hi guys, thanks for letting me join your group

[andylawcc]

Carbs look to be from an 80-81 model, no vents visible.

really? great, cuz i am looking for the idle mixture screw, which I, not the previous owner, snapped AFTER READING YOUR WARNING NOT TO. /self face palm. So is the 80-81 still a BS34? (i will take more close up shots later)

Looking at the right side, it would appear someone has plaid major havoc with the bikes electrical system, no fuse box, no starter solenoid, no flasher unit, For that matter, I do not see where they moved the TCI (ignition control unit) or even the main alternator wiring. Yep , the harness has been hacked up something crazy from the looks of things.

You definitely have a highly customized bike there. In more than a couple ways it is not going to be easy to make it stock again, if that is your intention.

ahhhh crap... Well, my intent is definitely not to make it look stock, undoing the rear hack alone should be a big enough de-motivation. I just want to make the bike run. i will take close up shots on what's going on underneath the gas tank, there seem to be some botched wiring done there. (now that you mentioned i can't find the fuse box, and i don't know what the starter solenoid and flasher unit looks like.)

[DGXSER]

If the screws stick out the top then those are the 78-79 carbs. If the idle mix screw is down inside a tunnel then they are the 80 -81 style.

As for the solenoid and flasher, here is a pick (with a home made bracket) of the right side area where the fuse box goes along with the starter solenoid in the upper left corner and the flasher unit bottom center.



This is from an 81 Special, so the flasher on yours may be silver and cylindrical. Here is a less close up view of the stock setup (except the fuse box) on an 80 Special.

[andylawcc]

hhaha, the bike definitely does not have all that.

[crazy steve]

Carbs are definitely '78-79 type as the tell-tale bosses for the carb vents are visible, as well as the lack of the 'secondary' tie on the diaphram bells. I'd replace those pods, as their partial collapse can't be good for flow.

The frame could be repaired, and most of your 'other' issues are merely missing parts (although not all will be easy to find). Very nice appearing OEM exhaust; if any thoughts of modding that cross your mind, ask here first about getting one already altered before chopping on yours. Good stock exhausts are getting rare....

[andylawcc]

well, thank you all for the compliments on the pipe, i had no idea a stock pipe could garner so much attention ;p

my friend used a "polish all" type of spray to make it shiny again.
But there is a fairly large dent on each of the exhaust: the dent is not on the sides or bottom, but rather on the top, like an imaginary wrecking ball drop on the pipe from above.

also, are the rear shock stock? from the manual i remember seeing they are adjustable (for rebound or compression; the ones on the bike now has the preload-notches)

[andylawcc]

also, i kept reading something about an octopus fuel hose diaphram aka "the Octy thingie" that connects between the Fuel Tank and the Carb. My bike do not have that. The current fuel hose routing goes like this:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/106368555772894301374/albums/5826115006905236849/5826364688886910274#photos/106368555772894301374/albums/5826115006905236849/5826364688886910274

Two of the four fuel outlet from the two petcocks are connected to the 2 of the 4 inlets on the carb side (blue line in the digitally remastered rendering above) . Then there are two exposed inlet on the carb side. the remaining outlet on the petcocks side are then interconnected (red line).

[crazy steve]

But there is a fairly large dent on each of the exhaust: the dent is not on the sides or bottom, but rather on the top, like an imaginary wrecking ball drop on the pipe from above.

also, are the rear shock stock? from the manual i remember seeing they are adjustable (for rebound or compression; the ones on the bike now has the preload-notches)

Those 'dents' are intentional for axle clearance. The rear shocks appear to be aftermarket.

Those two 'extra' 'fuel tees' are the float bowl vents and originally were connected to the OEM airbox for a filtered air supply. As your bike started life as a 'standard', it didn't have the 'octy' but instead had vacuum controlled petcocks. The vents need to have hoses attached to them with some sort of filter.

