XS Southeast 2016 or Bust!

[Outlaw4shrt]

Hello everyone, so I've owned my 1981 XS1100H for about 5 years now and only had her running for about 3 months and maybe put 1000 miles on her. I've really enjoyed owning her and having her out there in the garage to tinker on in times of stress has been a lifesaver. But this year is the year, I'm going to get her out on the road, reliable, and fun and I've put a mark on the wall to have her ready by the XS Southeast Rally at the end of September in Ashville.

If you search the forums a bit you can find some of my old threads so I won't rehash much, but I've done a lot of work, too much actually and I'm sure I've made it harder to get her back on the road than it rightfully should be. But here I am, and I'm going to give it my best to get her to XS Southeast 2016 ready to ride!

To-Do List:
1. Strip frame, weld in swingarm mounting plates, brace frame, prep it for the solo tail and XJR1200 oil cooler etc., and powdercoat it.
2. Find an unmolested stock wiring harness and get the electrical sorted.
3. Put the stock carbs back on, clean, re-jet, and just get her running.
4. I'd like to get the tachometer and the speedo working.
5. New (to-me) headlight and turn-signals. I'm thinking a smaller round virago headlight with an LED bulb.
6. Spin on oil filter conversion
7. And whatever aluminum polishing I have time for, hopefully the rear rim and I bought another stock valve cover to polish.

Here are some current pictures that I took of the bike next to an R1 streetfighter that I built.

Will keep you posted on progress!

- Adrian

[JeffH]

Great ..........
That sounds like a good plan.

We look forward to seeing you & the bike at the Iron Horse in September.

Keep us posted as you get your bike Rally ready.

Jeff

[Radioguylogs]

Go for it

Very ambitious.

Good thing you have a couch in the garage.

Hope it all goes like you dream it.

[madmax-im]

Welcome back neighbor...Cool bike...that seat looks rather tortuous for an old fart like me...LOL...I too am XSSE bound or BUST! Hope to meet you there...

[natemoen]

I haven't seen a drop in H4 light bulb that is worth it. If you did a swap to a new all in one housing/bulk unit like the truck-lite led headlight then thats a different story.

[Outlaw4shrt]

Thanks for the positive encouragement guys! It's a lot of work, but I've gotten the ok from the wife to put a liiiittle more money towards this to get the bike running again, and I think two months is enough time to not feel too rushed, but we'll see. I'm going to pull the motor out tonight after the kids get to bed and strip it down as far as I can so I get the frame over to be sand blasted so I can start fitting and welding some frame braces and the swingarm mounts up. For me, I think that's definitely the long pole in the tent based on requirements and my lack of talent.

I called over to Gaston Motorcycle Werks in Gastonia, NC http://www.gmw-ltd.com/ and talked to Benjamin today about getting the bike sorted and running well again. He mentioned putting a dyna electronic ignition on the bike since I've had so much trouble with the vacuum advance in the past. Anyone have any experience with this, particularly since my bike is an '81? He wasn't sure if the XS1100's were a good candidate for this modification or not so any feedback would be great. My plan is to get the frame work done and have it powder coated and then immediately run it over to him to finish getting it sorted, maybe some paint and polishing too but ehhh... if budget allows.

For the H4 bulbs, I ran this one http://www.cyclopsadventuresports.co...ulb-_p_83.html in my KTM 990 Adventure and it was freakin' awesome! It's big though, not sure what housings I could get it in.

[Outlaw4shrt]

The wife worked a night shift last night, so I had some time after work and putting my kids to bed to tear the bike down and burn some midnight oil!

2245: As she sat when I started, basically just the tank and seat removed.


2349: Motors out! I always forget how heavy that thing is. Hopefully it's the last time I have to do this.


0025: Front end is out.


0145: Birds nest of a wiring harness removed and everything relatively put away.


Now I am off to have the frame it fine grit aluminum oxide blasted. Hopefully I can get the frame back by tomorrow, get it up on the jig, and start working the swingarm mounts, frame braces, etc.

[DiverRay]

As someone who has gone that far, your doing well! For the headlight, try an HID unit at 4200K. They use 35 Watts, and put out a great light for about $40 online. The problem is they are only high OR low for most of them. I use them in my BMW because it was going through the bulbs about once a year, and they are a PAIN to replace.

[Outlaw4shrt]

As someone who has gone that far, your doing well! For the headlight, try an HID unit at 4200K. They use 35 Watts, and put out a great light for about $40 online. The problem is they are only high OR low for most of them. I use them in my BMW because it was going through the bulbs about once a year, and they are a PAIN to replace.

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. I still haven't decided on the headlight yet. I thought I wanted to go with a bottom mount 5 3/4" light but if I went with a sound mount light I could mount a small steering damper underneath the light versus eventually using one that mounted from the fork to the frame...

FYI, overall these two bikes below are my inspiration but who knows where I'll end up. The XS11 is just so much longer!

[Outlaw4shrt]

So I got the frame back from the bodyshop and had it blasted with aluminum oxide and they did a great job. The frame appears to be in really good shape, and still straight from my initial measurements. I got the frame up in the jig, need to set and level it, and then the fun begins!

[DiverRay]

Don't forget to check the bottom two tubes that the center stand and side stand mount on! A lot of these have shown problems from age and rust in that area. I had to weld up a my '79 frame to get it back to stock, but that was the center stand mounts fracture at the welds.

[3Phase]

I really like the frame jig you're using, that's awesome!

.

[Outlaw4shrt]

Don't forget to check the bottom two tubes that the center stand and side stand mount on! A lot of these have shown problems from age and rust in that area. I had to weld up a my '79 frame to get it back to stock, but that was the center stand mounts fracture at the welds.

Thanks man, I took a second look down there and did find a crack in the weld for the lower left centerstand mount! The rest of the area you mentioned looked ok, but thank you very much for pointing that out.

I really like the frame jig you're using, that's awesome!

.

I found that on craigslist for less than the cost of the material. A community college welding instructor had listed it for sale for over a month before I saw it and when I did I bought it the same day.

[Outlaw4shrt]

So yesterday I got some PVC pipe and started laying out how I wanted to brace the frame. I like the solution I came up with in the front, but I still need to figure out how I'm going to do these swingarm mounts. I still have the rear of the bike to layout too but I'm not so much worried about that. Now I just need to pick up a good tube notcher and they are a little more expensive than I thought they would be...

[kboehringer]

Dude your are making FAST Progress!

Outlaw,
I am looking forward to meeting you at XSSE! Hope you can Git 'er Done for the event!!!

I have a "Ol Joint Jigger" Model #RTN100. I've never used it for any bike work but have used it extensively on some of my cars. I don't think it cost me too much but I have had it for several years and can't remember what it cost back then. It worked very well! It's basically a pipe clamp that holds the pipe and lets you use a standard drill & hole saw to create the cuts necessary.

KURT