IndyXS's project. Picture heavy.

[IndyXS]

A thread for my project. A 1980 Midnight Special.
DISCLAIMER: Im poor. Work will be slow. Updates may be infrequent. This is not an epic build. This is a get it on the road for as little as possable. As quick as possable.

Ok that's out of the way. I know its fun to follow someones project. So here we go.

The bike as it is now.









Now what I know is bad. There is probably more bad I don't know than the bad I do.

This mess is now the fuse box.


This is the seat. I don't like the king queen.


The intake boots look like this.


The driveshaft to engine boot is ripped.


The inner fender.


Also the throttle cabel is broken. The brake calipers need rebuilt.

The unknown.
Carbs, I hope I don't have to rebuild them this season. Fat chance but I can dream!
Transmission. A huge question. It goes in to gear and neutral.

Now there are a few good points.
Tank is very clean. Crappy drippy rattle can paint.
It's all there except air box.
Tires are good.
Rims are good.
I did hear it run off starting fluid. No smoke no knock. Engine should be good.
It has an oil cooler installed.

I just blew a radiator in my car so the next updat might be a bit. I want to tackle throttle cable and hook gas up. See how it runs. Tips and suggestions are welcome. :-)

[natemoen]

A little rough around the edges but people have startes with much much worse! Hope it goes good for you!

[DGXSER]

Let me be the first to point out that your carbs are form a 79 or 78. And the way the fuel lines look to be connected is wrong and will cause your carbs to over flow. There are two Ts between the each set of two carbs, the lower is where fuel goes in, the upper is a vent. It looks like the PO ran your fuel lines one to the upper and one to the lower.

As to the paint, Rattle can paint can be made to look pretty nice with enough sanding and buffing. However, it will not hold up to gasoline. DAMHIKIJK.

As to the wiring mess, look in the tips area for the modification on the fuse box. One of the Admins/Mods TC (TopCatGR) stocks a popular replacement fuse box and sells it with the connectors to members for about $10-11 IIRC. It is one heck of a good deal IMO. I have put four at least into different bikes.

If you want to see a beast that was in similar to worse condition and how it came back to life, look HERE

Just one example of the many on this site. Like I said, I am in Indy often and do not mind lending a hand when needed, so let me know if you get stuck or just need an extra set of hands here or there.

[IndyXS]

Well at least the PO did put fuses on mine. DGXSER thanks for the gas line tips. It was hooked to both. I guess they couldn't figure out reg and reserve. I plan to use fuel filters as well. Looks like yours was nice and low budget. Hope mine is too. The only thing that worries me is the drimel trans fix. But I have only just glazed over the how to. Carbs I can rebuild and sink. Just don't want to. ;p. All in all it looks solid. I do have the triumph so I can rip into the xs if needed.

[DGXSER]

If you can handle the carbs, you can handle the transmission repair. Key to it is read over the directions in the tech tips carefully, a few times, before you start. As you work your way through it, just be sure to ask questions here when they come up. Belive me, no question you will come up with is stupid or has not been asked before. The great folks on this site have rought me a LONG way from when I started here and did my first dremel fix.

Somdays I even sound like I know what I'm talking about.

[foreda]

Parts

You should be able to pick up an inner fender in ebay. You will be suprised what you can do with a little elbow grease on these old machines. I have one I am restoring now that was in worst shape than yours. Good luck.

[XSive Okie]

Carb boots should be okay, mine look worse than that and don't leak. I would say overall, looks like a great project bike. And for the time being, the red bike to the left of it appears road worthy. I too am on a tight budget, and while my Special is certainly no beauty queen, she runs and that's good enough for me for now!

[IndyXS]

Carb boots should be okay, mine look worse than that and don't leak. I would say overall, looks like a great project bike. And for the time being, the red bike to the left of it appears road worthy. I too am on a tight budget, and while my Special is certainly no beauty queen, she runs and that's good enough for me for now!

The red bike is my triumph. It is very road worthy. Its also a big part of my no money. Its not pairs off yet. I am very lucky in that cycle recycle 2 which is listed in this sites link page is only a few blocks away.

[Phoenix Rider]

Well, it looks like it's been neglected, but it doesn't look that bad. Cables, not a big deal. Carbs, just use the how to on the site, not difficult and not that expensive to rebuild. They might just need a cleaning. Rebuild the brakes, not too bad. Just do what you can afford and start off with the easier things. You'll have that running and looking good in no time.
I have a king/queen seat and love it. The seat is wider and the queen part is great to put a back pack on. I ended up getting the the thing recovered. Cost me more than the seat itself.

Have fun
Wayne

[strom]

Doesnt look that bad.

Needs some TLC.

1st: Clean the bike. Really really well. Spot and write down anything that need replacing/fixing. Now or later, you can prioritize later.

2nd: Carb rebuild... a must. By that I mean the triple clean. It takes time, but its easy on the wallet. An afternoons work, nice work at that.

3rd: it really doesnt look that bad

4th: Carb boots... a must, expencive but cannot be helped. As well as new gas hoses and fuel filters. Its all in the tech tips.

Good luck... and remember... it will be worth it.

[cywelchjr]

On the carb boots, mine look that bad and don't have any leakage at all. That actually looks like it could just be surface cracking, and if your worried about the looks, many have used the rubber/plastic spray they make for tool handles to fix that.

[IndyXS]

Hoping to spend some quality time with the Yamaha on Wednesday. Lots of cleaning to do. DGXSER, where does the carb vent go to? Im a little confused on gas line routing. Im used to 1 line off each petcock. Im looking for manuals. Look like a guy on here has shop manuals on cd from microfish. Also will get the fuse box you recomended. Looks and sits good and you can't beat the price. More updates on Wednesday. Hope there good.

[DGXSER]

Hey Indy,

The vent lines on a stock bike go to nipples on the air box. But they are simply vents, so you could also just put some short lengths of fuel line on them and leave it at that.

If your going back to stock air box, then you would want a 78 or 79 air box. The 80-81 versions have plastic nipples but they are sealed up. Also on the 78-79 air boxes those plastic nipples are reinforced with some small brass tubing inside them. However, you could drill open the holes on the 80-81 boxes to use them.

As to fuel lines, assuming the petcocks are on the corrects sides of the tank (they are marked with an L and an R for Left and Right, as your sitting on the bike in riding position), then the stock routing would beas follows:

The front outlets are PRIME. This feeds gas to the carbs regardless of the engine running or not, and also eliminates the reserve function. So when you run out of gas, your out, now a member of the bike pushing brigade instead of flipping to the reserve and getting another 10 miles. These would run to T in the line.

The rear outlets are the ON and RESERVE outlets, these would run to the vacuum operated fuel valve (known as the OCTY around here). Out of the OCTY they would then run to that T mentioned above. The combined line on the thrid side of the T would then feed that sides bank of carbs.

Alot of folks, myself included, do not use the OCTY valve, and since you do not have one, you may not either. So, you can simply block off the PRIME outlets on the petcocks, or run a length of fuel line from one to the other. Then take the ON/RESERVE outlet and run it to the fuel T for each set of two carbs. If you do a search you will find many options for how people like to run the fuel lines. One thing most will agree on is the need to put an in-line fuel filter between the tank and the carbs. This is how I run them.

[IndyXS]

That makes sense. I don't have the octy valve. Not going to either. Looks like I just need filters and some fuel hose. See if it starts. Big day on Wednesday. :-)

[CatatonicBug]

Im looking for manuals. Look like a guy on here has shop manuals on cd from microfish.

You can download the OEM and the Clymers' manuals from the link in my signature.