Sailor's Plea: To ride his machine 1 more time, his story!

[DGXSER]

God Bless all!!

Sailor, My prayers are with you and your wife Kat. I only hope that when my time comes, if I get the notice you have, I can have the perseverance and the mental fortitude to handle it half as well. I am happy as a hog in ....well...you know...that your bike is running strong and that you will get some more ride time in.

To Ray and Scott and Rodger, let me just say thank you for doing what I wish I could have, and deeply wanted to. As has been stated, it is way to easy in this world of electronic communication to lose touch with the person behind the screen. That is something I feel makes XS11 so great, the members want to meet each other and really want to help each other. You guys took a couple days out of your lifes and gave it to someone I assume you had never met to see that his motorcycle ran. There are many people in the world who would say that was a silly thing to worry about with the little time Sailer has left (not that I agree as all), and never given a thought to do more than offer advice on the screen if that. So, although I have never met any of you, I feel as though you would suggest you did little more than anyone would and while that may hold true of the folks here, it is much more than alot of people would have done.

God Bless all of you.

[DiverRay]

I think Latexs has the gist of the job already posted. He was on site by the time Scott and I arrived. The bike had been sitting longer than I had thought, and the spiders really loved the special!
We spent the rest of the daylight on Saturday going over the bike. It had XJ carbs with NO way to run the enricher, black spark plugs of the wrong type, a VERY bad replacement fuse box, and a battery that just didn't have anything left, even AFTER a charge. Scott and I each took a job, and started in. I pulled and replaced the carbs with a set I had brought up with me, "just in case". Scott went to work on the electrical, trying to get the fuse block to work reliably.


Me looking at the electrical AGAIN!

Once we had the electrical close, we put the tank on and tried to fire it up. The battery just would NOT turn it over, even with the jump start box on it. Scott and I took turns trying to kick it, and it fired after I was holding a wire on the fuse block, and Scott kicked. It didn't run well or long, but it was a start. That's when it was getting dark, so we called it a night.
As Rodger stated, when we left we went for parts, including a new battery from Wally World. Once we got back to Rodgers house, Scott went to bed, as it had been way too long since his last sleep! Rodger and I prepped the battery, and put it on a charger after the one hour wait since filling. I then laid down in the living room, with a small herd of cats looking on from a distance at the stranger in the house.
Next morning we got up and had some coffee, then went on to breakfast once Scott joined the living.
We then went back out, and started in on the fuse block. Rodger had baught one of TC's, and as it was MUCH smaller than the one we had got the night before, we used it. I spliced and crimped connectors to wires, and the fuse block was in. We then installed the new battery, and I hit the starter button to see if it did the trick. The bike fired up! I don't think it turned more than two revs before lighting off!
I then shut it down, and re-plumbed the fuel lines with the new line I had brought with me. We started it again, let it warm up for a little while, and set the timing, as we had replaced the pick-up coil assembly with a spare Sailor had. After checking for the max advance as well, I started in on the carb sync. We lifted the tank a little, and hooked up my "carb stix" to the bike. After about 25 minutes of adjusting, the bike sounded good. We put the tank back down, bolted on the seat, and Scott took it down a bumpy dirt road to make sure it would shift and run OK.
This is the look he had after he got back:


SH1T EATING GRIN INSTALLED!!

We then set about cleaning up the bike a bit, so it would look as good as it ran.


Scott on left, Rodger on right polishing up the bike.

Once we had it ready, Sailor found the new registration sticker for it, and we took it into town for a test ride and gas. I rode the special, Scott was on his bike, and Sailor rode the yellow bike you can see on the left side of the first picture. That is a Kaw V-twin he has worked on as well. The ride was good, as the bike ran VERY WELL, and shifted nice into all gears. I did do a "high gear" roll on, from about 40MPH to something above the legal limit, so I could check the carbs through the transition from low to high RPM. It pulled like a true XS, so I was happy with it.
Once we returned to Sailors, we parked the bike, and Sailor and Kat talked about it. He made that front cover for the tank, as well as most of the other mods himself. I'll let everyone else make up their own mind, but I LIKE the job he has done! I think the colors and style look good, and any small flaw won't be seen, as most bikes won't be able to keep up to see them!
We ended with a picture of Sailor and Kat standing behind the now running bike:


Sailor202 and his wife, Kat

Rodger, Scott, and I felt as if we had done the proper thing, and we know anyone else on this board who was close would have come to help as well. Some of the stories may pass with Sailor202, but the bike WILL live on as a reminder of him and his life.

