|
I like to fix basketcase Japanese bikes. I've got two from two separate eras and now I'm looking for a cool 1980's bike. 1966 Yamaha YDS3 250 Two Stroke:  1977 Kawasaki KZ650: 
|
#
¿
Oct 22, 2009 12:09
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 08:47 |
|
|
constant gulping posted:Here is my 1971 BMW R60/5 A family friend has an old R80 and those old boxers make wonderful noises. Like the tiniest little tractor at idle. 
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2009 06:07
|
|
|
niethan posted:Scrolling down I'm like, yeah, nice bike, but then I get to the tanks and they're way too garish for my taste. I don't know, I think the paint is awesome in the same sort of way the set of the Price is Right is awesome.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 19, 2009 20:06
|
|
|
Valt posted:Apparently you can't wet sand candy colors like you can normal paint. No you can't, which mean that after you put on the clear its rough as hell and you'll need to sand mountains of clear coat off to make it smooth.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 20, 2009 08:05
|
|
|
Phat_Albert posted:I do that when I'm not going to touch a bike for a long time and it has some big dealbreaker (like oil) missing from it, so I dont find out the hard way that its missing oil later on. I should start to do this because I almost killed my YS3 one winter when it was a clear day and I forgot that it likes to leak oil.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 28, 2009 08:11
|
|
|
SiB posted:1973 Yamaha TX500 Very nice. 20 years? If its anything like my YDS3 its going to make a great noise when you get it started for the first time. Mine shot flames out the tailpipes 
|
|
#
¿
Jan 1, 2010 18:01
|
|
|
Try cleaning your existing filters in naptha (camp stove gas) first. If they're paper and not too worn it work pretty well. Otherwise do what I did for my YDS3 and rip the paper out and glue some UNI foam around the metal. The foam will flow air better so take that into account. I havent been able to find an OEM filter for my YDS3 in two years of searching 
|
|
#
¿
Feb 1, 2010 08:52
|
|
|
Brought my KZ650 out of storage this weekend. When I put it away I did everything wrong. No stabil in the gas and no battery tender. Started first crank. Trusty bike.  I took it around the block and when I got back it started puking gas out of the overflows. Another ride around the block going over every bump I could find and the floats freed up. Finally when I was done at the end of the day the bike decided to piss fuel on itself out of the float boat gaskets. I love you cranky old KZ.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 8, 2010 05:40
|
|
|
Z3n posted:And it's amazing what abuse can be handed down, and an engine will still run... Old bikes are awesome for this. I found out that my YDS3 will run just fine with one spark plug completely missing. I'm that guy 
|
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2010 12:09
|
|
|
Nerobro posted:I set myself up a water vacuum guage. They're simple rigs that use plastic tubing hung over a rafter. As a side benifit, the mass of the water makes the readings pretty stable, and because water is fairly light, small vacuum changes make for big changes in collumn height. Do you mind posting a quick writeup on your water vacuum gauge? Pictures?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 23, 2010 15:28
|
|
|
Crayvex posted:Has anyone ever replaced their points with one of those electronic ignition things? I considered it but decided to stick with points. Reasons: - Points are easy to maintenance if something goes wrong. - If Points go wrong its easy to do some MacGuyver poo poo and get them working. - Points are small enough to carry a spare set around under the seat. - Points are dirt cheap to replace. - Points aren't that hard at all to maintain. All you need is a gap tool. - The quality of aftermarket electronic ignitions seem to be pretty hit and miss based on very unscientific online forum evidence. - All told a bike with a well tuned set of points will have the same performance as one with electronic ignition
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2010 14:31
|
|
|
Crayvex posted:Stupid question, what is a gap tool? Is it the same as feeler gauges? Yeah sorry, I've always called it a gap tool. Also I forgot one other thing. Points usually still work passably even when they're hideously out of spec or damaged which is another big plus when you're out on a trip and something goes wrong. The last bike I restored ran (like poo poo) even with the points completely covered in crispy black corrosion and the gap set way too wide. 8ender fucked around with this message at 15:10 on Mar 31, 2010 |
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2010 15:07
|
|
|
drat leaky old bikes. Spent yesterday trying to fix some carb problems on the KZ that I put off all last season. The first was that the sync was way way off since I had stripped and rebuilt the carbs, the second was that one of the float bowls would leak some gas after a long ride. With the carbs off I found that the sync was indeed ridiculously off, so I bench synced it with some drill bits. Then I found out that one of the floats was set crazy high (26mm versus the others at 22mm). Finally I scrapped the old float bowl gaskets off the bowls and put some new ones on. Bike feels and rides really great now but the drat thing still leaks gas. I can see it leaking out where the float bowl meets the carb on the far left carb, which is the lowest when the bike is on the side stand. Doesn't leak at all on the centre stand. The gaskets were just the standard cardboard gaskets. Any ideas here? Threebond?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2010 03:21
|
|
|
Crayvex posted:First of all, is it leaking when the bike is off? If so, you know your petcock is shot. It leaks when its off but only a small amount, then it stops. The vacuum petcock is new and works great. I suspect its leaking fuel from that one carb until the fuel level is below the top edge of the float bowl and then stopping. It doesn't leak at all on the centre stand, even with the petcock set to prime.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2010 05:20
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Are the floats all set to the same height? Is it coming out of the overflow? Yeah same height. Its coming out where the float bowl meets the carb.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2010 00:11
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Any chance of a bent/warped float bowl? Not a bad thought. I'm out of float bowl gaskets but handily I have an entire bag full of float bowls for god knows what reason from the previous owner with gaskets already on them so I'll try one of them and see if the leak goes away or changes.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 8, 2010 03:35
