The Bagger Project

[Radioguylogs]

Dec 19 Update

I'm overdue for an update.


Seat
Found a decent SH seat on eBay last Sunday night. I hadn't seen anything else for my project yet, so I bought it.





Ordered an SG cover for it from B&H. I hope an SH cover will work with SF foam. Maybe someone can comment.

Oil Pan
Pulled the oil pan- no debris on the pan. There was light sludge, far less than I expected. A few gasket crumbs and maybe 5 tiny metal flakes on the oil intake screen. Great news overall.

Tried to peer at the first and second gear engagement. On both sets, the land between the slots does not have any significant witness marks from slipping dogs. There is a light scuff from down shift, mainly on second gear.

I can see wear on the 1-4 and 2-5 dogs/slots. The most worn area is the slots in first gear. They are not too rounded, but there is a bit of material mashed in.

I know when I remove the clutch cover to polish it, then I am 80% of the way there to pull those gears and loving them, but I am thinking I should not fix them if they are not broke. In the case I have to go back in, I'll be OK with my decision based on what I know. I am seriously thinking about moving the second gear washer. Anybody ever try this by just laying the bike on it's side?

Valve Shims
My second wave of shims came and I have them installed. I'm now satisfied I have them in the best possible shim sizes, always going the with the thinner shim when the available sizes straddle the spec. My philosophy is to let them wear into spec instead of further out of spec as I ride.

That's what I've been up to this week.

[kboehringer]

I'm overdue for an update.
Seat
Found a decent SH seat on eBay last Sunday night. .......
SNIP
I am thinking I should not fix them if they are not broke. In the case I have to go back in, I'll be OK with my decision based on what I know.
SNIP

Mike,
That new seat looks great! I know a couple folks liked the king/queen your bike came with but I personally think the OEM seats are plenty comfortable and look appropriate for the bike.

My plan is also the same regarding gear "FIXES". If it ain't broke, I ain't "FIXIN" it. In my opinion, there's just as much hazard to pulling that gear box apart as there is to future damages that may or may not occur. I won't beat on my 11's or treat them like a newer Hot Rod Racer inspired crotch rocket bike. I suspect if I did not get my bike with a pre-existing problem gearbox, it won't be getting one from my use.

Bike is looking great so far.

Respectfully,
KURT

[jetmechmarty]

SF, SG, and SH seats are all different. SG and SH seats share the same seat base, but the foam and covers are not the same. The covers won't interchange without modification to the cushion. IMHO, the SG seat is much more attractive, but the SH seat is better to sit on, especially if more than ten minutes.

[jetmechmarty]

I suspect if I did not get my bike with a pre-existing problem gearbox, it won't be getting one from my use.[/I]

Respectfully,
KURT

That's what I thought. It didn't work out that way. It's a design flaw.

[Radioguylogs]

SF, SG, and SH seats are all different. SG and SH seats share the same seat base, but the foam and covers are not the same. The covers won't interchange without modification to the cushion. IMHO, the SG seat is much more attractive, but the SH seat is better to sit on, especially if more than ten minutes.

Guess I'll need to use the SH seat until I find an SG to put under my new cover....

[Radioguylogs]

Jan 5 Update

Got the valve shims optimized to my satisfaction and buttoned them up.

I did 'honey do' projects and made sure Christmas was special for the family over the holidays, so, I only spent the time after everyone went to bed polishing the aluminum parts. It takes me forever with wet sanding and Mother's.

So, I put the covers back over the engine except the clutch cover. I decided I had better take the clutch apart after the experience I had on my last project involving gasoil. The clutch was in usable condition, but I found noticeable rust between the friction pates and the plain metal plates. After cleaning the plain plates, they still look looked like this:



Last time I wire wheeled and sanded the rust. This time I put them in Evaporust (tonight). We'll see how that goes.

I splurged and ordered new friction plates and stock clutch springs, even though I think I cold have probably gotten by with the old parts.

Not much progress to report, but I will pick up steam after all the aluminum parts are polished.

Hope everyone had a great experience over the holidays.

[Radioguylogs]

Clutch Plate Cleanup

After Evaporust for 24 hours:


Rust is gone, but the surface texture is not homogenous. The clutch friction plates would probably take care of it for me (as if it were important), but I felt better after hitting them with emery paper:


New friction plates and springs won't ship from Partszilla until Friday, so I'll have to start one of the next jobs over the weekend while I am waiting.

[Radioguylogs]

What have I been doing?

Here's what I've been up to the last couple of weeks:

Carbs

I rebuilt the carbs, including butterfly shaft seals

Looks like to PO tried to work on them a bit without really taking them apart. He tried to remove the idle speed mixture screws plugs. I had never worked on the later model Mikuni's, so I struggled a bit on this issue. I couldn't recognize the bugered metal in the holes. After removing the silicone glue, I found #1 and #4 were OK. Number 2 has the collar from the plug still in it. Number three had been drilled right down into the idle screw...with the collar from the plug still in it. I could not immediately recognize what was going on in there. Eventually I got it all out without any damage using a fat sheet metal screw and an Easyout.

It appears the PO sprayed Gumout into the vacuum slot that goes to the top of the siding pistons. That left the diaphragms with a non-homogenous surface finish, but they are still OK.

