Parts we wish existed.

[Yard Dogg]

I have a wish. When I was working on my 83' Dodge pickup brakes, I noticed that the calipers were still beautiful after 30 years. The reason is that it has plastic caliper pistons so the caliper bores can't rust. I think it would be a great way to keep our bikes on the road longer.

It almost resembled plastic from a skate board wheel or something. Cool stuff.

[drshankles]

Went for a ride last weekend and as luck would have it my LEFT side cover fell off of my 79 xs1100sf. Looked on EBay but not finding much. Heard that with mods I could use a 80-81 std. cover. Maybe?
Does ANYONE have one I could buy. Don't care if locking tab is broken. I can fix that I think.
Thanks.

I have a left side cover for a 79 sf that id be willing to sell. its a wall decoration right now.

[crazy steve]

Interesting comment, I always like to think its the skilled operators of said machine tools that are great..

If you don't have the tool, no matter how skilled you are there won't be any custom parts... But I'll admit that a skilled operator can make a difference. But even thumb-fingered me can turn out nice bits (as long as I don't mind adding to the reject bin...) given enough time...

[TomB]

Aren't machine tools great?.....

Interesting comment, I always like to think its the skilled operators of said machine tools that are great.




.

[crazy steve]

Aren't machine tools great?.....

[jrobertfox]

Boom.

[jrobertfox]

Interested in clamps?

Ok well here is the deal. I'm going to be working with a friend to make this next week, or something similar:



I could prob make a few more once we have the cnc set up for the profile. What are people comfortable paying for something like this?

[crazy steve]

Be prepared to work for one or two dollars an hour...

Sadly, that's all too true....

[CaptonZap]

Somebody probably has, but then they took an aspirin, went to bed, and slept for a few hours and felt better.
The depth of the draw would entail a pretty sophisticated set of dies, to prevent wrinkling, and the number of possible sales does not work out well on the financial feasibility side. First you need to makes the dies, which is not cheap or easy, then you need a BIG stamping press, and you can't rent one of those at the neighborhood renta-center, and the guys who have one don't want to change the dies for any less than a couple of thousand parts, and the first bunch of parts through are scrap, until the press and dies get adjusted, so that is money down the drain.
No, if you want to make some small quantity parts, make a mold out of FRP, and hand lay them. Be prepared to work for one or two dollars an hour, if everything goes right, and expect to have some of your customers give you bad feed back and bad checks.
If, on the other hand, you are handy, and have the ability to weld aluminum, and enjoy beating the hell out of metal, you could make a Bondo mold, and start hammer forming them out of aluminum. You still work for the same wages, but a labor of love is compensation in and of itself.
Let us know how you want'a go.

CZ

[1fasttrucker]

Stamped side covers

Hi has anyone thought of , using sheet metal building a die and stamping out the basic side over then ( tig or mig weld on the mounting tabs or locks that are needed to mount the covers , or make a new way to mount the in the old location , that could be added fairly easy , and sell all as a kit together ,???

[daveyg]

That's the ones I was thinking! Raask! I kept thinking Trask as I wrote my first post, but they make the Harley turbo kit not old jap cafe parts...

[oldyam80sg]

I used to have a set of Rassk rearsets but they are long gone.They would be nice to have.

[skids]

So I hope I am NOT screwed too bad......

I have recently found that people on this website dislike the word...I have always considered it as a term of endearment!

[TomB]

XS11 specific rear sets have been available at various times from a few manufacturers, the problem is cost. I don't remember who made them, but there was a really awesome set I saw a pic of once that replaced the alloy piece that holds both stock pegs, but iirc the cost was almost $300. I've been eyeballing a few other universal sets, like these: http://www.fastfromthepast.com/servl...sal/Categories
But again, $170? And they still aren't even a direct bolt on affair? Myself, being a machinist know I can fab up a set for 1/10th that cost for my own bike, it'd just be time. (Which a universal set is going to still take time to fab up your heim joints to the controls and whatnot. If you figured out a way to do a bolt on method, and could produce a few sets for under $100 each, then you'd have my attention! But, being in the manufacturing trade, I'm very skeptical anybody could pull it off for that price, with the narrow market. The clean top triple clamp isn't a bad idea, but it'd have to be machined to fit the 37mm forks, which are wobbly as an overcooked spaghetti noodle without also having a fork brace, that's part of why I'm swapping to 41mm units, and most serious cafe builders will swap to inverted forks anyway, so all the potential buyers just got cut down to 1/3, and it would be a strictly cosmetic upgrade, thus reducing your buyer pool... Guys with 30+ year old Yamahas are cheap folk... Myself included. Since you seem like a real legit guy, go ahead and build a prototype for your bike, just cuz it'd be cool, but don't expect to make much (or any) money building parts for 30+ year old motorcycles, unless it's a part that is unobtainable, and wears out regularly from the oem part. (Like TCs fuse block)

As another machinist I completely agree, I've made my own top tree, my own rearsets and much much more, we own these bikes coz we're cheap, we make our own parts coz we even cheaper. So many times I've been asked "wow thats cool can you make me one" the standard answer "Nope you couldn't afford my time" coz our time to us is free. The point being if you want to work for peanuts off you go my friend, you soon get sick of it as I did, no more.



.

[kevkat8]

This is what I found from Crazy Steve on exchanging parts between models:
So I hope I am NOT screwed too bad......

This is what I foundHere's a '79 Special cover. Except for the emblem, the '80-81 standard cover is identical and can be exchanged with no problems; these use slots like the above standard covers. The left side cover is also identical except for the slots; the 79 cover still has them, the '80-81 covers have round holes instead. These can be swapped if you modify the holes. Note the shape; the 'tab' is gone, and the cover tapers slightly towards the rear.