trin's 1979 xs1100sf build

[terratek]

batteries are dead, will mess with it tomorrow... need to clean up the front yard, looks like a tool explosion

[terratek]

I seldom use the netbook, and was covered in gas and oil. So here's what happened.

Installed the carbs, petcocks on, only carb 4's float bowl cooled. Started opening the drains and nothing in 1,2,3, little bit in 4. Ripped apart the stack in pairs and started going through it. Inlets had some grime, but not bad enough to block fuel flow. Float valve screens were gunked up, so just put them in a parts bin for later (will use in-line filters). Double checked float heights, still looked good.

Tried them again, still nothing. Travis took over at that point and started bending the float arms as a few were twisted and some were bent. Did a test to see if fuel was flowing off the bike, bowls received gas. I didn't think they were getting gas fast enough, travis pointed out that my petcocks are pretty much just dribbling... Time to pull them and take another look at them.

Carbs are back on the bike, tank is back on the bike, charger is on the bike (as i forgot to turn the key off earlier and my battery already sucks). Tomorrow I will try again and see if she fires up.

At one point before we figured out the carbs were sans fuel, i did the "let's get fuel flowing by starting the bike with a rag and gasoline" trick. A few minutes later we were tossing the burning rag around until it was on cement, luckily no wiring or lines burnt.

All in all, a fun day of wrenching and cussing...

[terratek]

so... whats big, black and a bit orange, and starts on the first try?

Got her started and idling today. Still need to adjust float levels, and first start revved way up, had to disconnect the throttle cable from the tensioner. Smokes worse than me, but I am sure at least part of that is from the oil in the exhaust from when I first got the bike (dumped oil in the plug holes before trying to rotate).

Doesn't sound too bad. Am going to focus on the engine and fuel delivery for now, then start on the brakes, electronics, etc.

[natemoen]

Glad to hear things are going well! Congrats!

[terratek]

Now I need some major help... It is running, idling (poorly, but idling), was going to work on it today, but am now putting it on hold.

Here's what happened... Center stand, start, let it idle, clutch, shift to first... and it's not sounding good. Will post a vid with audio if I can find my camera, but don't hold your breath. Basically it's constant clunking and the bike bounces. This is on the center stand, shift to 2nd, got much worse, back to neutral and left it for now.

Reason I need major help is, I don't have money for any major repairs, so am at a stand still until i know whether to keep it or part it out. Sucks as I really love the bike, and was hoping to have it running soon.

[BA80]

The poor idle is probably due to needing to be synced and carbs need adjusting. The clunking is probably just the normal slack in the drive train being accentuated by the rough running.

And your rear tire is out of balance it sounds like. (bouncing)

[Yard Dogg]

+1 slack in drive train with rough idle. If it sounded worse in 2nd you may have the notorious 2nd gear problem. Every one of these bikes will have the 2nd gear problem eventually if not already. Read the tech tips to understand the problem. Tech Tips> Repairs> Transmission. It is an inexpensive fix if it's caught early enough, and a person with average mechanical skills can do it. Read through all the transmission tech tip fixes to get a much better understanding of the workings of the transmission gears and how to fix the annoying gear problem.

[crazy steve]

+1 what Greg said. Poorly adjusted carbs will cause all those problems.... can even cause the bouncing...

[Yard Dogg]

If you don't want to mess with your tranny then you can wait until you ride it to see if your bike pops out of 2nd gear. But eventually, the bike will have the problem so why not fix it.

My tach works Steve. Should I write a mod tip?

[crazy steve]

I wouldn't say that all bikes will need the 2nd gear fix; there's more than a few around that haven't had any issues.... It really depends on how the bike was treated and how the rider shifted the bike.

[terratek]

Welp, problem is that I have experience with only one other shaftie, and it never ran due to po locking up the engine before bringing it by here. So when stuff like this happens, all i can compare it to is a belt or chain drive system.

I guess my next courses of action are to work on the brakes, clutch, throttle cable (it is beyond tight)... then see what it does with the tire on the ground.

[Yard Dogg]

I wouldn't say that all bikes will need the 2nd gear fix; there's more than a few around that haven't had any issues.... It really depends on how the bike was treated and how the rider shifted the bike.

Sorry, I hope that wasn't misleading. Actually my midnight never had the 2nd gear problem, but it only had 20k on it when I sold it.

[terratek]

wow, really late reply on my part, my apologies

I figured it was time to do an update.

I finally got the suzuki and harley moved out of the yard and out to the shop my friend works at. The carbs for the 1100 ended up with green crystals growing in them, so had to completely tear them down and clean them again. They have been ready to put back on for 3 months or so, but have been sitting in my truck due to rain.

One of the guys my buddy knows decided to build a cafe racer, so I ended up with a free vetter ss fairing, cycle sound system, hard bags, sissy bar, trunk, etc. Finally finished up a load of work on the truck and am almost finished with the majority of work on the wife's car, so will be starting on the xs again in a month or so.

It has taken way longer than I expected to get this one on the road, but most of that is due to other stuff coming up. On the plus side, I now have a load of experience designing and building led lighting systems including all of the controls, pwm drives, etc. Once the major work is done, I will probably be converting the majority of the lighting to led and building a plug and play control system that interfaces with the stock switches and adds a few features.

That's my update, will post again when I get back to work on it.

[terratek]

The dreaded update:

jwhughes3:
I will be taking off the center and side stands + springs, will get them back to you.

I am at a point where I need to liquidate ALL of my projects, so will be parting out the bike. I really don't want to, but I bought back the gs450tx and have it on the road. I will probably keep the front end assembly (forks, wheel, brake system) to mod it for the 450, and may keep the rear shocks.

The short version is I have run out of time, and need to get some cash to help with medical bills.

As of 2 months ago the engine was running fine, carbs were working, I never did take it on the road though. Everything other than the front end assembly, center, and side stands are for sale. I will post a thread in the for sale section this weekend.

The bike had/has a lot of potential, and I hate to see it go.