What have you done to your XS today?

Spent a good 4 hours chasing electrical gremlins in the headlight bucket on madness. Prolly had it open/closed 20 times. It was an intermittent short to ground from an LED H4 bulb connection that would only be a short when the headlight was screwed back on and the motor started. :banghead:
Other intermittent loose connections helped out with the circus. I used up about a months worth of patience. But it's back together with many bullet connectors improved and all good now. About a dozen fuses gave their lives in pursuit of enlightenment. Didn't help that this was nicely rewired by a previous owner but changed from stock (then altered multiple times) and no diagram of what went where or what color wires went together. Some of that my own fault. :bike:
 
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Spent all day trying to gap valves and set ignition timing but I couldn't get the cam chain tensioner push rod flush and I should have heeded 5twins advice on the push rod damper size. I bought the 3mm damper from geoffs xs which I fitted without checking and it was not possible for the rod to be flush even fully threaded in, so after removing the damper and adjusting to flush + or- 1mm I set the valves to .006 and .003 and then attempted the ignition timing. Both sets of points were opening early on advance and at the f lines and I had no movement left in the backing plate slots so I removed the points plate and filed away 5mm 0n the sides of the slots to retard the the timing so the points just start to open at the advanced and f lines but when I reinstalled the points backing plate the right points were lined up well but the left were very early which is odd as I did not move the left point plate. I will be taking the plate back off tomorrow after work to see if there is a burr or sharp edge catching on the backing plate and where it mounts on the engine. The points plate on this engine has always been at the edge of the slot for adjustment but as I just fitted new cylinders, pistons, rings,head ,valves and rocker cover plus cam chain and guide I thought it would have retarded the timing slightly. I triple checked the cam marks before installing the rocker cover and tensioning the head. It also seemed to make a difference which backing plate screw is tightened first o maybe it's catching on one of the three countersunk screws .? All that with my nose running like a tap.At least I got a negative result for the covid test.
 
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Put a spoked back wheel on the bike but it was so close I took it back off again, job for over winter with a new swing arm I think, 130/80 18 tyre
 
Got a oil bath today on the ride to work .At 5.30am in the dark, left foot slipped off the peg, first thought was the foot peg rubber had fallen off but when I glanced down there was oil all over my boot and rain paints. As I was on the motorway with nowhere safe to stop I nursed it along hoping to make the next exit about 2 kilometres ahead. When I stopped it was covered in oil from the oil delivery pipe on the engine where one of the banjo bolts looked loose but when I went to tighten it the bolt head fell off. It had sheared off at the oil hole in the bolt. When I went to use a screw extractor to remove the bolt it was very loose so I bought a banjo bolt from a nearby hydraulic supplier and new oil . A cautious ride home for a wash and hopefully not too much damage to the just rebuilt engine. 16257316920053845703458705251892.jpg 1625731757131744569427939969835.jpg
 
Got a oil bath today on the ride to work .At 5.30am in the dark, left foot slipped off the peg, first thought was the foot peg rubber had fallen off but when I glanced down there was oil all over my boot and rain paints. As I was on the motorway with nowhere safe to stop I nursed it along hoping to make the next exit about 2 kilometres ahead. When I stopped it was covered in oil from the oil delivery pipe on the engine where one of the banjo bolts looked loose but when I went to tighten it the bolt head fell off. It had sheared off at the oil hole in the bolt. When I went to use a screw extractor to remove the bolt it was very loose so I bought a banjo bolt from a nearby hydraulic supplier and new oil . A cautious ride home for a wash and hopefully not too much damage to the just rebuilt engine. View attachment 194518 View attachment 194519
That could have been much worse, good save. I had a GSX750F "develop" oil leak in the sump and coated my back tire in oil that was not fun...:eek:
 
