Rebuilding my XS11SF

[Special Ed]

Hi bros-
I haven't visited here in a while. My Scoot has been down for the winter with a locked up tranny. DiverRay and I are in the process of re-building the engine to get it ready for “The Dream Machines” event to be held at Half Moon Bay the last week end of this month.
Scoot is getting 1200 jugs, high compression pistons, and ported heads. Ray sez I should be able to “catch air” in the first three gears without poping the clutch.he engine is going to be painted black with high temp paint with the outside of the fins polished. Most of the bolt on stuff will be spray painted “hammered aluminum,” and the “spaghetti pipes” and turn out mufflers will be spray painted high temp aluminum so that they will stand out against the black engine.
Due to my limited resources I am sorry to say that the engine is going to go back into a bike with a less than pristine frame, but perhaps, Lord willing, I may be able to up grade the rest of the bike incrementally.
Your input is invited, especially regarding the painting of the engine. Any experience in this regard?:
Any tips on removing old gaskets?
Pictures will follow...

[BA80]

I have found that the high temp ceramic paints resist fuel spills best.

[TADracer]

+1 on the ceramics. I have used metallic ceramic coatings on headers for a long time and they perform and last much better than ordinary coatings. If you are interested in some very nice hi-performance coatings you can do yourself look at www.techlinecoatings.com.

[CatatonicBug]

Any tips on removing old gaskets?

I have found that a brass wire wheel on a drill or just a brass toothbrush work wonders. Yes, the aluminum is soft and CAN be scratched by the wire wheel, but if you replace the gasket with RTV instead of a paper gasket, it fills in the tiny scratches in the mating surfaces just fine.

[crazy steve]

Any tips on removing old gaskets?

These work great..... http://keenabrasives.com/Surface%20C...20Type%20R.htm

Scrape off the big chunks, then use these for final cleaning. Use the blue, they won't remove metal just gasket...

These are also great for polishing prep.

[GARTHXS]

Gee ed I'm glad to hear you are gettin your scoot back together

[mack]

In the paint

section of your local hardware store they will stock a small scraper which has a blade in it similar to the old razers us old guys grew up with. It's for removing paint flecks and bugs crap off windows. it works really well on gaskets, and usually once you get it started the bade will run off lengths at a time. If you get some really hard to remove areas, use a q tip with acetone on it to rub the old gasket. Softens it up and the blade will remove it easy enough. Wire brushes and wheels work as well, just not as well.

[mack]

Tip

one of the best tips I've seen is to use BBQ PAM on your new gaskets before you install. Next time you remove a cover, you won't need to scrap or replace gaskets.

[bikerphil]

Permatex spray on gasket remover from local auto parts store is the ticket for softening up stubborn gaskets before scraping.

[Special Ed]

Thanks guys

I spent at least 6 hours getting down to bare metal on the lower case. I used Goof Off, a Dermil tool, various scrapers and a chisel: Scotch, ale, and pot was also very useful.
I look forward to riding with you again soon Garth.
Regarding engine painting: I am concerned about getting the aluminum surfaces clean enough to paint so that the paint doesn't flake off and look ugluy 100 miles down the road.

[Special Ed]

Ray and I spent a full day getting the cases back to gather. Tomorrow: getting new pistons, rings and over bored jugs. I borrowed a "tri beam" scale from a friend who is in the, ah, produce business.Ray used it to weigh the rods so that he could grind metal off of them so they all weigh the same. Very cool.

[WMarshy]

Just FYI... I see a few sets of stock size piston rings for sale on Ebay. I sent him a message to see if they were Yamaha OEM rings or aftermarket... syr, dont mean to jack your thread.

[DGXSER]

Very cool on the engine work Ed. A balanced and blueprinted XS11 engine is uncommon indeed. You guys know your way around the tools to do that work right. Looking forward to seeing how the whole thing comes together.

[DiverRay]

The engine will not be fully balanced, as it cost about $850 to have the crank done! I know, as I have a balanced crank ready for my '78 when I start to put it back together. Ed's bike is a "quick and dirty" rebuild, but I AM trying to make sure it will run well for another 140K miles. He has new crank and rod bearings, although the oil clearance IS a little loose from factory spec. All the bearings are on the "high" side of the spec, but still within the spec. We hope to get it all together, and maybe back in the frame today.

[DGXSER]

Got it Ray, and fully understand the point. Part of the lure of these bikes is how economical they are to own and operate.

I know looking on the forum one would think these things are moeny pits and always require tons of work. But typically, once someone goes through the bike end to end doing the proper maintenance and fixing the damage form lack there of by the PO(s), they just run and run and run.