Journey of my 79 XS1100F

[nzemke]

I'd pull the shifter cover and look at the alignment dots and both return springs before going too deep. Could be a c clip on the shift fork shaft, but check the easy to get at stuff first. Block it up and have a friend rotate the rear wheel and watch the action while you move the shifter by hand. That will tell you plenty.

Sadly the shifter wont budge at all. I tilted the bike on to a 2x4 with one end cut at an angle so it would dig into the ground. That gave me enough tilt to pull the left cover off without losing any oil. once in there it all looked very clean. I even took out the peg for the shifter and tried to move the mechanism manually and it wouldn't budge. And yes I had the clutch all the way in...I used a bungy cord to keep it open. The manual says something about the lines but without it budging I can't move it back to lined up.

I cleaned edges on the case and threw it back on...I know I will need back in there again once I have this figured out so I will seal it then. So now I have it back on the kickstand and all of the bolts out of the right side but for the life of me can't get the seal to break between the two. Any suggestions for getting the right side off without damaging anything?

[mack]

shifter cover

I'd pull the shifter cover and look at the alignment dots and both return springs before going too deep. Could be a c clip on the shift fork shaft, but check the easy to get at stuff first. Block it up and have a friend rotate the rear wheel and watch the action while you move the shifter by hand. That will tell you plenty.

[TopCatGr58]

Do I need to drain the oil? Or can I tip the lady on her side and poke around?

There is a drain hole in the shift cover area engine case to allow the oil to drain back into the main sump pan. You can tilt the bike to the right a bit to allow as much to drain as possible, and then pull it up on the centerstand. Then you can pull the shift cover off and not loose much oil at all.

T.C.

[IanDMacDonald]

Whoops. I meant left cover. Not sure about the oil. I know you don't have to on the right side, as the bike leans to the left on the side stand.

[nzemke]

Do I need to drain the oil? Or can I tip the lady on her side and poke around?

[IanDMacDonald]

Could be anything under that right cover. Fortunately it'll probably take you five minutes to pull the cover and see the problem, and however long to fix it. No worries.

[DiverRay]

sounds like something loose under the shifter side cover. May not be bad at all. There is always hope...

[nzemke]

well it would seem my trust in this things was miss placed....as I attempted to shift into 1st the shifter kept going....and now the transmission makes a clacking noise as I moved the bike off the road...without holding in the shifter...so now it sits two miles from my house...and to make matters worse I went to get it the lights on my trailer decided that tonight was also their night quit working.... Not sure what I did...but the wife told me to just go buy a new motorcycle... but I have put so much time into this thing....

[Wildkat]

Very cool and I look forward to future posts on your progress.

LOVE the Kermit!

[jetmechmarty]

XS11 special's will fit easily. Speedo's from almost any Yamaha will work, but the tach almost needs to be from an 11...

Or just put a small electronic unit on there, like an Acewell. That big square console now looks very wrong.

[DiverRay]

And when I finally decided on the right round gauges it should cut down on the block look

XS11 special's will fit easily. Speedo's from almost any Yamaha will work, but the tach almost needs to be from an 11...

[nzemke]

Yeah I agree it still looks goofy I have new handle bars coming in this next week. And when I finally decided on the right round gauges it should cut down on the block look

[IanDMacDonald]

Nice job !!! These bikes look more period correct with the round headlight.

Might look period correct, but a round headlight with square gauges, and those original bars looks kinda goofy. Steve helped me embrace the look of the square headlight. I like it now. Looks macho.

[nzemke]

Its not bad...but is not great either. I can't wait for the other tank to get finished up proper. I gained a good amount of respect today for people who make every blemish disappear when they strip/bondo/paint anything.

[Schming]

Nice job !!! These bikes look more period correct with the round headlight.

One suggestion, when it's time to do your "spark plug wires" splurge for the Dyna coils, your baby always needs trinkets