Manky's XS650 Yamaha

[Manky Monkey]

The old worm drive has a damaged mounting cos it's made of plastic & has gone brittle with age. The new one's a mix of plastic & metal. I've tried using the old drive in the new housing, but the threads don't seem to be quite the same & I didn't want to force it.
Had to drain the oil to remove the righthand cover to check the clutch plates. I also removed the sump plate on the bottom of the engine, to fix an oil leak, which meant removing the side stand cos it was in the way. So, of course, as soon as I had the bike blocked up & immobile on a lump of wood outside the garage, with the side casing open, it absolutely poured down with rain. Torrential for about 5 minutes, then on & off for an hour or so. Bugger.
Anyway, The clutch lever's stiffer than I'd like, but not un-useable. It turns the worm drive, which pushes the pushrod, which separates the clutch plates. All working O.K & I really can't see anything else that can be done to change any of it, but the plates only move a couple of millimetres. I don't know how far they should separate, but as I said, with the lever pulled in, I can slide a screw driver between them easily.
There was a little black dust in the oil inside the clutch basket when I took it apart yesterday, which looks like it's from the friction surfaces. I didn't soak the plates in oil overnight before fitting, but did dip them in oil when they went together -so maybe it's just that they're too dry, although they look oily & the engine's been run with them fitted. Would running it again once the new carbs are fitted oil them up & free them off a bit more? Or do I need to drain the oil again & properly soak them for a couple of days?

[Manky Monkey]

Other jobs:
Front & rear wheel spindles replaced with shiny new ones -they were both quite beaten up from years of being wacked with hammers to fit them, with chewed up castle nuts & new ones were only about 10 Euros each from Germany.
Tried to fit the new speedo inner cable that Mr CopperSmith very kindly made for me, but the squared off ends don't flex like the rest of the cable so I can't slide it inside the curved guide tube. Think I've got some left over aluminium tube, so will experiment with bending it with a pair of brake pipe forming pliers with the inner cable already inside. Fortunately CS made a spare. Still need to connect up the illumination bulb in the new speedo, (Nathan hard wired the old one & the bulb's different).
Mr Dslam spotted that one of the triangular tappet covers on the top of the engine is an older type, that uses a flat paper gasket unlike the later ones which used a rubber O ring. I've found another late model one in my spares pile, but it needs a good scrub up with some wet n dry & chrome cleaner.
Offered the new stainless exhaust pipes up to the bike. Looks like they both need about 10mm cut off the cylinder head end to clear the frame. They're slightly bigger diameter than the old ones & I suspect I may have to go back to Torque Technique to have the bend on the righthand one pulled in a little tighter, but won't know for sure till I've trimmed the ends.
So plodding on, but very, very slowly.

[Olds]

Never bothered with soaking plates on Brits. Just oild them on assembly.
As long as all plates are flat, not warped, belled or twisted, there should be no need for a lot of movement
You may find that once the plates have bedded in, you will be able to change to the longer setting.
When I rebuilt the clutch on the A10 RGS rep., to begin with the handle bar lever had to be pulled right back hard against the grip and there was still some drag, but after a week or so of abuse it was much better.

[terry t]

Try re routing the clutch cable may be to tight or oil it?

[Manky Monkey]

Hi guys. Haven't oiled the cable cos it looks like it's got a PTFE, (self "lubricating" plastic), inner sleeve. It moves freely, so I think it's routed O.K
No, I've never soaked clutch plates before either, but several people have told me you should -maybe that's just on more modern bikes than I'm used to. If I put it in gear & rock it back & forth with the lever pulled in, you can feel the clonk, clonk of it being in gear. Several of my old bikes would spin the back wheel if it was off the ground with the engine running, when in gear with the lever pulled in, but wouldn't creep forward when they had the weight of a rider sat on them. Maybe it's fine & I'm worrying about it too much when it just needs bedding in?

[stinkey]

I think you should work on the bike,and stay off the forum and stop asking questions mate..fit the dam clutch and try riding it ? Come back in a few days and then tell us all about it ?

[Manky Monkey]

  O.K then.

[Tony oily bike]

With the clutch basket cover on & the old springs refitted, I hooked up the cable to the worm drive.
Still not right. With everything adjusted as far as possible, the plates move maybe 3mm when the lever's pulled right in to the bars. Looking at this video, that seems to be about all this guy's move:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oYFW1rycKU

This old clutch business is proving a bit of a challenge...........keep at, you'll get there  

Don't know if this will be of use, but the guy that posted the above video ("I am Carbon") has a lot of stuff on xs650.com  http://www.xs650.com/tech.php#clutch

Re the oiling of clutch plates - This is mentioned on the xs650.com threads.

[Manky Monkey]

Interesting -& thanks for the PM Tony. The clutch is back together, side casings on & filled with oil again, so I'm gonna leave it for now & move on with the other jobs in the hope that it just needs bedding in.
Trimmed 10mm off both new exhaust pipes at the engine end this afternoon, but the righthand one needs another 5 before it'll clear the frame tubes. May get away without having to go back to Torque Technique to tweak the bends, but it's not easy juggling 2 pipes that aren't bolted to anything yet & trying to measure gaps. Hopefully they'll work out O.K
Made a new speedo cable guide & cleaned up & fitted a replacement tappet cover.
Nice to see Mr Kapri at Loony's workshop this afternoon -you always turn up when I've got a list of jobs I want to get done Kev -I wasn't being deliberately anti-social, honest! 
I was stood in the lock-up this evening after trying the pipes in place again & thought I'd see how the lights looked in the dark. Put the key in, turned the ignition on ...nothing. Not a glimmer of light anywhere, no horn, indicators. Nothing. Bugger. Checked all the fuses & they look O.K. Just hope the battery hasn't had a proper charge yet & everything will be fine once it has, (have to charge it in situ cos the battery box drops out from underneath the frame & there isn't enough ground clearance -poor design). Really starting to get fed up with this now.

[Olds]

(have to charge it in situ cos the battery box drops out from underneath the frame & there isn't enough ground clearance -poor design). Really starting to get fed up with this now.

A paddock stand might be usefull. Something to make while it's raining and you can't get on with your projects.

[minimutly]

In the absence of two back wheels I would have to concurr with olds.
Oh, and yes, forget about the clutch for now,  half a day ripping about will probably cure it. That bike of yours is a work of art, keep at it, please?

[mrhutch]

^^ WHS

Don't let the manky doldrums beat you chap, crack on and you'll be glad you did.

[Manky Monkey]

  It's at this point that I usually lose patience, flog it for a fraction of what it's cost to build -then watch the new owner fix the faults in 2 days & have a perfect bike. As I've said though, I really don't intend to build any more, so I'll keep plugging away at this one, however damn long it takes. 

[mrhutch]

good..

back to work then sir please.

[Sid_Vicious]

As you said earlier you could fit a screwdriver between the plates when the clutch lever was in so you should have more than enough travel on the clutchbasket to free it up. I would try it out for a couple of days of riding and see if its just needs some bedding in. It's a wetclutch so thats why some people say soak it, but it will soak in oil in the engine aswell.