Resurrection of a 1980 XS11 aka "Millennium Falcon"

[sail4free]

Enrichment Lever Won't Stay Out

Also the XS11 likes to be started by pulling the enrichment lever full out and hitting the start button without touching the throttle at all. <snip> After it starts wait 15 sec then close choke 1/2 for a minute then close rest of the way.

It took me a long time to train myself to not grab that throttle. If it won't start this way then the carbs are not yet right (bench sync or clogged in pilot circuit).

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Hey John,
I pushed the easy button and paid a "mechanic" to rebuild my carbs for me (well -- and he had a garage and I didn't ). Now the enrichment lever doesn't stay out *or* at the half-way position -- it acts like it's spring loaded but I have to hold it where I want it -- any idea what happened? It still seems to work (if I hold it out) and the weather is warm, so not a big issue YET . . . just curious about what the deal might be.
JIM P.
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[bikerphil]

Your mechanic lost the tiny detent balls in the choke rod mechanism, carbs 1 and 4 have them. Yamaha still has them and IIRC Crazy Steve had some for sale.

[IanDMacDonald]

Mmhmm. Easy to lose on a first-time rebuild.

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...t=detent+balls

[sail4free]

Detent Balls

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Thanks guys -- one day I'll learn, "if you want it done right, sometimes you gotta' do it yourself." I'm sure my carbs will be coming off -- to replace the intake boots if nothing else -- will be a good time to put my balls back in. It's a little thing -- an easy newbie mistake -- but it does make me wonder how many other "little things" got missed.
JIM P.
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[jwhughes3]

Your mechanic lost the tiny detent balls in the choke rod mechanism, carbs 1 and 4 have them. Yamaha still has them and IIRC Crazy Steve had some for sale.

Yup. They are itty bitty balls. Easy to lose.

John

[Bergman16]

I lost one ball and one spring and I was being careful! my fault for the state in which I keep my workbench.

[DiverRay]

You can put in 1/8" balls from Ace Hardware, or any other location that carries such items. The springs could probably be sourced from there as well. Yes, I've had to "replace" a lost ball or three....

[fullmetal]

Hey guys, haven't had as much time as I'd like to work on the bike due to various reasons. But I had a lil bit of time recently, so here's a quick update.

I pulled the master cylinders and brake calipers off for cleaning. Unfortunately, i think my MCs are kaput. The internals i I believe are one giant rusted mass now, I let them sit for about a week to soak in various penetrating lubricants, but the pistons won't budge in either one of them =(. Looks like I'm gonna have to get new ones after all.

Aside from that, I fixed the leaky petcock, slapped the tank back, and started the bike up to let it idle. However, it only idles when the choke is fully out. when it's in, the bike dies. Too much throttle (more than 1/4) kills the bike, and slowly opening it makes some ungodly noises before the RPMs die back down.

After a few minutes of testing that, i noticed smoke coming out from somewhere. I looked under the bike, and smoke was coming from the left exhaust pipe, from where the Y junction in the pipe is formed. Rust and corrosion created lil tiny holes in the pipe essentially =/. A friend of mine thinks it's reweldable, but i rather just replace it.

More to come soon, once my wallet has recovered!

[3Phase]

... Too much throttle (more than 1/4) kills the bike, and slowly opening it makes some ungodly noises before the RPMs die back down. ....

Check and set the cam chain tension before the head starts doing three-sixties!

.

[Jeffintampa]

Dont you dare lol

The pics are quite deceiving, she's not as shiny as they make it seem. There's rust everywhere, the clearcoat on the gas tank is gone, it's covered in dust/cobwebs/dry grass. When the winter rolls around, I'm gonna start collecting parts to start a bobber-ish conversion and give the bike a face-lift.

Oh man that cam be such a pretty bike, I cant remember the guys name lives in tampa that has one. He use to want me to ride on Sundays but I have to go to church with my family. He had a perfect one and man was it nice. I have an SG with that tiny 3 gallon tank love that big old 5 gallon tank. I don't like bobbers at all, I cring every time I see one.

Just me I guess, Great job on getting her running, fun bikes to ride.

[fullmetal]

Hey guys, it's been a while but I haven't forgotten about the bike. The past few months have been quite hectic. Most of my free time was devoted to rebuilding my xs360 café racer, it dropped a valve while I was riding to school back in August. It's been one heartbreak after another with that bike.

But I am happy to report that I finally got the Falcon out of the storage unit and into my parents' garage sometime in September! Since then, I've essentially just pulled things off the bike whenever I had the time. All fluids have been drained, and she's sitting as just the frame and motor at this time.

Before I started tearing it apart, I fired her up one more time to check some things out. Shifted thru the gears, and I noticed 1st and 2nd gear shift pretty damn hard and make wasay more noise than the others. Also noticed that cylinder 3 was firing very weakly and cylinder 4 was cold as ice. She's also leaking oil from the head but it only does when it's warm.

As it stands right now, I want to tear into the motor and check the condition of the top end. I plan to take the motor out of the frame, look everything over, then clean it up and paint it before putting the motor back in. I also want to crack open the transmission and check all that out too.

Is there anything I should do before I attempt this? I figured you guys know this bike better than almost anybody, so any advice would be appreciated. I'm not too concerned about tearing into the engine as I am the transmission.

Until next time guys!

[fullmetal]

I managed to pull the head off the other day, here's a few pictures I managed to save from the process.






Everything looks fine, but one thing sticks out to me.


The valve faces for cylinders 3 (slightly) and 4 are a rusty orange color. #3 barely fired before the tear down, and #4 was usually cold as ice. Hell, the spark plug still looks fresh out the box haha. I can't pull the valves just yet, I'm waiting on a proper valve spring compressor. The one I borrowed from work doesn't work with recessed springs. But should I be concerned about the orange coloration?

More to come, soon!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there,

The "Orange" coloration is probably just a light coating of RUST, due to those 2 cylinders valves were probably open letting the atmosphere get into the cylinders and to the STEEL valves. IT won't necessarily be on the pistons because they are aluminum. And those valves may be STUCK and not be able to close completely again due to rust on the valve shafts, which would have contributed to your poor/cool cylinders.

There's info on making your own valve compressor out of a large "C" clamp and an old socket or piece of pipe where you can cut a slot out of to access the keepers.

You will probably need to clean the valve shafts of rust....folks like to use EVAPORUST vs. trying to use a wire brush wheel on a drill or bench grinder. The shafts are surprisingly weak and it's possible to bend the valve head if too much pressure is applied while cleaning/grinding/brushing.

T.C.

[Martini Man]

While you have it apart, replace the valve seals. They get old and brittle with time. If you can, borrow an XS and take it for a ride. You'll be amazed how good these bikes are when running well.....Thanks for sharing your re-build experiences, very interesting!

[1887]

I love those '80G's