Off the Topic Vol. 1 - Protect yourself and your family

On occasion I will put up a post about something unrelated to my motorcycle project.  Not trying to muck up the site with stuff that my readers aren't interested in, but I feel duty bound from time to time to bring some awareness to a topic or subject.  I'll endeavor to keep this to a minium.

For this edition of "Off the Topic" I wanted to address the issue of self defense.

I believe every law-abiding man in our American society is called to be prepared to defend himself, his family, and the innocent around him.  I do not believe it is the job of the police to protect us, we must take responsibility for our own actions and saftey.  I think this especially applies to married men with young children.  Their is no excuse for leaving the safety of your family up to the resonse time of your local law enforcement officer.

For that reason I encourage every mature, law-abiding citizen to consider gun ownership and training.  The 2nd amendment is not about hunting, its about the right for free citizens to protect themselves from criminals and tyrants.

I want to emphasize the training portion of my last statement.  A gun will do you no good, and possibly harm, if you do not know how to use it, both in terms of safe handling and effective shooting.  I highly recommend everyone who purchases a gun to take a course from a qualified professional to learn the skills necessary to provide for their defense and the defense of their loved ones.

For those in central Iowa I recommend the CAPS course as a place to start.  I've taken it myself and was pleased with the information.  The instructor is a former Iowa State Patrol officer and has many years experience.

For those who want to take a bigger step, Front Site Firearms Training Institute offers the most comprehensive training in self defense I've found.  You can follow the link above or read more about Front Sight below:

Front Sight in Financial Times

Front Sight Blog

Ignatius Piazza in Washington Post

Ignatius Piazza in Las Vegas Mercury

Ignatius Piazza in Las Vegas Review Journal

Ignatius Piazza in Times Democrat

Front Sight in Black Belt Magazine

Engine mods

There's two main schools of thought on modifying an engine especially when it comes to old bike..  I don't subscribe to either.  I'll break down the two schools and tell you where I stand

School 1:  Keep it original

These are the guys that figure the original engineers knew best and it's best not to mess with their design.  These guys will work very hard to get everything back to the way it was when the bike was first made.  Any changes to the motor setup are fairly minimal and usually hidden.

The big advantage here is reliability.  Most often, making a bunch a changes to a motor to get more performance means sacrificing some reliability.  By keeping things stock, the motor is keep within its intended operating range and as such can be expected to last longer.

The downside is, if it was an underwhelming motor to begin with, it will be an underwhelming motor still.

School 2: Throw the catalog at it

These guys will put literally hundreds or thousands of dollars into a motor cramming into it every conceivable option available.  Bored, stroked, ported, high compression piston, custom carbs, if they can get it they'll stuff it done.

If they're lucky, and they know what their doing, they MIGHT get a good running motor out of the deal.  It takes ALOT of time and patience because everything has to be balanced, tuned, adjusted to get the motor running properly.  This can be costly and difficult to do, but it can make for an impressive end product.

For me, if I really wanted a big powerful engine why was I even messing with an XS650?  If I'm going to spend all that money to try and get big bike performance out of my little 650, I should just go buy a newer, bigger motor.  On the other hand, a stocker just didn't get me very excited.  So I made up chose to split the difference.

For my XS650 project, I ended up with the following modifications:

• Engined bored from 650cc to 680cc - doing this meant I could get a bit more performance without putting in new sleeves, MikesXS sells 6th over pistons that drop right in
• Aftermarket exhaust - nothing fancy, just some decent peashooters that look the part of a cafe bike
• Pod air filters - these dropped right in and did not require alot of tinkering with the carbs

The end result is a motor that looks cool, will run strong and better than stock, but was not so crazy to put together that I need hours and hours of tinkering to get it right.  I also kept the costs pretty reasonable along the way.

Parts Cleaning

I don't think I appreciated how much time I would spend cleaning parts when I started this project.  I suppose I should be encouraged that a bike this old would have so many parts that I could salvage with a bit of elbow grease, but spending an hour sitting in the garage with a wire brush and engine degreaser isn't nearly as fun as putting a motor together.

Here's a few tips that I learned along the way:

• Brake cleaner isn't just for brakes

Brake cleaner is wonderful stuff.  It breaks down nearly any time of grease and it evaporates completely.  It will save a TON of time in getting rid of stubborn dirt, grime, grease, oil, etc.  Do read the directions on the can cause the stuff is pretty potent.  I've used it alot on steel, aluminum both paint and bare metal with out many problems but always spot test just in case.

• Wire brushes are your friend

I especially like the small little toothbrush looking ones.  Great for getting into nook and crannies

• Sandpaper is cheaper than time

When you're prepping a surface to be painted, or getting rid of surface rust, sanding will be the method.  Don't get stingy on it.  Once the paper is clogged or starts to not work well, just switch it out.  You may save a couple pennies making that piece last another 20 minutes, but you could be done faster if you just used a fresh piece.

• Get ready to make a mess

Don't wear that new pair of jeans the wife got you for Christmas.  You'll ruin 'em.  I clean my parts on one of those cheap oil drain pans you get at Wal-mart for $20.  All the sludge drains away and I can dump it out safely.  Nevertheless, I still end up with crap everyone, it's just part of the process.

Since I had the motor out of the frame I spent alot of time cleaning it after the initial teardown.  Built a simple wood engine stand so I could work on it efficiently.  Of course the whole thing had to be broken down but XS motors are pretty simple so this wasn't too difficult.  I ended up cleaning the crank case by hand as I described above.  For the cylinders and head I took them to the local autoparts/machine shop and had them media blasted (try to avoid sand blasting as this can get to abrasive and wreck your parts).  This worked AWESOME and got things cleaner than I could have ever done on my own.

