Van Islander's TX650A - Quest for a Daily Rider

[TX650A Van Islander]

Thanks for the feedback Jim, Vic, and 5T. I advanced the timing a bit and started over and arrived at this. Any comments are welcome of course. How often do you guys check valve clearances? Its been about 1500 miles since I last did that. This forum sure makes tinkering on this old machine a lot more fun!

 

[bosco659]

Looks and sounds great!

If I put some miles on the bike I’d check the valve lash once a year.

 

[5twins]

Yes, that sounds good. I keep a maintenance log and pretty much go by Yamaha's recommendation for valve checks, I think that's every 4K miles. Unless they start making noise, then I'll check them sooner. Since you've opened the clearances up now, you shouldn't have any issues going at least a few thousand miles I'd think. An exception might be if you've done a recent rebuild. Then you'd want to do more frequent checks until it's broken in.

My '83 is like that, and I tend to forget. Even though it sat for like 12 years, it was rebuilt just prior to being parked. I noticed the head gasket was weeping and then it dawned on me - it needs several re-torques because of that rebuild. When I checked the head bolts, most all were loose, lol. Thankfully, the re-torque fixed the weeping. I should do another valve check as well. There were probably only a few hundred miles on the rebuild when I got it, and I've racked up about 1500 more.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Thanks! I will take that advice and do a re-torque. I have not done it in over 1200 miles, having done it I believe twice on this engine since the rebuild about 2600 miles ago. I'm going on a longer ride this weekend so hopefully find some more barns

 

[Mailman]

Your bike is sounding and looking great! I also did valve adjustments about once a year.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

I took the TX off of Vancouver Island on the 7:00 am ferry to Vancouver today and rode up to Squamish with two friends. 180 miles today, some nice 50 mph twisties on a back road, and some faster highway along the "Sea to Sky" Highway. It goes from Vancouver up to Squamish and on to Whistler. Parked the Japanese bike in my friend's Japanese garden for the night.

 

[Raymond]

I took the TX off of Vancouver Island on the 7:00 am ferry to Vancouver today and rode up to Squamish with two friends.

Amazing area for motorcycle touring!

 

[bosco659]

Very nice. Bikes looking good!

 

[Mailman]

Wow! Breathtaking scenery and great photos, thanks for sharing! Glad to see your bike is running well too!

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Glad you guys like the photos. This one was also yesterday, with the Squamish River in the background. The weather here has been great for riding these last few weeks.
My bike is running well, when riding, but still has an almost cyclical hiccup/stumble when idling, and I'm certain the timing is proper now. I'm thinking one of the carbs has some blockage in the idle circuit? It may stall at a stoplight. I've turned the idle up to about 1400 to 1500 to make it go away.
I should buy some new carb kits and go through them again?
The other thing which happened yesterday when I turned the fuel petcocks on as I was about to depart the ferry was gasoline started pouring out of one of the carbs. I turned off the petcocks and waited until we were ready to depart, and then on again and fired it up and rode away. No problem since. That had not happened ever before.

 

[Raymond]

I'm thinking one of the carbs has some blockage in the idle circuit?

From the symptoms, I'm thinking you might be right. Does the bike tend to pop & bang on closed throttle? Another symptom of blockage in the idle.

 

[Mailman]

The other thing which happened yesterday when I turned the fuel petcocks on as I was about to depart the ferry was gasoline started pouring out of one of the carbs. I turned off the petcocks and waited until we were ready to depart, and then on again and fired it up and rode away. No problem since.

Yeah that’s just a float hanging open. That can just randomly happen sometimes. I wouldn’t worry about it unless it keeps happening.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Raymond, in closed throttle, yes, a bit of popping sometimes, no bang. And no flooding happening since so yes, Bob, I am not worried about that one. Another curious symptom is that after a 45 minute ride to the ferry terminal (now on the ferry back to Vancouver Island), when I got to the kiosk to pay it wanted to idle a lot higher than where I had set it, like at 2000 rpm. I bet it doesn't do that when I start it up in 90 minutes. That has been my experience before too. Too bad I can't transport all you gurus here like on Star Trek, and serve up some sandwiches and beer and coffee!

 

[5twins]

1400 to 1500 is rather high for the idle. The ignition may start advancing and if that happens, the idle speed will rise even more, which will cause more advance, more speed increase, etc. It's a self-feeding problem and you may end up with the motor running at 2K without you even touching the throttle. You want the idle speed to be about 1100 to 1200, motor hot. Any less and you will get random stalling at a stop.

Carb kits aren't recommended. All the parts are aftermarket and many of the kits come with the wrong size jets and needles. You're better off just buying any individual parts you may need. I use only genuine Mikuni jets. You probably don't need much anyway as it seems the carbs may just need a good cleaning.

 

[46th Georgia]

Glad you guys like the photos. This one was also yesterday, with the Squamish River in the background. The weather here has been great for riding these last few weeks.
My bike is running well, when riding, but still has an almost cyclical hiccup/stumble when idling, and I'm certain the timing is proper now. I'm thinking one of the carbs has some blockage in the idle circuit? It may stall at a stoplight. I've turned the idle up to about 1400 to 1500 to make it go away.
I should buy some new carb kits and go through them again?
The other thing which happened yesterday when I turned the fuel petcocks on as I was about to depart the ferry was gasoline started pouring out of one of the carbs. I turned off the petcocks and waited until we were ready to depart, and then on again and fired it up and rode away. No problem since. That had not happened ever before.
View attachment 221224

My mom grew up in Britannia Beach, just across and south on Howe Sound in the 30's and 40's when the only way in and out was by boat. The coast of B.C. is one of the most beautiful places on earth! Speaking of beautiful, nice XS.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

I still need to deal with the carb cleaning. It's still rideable so postponing for the bad weather. Looks like I'll also be replacing these housing gaskets for sure.

 

[jetmechmarty]

Fixing that leak is problematic. I just went through that myself.

 

[2XSive]

It goes from Vancouver up to Squamish and on to Whistler.

Had the privilege of skiing up in Whistler about 6 years ago. You have an amazing locale there to ride! Just beautiful. Regarding that cam leak, I had the same issue and must have replaced that seal 4 times. Nothing I tried fixed it. I think Jim suggested going one size diameter smaller. Been dry now for over 1,000 miles.

 

[Jim]

Had the privilege of skiing up in Whistler about 6 years ago. You have an amazing locale there to ride! Just beautiful. Regarding that cam leak, I had the same issue and must have replaced that seal 4 times. Nothing I tried fixed it. I think Jim suggested going one size diameter smaller. Been dry now for over 1,000 miles. View attachment 223181

Well thanks for bein' the test pilot.

Seriously though... I have a set of those put aside for my big bore motor. Nice to see someone take the initiative and try 'em.

 

[2XSive]

Well thanks for bein' the test pilot.

Seriously though... I have a set of those put aside for my big bore motor. Nice to see someone take the initiative and try 'em.

Yeah, was at my wit's end. Tried removing the inner gasket, going with a 5mm thick seal, polishing up the end of the cam....nothing worked until going with the 24mm.