Gas tank restoring, gas tank keys, etc.

[Shuriken]

My bike has been parked unregistered in the garage for a couple of months. Sad. The tire mysteriously went flat. I'm fixing that currently.

I put some gas in it to start it and let it run just because it was sitting for so long. I must have smoked up at least one block. The thing just pukes gobs of smoke when starting.

When I tried to zip the throttle up and down the bike would instantly die. It would not run unless it was on full choke. I found that if I held the throttle wide open it would run without choke.

While I had it running I removed the spark plug wire from number 4 and there was no difference in RPM or anything else. Same thing on number 3 cyl. Seems I'm not getting any fuel to those two carbs now.

On another note, I'm in the process of recoating a spare tank with Caswell Epoxy. As soon as it gets here I'll treat the rust and then coat it. The tank is already primered.

Anyone have suggestions for smoothing out the transition areas between bondo and the metal? Bondo always seems to leave a seam.....

I would be interested in trying the acid treatment on the tank this time around instead of just lacquer thinner - what's acid recipe?

I had keys made by the local locksmith for $20. Much better than fussing with the local dealer who refuses to even try to get me a key....

Ben

[strom]

I had a similar problem. Adjust your camchain. OK, I f****d up the cam timing, but the symptoms were the same. I cleaned the carbs, replaced the TCI unit, reset the cam timing, replaced 2 valves, wiggled all the connectors,...
Check for spark on #3. Check if there's any gas getting there, do a compression test... etc.

LP

[Shuriken]

I'm sure the bike has some "issues." It has around 45k miles on it I believe. I've done compression tests over the time I've owned it. The test has usually been something like:
110, 60, 110, 110. My altitude is 6,660ft. Number 2 has bigger problems than the rest. Using a bit of oil during the test brought each cyl up about 10psi but no more. I figure I have both ring wear and valve wear, especially on number 2.

I have a '78 parts bike in the back yard. I picked it up from a guy for $150 bucks I think. It has about the same mileage on it. I think it's in worse condition though, except I don't know how the valves are. Nothing is stuck on it, but it sounds like the primary drive chain is loose or something when I turn over the motor with a wrench. The PO said it had a middle gear joint problem that was going to be replaced and nobody ever finished.

It has a good set of carbs on it that I went through. The guages are good too. I figure what I payed for was worth it just for those. It also has a really good back tire on it and some full dress bars for hard saddle bags. And the gas tank, which I am doing right now.

Back to the subject..... I am close to doing a complete rebuild on my XS. I am hoping I can scalp some top-end parts from the parts bike, maybe even the head from the '78, but that's probably a long shot. I need a kickstarter lever so I can do a compression test on the parts motor. I want to rebuild the head and do the big bore kit on my '80g at a minimum.

If time permitted I want to strip everything off of it and paint the frame and other components. I will be ordering a paint gun shortly. Then I can paint the frame, the tank, my car, my girlfriend's car .....

Doubt I'll have even an hour a night for the next 8 months to do any of this. Maybe that's enough time though; that works out to be about 240 hours!

Ben

[fusionking]

Bondo transition

Hey Ben !! Lots of primer lots of sanding more primer more sanding spot putty more sanding more primer more sanding............................

[Jean Luc]

I had keys made by the local locksmith for $20. Much better than fussing with the local dealer who refuses to even try to get me a key....

I actually bought a blank from my Yamaha dealer, and made my own key with a vise and a set of jewelers files I clamped the key and the blank together and a little file here and a little file there - a key. It actually worked on the first try.

The PO had straightened the key in a vise and in the pocess had split the key lengthwise. A locksmith wouldn't even attempt to make a dupe.