What have you done to your XS today?

If you have trouble in the future with fuel tubing going hard then try Tygon F-4040A. This is coloured yellow, specially made for fuel and remains flexible. The size for the vacuum petcock on my 81 SH is 6.4mm ID.

I bet that XS11 slotted disc looks the Bee's Knees on the front of your XS!!!! Very smart design.
 
Paul Sutton said:
If you have trouble in the future with fuel tubing going hard then try Tygon F-4040A. This is coloured yellow, specially made for fuel and remains flexible. The size for the vacuum petcock on my 81 SH is 6.4mm ID.

I bet that XS11 slotted disc looks the Bee's Knees on the front of your XS!!!! Very smart design.
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Thanks, I'll put some new pics up when I get her running right & can pose somewhere interesting.
 
Jimbo, replace the plugs, mine fouled the left side while running on the side stand while I was adjusting carbs after rebuilding, it ran intermittently then just quit on the left jug, worth a try.
 
The '75 has been sidelined, on the bench for about a week, with 2 issues.

Weeping at the left petcock appeared to be a failed seal at the 0-ring, so I removed the petcock, sealed with Hylomar (thanks, Pete), and used new sealing washers at the screws. It worked. No leak.

Next: It had developed a bad popping on decel after warm-up. Checked for air leakage at the intake side, and found nothing. Next probable suspect is a leak at the exhaust header, so I retorqued the manifold nuts; one was fairly loose (strange, I had used the proper lock washers when I recently had the exhaust off). No improvement. So, I took the left exhaust off this morning, and there was no evidence of leakage. But replacement of the gasket was in order, so I put a new one in there.

A test drive was certainly next on the agenda, and the light recent snow had melted quickly. It was 46 degrees out. F**k this, I thought, and bundled up big time, taking the '75 for a 20 minute jaunt up through '13 curves'. No popping.

Its a great feeling having a bike running perfectly as it (probably) goes into winter storage.

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Denisesewa said:
Jimbo, replace the plugs, mine fouled the left side while running on the side stand while I was adjusting carbs after rebuilding, it ran intermittently then just quit on the left jug, worth a try.
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I reckon my NGK iridiums should be good - & I've swapped them left to right & swapped ht leads but problem stays on left side. All my attempts to get her running right are done on centre stand by the way. However, a knowledgable & mechanically accomplished mate of mine, who has helped with with a few bike problems, has suggested I try standard plugs, just to humour him. He reckons old engines don't need or run well with iridiums. I'll try it but not buying the theory at present because she was fine until I took a drill to the carb in that moment of insanity.
Denisesewa said:
Jimbo, replace the plugs, mine fouled the left side while running on the side stand while I was adjusting carbs after rebuilding, it ran intermittently then just quit on the left jug, worth a try.
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Replaced a leaking gas line. Rode her to the VA hospital for my eye appt. then home. Really do not like riding with dilated eyes. Thank goodness it has a built in sunshield.
 
Denisesewa said:
Finished up the "Rust"oration chopper build, since this bike is going to the Texas coast with me for the winter I built it from mostly junk I had laying around. the frame was a freebee due to having the hardtail welded on crooked, took me a week to fix it, the forward controls are made up of some apehanger handlebars, early front motormount brackets and bicycle cranks, the front brake is a two piston MX master and caliper with a turned down XS rear disc on a home made bracket for a mini disc brake( which actually works better than any of my XS's) and almost gives the wheel the look of a 21 inch, I tried a mini drum brake and it was worthless., elect box is a shovelhead air scoop, front fender reconfigured off a beach cruiser bicycle,
the chain roller is a uerethane suspension bushing from a toyota 4x4 which I machine bearing pockets into ( could'nt find a skateboard wheel) as it turns out its the quietest chain roller! ETC, etc.
The reason for the dirty looking engine and clearcoated rust is that everything rusts on the coast so I figured I'd get a headstart on it, I am not about to take one of my polished and spitshined XS's to the coast. when I'm down there I live right on the beach in a house trailer with no garage.
I'm not thrilled with my choice of frame color now that its together but maybe getting some age on it will make things look better.
I have to say, the Wiseguys intake and carb setup is nice, ran good ( although rich @ 5000 ft) right out of the box, should be about right for sealevel, the only thing I changed was to put a 45 degree cuppler hose on it to get the carb closer to the frame and installed some "real" hose clamps.
Now I can get on with my Tracker build.View attachment 107164 View attachment 107165 View attachment 107166 View attachment 107167 View attachment 107168 View attachment 107169 View attachment 107170
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Hey what kind of handlebars are those
 
Jimbo W said:
I reckon my NGK iridiums should be good - & I've swapped them left to right & swapped ht leads but problem stays on left side. All my attempts to get her running right are done on centre stand by the way. However, a knowledgable & mechanically accomplished mate of mine, who has helped with with a few bike problems, has suggested I try standard plugs, just to humour him. He reckons old engines don't need or run well with iridiums. I'll try it but not buying the theory at present because she was fine until I took a drill to the carb in that moment of insanity.
Click to expand...
Well I tried a standard plug on the bad side & she started right up on 2. However, same as before, the left side gradually ran worse & gave up. Plug was wet. Messed with mixture screw from 2 turns out to 4 turns out, didn't make much difference, left it at 3 out. Jets are std 42.5 pilot, 132.5 main with original air boxes.
 
Jimbo W said:
Well I tried a standard plug on the bad side & she started right up on 2. However, same as before, the left side gradually ran worse & gave up. Plug was wet. Messed with mixture screw from 2 turns out to 4 turns out, didn't make much difference, left it at 3 out. Jets are std 42.5 pilot, 132.5 main with original air boxes.
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Is there any chance you did not reinstall the rubber plug over the pilot jet when you had the carbs apart?
 
Definitely reinstalled the rubber plug. When I feel up for it the carbs are coming off again. Prob not until Monday. It's been said on here that it takes at least 3 goes to get the carbs cleaned out.
 
Nothing today yet. I have to go work. But last week I start to make all the new wiring.
 

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Pulled out all my Tragically Hip CD's and brought them to the garage to keep me company while I pulled the engine from the barn find '78 I bought last week. Road Apples is my favorite, I think their second recording. Queenslegs could confirm that. What a voice Gord had (RIP).

My plans were (are) to rebuild this engine for a back-up lump. My initial impressions, from the noises I got upon turning it over, were that it is thrashed. bad. However, I dropped the sump filter and found no crumbled bits of any kind ( ! ) , just a slight spoonful of metallic paste on the magnets. good news.

A ceiling hoist is very helpful in this endeavor.

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