Manky's XS650 Yamaha

[Manky Monkey]

Lots of small jobs today, so not much to see.
First on the list was a trip to the local camping shop for a small gas heater to take the edge off the cold in the garage. Definitely feels like there's snow on the way.
Left engine casing back off to grease up the worm drive that operates the clutch cos I forgot to do it first time around. Then adjust the worm drive & the lever. Clutch is still a little heavy but the plates are still dry & the engine hasn't run yet. Much better than it was.
Adjusted the twin throttle cables until both carb slides lifted in sync, then spent an hour modifying a cable seperator to fit, before deciding it looked tidier without it & taking it back off.
One small spot of oil under the bike which looks to have come from the filter housing, so took it off, added copper washers under the bolt heads & nipped them all up tighter.
Cut the ends out of the handlebar grips & fitted a small bar end mirror on the right & the plug section of the left one to keep it looking symetrical.
Didn't get going till lunchtime today & by 3.30 it was really too cold to work in a lock-up, even with my new heater.
Jobs to do before I give the bike to Galaxie500 to wire up:
Fill & bleed both brakes, (& fix any leaks).
Take the tank back off & replace a few tatty bolts on the cylinder head as well as the oil seals under them.
Fit new oil seals on the points covers, (2 chrome covers either side of the head), set the engine to TDC & adjust the Boyer electronic ignition pick-up.
Take the new sidestand spring back off & figure out which way up & round it should fit to keep the stand up & down as needed.
Touch up & polish out various scuffs & chips in the black paint.
I also want to fill a couple of tiny dings in the tank & blow it over in another coat of aerosol paint. Anyone know of a sealant I can put on the fuel tap threads to make sure they don't leak? They're tapered threads so shouldn't, but I bet they will.
Although there's oil in the motor now, I haven't tried turning it over on the kickstart yet. Might wait till it's wired up & it can be fired up properly. Not far off now.

[Manky Monkey]

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[morrag]

Bike looks a treat Mr M, and if you have a taper thread, then PTfe thread tape should be fine, Morrag

[Tony oily bike]

Clutch is still a little heavy but the plates are still dry & the engine hasn't run yet. Much better than it was.

Although there's oil in the motor now, I haven't tried turning it over on the kickstart yet. Might wait till it's wired up & it can be fired up properly. Not far off now.

I’d suggest before starting the motor, remove the plugs (so the engine turns nice easy) and turn the motor over quite a few times to get the oil round. Lotsa kicks on the kick-start or simply get a mate to help push the bike round the yard a couple of times with it in 2nd or 3rd gear.

An alternative (sometimes useful during a build) is to connect an electric/battery drill with a socket onto the crankshaft bolt/engine sprocket.
A set of starting rollers make things really easy, but unfortunately they’re not usually in most folks tool boxes!

Clutch plates - Bit of a ‘trick’ of some of the grass-track guys used was to put a spare set of clutch plates submerged in oil (in an old biscuit tin or alike) to take to meeting so they were ready to go if needed.

Bikes looking rather tidy Mr M 

[tom_prs]

The bikes looking good Andy, it's given me plenty of motivation to get mine done!

[Manky Monkey]

Hiya. Yeah, crack on!
Loved Burt Munro's rollers in Fastest Indian, started with the steel toe cap of his boot.
Yeah, I did think of soaking the clutch plates before fitting -dimly remember doing that years ago. I put a little oil down the plug holes a long time ago, but after being stood so long, I'm dreading that first kick

[Tony oily bike]

World's Fastest Indian - cracking good film, and, as you said, the rollers and his steelies 

Re your excess, was thinking along the lines of oil pressure to the big ends before its run up, and a little bit of lube to the top end.

How long do you think till you'll have a go at trying to fire it up? Getting closer......

[Manky Monkey]

I watched the film in a tiny preview screening theatre in a Soho basement -the only perk so far of owning a motoring website. One of the best films I've ever seen. Great story, whether you're a Petrolhead or not.
Nathan thought he could wire the bike in a couple of days, but it depends if he's free. Last I heard he was rewiring a Shelby Mustang. I've got a few afternoons/days off of odds & ends to do, but nothing that'd stop him wiring it. It's my birthday a month today -it'd be nice to have it running & rideable by then

[BikerGran]

My then hubby and I used to rebuild engines for rally cars back in the 60s - he had a rep for building engines that didn't blow up.  Once the engine was installed we used to put the gar in gear and tow it round the nblock, before attempting to start it.  Seemed to work.

[Manky Monkey]

Big Darren has the garage next door, but he's learnt to yell NO! as soon as I start saying Aah, Darren, while you're here ...

[Manky Monkey]

4 screws loosened with an impact driver, 2 replaced plus a new oil seal, then the LED lamp ran out of charge so it was Game Over for the evening. Still, that's 1 oil seal nearer to completion than yesterday

[Olds]

[quot author=Manky Monkey link=topic=7916.msg214755#msg214755 date=1452541590]
Big Darren has the garage next door, but he's learnt to yell NO! as soon as I start saying Aah, Darren, while you're here ...
[/quote]
 

Any progress is good. Especially at this time of year in a lockup with no power.

[Manky Monkey]

Met Mr Galaxie500, (Nathan), at the garage this morning & we had a chat about wiring the bike up. He's wired several cars before but never done a bike. Once he'd been shown where the various components were though, he seemed confident enough. He wasn't sure about a price but thinks it'll take about 2 days. Should be able to do it in 2 weeks time. I know he'll do a good, tidy job & I'd rather give the money to someone I know than a stranger.
Once he'd left, I spent a few hours replacing oil seals & rusty bolts, as well as setting up the electronic ignition sensor. It was seriously cold in the lock-up though, so by mid afternoon I'd given up for the day, so took the fuel tank over to Loony's workshop. It's a new tank but had a couple of small dings in it that didn't show up till it was painted, as well as some marks where it was stamped out in the factory. Loon ran a quick skim of filler over it & will spray it in filler/primer tomorrow. Just as well he did it cos I couldn't feel my fingers by then. S-o-o cold

[Tony oily bike]

Don't know if you're aware of expandable plastic braiding, but it can be a really tidy way of finishing off the wiring.

Some variety of colours are available, and a bit of heat-shrink to terminate the end makes a neat job.

Available from various suppliers including a certain on-line auction site.

[Manky Monkey]

  the Pop's done with that. Works well. There isn't much exposed wiring on the bike, but I'd quite like it to match the Pop.
Last of the tatty engine bolts replaced & copper washers/Dowty seals fitted where needed. Meanwhile Mr Loon's rubbed down & primed the tank. Thank you Sir.