I think I found my first Project!

[GLoweVA]

Factory Colors?

So it came from the factory as:
1980 XS1100SG 3J6-000101 Black Red, New Ruby Red
I know what the ruby red looks like. (It's under the wierd green paint I have on the Green Monster)
What I want to know is what did the Black Red look like?
Did it have 'flakes' in it?
I've been googling and searching, but can't find any pics of this original color.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun here and I'll figure it out as soon as I start taking her apart and see what the under side of the tank and side covers look like.

It's just that I'm itching to get at her and I won't be able to touch her until tue afternoon.

Why do we have to work?!? I guess to earn money to pay for our toys!

[jetmechmarty]

The paint is black, with tiny bits of red glass in it.

[GLoweVA]

Thanks Marty.
I was hoping that someone would have a pic or a link that I could see it.

I am most likely going to re-paint the calipers the under tank plastic piece and the emblems back to the original color, but not sure about the tank and side covers yet.

[jetmechmarty]

The red does not show, unless the sun is shining on it. I just did one like that in purple glass for my daughter. We both like the result.

[mfarrington]

paint

I got my 80 spec this past march (10K miles since then! Yeah!) and it's the black w/red sparklies. Absolutely beautiful when the sun shines on it, but can't tell under most other conditions.

Have fun bro!

[GLoweVA]

Carb boots and the plastic dip stuff?

Looking at my project yesterday and I noticed that the boots are COATED with some kinda of sealer. (Probably RTV)
Anyway, it's a mess. I've been researching getting new boots, but was wondering about the plas-dip stuff that all of you have been swearing about.
IF, I can get all that cr*p off my boots maybe I can coat them with the plas-dip.
I was just wondering what that stuff is like to play with.
Is it liquidy, pasty, syrup like?
In other words, can I get a nice smooth coat, or is it gonna look like I'm building a paper mache volcano?

I'll try to post some pic tonight after i get the carbs out.

[GLoweVA]

My messed up boots

So the PO had wrapped them up with tape and some kind of sealer.


Oh, I also found that one of the fuse holders had one tab broken and the fuse soldered to the other clip.


It looks like I'll need one of TC's fuse box replacements.

[GLoweVA]

Update on my resurrection! (Halloween pun!)

So, progress was made this weekend.
On Friday, I stopped by TC's and picked up 2 fuse blocks. (one for each)
Saturday was Carb day:
-Pulled the air filter and found a mess load of small pellet looking things inside. (i don't want to know what left those behind!)
-Pulled the tank and luckily my petcocks held. (No leaks)
-Pulled the carbs. The butterfly shaft wouldn't turn at all.
-I wanted to pull the bank apart, but couldn't get the bolts out, so I cleaned them one at a time in a row.
-They were NASTY! The 'emulsion' tubes were GREEN with gunk.
-It took my vice grips to get the float needles out and I used a crecent wrench to work the butterfly valves until they rotated freely.
-2 cans of carb cleaner and 5hrs of work later and they might be clean enough to at least work now. (I know I'll have to clean them again, plus I plan on replacing some of those internals like the float seats.)
Sunday was electrical:
-Pulled the left cover off so I can rotate to make sure it would spin.
-Pulled the plugs and all 4 were black and sooty. (At least they weren't rusty)
-Rotated just fine, even got some woosh sounds out of the plug holes.
-Then I notice the PO's repair job to the advance wires.
-Speaker wire! Really! For the needed slack the PO routed the wiring harness over the starter instead of under and around the engine bottom. (nice to have my 80G right next to it for comparison)
-The sleeving was hard and brittle too. Just a little flexing and snap it broke in many places.
-So, I pulled the plug in order to re-route and re-sleeve with heat shrink.
-The speaker wire splice was right up to the sensor. (about 1/4" to 1/2" of wire available to work with)
-Found some 16 gauge wire that was flexible enough and proceeded to solder/heat shrink/splice.

Missed the 1pm football games, but got done in time for the 4pm games.
Battery is STILL on the charger. I don't think I'll be able to bring that back to life. (Last check it was at 11.8V)

Things left to do:
check valve clearance and cam chain adjustment (may put in an ACCT)
clean out fuel tank including petcocks (also replace some carb parts & clean again)
Do something about those ugly carb boots. (they appear to be fine on the inside)
Battery (see above) put in TC's fuse block
Oil change --- Then I can see if she'll run
New Brake fluids and check pads
New Tires
Lastly, middle/final gear oil changes.
---- then I get to see if she'll ride!

