New to the XS world!

[Rettic]

Howdy Folks! I have just acquired a none running 1979 XS1100 SF for 500 bucks on craigslist to upgrade from my current 1981 XJ650 Midnight. I can't wait to get this baby running. I go this baby on friday, and I have already cleaned the gas tank via citric acid, and rebuilt the carbs from the bottom up. Learned alot from XJBikes when rebuilding my midnight. They carbs were bad. I have pictures up at: http://picasaweb.google.com/CB56330/XS1100Rebuild# . I hope to have her up and running back on the road in about a month. Next on the list, forks and brakes all around. That is MC and calipers. I look forward to help from you guys, as XJBikes gave me lots of input.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Rettic,

Welcome and congrats on your "upgrade" of your ride!!

I hope you'll take some time to look and read the STICKY thread at the top of THIS FORUM, as well as ALL of the Tech Tips Forums that you'll find from the MAIN FORUM page just by scrolling down!

These machines are fairly bullet proof, but if you don't know the special secrets, it'll be like shooting a bullet into the head of the engine, you can mess things up really fast!

I hope you didn't SOAK the carbs in a bucket of cleaner? Also hope you were careful with the pilot/idle screws ensuring that the tips were not broken off and stuck in the carbs.

Similar concerns with the cam chain tensioner and the proper sequence to perform it.

I/we can understand you desire to get things done quickly, but you also want to do it right.

[Rettic]

Wouldn't dare soak the carbs, I disassembled carefully, checked everything over close. Looks like you could eat off of them now. On the XJ I had to disassemble the carbs and clean the air jets out. These carbs seemed easier to me. I spent 10 hrs doing the carbs. I know better than to short cut. Learned the hard way. Read on here the triple clean method... not gonna need that here. :-D I have a carb tune and a color tune at the ready. Will be doing the valves b4 the tune though. What I will need advice on is the blinkers don't blink. They just stay on. Glad for the heads up on rushing. Not rushing, just good at doing stuff I have done b4 quickly.

[motoman]

Since it's not runnin' yet, hook a charger to the battery and see if signals work. Voltage a little low won't let contacts heat enough to break contact. Sometimes happens when stopped, waiting to turn at an idle to. Also, go thru all the plug-ins on bike and apply a little dialetic grease and plug back in..........Will save you problems later. Oh, may consider doing the fuse block conversion too. Good info here for that, and it's easy to do.

[WMarshy]

Replacement flasher unit?

I replaced my flasher with one from autozone. Our bikes use a three prong flasher because it has a self canceling unit working off one of the poles. If you want to replace it with one at autozone like I did, you lose the self cancel feature. The only flasher they had that works is a two pole unit, if your lucky like me, the guy at the stor let me try every single one before I found the one I needed... Good luck and welcome.

[Rettic]

Well, made some progress today, not much. I have all of my parts now for rebuilding the complete brake system minus the brake fluid. And have rebuild the petcocks, tank gas cap, and the octy. Tomorrow the entire front end is getting dismantled. I will be doing new bearings, fork rebuild, and MC and caliper rebuild. Done the caliper and MC rebuild on my XJ 650, so I know about the spooge hole that always messes things up. Any advice on the fork and bearings? Never done either. I am also gonna see if I can her to run a little tomorrow. can't wait to see what the 1100 sounds like compared to the 650! Thanks in advance for tips!

[Rettic]

Brake Bleeding woes

Well, I have gotten more done since I last posted. I have rebuilt the forks, rebuilt the front brake system, replaced the front wheel bearing, and rebuilt the rear brake system. I also went through and cleaned and greased all the electrical connections, put the front head light back together, the rim around the bucket was bent, so had to bend it back.

I have a question. I rebuilt the rear brakes and have not been able to get them bled. I have tried all the tip I could find, except the vacuum bleeder. Where would I find one of those, I looked at advanced auto parts and could not find them. I know everything it working right b/c of the air pressure that it makes in the caliper.

Whats next:
All that i have left to get this baby on the road, bleed that back brake.
Replace the front brake pads.
Measure and if needed replace valve shims
Sync and tune carbs
Run seafoam through oil
run seafoam through a tank of gas
New tires
New seat

My list is shrinking.

But if anyone has some new tips of bleeding the blasted rear brakes, and yes I spend about an hour trying to bleed them. So I know it may take a while, but it has taken much to long in my opinion. Fronts ones were relatively quick.
Thanks

Oh and it runs, the carbs were done very well. Hooked up my tuning rig, small gas tank with gas hose attached, and pulled the choke, hit the start switch and... "SHE'S ALIVE" So I know I got the enrichment circuit clean enough. Pops from the carbs, which if I remember right is lean. Trying to understand what lightly seated means for number of turns. I set them all seated to where I could feel the tip just barely poking out and then 1 1/2 turns out. So tips on that too would be nice. Thanks.

[bikerphil]

But if anyone has some new tips of bleeding the blasted rear brakes

Unbolt the rear caliper and the two clips that hold the line to the swing arm and let it hang down to the floor. Remove the cap of the MC and fill it up. Open the bleeder screw and let the fluid trickle out refilling the MC if it runs low. After 5 or 10 minutes, close the bleeder screw and mount the caliper back on the bike. Fill up the MC and bleed normally. This draining allows most of the air up and out the reservoir.

[DGXSER]

Hopefully Phil's method will work for you. If not, I have bought a Mity Vac and it wokrs really well for the rear brake system. It was the onyl way I got mine to bleed when I had air in the rear MC.

[bikerphil]

Hopefully Phil's method will work for you

Can't take credit for this one, I learned it from Mighty Eleven.

[Rettic]

The only concern I have about the hanging the caliper is that the mc connection seems to be a little higher then the top of the MC. that is where I think I am having trouble. I tried doin the gravity feed off of the bike, but I will try it on the bike to see if it is any better. If not then I will make a trip to Northern Tool and pick up a Mity Vac. if that works, I will be wishing I had it for the front.

[chevy_338]

welcome i my self is new here to to both this site and my new xs11 i wish you could come over here and rebuild my carbs that is what i need just to get mine running right now but still will not be able to but it on the road do to it needing new tires and some other stuff. but once again welcome to the site

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Rettic,

Having rebuilt the rear MC, the words of wisdom I've read is to bench bleed the MC first WITHOUT the hose attached, just using your finger over the end, until you can get pressure and fluid coming out the end, THEN put the hose back on, and bleed like normal. HTH!?
T.C.

[Rettic]

Arg

No i am not a pirate. brakes will not bleed! Tried both ideas, hang the caliper and let gravity work, nothing, get the MC bled and then attach hose... nadda. So yeah looks like I am picking up a Mity Vac tomorrow. Was hoping not to have to, but looks like I will, unless a co worker has one to borrow. Thanks for the tips. Wish they worked, spent another hour on it tonight. To me a waste of time. Coulda been tuning the engine in that hour. Oh well. Hope the Mity Vac works. Thanks again.

Signed,
XSivly Frustrated

[Rettic]

Finally

Well I got the brake bled, picked up a mity vac, it helped a bit, still took a while. Now I have a rock hard rear brake. Just got some more parts today. Got a valve cover gasket, new spark plug boots, spark plugs, brake pads for the front, new fuel line T's (one was broken). So tuning will be happening soon, first step is to measure my valve clearances. Wish me luck. seat is getting taken get a new cover and foam tomorrow. Gotta love family. Will send pictures when it is done.