Tell-On-Yourself Thread

Couple of years ago ...... started up my xj700 for the first time after sitting all winter. Had to use starting fluid and the battery charger to get it going. It was almost out of gas so I took a run up to the local gas station 6 blocks away and filled it up but it wouldn't start after the fillup. Not wanting to walk the bike home (an XJ700 is heavier than you might think), I called my next door neighbot to bring his truck and a rope to give me a short tow home. Very Very bad idea! That XJ700 is pretty heavy and it takes some real concentration to get it moving without getting pulled out of the seat when holding on to a tow rope no matter how careful and strong you are. The end of the story winds up with the XJ on one side of the street and me on one side of the street with bloody hands and a knee the size of a small melon about 1 block from home. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
 
I posted this in my build log, but i had the engine out of cranky and had taken the head off and was finished doing everything in there. I put it all back together sealed the gaskets all up, muscled it back in the frame, connected the carbs, primed them with fuel and hit the starter... nothing. After draining and recharging the battery, i got it to kick and sputter, but if i even looked at the throttle it would die. In my head i went through a check list and the only thing that came to mind was that i put the cam in 180 degrees incorrectly (lobes pointing up when they should be down or visa versa.) So after exhausting every other option i pulled the tank off, disconnected the carbs, muscled the engine out of the frame... again, cracked the seal on the head that i had sealed up so well, checked my manual, looked at the cam and sure enough it was 180 degrees wrong. Fixed it, put it all back together... AGAIN, muscled it back in the frame... AGAIN, connected the carbs... AGAIN, adjusted the points, hit the starter and SHAZZAM fired right up and ran like a champ. Everyone should take their engine out of the frame.. TWICE and crack it open ...TWICE. In my opinion it builds character
 
you could have done that IN the frame..... just saying :cool:

I couldn't find a way to get the cylindar head off and past the gear on the cam while still in the frame. The back bone is too close to head and the cam gear keeps you from moving it sideways and out the side.
 
It requires some patience is all. You have to be gentle, but deliberate with her! Loosen the top and pull it back a little, then rock it back and forth so that it doesn't catch on anything. Viola, it's off!
 
well got to talking to a old h-d guy today who said one of his first new bike he got was a xs400 way back when offerd me $750 to take the old girl off my hands this afternoon nope not going to happen

when i took off after letting him take her for a ride i left the kick stand down and about 20 ft later bang :eek: scared the crap out of me so stoped to look and did not notice anything only for the old guy to roll up and tell me you left the kick stand down :doh: but his offer still stands
 
Last time I did that I got my face slapped!!! :laugh:
Really? Hmm. Then I had better be careful how I phrase this ...

If something is labelled front and back, but is to be carefully enveloped around a vertical shaft, which is top and which is bottom, the "Front" or the back?? :umm:

Perhaps a little context would help. I returned from a spirited ride to celebrate the return of sunshine after 3 days of rain. Decided to drain the oil to do the full oil and filter change. Nobody told me that when the oil is super hot, it lands in the drain pan like boiling bacon grease, not like the warm molasses which came oozing out last time after 5 minutes of warm-up at idle. :eek:
And the filter cover is really, really, really hot! So hot, that the filter comes off the vertical shaft and splashes into the boiling bacon grease when you drop it suddenly. :yikes:
So, my well-reasoned plan to take note of how the old one was installed (so I would know how the new one is installed) is stalled. :wtf:
Can anyone tell me if "Front" is on top or on bottom?
 

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Couple of years ago ...... started up my xj700 for the first time after sitting all winter. Had to use starting fluid and the battery charger to get it going. It was almost out of gas so I took a run up to the local gas station 6 blocks away and filled it up but it wouldn't start after the fillup. Not wanting to walk the bike home (an XJ700 is heavier than you might think), I called my next door neighbot to bring his truck and a rope to give me a short tow home. Very Very bad idea! That XJ700 is pretty heavy and it takes some real concentration to get it moving without getting pulled out of the seat when holding on to a tow rope no matter how careful and strong you are. The end of the story winds up with the XJ on one side of the street and me on one side of the street with bloody hands and a knee the size of a small melon about 1 block from home. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

hahaha. Sorry but i can picture that and it's pretty funny.

I had one saturday. So after being bored friday night, i decided to go out and chop the bike up. Among other things i had to make a new tail light bracket. Well after getting it all in and nice i took it out into town for a ride the next day, well i guess i didn't have the clearance i thought i had and the first good bump i hit it blew the tail light to pieces in the middle of town. Pretty funny actually watching the people walking on the sidewalk get all scared. Oh well, a quick little detour to Oreilly's for a new light and it was fixed in 30min. Made sure it was much higher this time.:doh:
 
Was on a really nice ride out to Tofino on vancouver Island. A friend and I are making good pace and getting in a groove, using all the road up. 130kph coming around a sweeper, I drift intentionally outwards to pass a car on the inside lane but then notice theres a 1 foot wide patch of very loose gravel and sand down the middle of the road. I decide to go through it instead of trying to lean it more since it's coming up fast. Got a nice awakening as the front washes out, followed by the rear. Balls tingling.

I guess it's a car habit I have to stop when riding a bike. Embarrassingly stupid as it was completely avoidable
 
Embarrassingly stupid as it was completely avoidable
dO-bOy has managed to describe me to a "T".

Even using a torque wrench set at 11 lbs., I managed to over-tighten the oil filter cover bolt and put a couple of cracks in the cover. And I even thought ahead - to do the 11 lb. bolt first and the 31 lb. drain bolt second so I wouldn't make a mistake.
So, either the expensive torque wrench failed or I failed to read its subtle signal at the 11 lbs. mark. Previous to this, I had only used it on tire studs on the cars and the signal is unmistakable on those higher settings.

