My '76 XS360C Restoration

I like the modifications to the forks, interesting. How did that effect the handling?
 
I've been more concerned with stopping the fuel leak and getting the bike running properly than to the front forks at this point. I've only ridden the bike a few hundred yards to my corner and back.

Once I've actually got it on the road I will report back on the fork mods.
 
I found a bigger crack in the vacuum plug so figured I'd better replace it, maybe that was the trouble with starting. It was only 1 year old but was a made-in-Taiwan, cheap ass part. I couldn't locate a vacuum plug in-stock locally so I made my own from a piece of the vacuum line plugged with a piece of tight-fitting dowel and a couple clamps. It worked perfectly so I'll pretty it up in version 1.2

16921223358_66c7d21107_z.jpg


While I was at it I replaced the gas and vacuum lines with proper gas line tubing from an autoparts store and a new gasline filter.

17109016375_6c049cacb3_z.jpg


I checked the spark and it seemed weak so I replaced the plugs.

I don't have a separate tank for syncing yet so I rigged up my gas tank to serve the purpose. I left the petcock on Prime to bypass the vacuum requirement.

16901645807_8e0dbfd2dd_z.jpg


After syncing by eye to start with and lowering the idle, it was fairing straight forward to balance the carbs. I found my throttle cable was loose too so syncing was a combination of adjusting the sync screw, the idle screw and the throttle cable length adjuster at the handlebar.

In the end it was running perfectly so I had to hop on and go for a spin. I ended up at my buddies place, who was just re-installing his back wheel. He hadn't been for a ride yet either, so we went for our first blast. His son jumped on the back of his bike and snapped a photo as we were riding.

16525658333_024179b2d1_z.jpg
 
As far as the front fork mods go, the front forks still sag when I sit on the bike (as you can see in the above photo I got kinda porky over the winter). I may replace the spring spacer with a solid one.

But, the ride is so much better already. I hadn't realized it could use improving. It seemed to function properly when I rode it last year. Now there is more stiffness and responsiveness in the front end and it feels like it sticks to the rode better. I also set the rear shock up from the 3rd notch to the 4th. That probably also helped but it was not something I noticed last night specifically. The front end I noticed for sure although our streets are still covered with gravel and it was getting dark so there were only a few corners where I could push it a bit.

More on the fork mods to come as I put on some miles.
 
thanks for the feedback on the fork modifications. I plan to change my seals soon and was considering doing the same things you did, so it's good to hear from someone who has done it :thumbsup:
 
Back
Top