vacuum or vent line?

[dbag51]

hello! I am restoring a 79 special. have gotten it to run quite well after carb cleaning, and repair of several tiny holes in the floats! I havent ventured into the valve clearances yet, I am wondering about availability of shims? also, one thing is bugging me, on top of the transmission, just slightly below the crankcase hose, is a small nozzle that looks like it would take a 3/16 hose? what is this for, is it the middle gear vent? and where should it be connected if it takes a hose?

[chevy45412001]

shims

shims are still available there was a post somewere in here.i think kawasaki uses them also.ask at a shop mine close to home said they would trade ones i don't need for ones i do need.no money just trade one for one?

[ratbyk]

Hose

dbag51, the hose that you are inquiring about is the crankcase pressure hose. On a more modern vehicle it would be routed to a PCV. A 3/8 hose should be hooked up to the nipple that you refer to, pass up between #'s 2 & 3 carbs and plug into a tube off the air box. This is a molded hose to make the proper bends and length. If you are unable to locate the proper hose a short piece of fuel line onto the nipple routed somewhere out of site would help direct the crankcase pressure fumes away.
I would cap this off with a in-line fuel filter to prevent drawing in air/born dirt on the cool down.
Ken?Sooke
78E Ratbyk
82 FT500 "lilRat"

[steelcat]

I recently was able to get shims from my local Yamaha dealer. He had both Yamaha & K& L availble. I went with Yamaha at about $7.00 ea.. K&L were a lot cheaper, but I don't trust K&L after dealing w/ thier carb kits. While I was shopping around for them, it turned ouy that Kawasaki & BMW both have the right dia. shims. They use a different hardness scale, (rockwell vs. brindell). I didn't do more research after I was able to get Yamaha shims.

[John]

The 3/16" hose is a vent, but doesn't go to the air box. It attaches to the frame at the rear mount for the tank and just vents to atmosphere.The larger, molded hose next to it does connect to the air box between # 2 & 3 carbs.

[dbag51]

vent hose info

thanks for the info from everyone. that solves the question!
these xs1100's are a heck of a machine! the thing I love about them is that they are strong, and dont have all that fuel injection stuff, along with all the other computerization that the new bikes have. the new ones run great, but there is something about an in-line four that really gets the nostalgia going!

[thumperjsa]

I noticed that this tube was also loose on my bike. I noticed that it was running down along near the drive shaft and when the engine warms up, some smoke comes from it. I hooked it up to the airbox as I believe it should and now when the bike warmed up, it is running rough.

Could it be that the air is being choked from the fumes and I should keep it disconnected?

Should I be getting a small amount of smoke and fumes from this hose and enough to choke out the engine?

[Geezer]

Originally posted by steelcat
I recently was able to get shims from my local Yamaha dealer. He had both Yamaha & K& L availble. I went with Yamaha at about $7.00 ea.. K&L were a lot cheaper, but I don't trust K&L after dealing w/ thier carb kits. While I was shopping around for them, it turned ouy that Kawasaki & BMW both have the right dia. shims. They use a different hardness scale, (rockwell vs. brindell). I didn't do more research after I was able to get Yamaha shims.

Not everything K&L sells is crap but their carb kits and replacement side covers are 2 notable exceptions. K&L sells a lot of Japanese parts that come from the same suppliers the big 4 Japanese bike companies use.

I've been swapping Kawie for Yamaha shims for years and I've used more than a few K&L shims over the years. They're all good and all 29mm shims are interchangeable. I'd be more concerned about having the right thickness than who made it.

The local (Oregon, City) Kawie – Yamaha shop will swap shims with me straight across. I take in the shims that I have the most extra of with a list of what I need. I’m planning to get a K&L shim kit one of these days so I don’t always have to make the trip when I’m setting my valves. It’s not a bad deal at $105.

Geezer