My XR650L Fixin'

[randy]

Whoo hoo, it runs, gapped the points and radio timed it,"old trick" turned on the gas and cranked it with my finger over the mainjet gallery hole, fired right up, loud as hell but it ran lol.

[Bob]

HA HA !  Fanastic !
as you know .... Most people out there in the real world are super poor at maintenance and usually if you look close you can see where just a few hours of fixin' will cure most the problems...
  I dunno how much ya paid for it but no doubt it was worth every penny !  especially now that you got it shifting ok !
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 so all you gott'a do now is get a battery, or  grow some big leg mussels so you can start that beastie !
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are you going to have any problems getting the liscnses on that thing ?
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it seams on my XR650L that I may have serious problems in that department...
there is a few of the California SMOG things Missing on the bike and if they check it isn't going to pass...( and I'm sure they will) so I am in a quandary at what to do about it.... so far there has been no real reason to liscnses it as I've just stuck to the back roads... but eventually I'll get nailed doing that and that hurts the pocket book even more than doing it properly ! ...
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so the main jet in the carb isn't screwed in ?  that's odd !...but not un-hurd of ...
... how in the world did CORK get in there is there cork gaskets on the valve covers or something ?
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 yah getting that thing timed right will make it start EASY !  I've seen more guys Kicking the shit out of Harleys because of the "TIMING" than any other problem... again
just a small amount of maintenance would cure that ! LOL
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well, I am in the middle of hooking up the stove pipe for the wood stove... better get back to it.... I've already put it off for 2 years.... LOL
... catcha' later !
...
Bob.......

[randy]

Got a pile of receipts with it, one of them was a new battery, haven't tried kick starting it yet, clear title with bill of sale, should be no problem licensing it, still don't have to go through that smog stuff here, YET. looks to me they lost the gallery plug for the mainjet, so they glued a piece of cork in there, the original gallery plug is brass with a very fine thread and holds the mainjet tube in place, it's a Kehin carb that I never did like from past experience, so I'm going to remove it and throw it as far as I can into a thicket I have out back lol, nothing beats a Stromberg Bendix for a big twin, and I know where to get one cheap. I'm going to replace all the outer case phillips head screws with stainless allen screws, they all look buggered up, and I'm going to get new access plugs for the primary cover, looks like at one point a hammer was used to remove them, I remember one time I was pulling a clutch hub off an old panhead harley, that damn thing just wouldn't come off, after breaking a couple studs of the hub I took the kicker side off the tranny and remover the clutch rod so I could use a jaw type puller, cranked that puller down to the point that it started warping the hub?? I didn't want to destroy the $300 main shaft so I took the puller back off and put a large nut with a washer that I welded onto it on the shaft, cranked that puller back down to the point that I was scared of it lol, took a hammer and whacked the puller a couple times, POP!!! it came loose, still had to fight it a bit but finally got it off, instead of the half moon key there was a small rock shaped close enough that someone used it lol, probably along the side of the road somewhere, must have taken a while to find a rock just the right size because I tried the same thing after this, sheared a flywheel key on a dirt bike way up in the hills, miles of gravel roads with lots of small rock but I for the life of me couldn't find one to fit. lol

[Bob]

