My XS build, need some advice!

[PMKXS11]

Yea, coming from all fuel injected bikes, I'll totally forget.

[3Phase]

PMK,

It'll work fine with manual fuel taps but a leaky carburetor float needle/seat will fill the engine/airbox/garage/whatever with fuel so you will have to remember to turn off the taps when you shut off the engine after each and every ride and while you're crashing or dropping the bike so you don't get covered with fuel that won't stop pouring out of the carburetors.

.

[WMarshy]

Any benefit to eliminating the vacuum operated petcocks? I had mine rebuilt and powdercoated so I'd like to keep em pretty.

Only advantage is if they are leaking and you don't want to repair the vac diaphragm. If you recently repaired them and they work good then absolutely no advantage and I would keep them.

that I can think of. It just seems that a lot of folks just don't care for that feature especially on the specials with the octy. I do believe that if you eliminate the vacuum feature you have to remember to turn the petcocks off or the gas floods the carbs.

Te specials petcocks already have an off position so the mod only applies to the standard tanks. Also, it's no big deal that the petcocks leak as long as your float valves are leak tight as well. Otherwise if they are not you end if getting gas in the crank or air box. I happen to like haveing the off position and would use it no matter what if it was available. The specials have the octy and is crazy stupid complex for what it has to be...

[PMKXS11]

Now with wiring the bike... What is all involved in running the xs performance coils?

[cajun31]

I have always

been in the habit of turning my petcocks to the off position anyway... just a habit. I don't like to leave my float bowls full of gas so I generally switch the petcocks off when I am approaching home and let the bike burn all the gas until it dies. If I am doing a longer storage I also remove the drain bolts to completely drain them. Hate the ethanol in the gas these days.

[TopCatGr58]

Now with wiring the bike... What is all involved in running the xs performance coils?

What do you mean by XS performance coils?? I know XS Performance is a BRAND.....but where are you seeing/finding them??? We do NOT recommend the coils from MikesXS.net , they are chinese clone crap, they burn up internally in about a year, and they(Mikes) do not provide any kind of warranty on them compared to Accel or DynaTek!

The TCI needs to see ~3 ohms on that grey/orange trigger wire that connects to the primary side of the coils. The early model bikes had only 1.5 ohms coils, and so they also have a 1.5 ohm ballast resistor(BR) in line for the total 3ohms needed to not burn up the TCI. The BR also lowers the input voltage to the 1.5 ohm coils while running so as not to burn them up also, but newer HiPerf 3 ohm coils want 12V all the time.

So...your performance coils need to be 3 ohms type, not CDI 0.7 ohm type, and then you just bypass the Ballast Resistor to feed 12V full time to the coils, and the TCI will still see 3 ohms on the trigger wire and will be happy.

T.C.

[PMKXS11]

https://www.mikesxs.net/product/17-6810.html

These are the ones that I bought. Big mistake then, huh? So this one should work fine, right?

http://accel-motorcycle.com/motorcyl...inductive.html

I have LB05F and XB05F plug caps that I was going to use with the mike's coils, can I still run em with the Accel ones? The caps are 5k ohm resistance.

[WMarshy]

140403 are the correct ones.

[PMKXS11]

Done! Ordered and on their way, thanks! I can still run those plug caps though, right?

[Prisoner6]

PMK,

It'll work fine with manual fuel taps but a leaky carburetor float needle/seat will fill the engine/airbox/garage/whatever with fuel so you will have to remember to turn off the taps when you shut off the engine after each and every ride and while you're crashing or dropping the bike so you don't get covered with fuel that won't stop pouring out of the carburetors.

.

Now that's funny ...

(No offense meant to anyone who has crashed or dropped their bike)

[PMKXS11]

anyone have a picture of these coils on an XS11? I modified my frame by welding little tabs to fit the Mike's coils, and now I'm a little curious on how the fit would be. Are they comparable in size to the Mike's ones?

[3Phase]

I bypassed the vacuum fuel on/off feature on Columbo when I first got the bike because it didn't work and I thought it was a stupid idea for weenies too lazy or absent minded to shut off the fuel when they shut off the engine. One fine night I covered myself with fuel when I stepped on an oil slick at a stoplight and wound up underneath the bike THAT! quick.

Lazy, absent minded weenie that I am I rode right home and made sure that stupid idea worked flawlessly again and did not leak.

.

[PMKXS11]

I bypassed the vacuum fuel on/off feature on Columbo when I first got the bike because it didn't work and I thought it was a stupid idea for weenies too lazy or absent minded to shut off the fuel when they shut off the engine. One fine night I covered myself with fuel when I stepped on an oil slick at a stoplight and wound up underneath the bike THAT! quick.

Lazy, absent minded weenie that I am I rode right home and made sure that stupid idea worked flawlessly again and did not leak.

.

Hey, **** happens. My vented gas cap dumped a bunch of fuel on me when I lowsided my track bike at Road America. Forget about putting salt on the wound, gas is much worse hahaha

[jetmechmarty]

The #1 reason I repaired my vacuum shutoff on my Special.

[3Phase]

Hey, **** happens. My vented gas cap dumped a bunch of fuel on me when I lowsided my track bike at Road America. Forget about putting salt on the wound, gas is much worse hahaha

Ouch! I don't race but the cap's always held fuel in the tank pretty well for me except when I overfill it.

The #1 reason I repaired my vacuum shutoff on my Special.

Bingo. That particular night was back when I'd just bought Columbo, shortly before I joined this site and just shortly after I'd begun to figure out it was a pig in a poke and there was a lot of work that had to be done....

At the time, the engine liked to backfire out the carbs (yet-to-be-discovered bad slide diaphragms and goofy carb synch) so the longest part was drying the gas out of the airbox and off of my clothes before trying the starter so the bike and I wouldn't catch on fire there at the intersection.

.