Progress report - Thanks XS11.com

[XS11UFO]

First.

Thanks – crazy steve, JeffH, bikerphil, TopCatGr58, DiverRay, BA80, EricHa, any everyone else that has contributed to the excellent technical info on this forum!

I thought you might like to see some progress, 1st the carbs!
Before… Not only do they look like crap but they also work like crap. Gas oozing out of every orifice, backfiring, lousy idle, etc.



After… Still waiting on some parts (pilot jets, floats, o-rings for T’s)



Not sure how they will work yet…



But they sure look A LOT better…



I couldn’t have done it without all the help of the XS community. Thanks.

Today, I changed the middle and final gear oil, the oil, installed new intake boots…



…and greased the driveshaft.
I was getting a little discouraged because this little job has turned into a full blown project! Every time I went out to work on the bike I end up finding 5 more things that need to be done. To top it off, my bike looks like hell, she hasn’t seen a rag cleaning her up in years. I decided to begin that little job and like everything else, one thing leads to another (I need to polish the chrome, wait the aluminum looks bad – I need to polish that, wait the header pipes have rust – I need to tackle that, etc. etc…). Here is the right exhaust pipe – before…



And, here is the left – after (1st pass – more to do)…



The front fender cleaned up nicely (but more to do)…



Still to do before I get to ride. Check valve clearance, replace brake fluid and pads, change front fork oil, finish carbs (when parts arrive), set float height, bench sync, install carbs, reasssemble fuel valves (cleaned them out – nothing broken just filthy), de-rust inside of gas tank, install new fuel and vacume lines, finish building sync tool, sync carbs, finish polishing and waxing, reinstall faring / bags.

Whew.. when I list all that I may finish by the 4th, I hope…

Well thanks again..

[Tat2demon]

Lookin great! That exhaust really cleaned up nice.

[DGXSER]

Its amazing what little elbow effort will do for one of these bikes (no, not the kind that involves twelve ounce curls, though they help also!).

You have brought it a long way so far, and know the path to getting her running well. I will add one more item to your list though, go through every electricalc onnector on the bike, and clean them up really well. You can buy this stuff called Deoxit, spray can, does a good job of cleaning up the copper in the connectors. I can not tell you how many times someone on here has a problem with the ignition system that comes down to needing to clean a connector. Think of it this way, if your pipes, fenders, and the paint are that filthy, what do you think those connectors look like. It adds some time to your "project" but, when you start riding it, you will not want to stop to work on it for a week when the electrical gremlins start sneaking into all your systems.

[WSL91]

You may just want to list everything it needs, prioritize the list, and work on 1 at a time. I've done that with the 2 1100's and a mess of tractors. Most tractor guys mess up when they unload the tractor into the shop and tear it all apart then get discouraged. Get it running and start with rides within a mile radius of the house and start evaluating and building a list working through it 1 at a time. As you start picking off items and building confidence in the bike increase the radius of the rides. Until you get through it you may find yourself pushing it once so you want to stay close for the fist 100 miles. Yea probably needs tires but brakes are more important first......... you get the idea. The bike appears to be cleaning up nicely.

[mikubuilder]

looks great, keep up good work

[XS11UFO]

Shims - Please check my plan

I am still waiting on carb and other parts and need to order shims for the valves. I checked all of the clearances and the way I read the table here is the lowdown. BTW – my feeler gauges are standard so part of the process for me was to convert.
Cylender 1 2 3 4
Measured – Int. .007 .005 .004 .003
Installed Shim 270 270 270 280
New Shim? 270 265 260 270
Measured –Ext. .009 .009 .009 .007
Installed Shim 285 280 285 290
New Shim? 285 280 285 285

Thanks for checking my work, I havn’t done this before so I will feel a lot better about another set of eyes.

[bikerphil]

I am still waiting on carb and other parts and need to order shims for the valves. I checked all of the clearances and the way I read the table here is the lowdown. BTW – my feeler gauges are standard so part of the process for me was to convert.
Cylender 1 2 3 4
Measured – Int. .007 .005 .004 .003
Installed Shim 270 270 270 280
New Shim? 270 265 260 270
Measured –Ext. .009 .009 .009 .007
Installed Shim 285 280 285 290
New Shim? 285 280 285 285

Thanks for checking my work, I havn’t done this before so I will feel a lot better about another set of eyes.

Your calculations are correct my friend.

[XS11UFO]

Thank you sir, just ordered 3 shims.

Rear wheel bearings are also on the way so I will head out to the bike tomorrow and see if she has any more surprises for me

[XS11UFO]

Tank rust question

The inside of my tank is rusted, I am going to use Metal Rescue to get at the rust in the tank and the valves are already out – do I pull the gauge sender? The information on the product says its safe for anything that’s not rust but I wanted to be sure.

Today’s update-

Time to wash the bike


All I needed to do is add wings, fly it outside…



And presto… she’s clean!



The way one thing leads to another I should probably just go ahead and pull the engine and take it down to the frame

[mikubuilder]

yes, pull the sender, try not to damage float or arm when removing...I used Red Kote and so far so good

if you got that far, go a few steps more and you will have a pristine piece of history(I would strip it to the frame and get it powder coated...)