What have you done to your XS today?

gggGary said:
Perfect advice!
I might add; assemble the caliper with the piston pushed in just far enough to seal. Close bleeder, dribble brake fluid in though line port til filled then attach banjo and brake line. Now retract piston with a c-clamp, forces fluid through line and MC to reservoir removing air, done.
Click to expand...

Oldfartaussie said:
Yesterday I realized the rear brake pads were only contacting the disc rotor with the top half of the brake pads, I had the same issue last year and replaced the disc rotor and caliper hanger and the brake seemed to work well.
I removed the caliper and by pumping the brake pedal could see the piston push out then retract when I let the pedal return to it's stop.
I used air pressure to pump out the piston and blew out the entire system and half filled the piston bore with clean brake fluid, installed the piston and tried to push the piston back in using a f clamp. The only way to get the piston to push in was by opening the bleeder which doesn't seem right I thought it would push the fluid back into the master cylinder reservoir?.
I have tried bleeding the whole system but after the first squirt I'm not getting any fluid.
I filled the caliper through the banjo bolt hole and the bleeder hole after installing the piston and even tried a hose on the bleeder to a large plastic syringe and cracked the bleeder and try and suck the fluid through but get nothing.
Can't see any leaks and fitted new copper washers and thread tape on the threads.
Guess I should have left it alone,at least they worked?
Click to expand...
After reading some great threads on rear disc brake problems I removed the entire rear brake system and hung the m/c and reservoir up high above the work bench then removed the piston from the caliper, blew it out and coated the bore, seal and piston with red rubber grease.
I then installed the piston so that it was just sealed with the bleed screw closed,then using the banjo bolt hole filled the caliper with brake fluid and attached the brake line.
With the caliper in the vice it was easy to push the piston in by hand using a small tyre lever in the gap between the piston and caliper, doing this slowly I could watch the air bubbles in the resivoir then put the lid on and fitted the entire system back on the bike starting with the master cylinder then the caliper.
Last step was to bleed the caliper so with the hose on the bleeder screw I worked the brake pedal a few times then holding it down opened the bleed screw and it was steady fluid with no bubbles at all.
Once again the solution was on this great site, I found the tip on here about using red rubber grease instead of brake fluid to lube seal everything and I've never seen a piston so easy to push in, and great tip from gggGary about just sealing the piston and filling the caliper via the hole, then with the hose on push the piston in,worked great.
 
Fitted my ex500 carbs today,
They work fantastic 38 pilot and 138 main

Thanks to everyone here for paving the way to make that swap very straightforward🙂

And of course fix one thing , then something else goes .

Previously I was getting some smoke on the right cylinder. Figured the stem seals were going.
So while I was waiting for parts for the carbs I tried to tighten the head bolts only got a slight turn on them. Read somewhere that might be a cause as well .
Anyway, now I have oil soaked plugs,
So I guess the engine is coming out next.

But even with blowing a smoke screen going down the road, it was running great.

.
 
Eric12171 said:
Fitted my ex500 carbs today,
They work fantastic 38 pilot and 138 main

Thanks to everyone here for paving the way to make that swap very straightforward🙂

And of course fix one thing , then something else goes .

Previously I was getting some smoke on the right cylinder. Figured the stem seals were going.
So while I was waiting for parts for the carbs I tried to tighten the head bolts only got a slight turn on them. Read somewhere that might be a cause as well .
Anyway, now I have oil soaked plugs,
So I guess the engine is coming out next.

But even with blowing a smoke screen going down the road, it was running great.

.
Click to expand...
You can't just "tighten head bolts a bit". One at a time you back them off till you hear the "tink" and the nut turns freely then retorque it. It might be too late now but an easy thing to try.
 
Into the shed for the winter
Temp around mid single digit in Celsius
Not started for a month or so
Had plans taking the carburetors off going all stock in the jetting But changed my mind after starting

Seen on the net Harley Owners use 3 prime kicks --- Pri position ---Full choke and First kick start
Not used to that after a standstill
Ran beautiful
So I can always re jet with carbs in there Have a slight stumble at 2- 3 k Nothing major So if it starts and pulls very good what is the problem ?
Have another set cabs I can polish Assemble .going all stock in them instead



IMAG0255.jpg





IMAG0256.jpg
 
IMG_5926.jpeg

Winter parking space 🥺
Carbs drained, Battery pulled.
And that darn license plate mount / hardware selection will be strengthened before next spring.
It is a wonder how an XS rear fender wags so much! The rear turn signals don’t even shake as much as the license plate ..
other than that this 78E is working very well.
 
Jan_P said:
Into the shed for the winter
Temp around mid single digit in Celsius
Not started for a month or so
Had plans taking the carburetors off going all stock in the jetting But changed my mind after starting

Seen on the net Harley Owners use 3 prime kicks --- Pri position ---Full choke and First kick start
Not used to that after a standstill
Ran beautiful
So I can always re jet with carbs in there Have a slight stumble at 2- 3 k Nothing major So if it starts and pulls very good what is the problem ?
Have another set cabs I can polish Assemble .going all stock in them instead



View attachment 255014




View attachment 255013
Click to expand...
Is your rear fender a stock one? I like all the coverage of the rear wheel.
 
