first start up

[paolo1]

hey guys i picked up a 78 xs1100 last weekend for free that had been sitting outside foer quite a while.so i stripped it down to the bare essential and removed the exhaust pipes as they were rusted and started cleaning it up.so far i have put new plugs in new battery and cleaned some of the electrical connectors off and soaked the carbs with fuel stabilizer and fresh gas from a mini tank hung from the ceiling just gravity feeding the carbs.i want to just get this started so i can evaluate what needs to be addressed.what are the basics that need to be connected to have her start electric wise and vacum hoses/fuel line wise.i have removed the air box for now until i get new filter.i also do not have the key to this bike so which wires on the ignition conector should i jump to get power to the starter and other essential electrics? please any input would be useful.... one last question there is a big harness at the front with a 8 pin connector i think what is this for the head light or instrument cluster?????

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

sounds like

hey guys i picked up a 78 xs1100 last weekend for free that had been sitting outside foer quite a while.so i stripped it down to the bare essential and removed the exhaust pipes as they were rusted and started cleaning it up.so far i have put new plugs in new battery and cleaned some of the electrical connectors off and soaked the carbs with fuel stabilizer and fresh gas from a mini tank hung from the ceiling just gravity feeding the carbs.i want to just get this started so i can evaluate what needs to be addressed.what are the basics that need to be connected to have her start electric wise and vacum hoses/fuel line wise.i have removed the air box for now until i get new filter.i also do not have the key to this bike so which wires on the ignition conector should i jump to get power to the starter and other essential electrics? please any input would be useful.... one last question there is a big harness at the front with a 8 pin connector i think what is this for the head light or instrument cluster?????

Sounds like you are missing some of the wire harness, free bike good, you can get a comlpet harness on ebay for a few bucks, or you can down load a wire chart on here and make your own (I would go with the ebay thing myself) then there are links as to what to look for in a used XS on here. At least rebuild carbs, change "all" fluids and clean/fix tank before seeing what all the old crap in the bike will do to it if you just try to "run" it out

[motoman]

May be the pigtail that plugged into a fairing........

[fredintoon]

also do not have the key to this bike so which wires on the ignition connector should i jump to get power to the starter and other essential electrics? please any input would be useful.... one last question there is a big harness at the front with a 8 pin connector i think what is this for the head light or instrument cluster?????

Hi Paolo,
there's a 4-digit number on the underside of the keyed switch and another on the face of the gas cap lock. They should be the same number unless a PO has changed the ignition lock or the gas cap.
Any competent locksmith can cut a key from the number.
(That's the old guy in the dingy shop in the industrial district, NOT the bimboid in the kiosk at the mall.)
There's a red, a blue and a tan wire going to the ignition lock. Red + blue only works the tail light; red + blue + tan works everything.
The 8-pin connector works the instrument cluster. The headlight only has a 3-pin.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Key

Hi Paolo,
there's a 4-digit number on the underside of the keyed switch and another on the face of the gas cap lock. They should be the same number unless a PO has changed the ignition lock or the gas cap.
Any competent locksmith can cut a key from the number.
(That's the old guy in the dingy shop in the industrial district, NOT the bimboid in the kiosk at the mall.)
There's a red, a blue and a tan wire going to the ignition lock. Red + blue only works the tail light; red + blue + tan works everything.
The 8-pin connector works the instrument cluster. The headlight only has a 3-pin.

God bless you Fred, I can't get a key made even though I have an OEM for my bike, not even at the Yamaha dealer and the local locksmith has no blanks for a 30 year old Yamaha

[CatatonicBug]

God bless you Fred, I can't get a key made even though I have an OEM for my bike, not even at the Yamaha dealer and the local locksmith has no blanks for a 30 year old Yamaha

Find a different locksmith. The blanks look a little different now, but they can get them.

[fredintoon]

God bless you Fred, I can't get a key made even though I have an OEM for my bike, not even at the Yamaha dealer and the local locksmith has no blanks for a 30 year old Yamaha

Hi OEM,
the spotty youth in the Yamastore will be of less help than the key kiosk bimboid and I did say a competent locksmith, eh?
If all else fails, phone my local guy.
Burnett's Key Shop. 1-306-244-6302
They made me sets of XS11 keys last year no problem.

[cywelchjr]

God bless you Fred, I can't get a key made even though I have an OEM for my bike, not even at the Yamaha dealer and the local locksmith has no blanks for a 30 year old Yamaha

Yeah, I had to find a REAL locksmith. Found one with all the stuff one would expect, and he was able to make new keys for my Vetter stuff even, even though that was three keys. My next step is to go down and see if he can provide lock cylinders for all of them that match, but the latches to the frame for the bags might be a problem, but then maybe not. They all seem to be esentially the same lock cylinder with a different fitting on the end of each.

[tantor]

Keys

My commercial locksmith has the blanks. It was less than 45 seconds to get a spare key zapped. cost was 1 beer. Same price that I paid for the bike!

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Key

Find a different locksmith. The blanks look a little different now, but they can get them.

Thanks I will, and if I can find one that speeks English here, that will help

[bikerphil]

I've seen the Yamaha blanks at Ace Hardware not to long ago, no foolin'.

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Key

Hi OEM,
the spotty youth in the Yamastore will be of less help than the key kiosk bimboid and I did say a competent locksmith, eh?
If all else fails, phone my local guy.
Burnett's Key Shop. 1-306-244-6302
They made me sets of XS11 keys last year no problem.

Hey, I am with you, the morons at the dealesrs can't even make a key, no insult to you intended. My local locksmith is worthless as well, no money in helping me till I lock my keys in the car and he gets a benjie for helping me out. All about the $$$ Hell. I can get a blank on ebay and trace with a sharpie and cut with a grinder

[planedick]

Yamaha locks

Yamaha still makes keys for these bikes. The brain dead kid at your store is wrong. You can get all new locks for your luggage keyed alike at mcmaster.com for less than it costs for one of those keys from your locksmith.

[Incubus]

My local locksmith made me a key for my XS11 for $2.

Patrick

[fredintoon]

My local locksmith made me a key for my XS11 for $2. Patrick

Hi Patrick,
so will mine if you take in a key that he can use as a master in his copy machine.
And if he ain't got the right blank he can bring one in.
BUT
If all you have is the 4-digit number off the lock, that'll run you ~$20 to look up the key blank and ward pattern on his computer.
After that you'd best get a whole bunch of $2 keys cut, eh?