What did you do to your bike today?

[Brad]

Put on my new rubber, that was fun.

[DiverRay]

Pulled and rebuilt the carbs ONE MORE TIME on the "new" daily ride. Found the needle didn't shut the fuel off, both petcocks leaked, and there was very little fuel left in the tank. I've replaced both petcocks, replaced the four needles, and will be setting the carbs Sunday. I need daily ride for going to the golf driving range. I can split lanes, so going and getting home is MUCH easier than in a cage.

[Yard Dogg]

I can split lanes, so going and getting home is MUCH easier than in a cage.

Aren't bikes nice?

I just got done with my fuel level adjustment. In the words of Ace Ventura "PER HER HER ERFECT!" Now no matter what I do during syncing, I'll know that my float adjustment is not to blame. This is a fine example of why fuel level adjustments are better than a float measurement. I triple checked all my float measurements and took my time at it. When I filled em with gas and checked em, 2 was 1/16 low, 3 was 1/32 low, and 4 was 1/32 low. Not much, but 1 adjustment later they were right on the money. The jig took 5 minutes to build.

Maybe someone can comment to help me clarify something about my main jets. My Clymers manual says my main jet should be a 137.5 stock. I just switched to Harley pipes, and the word is that switching 1 size up on the main jet is usually about what it needs to maximize performance although it's not really needed. So I ordered 140 main jets. It turns out my bike had 110's in it. If all else is how it should be, then my bike has been running dangerously lean, so I threw the 140s in it. Last year when checking plugs, they did seem a bit white to me, and I was getting 41 miles per gallon which is almost unheard of with todays gas. Do you think I'm doing the right thing? I'd rather foul a few plugs than burn my engine up.

[CatatonicBug]

I'm working on someone else's bike this week, and have done the 2nd gear fix on it, and cleaned the carbs. I installed a new cam chain tensioner plug (plug only) to stop a huge oil leak, and cleaned up a messy wiring job that was added to install some strange lights on the front. This bike actually has the headlight bucket from a Windjammer fairing clamped between the fork ears, and truck marker lights clamped to the handlebars to act as turn signals! I also replaced the vacuum caps on the carbs, since they were hard as rocks, and I replaced the vacuum advance tube, since it was cracking.

It's a MNS, and I really feel bad for this bike...

I had planned to give the bike back to the owner today, but ran into a snag last night. I was flushing the brakes, and found that the front left caliper was frozen. The bleed screw broke off in the hole, and my screw extractor snapped off in the broken bleed screw! I managed to un-freeze the piston, but the seals were trashed. The pads on that caliper were also just about gone, so I had to order pads AND a rebuild kit. I still have to get that bleed screw out though.

I drained and re-filled the middle and final drive oils (middle drive oil smelled really funky for some reason ), and used the tech tip recently posted to disassemble and clean the ignition switch. I found a pile of bug casings in the switch! It was actually a LOT easier than I thought it would be. I also replaced the fuse block (thanks, T.C.). When I got done with that, I discovered that the 4-ways suddenly weren't working. I opened and cleaned the 4-way switch, and cleaned out a spider nest, and some green corrosion on the contacts.

Now I have to wait for the brake parts to arrive before I can give the bike back, and get paid for my work, and reimbursed for the parts/supplies I've bought. I hate waiting!!

[fredintoon]

there not for either, they're for a kawi 440

Hi Knuckle,
nice lathe work. If the Kawi is being built as a show bike that'll never see gas in it, or as a flat-track racer, that's fine.
If the Kawi is meant for street use, removing the front brakes is about the only thing that's dumber than hardtailing.

[fredintoon]

Maybe someone can comment to help me clarify something about my main jets. My Clymers manual says my main jet should be a 137.5 stock. I just switched to Harley pipes, and the word is that switching 1 size up on the main jet is usually about what it needs to maximize performance although it's not really needed. So I ordered 140 main jets. It turns out my bike had 110's in it.

Hi Dogg,
there's two types of carbs.
The earlier carbs fed the slow-running jet through the main jet via a slanted drilled passage from above the main jet to below the slow-running jet. They had either a metal or a rubber blanking plug that sealed off the slow-running jet removal ports so that the slow-running jet had to get it's fuel from the main jet.
These carbs had 135 main jets.
Omitting the bungs from these carbs will make them run seriously rich.
The later carbs fed the main and slow running jets separately from the float bowl, no drilled passage & no blanking plug.
These carbs had 110 main jets.
Running 135 or 140 main jets in the later carbs will make them seriously rich.
Putting the bungs in the later carbs will completely block off the slow-running jets.
Carefully check which carbs your bike has before changing the jets.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Yard,

I just took a look at your photos, and your timing and alt covers have the RING around the Yamaha name, and that feature was added in '81! You don't have any side covers, so we can't see whether it had the swish/check mark under the Special name like the 81's did!

Did you ever check your Serial number from the frame and engine and verify with the listing in the MISC forum exactly what YEAR you have!?!?

The 81 carbs were the later model, like Fred said, used 110 mains, open pilot jet tower inside the carb, and NO tunnel between the pilot jet and main jet tower. Also, there is only 1 set of "T"s between the left and right pair of carbs...for FUEL inlet. There are NOT any other "T" fittings up higher which were used for the Float Bowl Vents on the earlier carbs. Also, looking at the inlet bell of your carbs, IF you see 4 small ports along with the large arced top port, then you have the LATER carbs, and that 4th port is the float bowl vent.