For some reason the PO took out the Pilot Air Jets (185) and bugered the slots a bit. Guess he felt good spraying Gumout wherever he could find.

Nothing else was disturbed, so the job went well after I got the idle mixture screws out.

For the record, my Main Jets were all the same at 110/110/110/110 with no passageway between the Main Jet and Pilot Jet.

Now I have been reading about setting the floats. I been searching the old posts, and have learned to set the floats at 23 mm, then hook up clear hoses to confirm/tweak the final result. I'll post a picture of my hose setup when I get that far. Better to do that when it is warm and I can open the garage door.

Clutch

I put the clutch back in and got the cover back on.

Based on the mileage on the bike, and numerous slipping experiences of others on the forum, I purchased new springs and new friction plates. I bought OEM springs and compared them with the used springs. In a random sampling, I compared old and new. In most cases, the old and new spring were the same. Here and there, in one of the comparisons, the old spring was up to 1mm shorter than the new spring. Honestly, I think there was negligible difference.

That makes me wonder if the need for stiffer springs is really because the cork material has hardened and the metal plates are not the same as new.

Polishing

A lot of my time has been spent polishing the cases by hand with sandpaper and Mother's, So, I have now completed:

• Valve Cover
• Shifter Linkage Cover
• Clutch Cover
• Alternator Cover
• Ignition Cover
• Starter End Cap
• Bearing Cap next to Starter

Still Remaining to polish:

• Footpeg/Exhaust Hanger
• Front Fork Lower Tubes
• Grab Bar -maybe

__________________

Sorry, no pictures- just boring stuff today.

I'm looking forward to picking up steam now that I've gotten past the biggest part of the polishing.

I'm enjoying reading all the posts from others. Take care.

[kboehringer]

...SNIP... I bought OEM springs SNIP.... I'm looking forward to picking up steam now that I've gotten past the biggest part of the polishing. ...SNIP...

Mike,
I wish I had done the same with the clutch springs! I installed the Barnett springs in my Mayberry Duck and the clutch feel is VERY MUCH harder. I do NOT like it!! I never had any slipping issues with my other XS11 and should have stuck with OEM replacement springs.

RE: Polishing
I'm noticing how hard it is to keep everything shiny for an extended period of time. It does not take as much effort as the initial cleaning but keeping everything looking nice takes a good bit of time. I think I know now why so many people go and rattle can their motors!

We need PICS!

Respectfully,
KURT

[Radioguylogs]

OK, I warned you

We need PICS!


KURT

Careful what you ask for:
ZZZZZZzzzzzzz






Now here is something more interesting :

[MaximPhil]

Hi Mike,
A pristine Spaghetti exhaust.... very nice the rest of the bike looks good too.
Phil

[Radioguylogs]

Oops!

[Thanks Phil.]

I found an oops!

I was brushing up on setting the carb floats on the Bagger (SG). I read all of the posts going back a few years. My Factory Service Manual is the '78-'79 version, so it was no help for setting SG floats.

I found the section in the back of the Clymer manual about the '80 and '81 models. THAT'S WHEN I HAD AN OOPS. I noticed the Intake valve clearances are spec'd tighter on the 80 and later models than the 79 and earlier models ('80&later=0.11-0.15mm ; '79&earlier=0.16-0.20mm).

Exhaust valves are not changed.

I already re-shimmed my valves. I had to move all of them at least shim size thinner to get back into the 79&earlier spec. Three Intake and one Exhaust had to move 2 shim sizes.

Ironically, three of the Intake valves were in spec before I messed with them! Smells like the PO had adjusted them to the 79&earler specs and rode 10k miles.

I wondered about it, and checked some of the older posts. I see Crazy Steve feels it's not unusual to use the old model specs on the newer engines:

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...highlight=shim

It nags at me that I did it 'wrong'. I'll probably go back in there and adjust them into the correct spec for an SG.

[motoman]

[Thanks Phil.]

I found an oops!

I was brushing up on setting the carb floats on the Bagger (SG). I read all of the posts going back a few years. My Factory Service Manual is the '78-'79 version, so it was no help for setting SG floats.

I found the section in the back of the Clymer manual about the '80 and '81 models. THAT'S WHEN I HAD AN OOPS. I noticed the Intake valve clearances are spec'd tighter on the 80 and later models than the 79 and earlier models ('80&later=0.11-0.15mm ; '79&earlier=0.16-0.20mm).

Exhaust valves are not changed.

I already re-shimmed my valves. I had to move all of them at least shim size thinner to get back into the 79&earlier spec. Three Intake and one Exhaust had to move 2 shim sizes.

Ironically, three of the Intake valves were in spec before I messed with them! Smells like the PO had adjusted them to the 79&earler specs and rode 10k miles.

I wondered about it, and checked some of the older posts. I see Crazy Steve feels it's not unusual to use the old model specs on the newer engines:

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...highlight=shim

It nags at me that I did it 'wrong'. I'll probably go back in there and adjust them into the correct spec for an SG.

The tad on the loose side IS better for the valve train for the G and later models.

[jetmechmarty]

I set my SG to the 78/79 spec. They only changed it for a quieter valve train and I believe it says that in the factory service manual.

[motoman]

I set my SG to the 78/79 spec. They only changed it for a quieter valve train and I believe it says that in the factory service manual.

Guess you could...........if ya' don't mind quicker burnt valves.