Hey all, introduction and a couple questions

[jmcvey1]

Hey all, I just picked up my first bike a few months ago, a 1979 xs1100 as a winter long project. The grad school I'm at in chicago has a full metal shop so I'm hoping to do make my own seat and rear fender well (we'll see how that goes later on) and mostly turn it all into a minimalistic bike taking looks from cafe racers and bobbers. Pretty much, just wanting to have fun with it.

my girlfriend and i:



now on to the questions! I didn't realize when i started this post that my questions were going to be so much longer than my introduction, sorry about that guys.

Wont start?

When I bought it, it started and ran real nice but the throttle cable had been broke so it wouldn't drive. Now I've taken a few parts off and was hoping to start it up again to no avail.

I've taken the instruments and headlamp off, do they need to be connected for it to start? Also I'm not sure I have the throttle assembly connected properly, does anyone happen to have pictures?

Empty fuse box?

I thought this was weird when i was looking over my bike, and having flipped through the forums here it seems like the fuse box on these bikes.... usually has fuses.

mine does not. but it does have a blob of wires next to it.

has anyone seen this before? is it a common fusebox bypass?

pictures:



Handlebars?

I bought some clubmaster handlebars that fit and don't hit the tank, but now all my cables are too long (obviously.) I've found sites around that sell clutch and throttle cables specifically for the xs1100 but none that sell em by length, do you guys know of any?



Anyway, thanks in advance, I've enjoyed reading through these forums so far and have found a lot of great information already here. Sorry if these questions had been posted before, I looked but didn't find any answers.

Thanks again,
Joshua Cade

[jmcvey1]

I guess I should also say that I've never worked on or ridden a motorcycle before, but I have done a lot of remove/replacing and all the odd things that need to be done to keep my '72 cutlass running. I'm assuming motorcycles are similar to old cars, just on a smaller scale.

So far it seems to be true

[Lonerider62]

First, welcome to the forum. There is plenty of pent-up information here to help you get the bike going. The first thing I would suggest is a manual. There are manuals available through the forum and elsewhere that come in digital form but to be honest, for someone who hasn't done a lot of work on bikes, I suggest a regular manual so you can easily earmark pages for quick reference back and forth between pages or subjects.
Now, not only don't you have fuses, I can see by your picture, the fuse holders are gone as well,, More than likely the PO has them tied up in that glob of tape or he just bypassed the fuses and twisted the wires together. In any event, getting them put back with fuses would be a good idea and a good wiring diagram will definitely help you determine what you have and what you don't. If you removed your instruments and headlight, you more than likely also cut the power to your ignition. You might want to try to get them back the way they were just to she if she'll run then. Also, without a throttle cable, your throttles are probably closed, especialy if you changed the idle screw. The old addage is, it takes gas, spark, and compression to run so you should be able to figure out which one(s) you don't have at this point. You also look like you are missing your air cleaner. Is it gone, or just removed? For specific issues you can use the "search" on here to get quick answers. Try tackling one at a time and get each issue cleared so you will know that your aren't trying to deal with mulitple problems. You don't want to try to figure out which Christmas tree light out of 100 is bad. You need a throttle cable and that's one thing you should be able to take care of quite quickly. Next, I concentrate on what happend to the spark if it's gone.

[mack]

Hi and welcome

Looks like your going to have your hands full for a while. I'm afraid your harness has been customized. Without being there to follow what was done, it's hard to say what needs to be done. Good news is that if it ran when you viewed it before purchase, it should again. Try charging the battery first, change the gas and give a try. Never know. These bikes run off the battery and the motor usually starts charging the battery when RPM is over 2500. But bike batteries don't last too long. There are several members in your area and they will chime in and perhaps for the cost of an ale or two, you may have a couple who will come look it over for you. You'll get a lot of sage advise here. Best place to start is going to"catatonicbugs" link and downloading a manual. Wiring diagram is in the back. Nice exhausts, guard them with your life. The originals are invaluable to restoring the bike original performance. And on that note, get your self into a motorcycle safety training course before you ever ride that big dude once you get it running. They are funny car strong, in a straight line, have weak braking systems and are top heavy to corner with. Get real used to it before you try putting through it's paces!!!!!!

[mack]

second look

After a second look that isn't the original exhaust. When you clean the carbs you'll be doing some re-jetting dependant on what type of air filters you use.

[crazy steve]

Oh baby, where to start..... and welcome to the forum!

You've been 'POed' pretty badly, but if you have the needed patience we can help you bring this bike back.

Wiring. No, that's not a typical fusebox repair! That's a fire looking for a place to happen, so you definitely need to address that! If there's signs of hacking elsewhere in the harness and/or you're 'electrically challenged', you might want to think about just getting another unmolested harness. Start by getting a service manual/wiring diagram, you can download one for free here: http://www.ringler.us/family/mybike.html You want the third one down for sure, and the fourth one will also be a help.

For a troubleshooting overview of the electrical system, look here: http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...roubleshooting

The factory fusebox is a known problem, here's the fix: http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14052 The pictured replacement fusebox is available from member TopCatGR58 for a very reasonable price ($10?), send him a PM.

I also noticed that you don't have OEM carbs installed; you'll need to identify those (or replace them with the factory models) before you start tuning the bike. Maybe pull those off and post some pics... This may also complicate getting a throttle cable that fits.

