Bringing her back to life!

[Tarzan31]

Hello everyone! NFG here,

I have been using xs11.com for about 6 weeks. The first 2 weeks were combing through what it would be like to work on a 70's Yamaha. Now I have a 79 XS1100 (Special I think). The reason I say "I think" is that it is hacked up! I will post pictures over the weekend to explain what I mean. For now words will suffice.
Frame is cut, wiring harness is hacked, I bought it not running (it will turn over!), front brakes had nothing to them, carb holders cracked, cylinder 3 carb bowl leaking, light rust in the tank (no fuel filters), pod air filters (I did get the stock air box though), etc.

I am committed to bringing her to a classy look. She won't be stock by any means but she won't be a hack job bobber like some bikes I have seen out there. So far I have a new front brake master cylinder and brake lever, new clutch perch and clutch lever, caliper rebuild kit, carb holders and a manual on the way.

After that I will need top end gaskets, valve guide seals, cam tensioner gasket, ( I hope not a shim kit because they are expensive and I don't know anyone with one!) , possibly a full carb rebuild kit, some fabricating to clean up the hacked off rear end, and a lot of love!

In the exhaust ports I have a lot of carbon build up and it has a glossy (wet) look which is why I am thinking of the valve guide seals. I will check the guides and valve stems once the top end is off, but I am hoping that they are fine. Can I re use the seals from the headers? Or is that a one and done part?

Am I missing anything commonly done on a resto? All fluids are a given.

Thanks gents!
Tarzan

[natemoen]

Welcome! Sounds like a good start. I would suggest getting it started and running before tearing open the engine. No sense doing a bunch of things that might not be necessary if you don't have to.

Caliper kits are usually unnecessary unless something is torn, cleaning is usually all that's needed. Same for the master cylinders. Carb kits are also usually unnecessary but there are some parts that might need replacing, like float needle seats. The non OEM Mikuni jets that come in kits are worthless because their size numbers are totally different than the Mikuni jets. Usually the jets just need to be cleaned and not replaced. For the shims if needed you usually only need a few and they can be had individually for about $5. Pretty much every gasket except the head gasket can be replaced with your choice of gasket making compound, and most of us go that route, but like I said, get it running before tearing into the engine. Header seals are probably fine for now but I would put some new ones on once you are done with the work.

Good luck, have fun, and interested to see what you got.

[Schming]

Welcome to the Madness !!!

Great advice from Nate, on getting it running to see what your dealing with first.

You may want to check out the ACCT mod as the stock CCT are a weak link.

Stock airbox with a K&N filter will be your friend while tuning.

New Mikuni float needles and seats along with the float bowl gasket are all I usually have to replace on a carb rebuild unless a PO has been in there with an improper screw driver and buggered up the heads of the jets and then once removed make sure they're the correct jets for the carbs.

When you clean the calipers make sure the seat, for the flat O-ring for the piston, is spotless and the spooge hole also.

Also Andreas Weiss is Our resident parts supplier if you need anything.

[DiverRay]

As Nate said, get it running FIRST and then fix things ONE AT A TIME. Welcome to the madness, by the way.
Valve shims are the same as used in the Kawasaki dirt bikes, so they can be had one at a time. DO NOT buy the cheap China made ones! I tried them and had TWO crack in the bike! If you have a local indi repair shop, you may be able to swap out shims for just a few bucks per, as that is what I do if I don't have the size in my stash. Also, if you let us know what size you need, some of us will swap for just the cost of postage.
The ACCT mod is a MUST as far as I'm concerned. The OEM has slipped and caused engine failures WAY too many times!
Good luck, and post ANY QUESTIONS! There are NO stupid questions! We've all been though about everything on these bikes, so someone here has the answer you need.

[Tarzan31]

Thanks for the input gents!
I am a little weary of the ACCT, however I was searching today and many, many people recommend it.
Has anyone had one on for more than 15k miles or so?
Does it wear down on the chain guides?
I saw discussion concerning a raptor tensioner. Also talk of the stiffness of the Vmax tensioner being more than the Virago but the virago needs some filing for the bolt holes to line up. Which have you guys used?
Can anyone also recommend the best type of gasket material? I would rather buy bulk and make my own versus use a liquid gasket alternative.