LOL  could be the person sat there grinding his own key out of stone so it WOULD fit !
.... I think I'd push it before I'd do that ! LOL
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I've had my share of trouble trying to get magneto's off bikes ...even with the proper puller, some times their a SOB to get off !
... but I found the secret on the real stubern ones... HEAT !
get your puller on it and lot's of tension... strike up the torch and heat it till its so hot you can't touch it any more.... then smack it with a hammer !
never had it fail me yet !
... don't get it too hot though or you'll kill the magnets,...just high running temp !
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I had a flywheel on a lawn tractor give me hell one time and I could not get it off !
broke the puller, had to stop and re-weld it...
and i complained on the phone to my Mother and she said Ken said to heat it !  so I knew Ken had been around the farm a few times so I tried it ....
it popped off with the first hammer strike ! ... took me hours to un mushroom the shaft from the puller though ! HAHAHHAHAHAHHA!
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had a key get cut in almost half ...one time the bike was hard to start and ran great at top end but no guts on the bottom end at all... I checked the timing and it was off so far the points would not bring it in.... I thought that was weird so I took the flywheel off (magneto) and the key was off set by almost 1/2 the way through it... almost completely sheered but not quite !.... replaced the key with a new one and WOW did it start and run good after that ! HAHAHAHA!
much easier to set the points too !  HA !
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I read ages ago that a 2 bbl webber carb is the thing for big V-twins supposed to give them allot more bottom end ! ...
 I'm so used to Mulkini carbs that I have trouble when I work on the tractor !
its got an old up draft stormburg carb on it and I keep looking for more parts to put in it.... but there just ain't any ! LOL !
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I saw a Photo of a Hopped up Harley with a 2 bbl Holley carb on it ! that must'a been a bear to jet right but it did Run good !  a photo of him leaving showed nothing but tire smoke ! ... I guess it was Fast !  LOL   
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 I've no desire to mess with the carbs on either of my bikes because they have more than enough power the way they are... for this o'l man !  LOL
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sounds like your having allot of fun ! wish I was there to hurrass ya ! LOL
...
Bob....

[randy]

Wow, working on this bike brings back so many memories of when I worked on them for a living, 99% of the repairs I'm doing are caused by someone not knowing what they were doing, the end play on the output shaft was excessive so I pulled the tranny, all the correct shims were in there just not in the right places, where the input and output shafts come together there was a shim, there shouldn't be a shim in that spot at all, there are two springs in the ratchet assembly, one is heavier then the other, they were in the wrong positions, swapped them around, but the shims in their correct positions and reassembled, the end play on the output shaft is now perfect, the bolts in the transmission door are all drilled for safety wire but there was none, if one of them had come loose new cases would be needed, got lucky even though they had used locktite. the kicker arm is for a later model and doesn't fit right, it'll hit the rear exhaust pipe if used, ordered the right one off e-bay lol, cleaned up all the steels and friction plates from the clutch and checked on plate glass, all looked good, reinstalled on freshly greased rollers and basket, installed new clutch cable, primary gasket, and fastened with new allen head bolts, adjusted clutch, releases nicely, added tranny oil, put on new license plate and went for a very short ride, too friggin cold!!! gotta look into the brake light not working anyway. bendix carb should be here next week along with the correct kicker arm, usual cough and dead spot for a kehin carb, found a gallery plug from a mikuni solex auto carburetor that fit, still have lots of bugs to work out, these things have a rear chain oiler, I plug them and oil the chain manually, eliminates some of the oil spot these things leave behind lol.

[randy]

Cool; bad bulb in tail light, couldn't resist, went for about a three mile ride, got an ice cream headache lol, going to go down to Lowes and get some pipe to make a jiffy stand for the bike, can't believe the price of torco oil, in the 80s it was expensive at $2.50 a quart, now it's $9, warmed it up good and pulled the drain, also pulled the sump drain to check the magnet, looks good, need to adjust the lifters, got a little rattely when it warmed up good, also thinking about new pipes, those open drag pipes sure do bark, going to pull the battery so I can pull the oil bag, this year was infamious for developing a leak at the battery tab on the back of the oil tank, while I've got it out I'm going to run all new oil lines, I see a couple with factory crimp clamps so their 34 years old and probably leaking.

[Bob]

LOL Yah I bet you did get an Ice cream headach !  ....without the ice-cream ! ...
its down right cold out there !
 I haven't had the guts to ride anywhere lately ...too darn cold !
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sounds like your getting  o'l Betsy going purdy good ! LOL
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 I personally never did like super LOUD pipes... but I Really HATE silant ones too!
 I'ed rather have loud pipes than real quiet ones just for the sake of SAFTY.... I want people to be able to hear me because the jerks NEVER LOOK !
my 1100 has short glass packed mufflers on it and it barely takes the Crack out of each pop of the exhaust note  I can make it noisy if I want too but most of the time its fairly
quiet.... you can hear it idling a long way away.... its actually a bit too loud
but the only thing I can do to quiet it down is an incert in the end of the pipe and that usually degrades proformance a bit.... I still might do it though...
I can make a baffle out of the right size conduit by taking a hack saw to  a 8~12" piece and a hammer and chizzle.... the results are supprising ! it really quiets them down
but you have to leave about half the original diameter open...
the idea is to break up the PULSES ....
here is a quick drawing , just in case ya never seen one ! LOL
their really simple...
...
Bob.

