Where do I start???haha

[zod0143]

Fellow XS'ers!!! I have recently aquired a '79 11 Special. I race Off-Road quite frequently so I DO have a general knowledge of the operations. That being said, I took it home, tinkered, I after a battery and few carb tweeks. It fired!! Now my first issue is that as I rev it starts to sputter both on the intake and exhaust side. Leads me to believe I have, Maybe a timing issue, or I need a total Carb rebuild. I have heard tell there is something that is common in the ignition of the bike that will cause this issue? SUGGESTIONS????

Secondly, With an un-adulterated Carb set up, Does the Air box have to be on for it to run to potential due to the nature of Vacuum advance?? Like the CB's?

And thirdly, Cafe or Bobbed???

Thanks I look forward to your input!!!

Regards Matt

[BA80]

Sounds like an issue with pickup coil wires. These bikes have a vacuum advance on the ignition and that's a common problem.

It's under the left engine cover.

Look HERE.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Matt,

1st, yes you need to do a complete carb teardown, they gum up quite easily, and your symptoms are representative of the need for a thorough cleaning, and then you'll need to vacuum synch them as well.

The ignition problem is the Pick Up Coil wires, and there's a tech tip to help you with both diagnosis and repair if the problem is found.

You don't want to run without an air filter, but they will run okay without one for test runs, but folks will say for proper tuning you want to have the airbox installed. If you want to run Indy Pods, you can, but will probably need to do some more tuning...ie. carb jet changes, but YMMV!

Now, your last comment! If you have a fairly good condition Special, most folks will not be happy with someone cutting it up...mostly because many start doing something like this, but then loose interest, $$, or get over their head, and end up parting out what's left when the bike WAS a good conditioned functional machine!

SO....we hope that the bike you have is more of a barn find, with lots of parts missing, damaged, broken, etc.! THEN we don't mind you modding it up as much! As to bobbing, we highly suggest you do NOT hard tail it! A few folks have done that, but even though they can ride them, mostly on smooth roads, otherwise you can easily loose control over bumps and holes in the road, as well as put a lot of stress to your butt/spine!

Look thru the Bike Photos in the Member's Lounge, many examples of some fine bobbers that KEPT the rear suspension intact, and still look bad ass!

T.C.

[Yard Dogg]

+10 rear suspension! Although the hard tails look lean and mean, they are hard on the kidneys. If you off road then you're a natural adrenaline junkey and upon first feel of this screamin nasty Jap muscle street bike you're going to want to twist the throttle. I recommend it to a certain degree but it can kill you fast. If you're going to twist, make sure you know the road very well, always break before the corners coast half way into it, then accelerate out of it. These machines do not corner well at all and will quickly learn you of "Oh **** Moments". Rear suspension will save your life more than you can know if you like to twist. Not to mention having your frame higher off the ground will allow you more leaning in the corners keeping you from scraping and loosing control.

[crazy steve]

Check your valve clearances... Very few owners took the time to do this (or were willing to spend the $$$ to have it done) and just rode them until they started running badly. The valves on these get tighter as they wear, so you can have valves that are literally leaking....

[Nightengale]

your bike

Cafe or Bobbed???

its your bike make it yours, but i would listen to these guys they have alot of great advice and alot of knowledge. i made mine into a hardtail bobber, but i started with a neglected bike that i got for $300.00, and had already started the hardtail and was at the point of no return when i joined the site, so there was nothing else to do but follow thru with the hardtail. i love the bike and how it rides, but if i knew then what i know now i would have went cafe instead of hardtail bobber. where i live the roads are rough and i have been bounced up in the air quit a few times. before i started riding my bike to work everyday i traveled the roads looking for bumps, potholes, and the such so as to avoid them on the hardtail. i have put over three thousand miles on my bike this summer. i know that people riding behind me think i am drunk, because of how i have to dodge every bump and pot hole. and lastly making mine a bobber took alot of time and patience because there are not alot of bobber parts that just bolt on to these bikes, so i had to fab almost everything on my bike with some trial and error. which ever way you go just stick to it till the end and take your time to make sure it is right and safe. good luck to you and make sure you use this site to its fullest. there are a bunch of great guys here that are more than willing to help. i couldnt have done what i did to my bike without the encouragement and help from everyone on here. these are great bikes enjoy it.

[Yard Dogg]

Nightengale, it's just a piece of metal, if you want, you can put shocks back on it. Wait until you see pics of my bike. What I like to do to these is not cafe, not bobber, but somewhere in between. I like to set them up like a cruiser. On this bike and the last, I kept my rear suspension, switched to a solo seat, then got rid of the bulky rear tail light, and switched to a cruiser type fender. The best word I have to describe it is tough looking. These bikes look like bulldogs when set up like a Harley. Your bike is awesome so you should leave it how it is. But maybe you should get another bike for daily riding and set it up more for comfort. I'm going to hard tail my XS750 frame, but I want to completely remove the swing arm and adapt a drive shaft to it, or maybe switch to a chain drive. Of course I'm gonna need some XS11 horses on that frame too.

[brcree]

your bike....

Zod.....it's your machine but....I'm with these guys, if its not to bad off bring it back to org. This is a cool bike and gets the looks all the time. They were only made for 3 years so, not that many around. Good luck ...lots of good info in here and some very knowledgeable dudes!