I'll keep you all posted. Weekends are about the only time I get to play and the carport can get kinda chilly in the winter.

ps. The underside of the tank was red, so I'm guessing the original color was the Ruby Red. Although the speckled black is kinda growing on me along with the red decals/badges, but I think the calipers need to go back to black.
Then again with a name like Scarlet, maybe red is the right choice.

[GLoweVA]

I finally got around to putting TV's fuse box in. It was surprisingly easy. I even put the main fuse in there as well. The hardest part was widening the holes to mount it. Finally had enough juice in the battery to check the lights.

[TRASH]

Last checklist on a barnfind looked like yours, don't forget the brakes like I did Things got more exciting than I wanted them to be real quick. Sounds like things are coming along great. I am jealous!

[GaryF]

Looks like your going through the check list and its coming along nicely
Can't wait for you to take it for a ride and let us know how it goes
If I had that virtual encyclopedia of XS knowledge T.C within driving distance I'd be inclined to do more of the needed projects to mine
Keep us updated and keep up with the pics

[GLoweVA]

Thanks Gary.
Just knowing that TC is just a phone call away (or a stop on my way home from work) is a great support.
I just wish I had more free time to work on her. (and some place other than the carport)

The most valuable asset i have though is this site !
I've learned SO much over the last 6 months just from interacting with all of my fellow XSives.

I think this week/weekend I'll try to at least get the engine running. (albeit for a real short time) (just to see if she'll run) (got to clean the carbs one more time first)

There's so much I wanna (and gotta) buy for her, but I've got to go easy on the funds. If the wife sees me spending too much to quickly she'll get PO'd.

Edit: Yahoo! Milestone! I just had my 200th post! I'm officially an XStreamly XSive!!! (but then I guess by starting a project, I already was extreme! )

[GLoweVA]

Update on my progress.

Cleaned out the tank and petcocks this weekend.
Cleaned some rust off the petcock label plates. (see rust thread)
5yr old gas sure does smell funny.
Cleaned out the Octy too.
Got one of the carb boots off the head and started trying to do something with it.
Used a spare battery that I had lying around and pulled the plugs and turned her over and had spark on all 4 !

Plan on cleaning the carb parts this next weekend.
I think I'll get the kids to help with some brasso and q-tips.
(Free labor is always good!!)

[3Phase]

Yech! Five year old gas? Even fresh modern gas is like that home grown mentholated tobacco in Finian's Rainbow; stuff's worse than asbestos, it put fires out! Sorry, just kidding... mostly.

After cleaning too many of the darn things I have a couple of suggestions for cleaning the needle jets/emulsion tubes:

Q-Tips work great for cleaning but don't lose the cotton tip or leave any fibers in the jets to attract dirt. It's not impossible to get them out, just tedious and annoying, so use plenty of clean Q-tips that won't lose their tips or shed cotton.

Use wooden toothpicks to clean the air holes so you don't enlarge the holes.

The dirt and varnish in the jets can be as hard as a proverbial rock so make sure you have actually gone all the way down to clean brass and not just polished the dirt.

Q-tips will tend to pack dirt and Brasso in the center bores of the needle jets around the machining ridges at each end. Use toothpicks to remove the build-up, then clean and polish the bores again with clean Q-tips. Repeat until there is no more dirt or Brasso remaining in the jet and the center bore is clean and polished smooth.

When you're absolutely 100% positive that a jet is clean, hold it up to a bright light and look through the center bore while you poke a toothpick through the air holes. The toothpick will most likely push out a very small ring of dirt that you can see clearly in the smooth, polished bore of the jet.

Make sure you get all of the Brasso out of the jets. The Brasso will keep working on the brass and they will get funky green stuff growing in them, then they will have to be pulled out and the carburetors will have to be cleaned again.

It's worth it so have fun!

[CaptonZap]

One other trick to clean the brass and steel parts is to get a bottle of finger nail polish remover, and soak the parts overnight.
Make sure that the remover contains acetone.
Lacquer thinner will work as well, since a major part of it is acetone. Then the toothpicks and Q-tips will wipe the gook right off.
Do not get the thinner on the rubber seals or plastic floats.
The good old carb cleaner was methylene chloride, and it was really good at dissolving gasoline varnish, but the EPA is making it difficult to find. CZ

p.s. Don't breath the fumes, you huffers!