Bob Wegman said:
Is your rear fender a stock one? I like all the coverage of the rear wheel.
Click to expand...
Yes Sir I do believe it is
I have had 2 machines and they look the same
Lots of holes and clamps in the fender that looks factory

There was a law in Sweden that you needed a Mud Flap on the rear wheel back in the day not sure when it no longer was needed.
I Guess mid 70 ies Or-not enforcing it any more

I had a friend in High school that had a Yamaha 125 cc scramble and he was a perfectionist .. Best kept motorcycle in the Country
Perfect .But no Mudflap
He was driving in residential area affluent neighborhood ..Got stopped by the Police ..They actively looking for faults on the motorcycle. Sending the signal keep on driving here and it is gonna get expensive or worse But there was no Faults
But he did not have the Mudflap .Got ticket for that

Officer
" At least we are going to get you for that " ---$ 15 or so "

Another was going to the MOT for a Car inspection I believe it was a Chevy Nova had put a mudflaps of Cardboard there Duct tape perhaps
It was amazing it did not fall off like autumn leaves on route there in dry weather.
Comical at times

Sir The law requires mud flaps and please look there that is a mud flap - He got approval

There can have been rules in other European countries for a bigger rear fender

I believe the model was not sold in the USA

1980 Yamaha XS 650 US. Custom​


1699784859320.png
 
Oldfartaussie said:
Yesterday I realized the rear brake pads were only contacting the disc rotor with the top half of the brake pads, I had the same issue last year and replaced the disc rotor and caliper hanger and the brake seemed to work well.
I removed the caliper and by pumping the brake pedal could see the piston push out then retract when I let the pedal return to it's stop.
I used air pressure to pump out the piston and blew out the entire system and half filled the piston bore with clean brake fluid, installed the piston and tried to push the piston back in using a f clamp. The only way to get the piston to push in was by opening the bleeder which doesn't seem right I thought it would push the fluid back into the master cylinder reservoir?.
I have tried bleeding the whole system but after the first squirt I'm not getting any fluid.
I filled the caliper through the banjo bolt hole and the bleeder hole after installing the piston and even tried a hose on the bleeder to a large plastic syringe and cracked the bleeder and try and suck the fluid through but get nothing.
Can't see any leaks and fitted new copper washers and thread tape on the threads.
Guess I should have left it alone,at least they worked?
Click to expand...
I had a similar issue with a moto morini which used grimecca brakes. I changed the master cylinder seals out of desperation and solved the problem. By the time I found the problem I was so ticked off and tired of constantly trying to keep brake fluid off the paintwork, I cleaned the whole system out and started to use silicon fluid.
 
I received my stainless steel butted spoke sets today. I think that I shall clean up the hubs and rims, polish them and then re-lacquer the rims and include the hubs too. The existing rims are still in good nick and just need tidying up. There is very little run out on the rims. The wheel bearings are good amd so there's the winter project: wheel rebuilding. I shall start with the front wheel and take a few pictures of the original factory lacing first. I remember the last time I rebuilt some wheels and it actually paid dividends to carefully strip down the old wheels by unscrewing the nipples rather than just whizzing them off with a metal cutting disc in the angle grinder. By going the slow way, I learnt a lot about how to rebuild too. I'll keep this post updated with developments. My wifes sort of slowed everything down a bit by diverting me onto less important minutiae. Next job to do is to build up my wheel building jig which will be two pieces of wood with a vee cut into the end of each of them and then cross braced. The XS wheels a symetrical on the hubs and so I dont need to build in an offset.
Ive loosened off one spoke in order to check that the new nipples are the right size. Interestingly, each original nipple has its own spherical washer.
New spokes and nipples are the right size for the job. The front wheel is out of the bike and the tyre and tube are stripped off by th way, if you wondered how I managed to check that the new nipples were correct.
 
Last edited:
Took sporty 'round the "track", a 7 mile straight and altogether 20 miles, gassed up and got beer. Drank one and put sport away...then took the old XS gal out and repeated...so there are 4 beers left in the reefer and two happy scooters with full tummies... Still thinking about R134a and permeable rubbers...and realized CO2 might be a safer, cheaper, experiment...and I have plenty... About half is actual highway...so traffic and cops are a thought, but the rest is whatever yawant...a ton is there if you want...big danger is hitting a stray cow or a bird. Nice creek with fishies to see, and skiinydippergals in summer...

Above there's mention of re-torqued heads and "tink"... I have never torqued a XS650 head ... and I might want to, in the fullness of Time...

There are different traditions... 50/50 engine oil and graphite is was standard in Enterprise engine (ships), what does Yamaha call for...and what do y'all use? Thanks fellas.
 

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