My XS (Rusty) will soon be put up for sale. Here is why: I am not a mechanic.
My other two bikes are down right now and I have not ridden for three weeks; it is killing me too. The Stratoliner has a fuel delivery issue. I replaced the bad fuel pump which work wonderfully now, yet the bike will not start without starting fluid. Then it dies right afterwards. I believe the injectors are clogged now and that is a fair bit of work to do; (on hold for the time being though).
The Rocket III is on the stand while I do a tire R&R and Exhaust upgrade. I have had a lot of trials with the big bike. Stripped screw heads, broken tools and then it hit me, I need to clean the rims with their 83K miles worth of grime and oxidation. This is the part that made me realize that Rusty is a bridge too far me.
After several days of sanding the back rim, I concluded that both should be powder coated. I looked into that and find that the shops will blast the rims during the prep, something that takes about an hour for both. I have spent close to 50 hours on just the back rim and still not finished.
My work space is ok, but not a shop like what I want. My work bench is 2 saw horses with old fence planks between them.
I did get to use the tools I have purchased so far for the XS and have learned a lot in the DIY time so far. I won't give up learning more, but Rusty is indeed a bridge too far for me at present and I need the space to work on the other two.

My make shift work space. Rusty is under the blue cover.

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The left side slip-on fell to pieces upon disassembly. Cancer will do that over 83K miles of all weather riding.
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The 1,500# lift is nice and works well for the big beast. Notice how ugly those aluminum rims are.
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I won't bore you with the time it took me to get this far, but I will say I feel satisfied.
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I believe this is a part of the ABS sensor group and I will remove it to gain better access tot he rim beneath. The Loctite gave me trouble as I only had a screwdriver to use.
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I could not get the T40 Torx screws out with the screwdriver, dang Loctite does its job well. I bought a 1/4" drive ratchet and torx bit adaptor for the job of removing the screws. I had to use a cheater as the little wrench was not up to the work alone.
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However, the bit itself was not up to the torque I applied. (I too looks at this as a positive being that I am stronger than a piece of metal...)
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I used an older Torx T40 and managed to get the screws out without any more drama. Then a couple of whacks with the rubber mallet and the disk was free.
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Many hours later and I have a better looking but nowhere near finished side of the rim.
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Bought new spark plugs ..... all the way from England, lol. Recently, it's been discussed about how NGK seems to have discontinued our plug of choice, the BP7ES. All they were continuing to make was the resistor version, the BPR7ES. So, I went on eBay hoping to find some leftovers. There were lots of listings because it seems NGK has re-released this plug but with a new stock number. It used to be stock #1034 .....

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..... but now it is stock #2412 .....

UPyiIuJ.jpg


Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this new plug has made it to the U.S. yet. All the sellers are from Europe or England and the shipping charges are as much or more than the plugs themselves in most cases, lol. But I did find this one seller with very reasonable shipping, only about $2 on a 4 pack. They also discount shipping on multiple items, charging only a mere 28 cents more for additional ones, so I ordered up two 4-packs. It worked out to about $3.25 per plug, same as I'd pay at the auto parts store around here. And they got here in just 7 days.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1841965305...BIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649#shpCntId
 
Bought new spark plugs ..... all the way from England, lol. Recently, it's been discussed about how NGK seems to have discontinued our plug of choice, the BP7ES. All they were continuing to make was the resistor version, the BPR7ES. So, I went on eBay hoping to find some leftovers. There were lots of listings because it seems NGK has re-released this plug but with a new stock number. It used to be stock #1034 .....

klkH29p.jpg


..... but now it is stock #2412 .....

UPyiIuJ.jpg


Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this new plug has made it to the U.S. yet. All the sellers are from Europe or England and the shipping charges are as much or more than the plugs themselves in most cases, lol. But I did find this one seller with very reasonable shipping, only about $2 on a 4 pack. They also discount shipping on multiple items, charging only a mere 28 cents more for additional ones, so I ordered up two 4-packs. It worked out to about $3.25 per plug, same as I'd pay at the auto parts store around here. And they got here in just 7 days.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184196530532?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649#shpCntId
Talked me into it ordered some sets.
The hoard of 20ish "used once" plugs that came with a TX750 is gone!
 
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Just ordered some LZFH plug caps. Non-resistor type so I can use the readily available BPR7ES plugs. Should be here in a week. I'll let y'all know how they work out.


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That is a nice plug cap. Much smaller and more compact .....

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..... compared to the LB05 resistor cap .....

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