Cables: I believe that Motion-Pro will make custom length cables, contact them for your needs.

If you know it's runs, you're halfway there; many of these bikes have been rescued from long abandonment and hadn't been run in years, so you at least know your's will go...

You might also contact member BA80 (Greg) via a PM; he's in Tulsa and I've heard he'll work for beer Greg also has a bunch of parts for sale, he might be able to help you there too...

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Welcome Joshua, Lots of good advice given already. It looks like the PO had the fuse box curse where the cheap metal clips break so he may have twister them togather then taped them. If he did them one set of wires at a time and kept them from contacing to the other pairs the you should have and easy fix. Get the fuse box from TopCat, check the color code to make sure each pair of wires is correct, then just hook them up in the fuse box and use the correct amp fuse for each wire set (all that info is in the manual that was recomended to you). Next, rewire all the stuff you unwired, the OEM wireing uses different parts to make different things work, ie head light, starter buttion, clutch switch etc. After you have done all that, check the oil, put some kind of air filter on it, clean out the tank and add fresh fuel (if needed) charge the battery and it should start back up as it was running before you took some parts off. here is a resouce for the cables you need, you can get some you just cut the lenth so you know the will fit, many XS650 parts interchange so Mikes XS is a good sorce at a fair price

http://www.mikesxs.net/products-62.html#products

[jetmechmarty]

When you disconnected the connectors in the headlight shell, one of them goes to the ignition switch. It won't start with that disconnected. IMHO, you know it runs. Fix the wiring first.

Oregon Motorcycle Parts can help with most of the electrical bits. The biz owner is a member of this group. "Geezer"

Steve,

How did you know those aren't OEM carburetors?

[old_skool]

Another sucker joins the ranks....just kidding, just got my xs in similar condition in regards to the fuse block, all the wires bypassed with those twist radio fuse types, at least they used some kind of fuses, I just bought a fuse block from Advance Auto today for $9.99 and some right angle connectors for another $5, so $15 and some patience you'll have that part done,most any auto part store probably carries them now. And the journey begins!! Good luck and welcome aboard.

oh yeah....nice camera skills, that always helps us help you!

[XS1100_OEM4ME]

Extra wires

Also, there are extra wires in the H/L bucket for fairings and such (hope you marked them before disconect) if not go by the wireing chart

[crazy steve]

Steve,

How did you know those aren't OEM carburetors?

Look at the intake bells in his second pic; the carbs on his lack all of the inlet points (for the air jet, enrichener, etc) and instead have two holes at the bottom of the bell...

[skids]

Welcome Josh!

[jmcvey1]

Yes, manuals are awesome. I bought mine a few months ago and have nearly read it cover to cover trying to wrap my head around the bike.

My next question, if the wiring seems brittle in a few of the connections should I try to rewire the whole thing? I'm not too scared of trying, just unsure of where to start the purchasing. I don't have colored wires around but wouldn't mind buying some, if anyone has done this before i'd love to know where to start the project.

Today I cut open the wire blob and found that it is indeed the four fuses taped together, I'll hopefully get to put the box itself back together in the next few days.



Old_skool, yeah! I've looked through your build threads so far. lots of good information there.

Everyone, thanks for the welcome, I'll keep you guys updated on my slow progress, hopefully it will get more exciting later on as i get to painting and making.

Anyway, thanks again. See you all around

[crazy steve]

My next question, if the wiring seems brittle in a few of the connections should I try to rewire the whole thing? I'm not too scared of trying, just unsure of where to start the purchasing. I don't have colored wires around but wouldn't mind buying some, if anyone has done this before i'd love to know where to start the project.

You're nearly always better off fixing an OEM harness rather than trying to build one from scratch. I have built one, but would only do so if I simply can't make the stock one work even with mods or if the stock one is heavily damaged. First reason is expense; buying all the wire will run you a fair amount of money at about $0.35 a foot, then add in all the plugs and connectors, harness wrap, etc, and you can have several hundred $$ in just material.

On these bikes, where you'll usually find 'bad' wire is at the ignition switch plug and the charging system wiring plugs (besides the fuse panel ). These are notorious for getting dirty and overheating, cooking the plug and wires. Clean the plugs/connectors if possible, replace if they're melted or corroded really bad. If the insulation is just a bit 'hard', you can repair with shrink tube. If the wire has obviously gotten hot (discolored and/or brittle), splice in a new piece. Use quality crimp connectors with a good crimper and avoid soldering. Tony (member 'geezer') at Oregon Motorcycle Parts (http://www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com/) can supply you with the plugs, crimps, and crimp tool at a reasonable price. For wire with the correct colors/tracers, try these guys: http://riwire.com/.

I've found that going through the entire electrical system and making sure that all connections are as good as you can make them while the bike is apart is far easier than chasing problems when you were hoping to ride the bike...

[jetmechmarty]

If you're wiring harness is heavily damaged, look up member ANDREAS. He may have a good replacement for you. I bought one on ebay not so long ago. Just make sure the harness is from the same model and year as your bike.

Z1 Enterprises has wire in different colors as well.
http://www.z1enterprises.com/catalog...S1100-1980-EL0