Don't hijack the thread with advice. If you have any of that, I started a new thread with pics and appeals for help. :shrug:
 
Put tank back on Molly yesterday after finishing up my heli coil repair of the plug bores and kicked her for what felt like way too long....

Because the petcock was still in the off position. -.-
 
Installed a new throttle cable yesterday. I carefully replaced the fuel tank when I was done, meticulously hooked up the vacuum tube. Kicked it over to life, forgot to reattach the fuel line...
 
I wish I had never started this damnable thread as I am back on for the third time.
The second repair on the oil filter cover worked so I joyously began putting it back together. Then I remembered I had forgotten to put in the oil filter. :eek: Took it all apart, put it in, back together then added oil. Started it up - oil seeped out the oil-seep screw so good pressure.

Took off for a ride. Stopped periodically to get off the left side and look underneath. No leaks. Yay.
Then, half-way to coffee I noticed my right foot slipping on the brake. This time I looked at the right side. The whole side was covered with oil as was my pant leg and boot. :yikes:
Forgot to put the stupid little oil filler plug in.
Luckily, had a 1" Swiss army knife which I used to whittle down a cedar branch into a "dowel" big enough to screw into the metal threading on the filler opening. :mad: :banghead:
 
I think most of mine have been documented in this forum :laugh:
After first newbie rebuild and close to the moment of truth I became more and more rushed since it was a late night. I BARELY had both spark plugs a few threads in. It started! Great compression with new rings, even with gasoline dripping out past the right side plug. About burned the neighborhood down :banghead:

Then first ride, second moment of enlightenment, down the end of the alley (it worked in motion! gears and all! ):bike: Turning around in alley I then opened it up - the italian servicio - getting to 4th gear. The brakes worked REAL well even though too much momentum and overshot the sidewalk!!! (could have killed someone) front wheel on the street. Back inside garage I discovered I hadn't put the small cotter pin for front brake cable in :banghead: Twice lucky, scary luck :yikes:

Every day occurrence: I STILL don't always turn off the turn signal after a turn :doh:

I seem to get lots of compliments on the bike or else people just stare. I was at a parking lot with some harley hoodlums watching as I kickstarted the thing (doesn't have electric start). It was in first gear, not neutral, and wonder of wonders, it kick starts just the same, tho with rear wheel in gear spinning 10mph had to look pretty retarded :wtf: and I did that a second time too, no less :confused:
 
Mmmm. Just out of highschool. My very first bike. My dad sold it to me for a dollar with the stipulation that I had to get it running myself. He handed me the keys, service manual and told me have at it. So I took it all apart, cleaned and checked everything and got it running.
Got my insurance and took it out for it's maiden ride. It ran great for the frst couple of Km's but then started to buck and sputter. I managed to get it to the gas staition I was headed to. Who do I run into? my highschool power mech teacher. I'm thinking I just have some bad gas and fill the tank. He listens to my story then says " start the bike up" the bike starts fine. "Sounds like the headbolts arn't fully torqued" he said. I assure him that all the bolts are torqued properly. "Ok " he says "but I'd check those bolts if I were you". So I head back home and the bike runs fine till I'm almost home and it starts to buck and sputter again.
Turns out you should always listen to your power mech teacher. He knows what he is talking about. (I'm still sure I torqued all the bolts :banghead:)
 
Last year a neighbour of mine gives me a bottle Kreem Fuel tank Plastic liner:thumbsup:, So I go and do it to it, an this year when the bike is fully running,:bike: It starts to die every 5 to 10 minutes of street driving. :banghead: the first couple trips where to the Gym, and back less than 5 miles, and not over 45 mph, No problems, first trip to work, at 60 mph, and not even a mile down the road, alot of sputtering. Bike petcock was on Prime. :doh: Ok, I thought the bike carbs can not keep up with the fuel consumption at 60mph. That night leaving work, same thing happens, and I think its gas, so I get a gallon of Ethanol gas, Everything is fine, I went to a movie theater. Then leaving the theater, about 6 times my bike dies on me. Okay, next day I looked at the bottom of the gas cap, I had plastized my gas vent hole. :doh: Now I suspect the kreem Tank liner might have been fine, if i had cleared the hole sooner.
 
Last year a neighbour of mine gives me a bottle Kreem Fuel tank Plastic liner:thumbsup:, So I go and do it to it, an this year when the bike is fully running,:bike: It starts to die every 5 to 10 minutes of street driving. :banghead: the first couple trips where to the Gym, and back less than 5 miles, and not over 45 mph, No problems, first trip to work, at 60 mph, and not even a mile down the road, alot of sputtering. Bike petcock was on Prime. :doh: Ok, I thought the bike carbs can not keep up with the fuel consumption at 60mph. That night leaving work, same thing happens, and I think its gas, so I get a gallon of Ethanol gas, Everything is fine, I went to a movie theater. Then leaving the theater, about 6 times my bike dies on me. Okay, next day I looked at the bottom of the gas cap, I had plastized my gas vent hole. :doh: Now I suspect the kreem Tank liner might have been fine, if i had cleared the hole sooner.

Before I read all of it I knew how it would end :(
Before i used a tank liner (Por-15) I thoroughly read up on things that can go wrong using a tank liner. THE most important step is the last, rolling the liner liquid around for excruiatingly tedious amount of time to make absolutely certain every spot of the tank is covered.
If that step is rushed and a tiny spot missed the gas gets under the liner and then what you have happening.
 
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