[xs11lover]

way to go! Sailor the best to you. Enjoy.

[oldyam80sg]

Nice to see and hear the joy that you must have brought to his face considering what he has been through.God Bless!

[Texas Rookie]

Beautiful stuff fellas. Absolutely Beautiful stuff!! That's the kind of Kick-ss fellowship that makes this sport so special and this site even better.

My hat is off to all: Sailor for the opportunity to be of service by asking for help and those great guys who stepped up in a big way to make another brothers' dream come true.

From as "As Good As It Gets": You make me want to be a better man.

Gotta go now, my keyboard is getting wet. TRook

Primary Purpose: to stay sane and help a fellow rider to achieve sanity.

[The Lorax]

Well done Gentlemen, truly fine work. My thoughts & prayers are with Sailor and his wife, you fellows are of the finest sort.

[Toolmaker Tim]

Sailor, glad the guys were able to help. Very Sorry to hear about you illness. Hope your journey to the next place is an easy one and on your terms.

Scott, Dave, and Rodger, you did a great thing. It makes the ones of use who were unable to help feel a little better, because you got it done.

[Larrym]

Sailor,

Good to know that your choice of worthwhile life experiences included something “XSive.” (If anything is worth doing….it’s worth OVERdoing!) If you see that Jaguar again know that it didn’t stand a chance then or now.

What a committed pit crew!! All tools and chemicals and text manuals and parts. No beer cans in the photos. That’s a team that means business!

[3Phase]

Day 2: Pictures and Videos

Sailor202 and Kat examine his custom XS1100SF Special



On Day 1, while DiverRay installed a set of '79 BS34II carburetors, I removed a wasp nest from the airbox and killed a very angry black widow that decided to come out of her crevice and have a little snack: me! After changing the sparkplugs to the correct type and replacing the old sparkplug caps we did some more debugging.

Eventually, we discovered that the old battery simply would not accept a charge and supply enough current to run the starter motor. Also, the pickup coils and wires were bad and had to be replaced. The starter button wouldn't work and we traced it to the old, aftermarket, Littlefuse fuseblock. It was corroded and difficult to get it clean. We decided to replace the fuseblock when the Main fuse slot broke off and detached from the other three and Rodger had to squeeze the Ignition fuse and wires between his fingers while I kickstarted the bike.

Even with a bad battery the bike started easily enough but it had a fuel delivery problem and only ran on two cylinders, 3 and 4. When it began to dump fuel all over the left side of the engine we shut it down and decided to come back the next day when we could see what we were doing.

On Day 2, DiverRay found the leak: one of the fuel lines to the left side of the fuel tank had come off of the petcock. After repairing the wiring, installing a new fuseblock and a new battery, the bike fired up with a touch of the starter button. The engine sounded really good but it was popping. DiverRay set the ignition timing and synchronized the carburetors. The popping problem was solved. Sailor202 told us he'd had 4 or 5 mechanics try to get rid of the pops but Ray's the first to actually fix the problem. Good work, Ray!

The old Littlelfuse fuseblock



The new fuseblock LateXS bought from T.C. is installed with the wires patched and soldered



You may well notice a common theme to all of these photos and videos from Day2: DiverRay dove in and did all of the electrical repair and installation, then he single-handely tamed the engine tuning. LateXS and I took pictures and videos and tried to stay out of the way!


Link to a few more pictures and videos from Day 2



Regards,

Scott

[egleaves]

Way to go you guys! It's refreshing to see a selfless act of kindness in this me first, fast food world we live in. If there were an XS1100 medal of honor, you would all deserve one.

[ccogswel]

You guys done a great job. It's nice to see and hear other people willing to go help a friend in need. Sailor I hope you was able to enjoy the ride. And I hope you get a few more in.

To Scott, Dave and Rodger, You Guys Rock!

[skids]

Excellent work! Excellent people.

[lakecountrydave]

Kudos to all involved! A great job well done

[Shuriken]

XSively selfless. XSively moving. This is what life and motorcycles is all about.

[Korr]

Thankyou Ray, Scott & Rodger for being so selfless. My thoughts and prayers go to you and your family Sailor