79 Standard vs. Special parts swap

[AndyHartvig]

Can anyone tell me what parts are interchangeable between 79 XS11 standard and special.

Thanks!

Andy

[crazy steve]

Most parts will swap; the ones that won't will be the frame, seat, sidecovers, stock exhaust, wiring harness, rear fender/taillight, petcocks, footpeg/muffler mounts, rear brake pedal assembly. You can swap the complete front fork assemblies including brakes, but you can't mix parts between them. There's a few more that can be modded to fit (gauges, fuel tanks, headlights).

A lot are the same, but a lot aren't.... If you have two non-running bikes and are trying to mash them together and get one runner, it's probably doable if both are reasonably complete. But can be complicated....

[BA80]

Why do you ask Andy?

[dpotter58]

Why do you ask Andy?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[BA80]

Just wondering why the query. Easier to answer if it's known the plan is.

What parts he needs for his standard.

[AndyHartvig]

Well thanks for the interest in my question. What I have is a 79 xs11 standard that does not currently run. I I do have spark but very weak. I also coated the tank but the coating that I used seems to be tinting the gas red and on of the petcocks leaks. I really don't know where to start when trying to get this bike to run. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[crazy steve]

That's kind of an open-ended question.... what have you tried so far?

You can pretty much figure on rebuilding the carbs if you haven't already, and checking the specs as shown in the FSM on the ignition (particularly the coils) will be another must-do...

[BA80]

You say the spark is weak. What makes you say that?

Is the spark blue or orange?

What kind of condition is the battery in?

Does it try to start at all?

[foreda]

Diagnostics

It would help if you would give us an idea of what you have done so far as far as diagnostics. Remember there are three things that you must have.. Fuel, Spark(heat) and Air for combustion.

[AndyHartvig]

OK so here is my situation. My father-in-law gave me a 1979 XS1000 standard last fall. It had been sitting in his garage for the past 15 yrs. It ran when he parked it.

Since I have taken possession of the bike I have cleaned the inside of the gas tank as good as I could get it with some hardware I found and coated it. I rebuilt one of the petcocks as the vacuum advance diaphram had a hole in it. I put in a new battery and spark plugs. I have replaced all of the vacuum lines and both fuel lines. I also bought two coils from ebay but I don't think that one of them is the correct coil for the bike.

The bike turns over well and it does seem to have good spark even though I think the one coil is incorrect.

What I am looking to do is get the bike to fire and even run a little bit so I know it is worth sticking more money into. I am in it about 200 so far and am really not interested in putting a whole lot more into the bike until I know that it is gonna run. If it does run then I think that over time I would like to restore it. Any help would be appreciated. Here are a few questions that I have for starters:

What are the correct engine coils for this year and model bike?

What are the resistances supposed to be for both the coils and the boots themselves?

Which coil wires go to which cylinders? is it 1&4 and 2&3? and which coil is which, the left or right when sitting on the bike?

Im sure I'll have more questions in the futrue but here are a few.

Thanks for any info!

Andy

[EricHa]

Hi Andy. It sounds like a service manual will answer most of your questions. Fellow XS11 member Catatonic Bug has a link to the FSM in his signature. Just do a search for him.

IMHO, your bike is well worth restoring. These old beasts are cool, and you can't get a new bike that is anything like them, at any price. Air cooled fours are just......cool.

[crazy steve]

What are the resistances supposed to be for both the coils and the boots themselves?

Which coil wires go to which cylinders? is it 1&4 and 2&3? and which coil is which, the left or right when sitting on the bike?

I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future but here are a few.

Thanks for any info!

Andy

Coil resistances are 1.5 ohm through the primary side, and 15K ohms through the secondary side, each plug cap should be 5K ohms for a total of 25K. The 1/4 plugs should have the 'short' cap on them, 2/3 'long'. If the secondary doesn't check out, unscrew the plug caps off the wires and check those individually. New caps can be bought at most any metric dealer, about $3-5 each.

If nothing's been changed, the left coil (sitting on the bike) should be 1/4, right 2/3. Main thing to check is what color wire is hooked to which coil; both will have a red/white, the 1/4 will also have a orange, 2/3 a gray.

But I hate to tell you, if you haven't gone through the carbs yet, you're probably wasting your time. Fifteen years of sitting means clogged carbs 99.9% of the time, and a complete disassembly (everything except the throttle plates and linkage) and thorough cleaning is what it takes to bring them back. You may not need any parts other than bowl gaskets (and maybe not those if they don't tear), but you can't skip the cleaning. Some members cleaned theirs multiple times, a 'reward' for not doing a thorough job. You've cleaned the tank, make sure both petcocks are spotless too. Be careful disassembling the carbs, as it's too easy to break the float posts, strip the jets, etc. Do a search for 'carb cleaning' you'll get a bunch of hits and do some reading up.

And like Eric says, you really need the manual; C'bug has a link in his signature to a free download...