What did you do to your Yamaha today?

for the love of everything holy - wtf?

Hurry put the valve cover back on, if you can't see it, is it really there?

I recognize the 750 looks much different than my 650. Sorry you have to face that. Some PO's are POS's.

 

Another order to Chacal is in order.....oh my......cant believe the PO did not replace it.....

 

Replaced it already - I have 3 motors here, so parts aren't a huge problem.

Just completely flabbergasted that the PO elected to try welding it, THEN installed it after so utterly botching the welding job, when a new (used) cap wouldn't have been a problem to get at all.

Anyways, replaced that, then checked valves, and swapped some around to get slightly too-tight intake valves into spec. Too dark to finish now, gonna get the valve cover cleaned up and gasket prepped and installed tomorrow.

 

PO was an idiot.......you are doing it right......keep up the good work......you are making a lot of progress with your bike.....

 

Yeah, been there, done that! On the other hand, I still remember the day my dad handed me the CHAINSAW!! Nightmares for everyone!!

 

Remember the PO nightmare thread? This would work there... Could be an award winner! I can't find the link.

 

We should start another PO idiot thread

 

Found the old one:
Starts to take a side track on page 3, but what do you expect in the Hangout Lounge?
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/previous-owner-masterpieces.57929/

Ughs. Photobucket strikes again. Most of it is still available...

 

-

 

You say the PO is an idiot but what you don't know is that was an emergency roadside MacGyver fix made hundreds of miles from civilization in the Canadian wilderness during a blizzard in the middle of the night with nothing but the contents of his pocket and the handy XJ tool kit.

And I know it was a he because a she would have had the replacement part in her giant 80's purse.

 

I was in a mall parking lot in 1984 in Chicago suburb. At the time I drove a 1980 Honda Accord. My friend and I saw a young lady with an Accord that would not start. We first tried push starting. No luck. Looked at her spark plugs. Shot. She said, "I have replacements in my trunk." So I installed them. Still would not start. Pulled distributor cap. Rotor and cap were shot. She had replacements in her trunk, including new plug wires! She said her boyfriend was planning on a tune up.

Installed it all in a few minutes, car started and she drove away.

I wonder what else she had in the trunk?

 

Riding home yesterday after work I was riding with my inner sun screen down and my clear visor at the first click or 3/4 down.
I see this yellow flash and the next thing I know this BEE goes inside the visor past the sun screen and down through the bottom of my helmet and goes inside my jacket through the opening of my work shirt and freakin stings me in my right shoulder. I didn't realize that it was a bee until 15 minutes later when I got home. No Bee but the stinger was stuck between the shoulder and the collar bone.
I haven't been stung in like 30 years.
Bees are like water they always find a way to get ya!!

 

A few weeks or actually a month ago I ordered new front pads Sintered HH for my XJ700X. What I thought was going to be a pad slap turned out to be a total rebuild of the front calipers. As when I removed the current pads one side was almost gone while the other looked pretty much brand new. Not sure if it was the rebuilding of the calipers, new Sintered HH pads or both but my braking has increased immensely. My realization, today I was braking for a stop light and I felt as though the rear end was going to come off the ground. No, I wasn't doing emergency braking I just had an opportunity to really test the front brakes and I liked the feeling the rebuilt calipers and the new sintered HH pads gave me. Sometimes or at least for myself when ever I buy something new for my bike I go up one grade-
clutch springs- When I replaced the clutch and the metal disc's I went with the Heavy Duty clutch springs and with a cable clutch my left hand is a bit stronger LOL.
Brake Pads- Sintered HH supposed to be for the sportier bikes yet I like the feeling and the confidence of the stopping power.
Tires-As these are what keeps you glued to the ground I'll gladly spend the money.
I started or the bike originally came to me with Kenda tires. The front tire after a few thousands miles produced a bubble replaced immediately, both front and back.
Second set where Shinko Tour Master 230. Actually got close to 13,000 miles and still had tread left.
Third set Bridgstone Battle Axe tires. Only got 4,ooo miles on them so far. Holding up well.
With each set of tires that upgrade to I get a different feel of the road and the handling is getting better with each upgraded set I buy.
My weekend begins today-Happy Cycling

 

Bees (and other such stingy insects) are absolutely the worst. I think everyone who rides has gotten a bee stuck in their helmet at least once, and it's about the most panic inducing thing that can happen to you... And I say that as a guy who's been in a few high speed motorcycle accidents. They're big enough and yellow enough that you KNOW it's a bee that's stuck in your face/ears/neck, and are just waiting for that OW!

Edit: I will say, though: For all the trouble I have taking a helmet off with gloves on normally, the times I've gotten a bee stuck in my helmet, I've somehow been able to get that helmet off so impossibly fast every time. Pull over, helmet comes off RIGHT NOW.

 

Finished reassembling the bike, after the RTV on the valve cover gasket had a nice 24 hours to set. Started her up, let her run a bit - no obvious leaks yet, which is awesome given it's a used gasket off another bike, with a different valve cover, and lacking one valve cover bolt. By rights, it should leak oil all over the place. Sadly, my super-hacky clamp-instead-of-valve-cover-bolt plan didn't pan out, my 2" C-Clamp is a bit too small, even after a bunch of creative grinding (Of the clamp!!) and the 3" is too big to fit. Hoping it holds well enough till my brother in law can help out with getting a new helicoil in.

Now, just got to get in one last shim, the valve cover bolt hole fixed, new donuts, and the original valve cover nice and prettied up, then I'll install it with my new gasket and she should be good for a good long time.

 

Well, a commute to work was interesting and educational.

All my intake valves where a bit tight(single shim value change each). I was able to shuffle shims for all but one (now all 0.15) but the fourth(well, third actually) is still 0.10.

I have not resynchronized the carbs, or adjusted anything else as I need that shim, no point doing it twice.

There was noticeably more engine vibration, and the idle was decidedly more lopey. Really interesting that getting some cylinders into spec but not all made such a big difference there. I didn't really expect to feel anything substantial after changing those shims, as they were very small changes.

Overall very beneficial for me, as if my bike has always felt like this, I wouldn't think it was a tuning problem and just would have assumed it was normal. Makes me question a lot of the "buzzy XJ" comments I've seen. I mean, it's a certainly noticable difference, but the bike (leaving out the comparison) doesn't feel like it runs badly. It's just less smooth.

 

^^^ And as you recognized, the sync needs to be re-tweaked.

 

Once that last shim is in...and you re-sync and color tune the plugs.......your will fly down the road....these XJ's once dialed in, sound sweet and have incredible pulling power

 

the reason it is stressed that valves need to be in spec BEFORE sync and colortune has become clear to you .
change in valve clearances affect how well each cylinder runs and fight amongest them selves

 

Yup. I mean, the advice made sense of course, I just wasn't prepared for how much of a difference small changes in valve clearance made, particularly with regards to engine balance, and just how much that impacted vibration. Crazy.