|
|
|
War against the gas leaks continues. The more I mess with it the worse it gets. Now gas just pours out of the seam where the float bowl gaskets are when I put it on the sidestand. The funny thing is that I've managed to fix a host of other problems (floats way off, carb sync, crack in airbox, etc) while trying to fix this problem and it woke the bike right up. Performance is awesome and its much smoother.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2010 11:57
|
|
|
Gave up on the float bowl gaskets I had because I was only making the leak worse loving around with them. I decided to buy some rubber fibre gasket material yesterday and spent an hour making gaskets.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2010 12:06
|
|
|
Gaskets work, or at least the two I bothered to put in before a riding buddy came over. The gas leak has slowed to a trickle from the float bowls still using the old gaskets. I compared the gaskets I bought from eBay to the original ones and I think I got the wrong type of gaskets. All the good kits seem to come with the black rubber fibre type, and the originals were the same. The ones I got from eBay were a paper type. That'll teach me to be cheap.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2010 12:12
|
|
|
helno posted:It leaves behind a smokescreen because it runs a fuel/oil mix so rich in oil that you usually only see it used on weedwhackers. My 66' YDS also burns a poo poo load of two stroke oil and it was explained to me that because oil sucked so bad back then most bikes were setup to run a 20:1 ratio. Today you could get away with north of 40:1 without problems if your two stroke oil is good. The manual recommends a nice straight 30 weight motor oil 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 26, 2010 06:17
|
|
|
Those era Yamahas are hilariously bad for electrical problems. I know one person with an XS400 and another with a XS1100, both 78' and both have given up on fixing the original electrical setup and just start their bikes either with the kick or a switch wired directly to the starter.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2010 12:02
|
|
|
Friend of mine has drag bars on his XS400 and they're not bad for comfort. You do feel like a bit of a tool after a while with your feet in standard foot peg position and your arms all forward. Rearsets might have made it better.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2010 14:13
|
|
|
Phat_Albert posted:Also, all the bits should be there in the mufflers if you want it to run right, otherwise you'll need to rejet it. The RD motors are notoriously picky about jetting. Yes this. I can get my YDS3 (RDs grandpa) to run better just by cleaning all the poo poo out of the baffles.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 16, 2010 15:56
|
|
|
From earlier this season. I ride this beautiful old bastard bike as much as possible.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2010 07:09
|
|
|
clinto posted:Can anybody recommend a spark plug for me and possibly a good brand of 2 stroke engine oil? This oil if you want to create less smoke and pretty smells: http://www.belray.com/consumer/product.fsp?pid=1246 This oil if you love smoke and want to create awesome smells: http://www.castrol.com/castrol/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9022113&contentId=7040924 Don't worry too much about the oil. Old two strokes like that will run on anything vaguely related to oil. Its going to inject a lot too because your bike is from an era where 20:1 was considered the standard. Nerobro posted:The thing is designed to run on (if i recall correctly) cheap straight 30wt oil in the injection pump. If you put anything designed for 2 strokes into it, it will bow down and kiss your feet. Very likely. The manual for my 66' YDS3 recommends straight 30 in the crank case and injector tank. It create a poo poo load of smoke with straight 30 though. 8ender fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Jul 27, 2010 |
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2010 15:24
|
|
|
If you can get some for an old bike like that buy 6. Finding an original YDS3 filter now is impossible. I had to lovingly hand craft one from the husk of the old one, some hot glue, and UNI foam.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 29, 2010 07:09
|
|
|
Phat_Albert posted:Once you get the cores you're golden, like you said, you can re-wrap them, and do it basically endlessly. I kind of feel like the foam one on mine is flowing too much air compared to the old paper one, screwing with the jetting. The bike runs fine but it never felt like it was jetted completely properly.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 30, 2010 14:17
|
|
|
Phat_Albert posted:Did you put filter oil on it? That generally richens things up just a tad. Yeah I did, and it helps I think. Its brutally hard to tell because the bike is so old and its previous owner (father-in-law) says it already runs better than it did in the 80's. I did actually get a bit of a boost by putting in new muffler gaskets until they melted.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 30, 2010 14:23
|
|
|
Ola posted:edit: and yes, that bike looks really cool. Isn't that when they were "scramblers" instead of "dual sports"? Sort of, that one is a little more purpose built. Go back a bit further though and most "scramblers" were just a stock road bike with knobbies, high pipes and not much else in the way of modification. For example, the YDS3 "Super Sport":  And the YDS3 "Big Bear Scrambler" from the same year: 
|
|
#
¿
Aug 11, 2010 14:41
|
|
|
Crayvex posted:I did 100+ miles on my 77 CB750K on Sunday and I loved every minute of it. I'm noticing that it is missing occasionally at idle. The plug wires and caps could really stand to be replaced. Should I start with the plug wires or should I try something else? How badly is it missing? Like a little stumble or near stalling? I'd only look into it if its the latter. One thing I've learned from my two old bikes is that there are a lot of little things that you just have to let slide because fixing to problem may either be impossible or require a million hours of labour and fabrication. Once you accept that these are inexact machines using inexact technology its a lot easier to maintain them. My 77' KZ650 is grumpy as gently caress starting from cold. Even with lots of choke I still have to flood the carbs with the prime setting to get any kind of action. Then it sits there sounding like a rock tumbler for a minute or two. I'm sure there is a problem there but I've already replaced the obvious parts and it runs perfectly when warm. Its been 10,000 miles like that and I've filed the problem under "bike is old".
