Bike description questions

[eddielo]

I'm particularly curious as to what "Octy removed" means.
Overall, are some or all of these mods/upgrades good?
Having not ridden a stock XS I wouldn't know the difference.
btw, the bike came with about 300lbs of assorted pieces such as extra gas tank (the original I assume) handlebars, windscreen, electronics, etc.
Any comments appreciated.
Eddie


[IMG][/IMG]

[mack]

Morning Eddielo

Looks like you bought a former or current members bike. The give away is the list of items done to it. particularly the TKAT fork brace.
All are good things and shows your ride has been taken care of over the years. It also signify's that your machine was a daily rider, by someone who didn't mind using it for long hauls. Bleed your brakes and check the caliper pads for wear, change fluids and check your tires, other than that it should be good to go.
A couple other upgrades are worth while. Geezer makes a regulator that starts charging just off idle, and TC has a fuse block upgrade that is almost manditory. If you can take a picture of the front of the engine at the cam chain adjuster, we can tell you if the Auto mod has been done. I suspect after seeing your list that it has but just forgot to list it.

[eddielo]

Thanks Mack. Do you know what is an "octy?"
Also, should I use premium hi test gas or is regular ok?
Eddie

[DGXSER]

Hey Eddie, That is a nice bike you got there.

The OCTY is short for Octopus which is how a lot of the members here refer tot he vacuum controlled fuel valve on the special models. It has four fuel lines and a vacuum line, a lot of legs, so the name OCTY. It is a valve that only lets gas flow to the carbs when the engine is running. It is fairly common that folks remove it.

The swing out kick starter is an interesting addition, Hopefully it does not signal starter clutch issues. While it looks cool to kick start the beast, I am quite content to let the electric motor turn the engine for me. Most likely the previous owner just liked the nostalgic look of kick starting.

Slip on mufflers are not necessarily an upgrade. But with the limited options these days for exhaust they are not a negative either.

All the suspension and brake work sounds great, did all the right things. And your tranny gears should be good to go for a long time.

The RAM mount, well, depends if you like a GPS or Phone sitting in front of you on the bike.

The seat looks to be from a 78 or 79 Standard, which will match the tank, but not quite the side covers. IF you like the look and feel of it is all that really matters.

Like Mack said, the OCTY reference would be the kicker that the PO was a member here, never heard or seen that reference outside the XS11 world before. I would look into the fuse box for sure. As for the rectifier, it is not a bad idea either.

[mack]

Hi Again

Yes the OCTY as Doug said is an unnecessary vacum controlled fuel flow back up. Most of us take them off because they fail routinely. You get a false sense of security with them and tend to leave your fuel petcocks on all the time. Normally if your fuel float valves are in good condition this isn't an issue but sometimes dirt can get in them and prevent a good seal. If the octy diaphram is toast then the fuel will continue to flow and will drip out of the air box into a puddfle under your bike, as well as down your cylinders into the crank. Gas, big end and crank bearings don't play well together. So we just take them off. It makes more room for the fuel line running, looks neater and getting into the habit of ALWAYS shutting off your fuel is much safer than relying on something that will eventually fail anyway.

[crazy steve]

Also, should I use premium hi test gas or is regular ok?

Run regular, if you hear any knocking or pinging move up to mid-grade. Premium is not needed, and will actually reduce mileage unless the bike is retuned for it.

[hamjam]

the standard tank makes the octy redundant the standard ones are a better deal i think
I rode my standard for 23 years and had no trouble with the petcocks

[jetmechmarty]

the standard tank makes the octy redundant the standard ones are a better deal i think
I rode my standard for 23 years and had no trouble with the petcocks

With the standard tank, I expect there are two vacuum shut-off valves instead of one.

The Special (SF,SG, SH) has two manual petcocks and a single vacuum shut-off (octopus valve, octy, spider valve). The standard tank should be fitted with two vacuum operated petcocks. You would not want three of these valves in place. There is one for the Special and two for the standard. The Special's manual taps will not mount to the standard tank because the bases are not the same size. The standard tank could have aftermarket manual taps in place, so you'll have to look for that. You will probably find the standard fuel plumbing in place, so there should be no octy. Look for a vacuum line connected to each petcock. Also, the standard petcock has no OFF position.

Do not be afraid of the vacuum operated valves. I rebuilt the one on my Special a couple years ago and it works just fine. The vacuum valves on the standard can be rebuilt as well. You simply have to take the time to do it right.

I have a vacuum petcock equipped XS650 that I have owned for 30 years. That petcock has given me zero trouble in all that time. If it fails today, I know how to fix it.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Eddie,

Folks have pretty much answered everything. The specials have those funky slanted pads, so they can look worn when they really are NOT. If the PO did the Dremel fix, then sounds like they knew what they were doing, putting on the Harley Slipons, the HD clutch springs, Standard tank/petcocks, suspension and such. I wonder though that they said just NEW brake lines, not stainless steel braided lines...so if they are VINYL, then they are just new OEM style....ok, but you can get better performance from SS lines.