[Bob]

ALSO a good way to really quiet down a loud machine is  a simple metal cap that fits just inside the exhaust pipe... if you drill a bunch of holes in it  and put as many holes as you can with about 1/8" between each hole it will quiet it down substantially!
 copper fitting caps are good for that  or tin cans that fit and a nail to make the holes !  ...LOL been there done that !
makes a world of difference ...

 I love to listen to the engine myself but after a while it gets old 
I had a bike one time that I could not hear over the wind noise on my helmet... I taped up the cracks in the helmet  which just made everything real quiet
 so I took the drill to the exhaust pipes and then I could hear the thing
that was my brand new off the show room floor Honda interceptor 500cc  best handling bike I ever owned... but that "CROTCH ROCKET" hurt to ride it took months of modifying  just to get it to where I didn't hurt for hours after getting to work
... man could that thing corner good though ! 
 I sold it to a guy when things got bad financially and he took over the payments
... that was the first and Last NEW bike I will ever own I think !
I am tempted to get a Yamaha YZF650R (I think it is), the one that has 125hp ...that's one mean machine... but it is a "Crotch rocket" and my bones don't like that position for long !
...that 1100cc out there though is cumfy !  I got it just right now... I made a back rest for the driver that can be removed by the push of a lever and  you'd never know it was there.... I used a "OFFICE SEAT" back rest and made a bracket for it... it works great...I have it all set up for the "LONG HAUL" with no place to go! LOL !
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 it does make my hands go to sleep after 15min of riding however... I have tendonitus fairly bad in both hands from turning wrenches all my life ... I can't even drive to town in the car without my fingers going numb... and that sucks on a bike !  gloves just agravate the problem and makes it worse. the handle bars are bolted solidly to the upper Yoke and I was thinking about making rubber incerts to stop the viberation  ( had a few bikes that had that arangement from the factory and it works fairly well) but I really don't like wiggly handlebars ! LOL
... because of my numbness in my hands I made a Throttle assist lever that I lay the palm of my hand on and  added a throttle lock screw that I seldom use but it is there if I want to give my throttle hand a break.
the clutch hand is usually the easiest to keep ALIVE because I can take it off the bars and wiggle my fingers or bend my fingers backwards on my thy to get the blood flowing again... yah its painful to do, but  a guys gott'a do what a guy's gott'a do ! LOL
 the XR650L does not give me much of that believe it or not, I dunno why ...it vibrates fairly bad about like the 1100cc, but its so light I don't have to hold on so tight I guess... I can ride it for an hour or so before the fingers go completely numb then its time for a break anyway !
 I found that if I STRETCH the tendons in my hands the Numbness lessons allot
 for a while there it had almost gone away , but its back with a vengeance again
 time for more backward bending of the hands I guess !  UGH !

Bob....

[Bob]

I pulled off the muffler on the XR yesterday and tore into it to try and quiet that east down a bit...
as I expected... the fiberglass matting was all balled up by the exit and no where else
completely filled with oil and carbin so I cut it off... I then took an awl and bent many of the holes in the long screen-pipe to scoop in the exhaust gasses... like a cheese grater
...this alone should help quiet it down a long way.
 I didn't have any fiberglass matting on hand (I thought I did) so I grabbed 2 bags of steel wool and un rolled each bundle and wrapped them around the preferated pipe as best I could , starting with the course steel wool first and the finer stuff at the last outside wrap.... I slid the tube covered with steel wool back inside the pipe and then was going to pop rivet it back together like it was.... but I can't find my good pop rivet gun OR the pop rivets ! so I used large sheet metal screws... and I already lost one!
it did quiet it down by about 10db but not all that much ...I was hoping for more actually
... maybe the steel wool isn't as good as fiberglass ! LOL
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 All in all it IS allot quieter.... I don't feel like I'm disturbing my neighbors now when I start it ...so that is a good thing!
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I'll probably add some baffles to it later when I find my rivet gun !  and see if I can't make it a bit quieter...  it did not harm the power in any way ! ...not that I could tell
anyway... it has a very big exhaust pipe on it (in diameter) probably 2.25" and I am sure I can baffle that down to 1" without choking it down too much... HAHAHAHAHA
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I'll never forget when the 175cc Honda Moto-scrambler came out back in around 1975 or so...they had 3/8" exhaust outlets on them... but man were they quiet!  if you replaced the stock pipes with after market pipes you could gain 5~10 hp !  LOL other wise they were a very docile machine.
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so it depends on what you want ... if you want HP then its going to be loud! if you want quiet its going to cost ya some HP .... unless your very very careful.
...
Bob...