I am going to search for a cheap battery and may contact Andreas to see if he has an engine stop switch (the one with the bike is in pieces and I haven't rebuilt one before. Plus the wires from the harness are hacked there as well). I am bidding on an ebay one as of now but it seems they end up with huge price tags each time. I will most likely get a new harness as well.
When next season comes I will look into Shorai and Ballistic batteries.

I found out this week my wife is pregnant so this project is priority one for the month of July and August!
Then I have to build another room and cut my living room in half for the baby room this fall.
My Goldwing is sure going to feel neglected this season!

[bikerphil]

I have run the ACCT for 60K+ miles with no wear on the guides. The Vmax or Venture tensioner seems to fit the best and have the correct length ratchet mechanism, only thing is shorter mounting bolts are required, or a stack of washers on the originals.

[Tarzan31]

How do I go about uploading pictures?
It asks for a URL and I can't find a place to upload attachments directly from my computer.

[bikerphil]

You need to use a free photo hosting site such as photobucket, copy and paste the img link here in your post.

[motoman]

I have run the ACCT for 60K+ miles with no wear on the guides. The Vmax or Venture tensioner seems to fit the best and have the correct length ratchet mechanism, only thing is shorter mounting bolts are required, or a stack of washers on the originals.

+1 to bikerphil's statement.

[Tarzan31]

I haven't created a photobucket and uploaded pictures yet. That will be an eventual endeavor.
For now I cleaned the carbs (This past weekend. Things are crazy for me so I don't get much time for the bike.) I put them back on and had some issues running off of choke.
I checked the fuel screws which 2 of them were way in. She ran a little better with the fuel screws out 2 full turns each, but not good by any means. There was a lot of smoke (white/gray) which I did expect and I touched each exhaust pipe to check for heat. (4 into 1 set up so I couldn't see if smoke was from only 2 or all 4.) When checking the pipes the left and left center pipes were hot. The right center pipe mildly warm and the right pipe cold.
Correct me if I am wrong but at this stage this shows me...
1. Smoke could be from unburnt fuel mix in the 2 right hand cylinders.
2. (I need to check on cylinder order) The right cylinder and possibly right center are not firing at all or the center right could be intermittent if the heat on the pipe wasn't from other cylinder heat dispersal.
3. Spark plugs could be fouled (the far right plug was wet and black. The far left wasn't as bad but the porcelain was black as well. I turned in the screws 1/2 when finishing up because I know I'll forget this weekend.)
4. Ignition boots could be bad. The didn't have cracks or seem corroded though.
5. Ignition coils could be bad.
6. Ignition unit could be bad.

I am going to go through those 6 thoughts of mine this coming weekend. Am I missing something or should those checks get me to where I need to be in finding the issue?

Thanks for any advice.

[Tarzan31]

I forgot to add in timing. I can check the cam chain and sprockets this weekend I hope. It is raining so I am not expecting anyone to pull me away to go help with something.
Also my pilot jets if memory serves me right are 42.5. My memory is junk when I eventually tear down the carbs again I will re check on that.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey there Tarzan,

Surprised folks haven't commented since your 4pm post.

I just reviewed this thread, an old bike that wasn't running, and you're resurrecting it, trying to get the engine running to be sure you have a viable machine before putting too much more work or $$ into it.

Have you gotten NEW spark plugs? Next, have you verified you have spark on all 4 cylinders? You have to have both plug wires on plugs for each coil paired 1-4 and 2-3. Have 1 in the spark plug hole, have the other laying on the head so you can see the gap, and then crank it a few times to verify you see spark. Then swap out the other plug into the hole and other on the head, and repeat. The one outside has to be against the HEAD making metal to metal contact for the spark to travel from coil, to plug, thru head, to other plug and back to coil. Then repeat for other paired wires. Take the caps off of the wires, inspect wire for green corrosion, trim 1/4" off till you get to clean copper, clean the screw of the cap. Also, take an Ohmmeter and check the caps, should be only about 5K ohms. While caps off, check ohms thru both plug wires, should be ~15K ohms. ALso check Primary connections...the red/white and ether orange or gray wire connectors...should be 1.5 ohms.