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2010 14:32
|
|
|
Crayvex posted:Don't forget that many of these older bikes have tons of clutch rattle. My 77 CB750 sounds like a box of rocks until I put it in first gear. My KZ650 makes awesome noises when its cold and in neutral. Its like the clutch basket is trying to pound its way through the case. I thought this was an issue but the guys at kz650.info say no big deal if it goes away when its warm. Its a spectacular array of noises when I haven't tensioned the cam chain as well after a lot of miles.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2010 16:38
|
|
|
Saga posted:Anyhoo, while I can't see any reason not to go for the Cheng Shits as endorsed by Z3N, there's always the ubiquitous Distanzia? I haven't had any problem with my Cheng Shing tires and they've been through a lot. Mud, water, ice and a gravel they're like the all-season of bike tires. Honestly I feel like unless you've really done some work an old bike is going to be let down by its suspension well before the tires become an issue.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 10, 2010 07:55
|
|
|
Crayvex posted:It looks like the wires are permanently attached to the coils as far as I can tell. The shocks do suck. How cheap can I be in regards to a set of replacements? There are sets of pretty generic "old bike" shocks/springs available from most suppliers. They're generally a black body, chrome progressive spring setup. Very popular among the old Kawasaki owners. They're about $100 a set. I have some on my bike and I've been nothing but pleased. One caveat: they are stiff as hell and if your bike isn't very heavy they're pretty harsh. Great handling though even if your spine turns to jello.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 29, 2011 06:06
|
|
|
The old yamaha two strokes really are great for reliability though. Nothing like stopping in at some random redneck hardware store and filling up the oil reservoir on my YDS3 with straight 30 in a pinch. Nothing blows more smoke than straight 30.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2011 08:24
|
|
|
ShaneB posted:Honestly having another bike blowing through pricy 2-stroke is a major reason I'm avoiding getting a 2T motorcycle. I'll admit I have a sweet 76' KZ650 for most rides because between the 2T oil and gas you're pretty much always stopping to fill old two strokes with some sort of fluid on any decent sized trip.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2011 06:55
|
|
|
When I got my KZ650 the shocks were like bed springs. The pistons were hosed and the springs were destroyed enough that I bounce the rear of the bike up and down with two fingers. Previous owner was a farmer and fancied the KZ as a redneck dualsport.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2011 16:42
|
|
|
Tamir Lenk posted:Heh. I actually had to do the tank twice. The first time, I was laying on the 2d coat of clear when a loving squirrel knock a spray of grit and dirt across the top. Tried to sand that down later, but no go. So I stripped it down to do over. Ugh, the worst part about backyard/garage paint jobs. I once had a giant bug land on my final spray of clear coat right after I sprayed it. I was near tears because it had been hours of prep leading up to that final coat. Also, and this is really important to prevent tears, if you used some off the shelf rattle cans then for gods sake be careful with gasoline while filling the tank. A spill will just run right through the paint destroying it. Ask me how I know
|
|
#
¿
Sep 9, 2011 14:11
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 08:47 |
|
|
Dielectric posted:Check out SprayMax 2K, it's a catalyzed clear coat that is fully fuel proof. It's got a ton of health warnings on it, as there are isocyanates in there and the "right" way to use it is with an air supply but if you're super careful with goggles and a good organic filter mask, you might not end up with dementia. Apparently if you can smell it, you've already inhaled too much. I should have mentioned that after my gas incident I imported some Spraymax and after a lot of wetsanding and polishing it turned out amazing:  I had a big thread on my KZ650 but its gone into the archives. Still have that KZ and I ride it every summer.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 12, 2011 07:13
|
|