Cleaning pays off.  Here's the before and after pics of my motor.  I tried to pay alot of attention to detail, as it's the little things that make a bike really look sharp.

Motor Before:

Motor After:

In the next post I'll talk about the engine mods I did...

Thoughts on "The Teardown"

I like eggs.  So I know that if you wanna make an omelet you've gotta break some.  Same goes for your bike project.

The teardown is were you get started.  If you're bike is as rough as my '74 XS650, you're going to be taking it all the way apart to the frame.  here's somethings to keep in mind:

• Take pictures first! 

It may seem obvious now, but in 6 months it will be hard to remember just how that odd bracket went on.  A few digital pictures is a good way to remember how stuff goes together

• Go slow, and work in stages

This is the basic teardown, so don't worry about doing the detail stuff like taking your carburetor all too bits.  Just get the main pieces off in sections so you have a clean slate to work with.  Think in term of "systems".  Fuel system: carbs and tank, Electrical system:  gauges and wiring harness, Power System: the motor.  Try and keep each "system" more or less in tact but get it off the bike and set aside in a safe place where you can work on it later.

• Bag and label everything

Nothing is worse then trying to assemble your bike and digging through a pile of loose fasteners looking for that one oddly shaped washer-thingy.  Bag and label stuff.  Steal a sharpie and some ziplock baggies from your kitchen when the wife isn't looking...

• Be patient, don't force it...

If it's an old bike, some stuff will just need to sit and soak in WD40 before it will want to loosen up.  If something doesn't come apart right away, step back and take a second look.  Most bike make sense how they go together, so if something does come off, you're probably not doing it right.

For my Yamaha XS650 I had it down to the frame in about 2 hours (other guys can do it alot faster).  I left the wheels on so I could still roll it around the shop.

Here's how my XS looked after I was done with the basic tear down:

Next we get to talk about cleaning parts...

Tools: "Must Have" and "Sure Would be Nice"

For the folks new to working on a motorcyle, here's my lists of tools you'll need.  I'll assume that the REALLY basic stuff (hammer, pencil, pliers, etc.) goes without saying.  I'll keep adding to this list as the build progresses.

If you plan to do any metal working on your bike, you'll need the stuff from the "Sure Would Be Nice" list...

• Must Haves
• 3/8" Metric Socket Set (SAE for you harley types)
• Vice grips
• Screw drivers (philips and flat head, various sizes)
• Hex key set
• Ball-peen hammer
• Easy outs
• Wire strippers
• Ohm Meter/Continuity Tester
• Drill
• Hacksaw
• Lots of sandpaper
• Wire brush
  

• Sure Would be Nice
• High speed grinder
• Mig welder
• Air compressor
• die grinder
• bike stand

 

Basic Build Strategy

I'm lucky that I work with a gentleman that builds custom show cars.  In discussions with him, he gave me a good 10,000 ft view of how to organize a build.  Here's an overall view of my buildplan:

• Phase 1: Teardown
• Strip everything off down to the fram
• Clean parts that are to be saved
• Sell extra parts on Ebay
• Phase 2: Engine Overhaul
• Motor disassembly
• Modifications
• Rebuild
• Phase 3: Rideable Build-up (minimal paint)
• frame mods
• electronics
• custom controls
• suspension
• Phase 4: Teardown Part II
• Prep for paint
• Phase 5: Final assembly
• Powercoating and Paint
• Detailed assembly

Why not do finishing and paint as I go?  I want to make sure the bike is riding and working good before I go to all the work of paint and finishing parts.  I would hate to paint the frame then have to go back mess it up cause I need to reweld something or add a bracket.

Phase 1: Donor Bike and Teardown - Tips for Picking Your Starter Bike

My project began life as a very badly beat up 1974 Yamaha XS650.

In wanting to build a cafe racer, I chose a Yamaha XS650 for a few reasons, these are good test questions to consider before purchasing any old bike for a build.  Here is my reasoning for picking the bike that I did...

• Cost

I was able to get donor bike for $50 from a junkyard.  Cash only.  As Is, Where Is.  Obviously, if you're doing a build on a tight budget, a cheap starter bike helps.  Since I knew my final product would be highly modified, I didn't have to worry about cutting-up something that was in good shape to start with

• Age & Condition

Part of reason I wanted to do this build, is because there is nothing like the thrill of seeing a engine roar to life that was previously a rusted hunk of trash.  I such, I was ok with the VERY poor condition of my bike.  Also, I knew I would be modifying the motor, so having something that was not running wasn't a problem.  I would caution against going with something much older than the mid-70s as cost and parts availability becomes an issue.

• Availability of Parts

This makes ALL the difference.  DO NOT buy a bike, no matter how cheap, that is so rare you can't get parts for it.  Ebay is great, but won't get you everything you need.  I like my XS650 because Yamaha built virtually the same motor in the same bike from 1969 to 1984, therefore it is easy to get parts.  Also, it is so popular, there are several companies that offer new parts and custom bits for them.  This is a GREAT help.

• Uniqueness/Collectability

No matter how cool it might be, please do not cut up a classic.  It might be tempting at the time, but again, it costs more than its worth.  There was nothing special about the '74 XS650 I picked up so in chopping it to bits I wasn't destroying a piece of moto-history.

Here's a pic of the bike right after I got it home:

Why another motorcycle blog?

Good question.

It seemed to me that alot of the stuff out there for info makes the assumption that the reader has a pretty advanced knowledge of mechanics.  If you're new to the sport, that means you have to do a TON of research to answer even simple questions.

What I'm working on here, is step by step of my process in building my Yamaha cafe racer with a emphasis on gearing my entries toward those with a limited mechanical knowledge.  Here's hoping it's useful.