My first project

[stevestrom]

I will only say one thing about the safety stuff. The kickstand switch is a very very good safety feature to have. Leaving one down and finding out when it hits and then you have to try to lean the bike and swing your leg to put it up is a REALLY bad experience. OK preaching over.

The bike looks really nice, lots of progress being made!!

Thats one of the items that went the way of the Dodo! I felt pretty comfortable taking it off. My Vstrom is a daily commuter for me, it has a kick stand switch and I have not needed it yet. May regret it one day though, you never know.

This bike is going to be just a good weather bike, weekend warrior. It looks like it's had the crap kicked out of it for the past 29 years and 40,000kms. Time to baby it a little.

[Electronhammer]

your project

My '80 Honda CB750K has no kickstand down safety switch. I have only taken off two times with it down. After you take off, you will know really quick; simply try to make a left turn and you will immediately know

[crazy steve]

Did you solder and heatshrink your connections if any wire splicing was performed?

I'm not a big fan of soldering.... I do like heatshrink though. For a thorough discussion of solder vs crimp (with a few people getting rather excited), look here: http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ight=soldering

[Electronhammer]

soldering vs crimping(ie butt splicing or scotch locks)

Soldering when done properly outlast any crimp and will not fail or cause intermittent problems. Soldering is not hard when you have the correct equipment and follow some good basic tecniques. I enjoy soldering and solder all my connections even when crimping on a ring tongue or spade lug. That's right I did say "crimp". I will crimp on a ring tongue, but I will also flow solder into the crimp and then usually place heatshrink over that for weather proofing.

[natemoen]

Soldering when done properly outlast any crimp and will not fail or cause intermittent problems. Soldering is not hard when you have the correct equipment and follow some good basic tecniques. I enjoy soldering and solder all my connections even when crimping on a ring tongue or spade lug. That's right I did say "crimp". I will crimp on a ring tongue, but I will also flow solder into the crimp and then usually place heatshrink over that for weather proofing.

I am not getting into the crimp vs solder debate but I will say that scotch connectors are absolutely worthless except in absolute emergency situations, and even then I would weather twist and tape.

I HATE SCOTCH CONNECTORS!

[stevestrom]

I am not getting into the crimp vs solder debate but I will say that scotch connectors are absolutely worthless except in absolute emergency situations, and even then I would weather twist and tape.

I HATE SCOTCH CONNECTORS!

Yes. I've always found that the more scotch I have the worse my connections get.

[yamahansolo]

Love the pics!!! I have a bit of my parts xj left I can sell stuff cheap if you need anything let me know.

Also not trying to tell you what to do but if you can still split the cases you might want to reconsider the second gear mod.

For those of us lucky people to own bob jones book xs11 heaven you'll read that yamaha actually assembled them wrong. Even if you dogs look good now they won't later on because the spacer is on the wrong side.

There is a lot of great info on the site from years ago up to now. Good luck with you project!!! Are you going for a more streetfighter look or more modern or what? I personally like streetfighters and cafe racers. Since your putting the hard work in you can check out racetech emulators to make it handle better

[Electronhammer]

Your bike

Ya, love the pics Stevestrom. Keep them coming.

Soldering when done properly outlast any crimp and will not fail or cause intermittent problems.

I was merely stating my opinion. I didn't wish to start a debate either. This is not my thread. Again love the pics Stevestrom. Nice work! I can't wait to see the finished product.

[stevestrom]

Alright, posting some more pics.

I didn't end up breaking the carbs up, I just stripped them down and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Everything inside was all gummed up, floats wouldn't move, throttle wouldn't open and close. I insalled new float bowl gaskets, fuel needles, idle adjustment screws (old ones were crumbling apart they were so rusty), and three float bowl drain plugs. All four plugs were siezed and stripped from the PO and I had to drill them out. Couldn't get one of them out so I just used JB weld to fill in the hole I created in the old screw. Maybe eventually I'll get a new float bowl.