[andylawcc]

phew! thanks Steve, I was worrying needing to buy an Octy and re-routing the whole thing. So the "red line" / the fuelhose that inter-connects the last 2 petcocks is in the right place?

and what should I do with those two exposed fuel tees? they do look kinda dirty.

[DGXSER]

This is where the devil is in the details. Lets start with the fuel petcocks. There is a right and a left petcock, they will bolt to the tank just fine in the wrong positions, but the fuel outlets will be wrong. Look on the petcock itself, as well as the fuel handle and its cover for an R and an L for right and left sides.

All of the XS11 models had a vacuum operated valve to control fuel flow, so fuel only flowed when the engine was running. On the Standard models, the vacuum valve was integrated into the petcocks, on the Special model, it was a separate valve mounted to the carbs....AKA THE OCTY! The petcocks had a PRIME position so you could fill the empty float bowls after working on carbs or running low on fuel...or whatever reason, without the bike running and creating the vacuum to open the valve(s).

If the petcocks are in the correct positions, and all the hardware is correct in them, then the front outlet gets feed from the PRIME setting on the petcock. This setting eliminates the reserve fuel supply. So the bike will run just fine, but when your out of fuel....your out...and your pushing one heavy pig of a bike! The rear outlet gets feed from the ON setting and the RESERVE setting.

So as you have it drawn, the PO tied the ON or RESERVE outlets together, and the bike will only get fuel with the petcocks in the PRIME position, and you have no RESERVE function. If you confirm the R and L valves and components are in the right places, you will want to switch those hoses at the petcocks.

You will wan to clean up the vent Ts, and then put a length of fuel hose on them with a small filter of some type. some folks run them with no filters, and it will not change how the engine performs, until some little critter makes that tube its home and your cab bowls can no longer vent.

[andylawcc]

NO WONDER the bike had trouble starting in the ON position. (will double check the L R Petcock position first though).

[Yard Dogg]

Do you have a set of gauges for that bike? If you have square gauges, those are for a standard, round gauges are for a special. Since you have a special tank, you will need special gauges in order to use the fuel idiot light. Standard gauges have a fuel level gauge. If you have the idiot light then you could run the bike on prime and still see if your fuel is getting low.

[andylawcc]

wait, so since i don't have the Octy, my options are

1) keep it as is: the bike loses the On/Reserve function (in which the likelihood of running out of gas is much higher since the bike doesn't have an Odometer)

2) flip the hose routing from front petcock to rear: the bike loses Prime function, which is a hassle if i the carbs are drained had I worked on it.... which is just a one time issue. In the long run i should flip it the correct way so the owner of the bike will have the much-needed Reserve function.

[andylawcc]

Do you have a set of gauges for that bike? If you have square gauges, those are for a standard, round gauges are for a special. Since you have a special tank, you will need special gauges in order to use the fuel idiot light. Standard gauges have a fuel level gauge. If you have the idiot light then you could run the bike on prime and still see if your fuel is getting low.

unfortunately, the bike doesn't have any gauges. The tank do have a plug thingie that connects to the bike.

[crazy steve]

wait, so since i don't have the Octy, my options are

1) keep it as is: the bike loses the On/Reserve function (in which the likelihood of running out of gas is much higher since the bike doesn't have an Odometer)

2) flip the hose routing from front petcock to rear: the bike loses Prime function, which is a hassle if i the carbs are drained had I worked on it.... which is just a one time issue. In the long run i should flip it the correct way so the owner of the bike will have the much-needed Reserve function.

Rework the petcocks......

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?p=357338#post357338

The 'prime' position is only needed if the octy is still in place when using the Special tank/petcocks.

[Yard Dogg]

If you get a little creative you can hook up Tee fittings so you can have both reserve and prime. Only trouble is the tight space to run the hoses. It's a PITA to keep the hoses from getting kinked, especially once you add inline fuel filters, which pretty much necessary. It would be best to bend up some hard tubing in areas that will become kinked. I've been thinking of doing that to my bike. Currently, I have a fuel light, so I just use the prime.