Journey of my 79 XS1100F

[nzemke]

So while working on the brakes I figured I would grab the ones off of my parts bike...and glad I did...can you tell which ones are from mine and which are from the parts bike it will be nice to have new pads on this bike! There was little to no grease left on this pads at all...any that had been were was now caked in dirt grime.



And hate to say it but this is typical of all of the brakes on this bike so far. Finishing cleaning all of them and will have them back on the bike. The Rear brake is all back together and a new mast cylinder boot cover ordered from the UK.

[nzemke]

Update: Fun With Fiberglass

Here is the Form from the left side:




The Right side as it sits with the first two layers of Fiberglass drying:



The Left side with 4 layers of fiberglass. Next step is bondo and sanding so it gets the shape I want it to. It needs to match the curve of the frame. So it will be a thin layer of bondo at a time till it gets where I want it No rushing this one.:

[nzemke]

Update: Getting there

I wanted to update the thread with some new photos. I am cleaning up the cabling mess so I can get the battery and everything in with the new side panels. I have about 6-8 hours into each panel :S and the right side still needs a little work before I get them painted. Once I have these looking how I want them to then I will sand out the frame a little and proceed with the most amount of taping I will more then likely ever do so I can give the frame a new coat without removing everything...it sounds scary lol! But I guess I kind of need to do it once the rear hoop is wielded on. I just got a new tire put on the front and used some of the rubber coating for the front rim...and really digging it. Once the back tire comes off I'll do the same thing. I have heard of this spring compression tool...will need to look into one. Tired of replacing exhaust gaskets >.< Really happy with how responsive the brakes are now after full rebuilding them all. I have installed all of the LED's and can't wait to share the new tail light MOD once I put the rear fender and all back on! The rear of the bike lights up almost blindingly!! And the switch for the green lights that light up the whole engine!! This has been a lot of fun building.

[MindWebs]

Looks Good!!

Sharp looking machine.

Should be a good runner for many years to come.

Enjoy the ride.

[Wildkat]

Looking good!

Great write up!

[nzemke]

I really appreciate the compliments! Some times I feel like I'm spinning my wheels with this project. When I have time I try to punch out as much as possible.
Last night I finished the conversion for the new blade style fuse box. Finished painting and sanding the new side panels. Fixed the cabling at the front for the turn signals so they are grounded back to the frame. Tucked it all in tight and took her for a ride around the block. She needs some additional tuning that I will do tomorrow. I need to find a shorter screw driver with a bigger head on it for adjusting the carbs. That's the plan for lunch time tomorrow! And I was slightly disappointed to not hear from the guy who is bending up the steel for my hoop. I think I may have to make a visit to his house after he gets off work tomorrow.... Otherwise here is a walk around for how she is right now
Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/tWvyFvy984w

[zzay]

beautiful bike, looking forward to updates!

definitely gonna pick up a fine wire wheel to clean my motor up with. thanks for sharing that info

[zzay]

btw how's it running with the nail polish on the pods? did you ever get that dialed in?

[nzemke]

btw how's it running with the nail polish on the pods? did you ever get that dialed in?

Thanks for the compliments! Sadly I have heard some bikes just won't run pods...and mine seems to be one of them. After all of the posts that I have read through, there is a chance that the issue lays in the design of the rubber fitting for the boot. So if I ever try it again I will make sure to read through those posts again and get the right Pods. For the time being I'm using the stock air filter. Only modification I made to it is removing the rubber boot that comes out from the back side of it. With the custom seat on, it pinches it down and restricts the air flow.

[nzemke]

So after rebuilding the top end of the engine I have found that I'm still having a few if the issues I was having before. First things first, I have it idling like a champ. I found out I have two left sided cockpets. But also found that the right side seems to barely give any gas...so no wonder I was running lean. So now I have to take the carbs off again and change the needles to dead center and try this again. I also went through and cleaned it and could not find any reason why no gas flows for prime until I turned it to reserved...and it flowed like crazy. But at least one more thing over with. And then I can start the long process of getting the float levels balanced for each needle. So after reading the extensive write up on carbs I will leave the air/mixture screws alone and focus on the float levels.....someone please correct me if I'm wrong there?

[motoman]

So after rebuilding the top end of the engine I have found that I'm still having a few if the issues I was having before. First things first, I have it idling like a champ. I found out I have two left sided cockpets. But also found that the right side seems to barely give any gas...so no wonder I was running lean. So now I have to take the carbs off again and change the needles to dead center and try this again. I also went through and cleaned it and could not find any reason why no gas flows for prime until I turned it to reserved...and it flowed like crazy. But at least one more thing over with. And then I can start the long process of getting the float levels balanced for each needle. So after reading the extensive write up on carbs I will leave the air/mixture screws alone and focus on the float levels.....someone please correct me if I'm wrong there?

Fuel levels in bowls being all the same IS critical. Actual FLOAT levels being exactly the same is 99.9 percent of the time being irrelavent to actual FUEL levels in bowls being the same in all four fuel bowls.

[nzemke]

Arrrrggggg!!!! So when I was trying the pods last year I'm pretty sure I decided to use the jet needles from the carb rebuild kit. Well it would appear that the issue with my carbs were them...I switched back to the original ones and things appear to be back to normal. God I have wracked my head over this for the 8 months!!!!

[nzemke]

Arrrrggggg!!!! So when I was trying the pods last year I'm pretty sure I decided to use the jet needles from the carb rebuild kit. Well it would appear that the issue with my carbs were them...I switched back to the original ones and things appear to be back to normal. God I have wracked my head over this for the 8 months!!!!

In thinking more on this, it could very well be the fuel issue that resolved it...not 100% sure. I did notice the first 1/4 throttle is still laggy so I will try to color tune that tomorrow on my lunch break. Hoping I can ride this back to work

[nzemke]

So I have been bouncing my head off this bike for the last year thinking that i just didn't know how to sync carbs...turns out I got be one of the very luck 1 in a million whos coil stops working once it warms up. So now I'm waiting on word back from the guy I got the bike from to see if he has a spare laying around (the 1 & 4 coil). I have a line on two parts bikes that have the coils...but they won't let it go unless I take the entire bike...and the wife has threatened me with death and divorce if I bring one more none running bike onto the property....

[motoman]

So I have been bouncing my head off this bike for the last year thinking that i just didn't know how to sync carbs...turns out I got be one of the very luck 1 in a million whos coil stops working once it warms up. So now I'm waiting on word back from the guy I got the bike from to see if he has a spare laying around (the 1 & 4 coil). I have a line on two parts bikes that have the coils...but they won't let it go unless I take the entire bike...and the wife has threatened me with death and divorce if I bring one more none running bike onto the property....

The OEM coils, getting a bit notrorious from heating/cooling cycles over the decades of use is a risky way to go for replacement. New aftermarket coils(Accel,etc.) being on the pricy side, I'd seriously consider bringing onto the property a used set of 1.5ohm Honda VFR coils. They are plug'n'play for fitment, plus the plug wires being separate, you have a type choice there also.( I opted for a 5ft. 7mm high temp multi steel wire core cut into 4 correct lengths).
I've had a set of VFR coils on my Venturer for a few yrs. now with not so much as a hiccup. You have to check across the poles of coil with a multi-meter in order to get correct ohm ones. Designation of the two different ohm VFR coils are not marked as such. My 81 Venturer uses 3ohm coils as opposed to your year bike which uses the 1.5ohm coils.