[randy]

I'm going to go for the best of both worlds, the bike has wide open drag pipes with turnouts, I'm going to cut the turnouts off and either do shotgun style or balogna cut, then I'm going to design my own adjustable butterfly plate, sure I'll loose some power but I'll feel better going through town after work at midnight, the way it is now feels like it's going to make my ears bleed. lol. Been just messing with it here and there, got the rear wheel off now, new wheel bearings are in the works, nice to be able to get bearings and seals at my local auto parts stores.

[Bob]

haha never thought of that but yah I bet you can get the bearings there ! Duh!

I bet U can't get HONDA bearings at Pepboys though!.... Metric Monsters anyway!
lol
Bob....

[randy]

Been steadly going through everything on the bike, rebuilt front forks, all new oil lines, new front brake pads, got some oem tapered muffler exhaust pipes coming, pulled the cam chest apart to check end play on cams, picked the peices of the old shims out of the bottom of the case ACK!!! outer case bushings are toast, rebuilt the oil pump, bushings should show next week, But it does have PB cams as I was told, brushes in generator were shot, oil slinger and separator on gear end were loose and noisy "thought I heard something strange", cam timing was off a tooth or two on the front exhaust valve "thought it was a little lacking on power" idled funny too.

[Bob]

LOL Wow that things going to run like a striped ape when your done !
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 I ordered 2 front brake rotors for the Toyota Cilica today...I had one off and tried to surface it on my lathe... its so hard that it barely cut and when it did it gouged groves
in it ... I had to take my electric grinder to smooth it out after I was done screwing it UP !.... and got it nice and even .... I thought !
put it all back together and the thing goes thump thump thump when applying the brakes now
... so its not as flat as I thought it was !
... I might be able to rectify that problem but I think its better if I just replaced both rotors sense I just replaced the pads !
... and sense its Mom's Car I want it working good ! LOL
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its been raining for the last week here, I went out and fired up the bikes the other day and got a new battery for the 4 wheel Carbide Cart and finally got it running too... it was a bear! ... I got a big wagon full of wood and brought it to the house just before the rain hit and its been raining every sense ! LOL
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My XR650L hasn't failed me yet on starting... but its really cranking over slow !
 I try to start it every few days just to make sure its staying charged
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 I've seen enough rain to last me the rest of the summer now... come on SUMMER!
hehehehhe
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Stay Dry up there Randy !
LOL
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Bob....
 

[randy]

been getting a wintertime summer here for the last week, been riding the xlh every day, cold riding but that never stopped me before, even got the wife out for a ride yesterday, rode it to work all last week, going through town after midnight, the new mufflers quieted the thing right down, seen lots of police but none have come after me so it must be quiet enough lol, doesn't leak a drop of oil so I did something right, wearing my old military arctic cold weather gear that I kept when I got out, cuts the cold well except for my legs, I get colder when fishing so no problem. keep after that vaporization thing, I had a thought, for more vapor if the bubbles went through some mesh it would saturate the bubbles better, like several layers of offset fly screen material, not sure but it might mork without too much heat that way.

[Bob]

LOL I wish I could get the wife on my bike....  she's just not very enthusiastic about it so I don't press it... lol  maybe if I bought her a Honda Spree scooter ! LOL !
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Bob...