What I did today! I put on a new Dunlop Elite 3 MU/90/140/90-16 rear tire on my machine....took lots of photos to try to make a possible tech tip, but I can't upload photos to the Back End section of the Website where we store the tech tip images! SO...it'll have to wait until Wes can fix that!
Looks like I'll need a new battery for the season....just didn't watch this one like I should...let it evaporate too much over the winter, exposed cells, etc.! I put in leftover electrolyte and distilled water, charged it up, but the starter is SLOW, had only about 13 volts after full charge, so it's on it's last legs! I think I've gotten 3 years out of it so I can't complain...it's my fault. Next winter I'll remove the thing and have it on a bench so I can more easily check and fill it!

T.C.

[motoman]

Good eye there for detail T.C.! 110 mains as he said was in the carbs sure made them suspect being the later carbs....again, good catch there! As for your battery issue, if level is low, even below the plates, NEVER add electrolyte even combined with distilled water as it will kill battery dead. Seen a fellow employee do this years ago in our battery room when charging a group of large truck batteries. Did it before I could stop him and he still thought it was gonna work(age and treachery thing again)..lol. Well, lesson learned and a good #$ss eating from shop foreman made for a reminder to remember for him anyway! My Interstate in my Venturer is now 5yrs. old and last year saw level was below plates, so I removed it, added distilled water just below normal level, charged overnite on 1amp. so as to not have it overheat(another good way to kill battery life, whatever may be left), after which I brought up to proper level with distilled water(leaving a little low while charging as there WILL be some expansion from getting warm while charging) and it so far is working fine. Times like this a good carbon-pile load tester sure would be handy to load it at half it's rating for some fifteen secs. and make sure needle drops no lower than 10.5 volts and holds there for the fifteen secs. At that load if needle continues to drop, the battery can be condemmed. In fact, with pos. and neg. probes, neg. probe to batt. neg. and pos. probe placed down in one cell at a time you can determine which cell is the shorted one. Another suspect way to determine initially if a cell may be shorted(which is caused from flaking off from vibration and charging untill enough material builds up in bottom and eventually contacts plates shorting that cell), is if it initially starts bubbleing ever so slightly when initiating start of charging process. Not ALWAYS true, but initially makes battery suspect of an issue. Cell test loading will show approx. 2.1 volts per cell if cells check out to be all close to the same. Other than proving what cell is the bad one(our shop foreman was a bit particular with alot of different types of testing and documentation for future reference), IMO it was a mood point if battery failed a load test after charging anyway. We also would have to test each cell for specific gravity level too.....what a PITA. Anyway, hope this may help others in future when dealing with wet cell batteries. Aside from our shop foreman being a bit anal(he checked all our work before unit left shop, right down to silicone on visor pivots if they squeeked)lots of all that testing has seemed to stay imbedded forever although at times I wish I had forgotten some......eek.

[Yard Dogg]

Hey Yard,

I just took a look at your photos, and your timing and alt covers have the RING around the Yamaha name, and that feature was added in '81! You don't have any side covers, so we can't see whether it had the swish/check mark under the Special name like the 81's did!

Did you ever check your Serial number from the frame and engine and verify with the listing in the MISC forum exactly what YEAR you have!?!?


T.C.

My numbers say it's an '80. I used my 110 main jets. I'm really gonna have to double check things in this Clymers manual from now on. Never had a manual that was misleading at times until now. The bike is running smooth, but I know it's not synced perfect enough so I'll go easy on it. Atlest this time I think I got the pilot screws dialed in better. It started well this morning except for sputtering until it was warmed up. I have vacuum leaks. My carb bodies became damaged where my throttle shafts slide through. When I pulled them out they binded, I thought it was gunk build up so I twisted them out and it turned out to be flaws in the metal where the butterflies slide through the shaft. So my carb bodies are not perfect anymore. Another set back. I'm taking a break from the bike for a while until I can sink some problem solving dollars into it.

[BigDick]

well not yesterday but sunday I totally disassembled my forks completely cleaned the guts and reassembled with new fork seals. had a heck of a time trying to put the caps back on, one sat about a half inch higher than the other. hmmm. . . . looked at the spacers (I have the aftermarket progressive springs) and one's a half inch shorter than the other! Went and found the leftover piece of pvc that came with the kit, and sure enough it was the 3.5 inches needed. Also during the disassembly I managed to pull the wires out of my turn signals so i get to fix that tomorrow.

[kjohnson]

all 3 calipers were locked up after the winter. tore the calipers apart. discovered the dire need of rebuild. parts ordered. hope they get here quickly. at least i have other scoots to used if the weather warms up and the wind stops blowing.

[Cobia]

Not much to do....

......so I rode it. It's running great!!

[TopCatGr58]

Well,

Went and bought the new battery today, filled it, charged it, will install it on Friday before Saturday's State Inspection!

I also was able to access the photo posting section of the site, and so I completed the Changing Rear Tire Pictorial! Sorry, but's for a Special!

I'll be making one for the battery as well, surprising changes in it's prep from 3 years ago! !

T.C.

[XSokieSPECIAL]

Loaded it up.........

Headed to Texas for the MoM tomorrow after work.

[randy]

I kickstarted it