Here they are on the bike, I pained the top caps black since the chrome was in such bad shape. (Never mind the rats nest of wires - Still sorting that out)

[stevestrom]

Love the pics!!! I have a bit of my parts xj left I can sell stuff cheap if you need anything let me know.

Also not trying to tell you what to do but if you can still split the cases you might want to reconsider the second gear mod.

For those of us lucky people to own bob jones book xs11 heaven you'll read that yamaha actually assembled them wrong. Even if you dogs look good now they won't later on because the spacer is on the wrong side.

There is a lot of great info on the site from years ago up to now. Good luck with you project!!! Are you going for a more streetfighter look or more modern or what? I personally like streetfighters and cafe racers. Since your putting the hard work in you can check out racetech emulators to make it handle better

Thanks man!
I am really trying to do this project on the cheap. Right now I just want to make it road worthy, I may look into upgrading some parts for performance in the future.

Not splitting the cases at this point either. When I picked the bike up from the PO he said that when he bought it at 20,000kms it was jumping out of 2nd and he spent $800 at a shop getting it fixed. It looked fine when I had it apart; hopefully it's not an issue in the future. If so do I really need to split the cases to get it out? Or, can I just go in from the bottom?

As for the style, I am not really sure there. I found a picture online of an xs1100 that I believe someone photoshopped and I am kind of loosly following that. I guess its going to be more cafe racer/ streetfighter than bobber style.


Thanks for the offer on the parts! Wouln't happen to have a fuel cap would you?

[cywelchjr]

Soldering when done properly outlast any crimp and will not fail or cause intermittent problems. Soldering is not hard when you have the correct equipment and follow some good basic tecniques. I enjoy soldering and solder all my connections even when crimping on a ring tongue or spade lug. That's right I did say "crimp". I will crimp on a ring tongue, but I will also flow solder into the crimp and then usually place heatshrink over that for weather proofing.

Sorry, with a lifetime of working with electronics I have to call you on wrong information. You are right about will not cause an intermittent connection, but as is covered in the extensive thread on soldering, you always have a weak spot right next to the solder job. It's a non-issue as long as the wire is supported on by sides of the solder joint, and heat shrink helps with that. It why strain reliefs are used in milspec gear, because milspec also requires all joints to be soldered. If you put the heatshrink on it will help of course. But, there is a reason that manufacturers crimp everything, and it's NOT just about cost, but frankly on vehicle a good crimp will very often last longer than a solder job, and having worked in electronics I know just how hard it is to do a good soldering job reliably. A high percentage of problems in consumer equipment are caused by poor solder joints.

[yamahansolo]

I have 2 I think... 1 for sure. I'll go down to the garage. You want an xj one? Or wait I seem to remember a standard tank. I think I only have 1 standard one I'll grab it and see. Anything else?

Oh they probobly fixed the spacer if the po had it in the shop.

Also can you post a pic of the xs11 you are loosely going for. I like looking at peopled ideas.

[stevestrom]

Yamahansolo, you have mail! Here is the picture of the XS that I am basing my build from. I couldn't find the picture again online but I have it saved on my desktop, so I took a photo of that instead. The bike in the photo appears to have been photoshopped. I am looking to do something similar but without the fairing.



Here are the pictures of the forks and the beginnings of the gas tank. The fork tubes are pitted a bit from rust, but I sanded them down and they will do until I can scrape some cash together for new ones. The snap ring that retains the fork seal was so badly rusted that I had to use a thin cutting wheel on the dremel combined with a whole lot of patience and cut the clip into pieces so that it could be removed.



I've decided on a paint scheme of victory red with a white racing stripe and black pinstriping. You can kind of see it on the headlight in the next couple of photos. I also put my new clip on bars on.





The filler area of the standard tank that I picked up was really rusty so I opted to cut it out and replace it with the filler area off the XJ tank that came on the bike. This also allowed me to glass bead the inside of the tank. When I stipped the standard tank down I found some old brazing repair work on the bottom and a bunch of areas that needed more patching.

[crazy steve]

Now, this is pretty slick.... I like this idea

[natemoen]

That is a neat idea!