Do you have access to a compression tester? Auto parts stores can LOAN tools like that. The RINGS may be stuck from sitting, gumming of fuel/oil, etc. so don't worry too much about the readings. Remember, pull ALL plugs, perhaps have/use a car battery jumped to bike for extra cranking power without running down the bike battery too much.
Since the engine isn't running on all 4 yet, don't worry about trying to do a WARM/Hot Comp. Test, just do the cold, remember to OPEN THROTTLE WIDE OPEN, or just take the carbs off.

You may have searched and found that cracked intake boots aren't necessarily bad, they are double walled, and most of the time are just fine internally, but can develop drying/crumbling of the rubber where they mount to the head, so taking them off, inspecting, cleaning, and applying 3bond, permatex, or similar type fuel resistant sealant.
Also check for vacuum leaks at the synch ports, the rubber caps like to harden and not fit tightly causing vacuum leaks.

You mentioned fuel leaking out of #3 carb, that can indicate dirty carbs with sticking float needle valves causing flooding...which can then also cause fuel fouled plugs, probably what's wrong with the #4 plug....the cylinders/carbs are labelled 1-4 left to right as you SIT on the bike.

You're going to have to clean the carbs to have any chance of ensuring that you'll be able to get decent fuel flow to each cylinder to get all 4 firing. A basic Bench Synch will be sufficient for this, then you can get a vac. synch later.

T.C.

[Radioguylogs]

Idea to check spark

T.C. covered everything.

I just have one idea that I use when I check the spark in all cylinders.

I use car battery jumper cables. I use one cable clamped the the threads of #1 and #4 plugs, and the other cable connected to #2 and #3 plugs.

Then you can watch them all fire while cranking.

No need to ground them.

[3Phase]

Totally missed this thread... sorry about that.

Tarzan, usually when the left or right cylinder pairs have problems it's a fuel supply problem because 1&2 are supposed to be fed by the left-hand tap, 3&4 by the right-hand tap. When it's the 1&4 or 2&3 pairs it usually means it's an ignition problem.

None of that may be right for your bike because you said the #4 plug was wet and black. Cylinders are numbered left to right as you're sitting and facing forward on the bike so #1 is on the far left and #4 is far right.

No pictures so I don't know what type of fuel tank you have on your '79. The fuel taps could be clogged or put together wrong. You may still have the octy/fuel distribution valve and that could be bad or clogged.

Without the fuel filters, any rust, dirt and water in the tank will have gone through the fuel tees and can plug up the float valves and the screens if they're even still in the carbs.

The idle mixture passages could be clogged or if you actually do have the '79 carbs then mixture screw tips could be broken off in the carb body. Those cylinders would have no fuel at all at idle unless you jack their throttle plates open far enough to uncover the transition port trio. That'll work, sort of but for the carbs at idle it's, like, totally not stable because it's like trying to drink from a fire hose. That will also wet a sparkplug down really well too and not let it fire.

.

[Tarzan31]

Primary side of coils test out at 1.8 ohms.
I can't get a reading from the secondary side. I assume the red with a white tracer is the positive. One coil has orange the other gray which I assumed were grounds. Regardless, nothing either way.
I am going to check spark next, but have a quick question. Should I disconnect all boots so that there isn't spark and possibly turn her over?
I will test cylinder 1 first since it know it is firing and use that plug for all of the cylinders.
I try and sneak in time to work on the bike but my work is possibly taking a second consecutive weekend. I feel like by the time I get to work on the bike and get her finished the summer will be over. 1 hour here and there just isn't cutting it and is really frustrating. I am at the point that I open up the manual and 10 minutes later I have no idea what I just read and am called upon to do something else anyways.
I wish I got into bikes before I got a real life!