pic (maybe) of my 78

[yozzie]

Well, I know everybody likes pics, so I'm going to try and paste a pic of my recently aquired 78. Lots of maintenance and cleaning needed to be done, plus a top end rebuild so hopefully this shows up:

[Brad]

Looking good.

[Crazcnuk]

Is that the stock exhaust for a 78?

I thought mine has special exhaust on it...

[dbeardslee]

Very nice. I particularly like the upholstery job on the seat. Sweet.

[fredintoon]

Well, I know everybody likes pics, so I'm going to try and paste a pic of my recently acquired 78. Lots of maintenance and cleaning needed to be done, plus a top end rebuild so hopefully this shows up:- - -

Hi Yozzie,
another pic of a bike where the owner says:-
"Lots of maintenance and cleaning needed to be done"
and it looks nicer than mine has ever been.
Don't forget the Prairie Falcon motorcycle run on the 12th.
Be at Ten Thousand Villages (45th & Ave C) by about 11am.
I'm the old fart with the orange sidecar rig.

[latexeses]

"looks nicer than mine has ever been"

yozzie,

Great looking ride. Where do they come from?

Hey Fred,

That kinda stings don't it?

Feels the same from here. Wish I had all that work to do.

[DGXSER]

Very clean looking bike from here!!! Very nice find.

As to the exhaust, it appears to be off a special due to the length. IIRC the exhaust systems on all standards went back beyond the rear axle. But then, it also has Special model headlight and turn signals to go with the exhaust.

Anyway you look at it, it is still nicer looking than anything I got in the garage right now.

[fredintoon]

Oops, I blew the date.

[QUOTE=fredintoon;282472] - - - Don't forget the Prairie Falcon motorcycle run on the 12th. - - -

Hi again Yozzie,
sorry, the 12th is a day too soon. The run is on Sunday the 13th. Here's a link:-
http://sk.mcc.org/content/prairie-fa...torcycle-rally

[thewiz]

Looks like a ...

pretty darn nice one with a round h/l conversion. Should be fun to fix up ....

[yozzie]

Hi Yozzie,
another pic of a bike where the owner says:-
"Lots of maintenance and cleaning needed to be done"
and it looks nicer than mine has ever been.

Lol, whoa guys, this is the "after pic." Although the photo makes it appear nicer than it is, it was in some dire need of attention when i bought it.
The P.O. just didn't do much in the way of maintenance. The air filter fell apart in my hands, which probably contributed to the top end being finished.
The P.O. took it to a shop to "get the head rebuilt." But it didn't run worth sh*t when I bought it:
-cleaned the carbs - pilots were plugged solid
-cam chain was not tensioned -sounded like a file on a cheese grater (the shop that did the head rebuilt told him that's how good running Yamahas sound)
-after seeing the oil consumption I honed the cylinders and put rings in (the shop put the cam gears on backwards which looks like it puts the cam gear out of alignment with the crank sprockets a bit - doesn't affect timing though)
-the regulator doesn't excite the field coil anymore so the P.O. taped a signal light bulb on the side of the bike wired from 12V to the field coil - it worked, but looked a bit strange - i wired in a resistor behind the side cover.
-took apart the forks and put new seals in. Probably never had a fork oil change, just chunks of oil in the bottom.
-rear caliper was not letting go, cleaned that up
-new air filter and plugs
-redo the ends of the plug wires, two were not firing
-put fuel filters on, the tank is full of rust, but got a tank from Brad (thanks!) that will make it's way on permanently.
-took a vetter front fairing off and fixed the wiring, had bare signal wires looped around the frame and coils into an electrical taped nightmare where the headlight was
-lots of little things i am forgetting about

Yup, the exhaust looks different to me too....wouldn't need to use the hooks to get the rear axle bolt out now. Oh ya, needs a new rear tire too. The PO put a new front tire on but didn't get the speedo drive in the right spot so it looks like it wanted to spin a bit on the axle.
Dammit...I should have taken before pics... I always get too excited and starting fixing..

[tibor]

nice work yozzie, looks like new!

[Crazcnuk]

"As to the exhaust, it appears to be off a special"

My 78 is the same way. I actually love the way it sounds. It's a lot quieter than my stock standard exhaust.

[yozzie]

"As to the exhaust, it appears to be off a special"

My 78 is the same way. I actually love the way it sounds. It's a lot quieter than my stock standard exhaust.

Yup, this bike is quiet. Got a bit of a growl at low rpm, then almost hisses when you get on it. When I finally got it into driving condition I had an issue with it "blubbering" when trying to cruise in any gear at lower rpms. It would get bad enough that it would stop running on a couple cylinders and be a handful driving in traffic.
I pulled the plugs and it was running rich. I had a similar problem on a Honda I have after playing with the needle heights, so I tried that. Stock is the middle clip position, which is where mine were, so I dropped them one spot. It runs well now, no blubbering, and tons of torque on the low end.
I am thinking it may be because of the different exhaust? More restrictive and makes it run richer? Everything else on the bike is stock.

[Crazcnuk]

It's more likely that your float level is a touch too high.

Dropping the needles does the same thing as lowering the floats, in some situations.

It can also be that your needles/valves are a bit worn, so by dropping them one notch you effectively 'tighten' the clearance between them.

[yozzie]

It's more likely that your float level is a touch too high.

Dropping the needles does the same thing as lowering the floats, in some situations.

It can also be that your needles/valves are a bit worn, so by dropping them one notch you effectively 'tighten' the clearance between them.

That's what I thought too, I have the floats about 1mm lower than spec, but it didn't make a difference. The needles really smartened it up. With 58,000 on the clock the needles are probably worn a bit.
The plugs look good now though, so I'm not touching a thing!