They also installed Hi Output coils, so they should have known to bypass the Ballast resistor that normally sits just above the valve cover left hand side just under the gastank. My other concern would be what KIND of coils. So... look under the tank and see if you can see what color they are if other than black? If yellow, then they are Accel...if GREEN, they could be DynaTek, but they could also be the MikesXS knockoffs, and if they are black, they could still be the MikesXS black ones. The black ones have been found out to be poor quality and will die, the green ones were supposedly better quality, but a few have reported failures of them also. So..it would be good to KNOW what brand they are for your reliability assurance.

The OEM kickstarter lever was just a slip on kind that was stored behind the battery/lock on the lower front edge of the rear fender on the right side. Some folks got the swingaway kind that's on IIRC the 650's, 750,850 and mounted it onto the 1100. IF the battery is a "LITTLE LOW" to where the bike will turn with the starter motor, but the engine won't "catch", sometimes it WILL start using the kickstarter. We have found that if the battery voltage drops to around 10.5volts during the load of using the electric starter, that the ignition system won't "FIRE" the spark plugs...so the engine keeps spinning/turning over, but never catches!

Capt. Zap is still working on the real cause, he's found out that the TCI unit will still trigger the coils with operating voltages much lower when on a test rig, so we think that it may also be a combination of too low of voltage to provide a strong enough spark from the coils. SO...if the voltage gets too low, even the kickstarter may NOT start the bike!

Speaking of Electrical, hopefully they have installed a replacement fuseblock that uses the newer ATCO style solid fuses instead of the OEM glass style. If not, as mentioned, I resell the 6 slot blocks for no profit to members, see the parts for sale/sticky thread for photos and details.

T.C.

[BA80]

That bike looks familiar.

[jwhughes3]

I think it was Silent's 79 SF w/ standard tank. He is the only member I can remember with LE forks. Most others have the Traxxion ones.

That fork rebuild should make it handle nice.

I don't recall (or cannot find) it was ever for sale on here which is odd.

Guess he figured it would sell for more on a lot.

Should be a nice bike, but check the petcocks and carbs well as there was trouble there.

There should be pics on the site somewhere if you go back to old posts I bet.

John

[jetmechmarty]

Read all about it.

http://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index...owtopic=114112

[eddielo]

Read all about it.

http://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index...owtopic=114112

Marty check your PM

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Marty,

Thanks for the link, I just spent the last hour or so reading thru it, he did a fair amount of work on it for sure!!

Eddie, a few things stood out though. The price he quoted for the HI OUTPUT coils was $70.00 for the pair....and at the end of the thread he mentioned getting parts from MikesXS...the price matches what the old BAD Black hi output coils sold by Mikes were....and they ARE JUNK, and WILL go bad...fail, just a matter of time/miles. He ended his thread in 2010, not sure how much he road it before tiring of it and deciding to sell it. SO....I would highly suggest you get a set of the DynaTek DC1-1 coils to put in there, lest you end up getting stranded on the side of the road when the coil(s) fail!

You'll need to get some other hardware for the plug wires to be able to fit them to/into the DynaTek coils. The MikesXS coils have a screw that sticks out from inside the tower top tunnel...Mikes uses a black compression ring to secure the wire to the body once you screw the wire down onto the screw into the tower tunnel. The Dynateks use the fit over metal clips like auto wires...and the coil just has a tunnel that the wire/metal clips press fit into!
The other ends of the coil wires with the plug caps should be just fine! The DynaTeks are NOT sold WITH the wire hardware...just the frame mounting hardware!

Second thing is that he said he put in SYNTHETIC oil near the end of the thread. He didn't say anything about replacing the clutch springs. The combo....Synth oil and old springs can lead to clutch slippage. We recommend Dino or synth/blend....and heavy duty or even Barnett clutch springs to prevent clutch slippage.

T.C.

[jetmechmarty]

Second thing is that he said he put in SYNTHETIC oil near the end of the thread. He didn't say anything about replacing the clutch springs. The combo....Synth oil and old springs can lead to clutch slippage. We recommend Dino or synth/blend....and heavy duty or even Barnett clutch springs to prevent clutch slippage.

T.C.

Just to cloud things, I have run a lot of motorcycle specific Mobil 1 synthetic through my XS11 and never suffered a slip. I have used Amsoil too. Same result. My XS650 did slip, but I discovered my friction discs worn below spec. I don't think it should slip, so maybe the oil had something to do with it, or more likely the springs. I'm buying regular Yamalube 20W50 in bulk now. As T.C. always posts, "YMMV".