wanting to rebuild my motor

[leathersonline]

any one here from ohio,i need to find someone in ohio that can rebuild my xs11 motor.

[trbig]

Hmmmm... There just happens to be a guy in massillon ohio that can do it!

If you can turn a wrench at all and read a manual... occasionally pop on here and ask some questions, it's not that tough to do yourself. We hear all the time of how people took these old bikes to someone else to fix... and just ended up having to do it themselves anyway AFTER a bill from the "Other" guy. You'll get to know the bike a lot better and it will mean a lot more to you riding it if you did the work.

Just my 2 cents.


Tod

[Stralya]

If I can do it, and I did....

Anyone can.

see below

[mro]

We hear all the time of how people took these old bikes to someone else to fix...

There be some out there (or here) that actually do an OK job on the 11's. There are also some shops that can do it too. Would need to be some what familiar with the bike to be able to ask the right questions to see if who ever was going to do the work does know about the quirks inherent in the 11's.

Rebuild parts like piston/gasket kits are readily available as well as wear/tear parts (XSept that one rear wheel bearing ) ...but...there be some "hard" parts that can only be found used and while working on older engines should a problem pop up which requires said part might be one of the reasons why some shops do not want to get involved, have 20 hours+ into a project that the customer might walk away from

Early on when I decided to keep my first XS one question I asked was about hard to find parts. There all out there (and here)...just sometimes need to use a "pre-owned" part when necessary.
_____________
That being said, are you sure yours needs to be rebuilt?
Amazing that there have been some XSes that have set for a decade or longer, pistons/rings frozen in the cylinders but were resurrected with out pulling the head

So... what be the problem with your XS?


mro
BTW, welcome to XS land

[egsols]

A lot of places shy away from our older bikes plus some don't have techs that understand them.

The PO for my latest 79 spent about $2000 at a couple of shops (one was a Yamaha dealer to boot) to try to get it running right. They never suceeded. Took me one weekend, now it runs sweet and PO is litteraly PO'd.

If you have any mechanical aptitude whatsoever, combine that with the manual and the awesome talent on this forum and you should have no problems!

[leathersonline]

i want to do it myself,but this bike has more sentimental value to me than enything else.im afraid of messing something up and putting a rod thru the block.other than ebay is there anywhere else to buy good parts?the motor doesnt need to be rebuilt it still run 12.80 @ 104mph in the quater mile,but a couple cooling fins are broke and the carbs need cleaned really bad.so im tearing it down to the frame and starting over...

[DiverRay]

I know trbig used a shop down in OK that did a NICE job on his. If it's just a few bad fins and the carbs, you can talk with some of the other members here. I know 81sx has been rebuilding carbs, and you can get engine parts from Andreas. The actual rebuilding would just be a gasket set, and you probably don't even need to split the cases. I've 100K miles on Daily Ride, and it's still getting me to work and back every day!

[leathersonline]

any help would great,it only has 38,000 on it.but after my dad passed away it did alot of sitting.i didnt have the time to go riding all the time.i would take it the track now and then,but kast time i had it out it was running very rich at an idle.so i figure it time to save it and restore it.i love the bike and alot of memories..........

[trbig]

I don't know how much you know about the XS11's, but 38k on these motors isn't much. Most bikes from the late 70's to early 80's were wore smooth out at 50k miles. Bob Jones who recently passed away had over 200k on his motor and many have over 100k.

The only thing I would suggest doing would be to put a light hone on the cylinders, but being that the base gasket is the toughest thing to overcome on teardown for these usually... that's what gets cooling fins broke.

One thing you might do, is take the head off... measuring your valve clearances first, then replace the cam chain. The head off facilitates removing the engine from the frame a lot. Pull the engine out as-is, fix up the frame, and drop it back in as-is. There's still an aweful lot of miles left in it... ummm.... as-is! lol. Especially if it's only ridden occasionally.

Let me be the first to say though.... On these motors, you may over rev and bend a valve, but if you have oil in it, it is really doubtfull that you'll ever throw a rod on them. I have only ever heard of it happening one time.... care to tell about it John??

38 thousand is barely broke in on these.

Tod

[leathersonline]

ya i know i need to tighten the cam chain i can hear it really bad at high rpm.this bike has never been apart,its nice because its coming apart alot nicer than anything i have ever worked on..im getting spoiled.my biggest problem is the parts(seal and gaskets) are expensive i think,but it been sitting and everything is dry rotten so if i want to do this i have no choice but to pay out the nose for it.so far i have been lucky and found alot on ebay.

[John]

Toss a rod?????

I ain't tossed no rod! WK didn't either! I have no idea what you're yammerin' about.
Sumpthin' happened, and it ripped the wrist pin out of the piston, then the wrist pin hammered the piston into the valves.

[leathersonline]

i have bounced mine about 10,000 rpm a time or 2 missing second gear at the track.knock on wood it stayed togeather.lol

[leathersonline]

is xs11 carbs 55mm and does anyone know where i can get a new 7/8 " drag bar.....thanks

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Leather,

If you're referring to the size of the intake bell's OD, then yes they are, both my 79SF and my 81Sh are 55mm. Just went and remeasured them with my caliper/micrometer to be sure!

Now, as for gaskets, especially if you are pulling the head off, you would be better off buying a complete gasket/seal set that you can get from Partsnmore.com for like $80.00....that's about how much an OEM head gasket alone goes for!!

As has been stated in recent thread, MikesXS.com has a wide assortment of bars with photos mounted on the bikes so you can get a better appreciation of how they would look/feel!
T.C.

[leathersonline]

thanks for the info,i thought they were,im looking for air cleaners and i didnt want to order the wrong ones....thanks