay. Remove the relay and you break that connection so it must be re-established with a jumper wire .....

These couple pics nicely illustrate how I like to install jumper wires. I wrap them around the plug, feeding the jumper wire in between some of the wires exiting the back of the plug. I make the jumper wire just long enough to do this, with a little stretching to get it installed .....

This effectively holds the jumper wire in place with no worries about it working itself loose and coming unplugged.

The sidestand swap - all the "stuff" on the left was replaced with the older, simpler parts on the right .....

The large spring post bracket on the later stand is awful, virtually blocking access to the left end sump filter bolt .....

You can get to it but you have to partially retract the stand. Since the stand is spring-loaded, this is like a 3 handed operation, lol .....

The old style smaller spring post eliminates this issue .....

 

[5twins]

OK, that about covers last year's mods. Early this year saw me fitting an H4 headlight lens and reflector from an XS850 I got off eBay. I got the complete headlight assembly - chrome bucket, chrome ring, and lens/reflector - for about $25. Aftermarket H-4 headlights usually run between $20 and $30 so I would rather have genuine Yamaha stuff for the same cost. I may try to fit the 850 bucket some day. It's bulges out more at the bottom and could provide some more space inside for the wiring .....

Next up was swapping on flanged alloy rims from a Standard. This included a drilled front disc and it did improve the braking slightly.

 

[Bob Kelly III]

Thanks for that update 5Twins ! I no longer have my SX650 but it's information I would have loved to have had !
getting rid of all the safety switches was one of the goals I had on the bike , i didn't do it as gracefully as you did ! but it worked ! LOL
later !
Bob.......

 

[5twins]

Next mod was a pretty big one - renovating the forks. The fork legs got polished and the Minton Mods were done. I also added fork gaiters.

The fork legs on this later model were even more crudely finished than earlier ones I've encountered. There seemed to be more and bigger casting flaws, and the factory didn't spend as much time trying to smooth any of them out, lol .....

Through the use of Roloc discs, I could and did do better .....

So, the completed work - fork gaiters, polished forks, drilled disc, and the flanged alloy wheels .....

 

[MaxPete]

Looks great 5Twins!

 

[5twins]

Let's talk a little bit more about the internal fork mods, basically the Minton Mods but with some "5twins" twists. I started out doing these by just enlarging the existing holes like so .....

Then I tore down some '77 (1st year for the 35mm) forks and discovered that Yamaha put a little more time and effort into making the damper rods nicer. They polished them more and beveled the oil holes. An engineer buddy of mine told me beveled holes flow better. So, now I do that stuff to any damper rods I Minton mod .....

And, to revisit just exactly what the Minton Mods consist of, you enlarge the 4 bottom holes to around 1/4". I use a #1 bit which is slightly smaller than a 1/4" because I happen to have lots of them on hand from work .....

..... and at the top, you enlarge the single small hole slightly using a #45 bit, then continue drilling out the other side of the damper rod to create a second hole .....

To bevel the holes, I simply drill into them slightly using a larger drill bit, about a 3/8" on the bottom and a 3/16" on the top.

Now on to the assembly. I take a few additional steps I never did before. The adjustable top caps are known for seizing up so I take a few steps to hopefully help prevent that. I pack grease around the bottom of the adjuster pin and work it in/out to get it up inside the cap some .....

The top of the pin with the screwdriver slot has an o-ring around it to seal it so there, I coat the bore in the cap with red rubber grease, again working the pin in/out to try and get the grease down in the sides .....

The bottom bolt that holds the damper rod in the lower gets some fresh Yamabond (or Hondabond in my case) applied to it to help it seal, just like the factory did originally .....

An excerpt from an old shop manual .....

Final step, using a tip I found while researching seals, is to pack the space beween the fork seal's lower sealing lip and upper dust lip with grease. I also coated the retaining washer and wire clip because you often find them all rusty. In this case I chose to use the red rubber grease again instead of some normal petroleum based stuff. So far, it seems to have worked out well .....

And the last little additional mod was to add 1" preload spacers to the stock fork springs. I was hoping this would stiffen them up enough and save me the cost of replacing them, and it has .....

So, to sum it all up, the forks got the Minton Mods, 7 ounces of 10wt. fork oil, gaiters, and the addition of 1" preload spacers on top of the stock springs.