1980 Yamaha XS11 Special

[2LZ]

Figured I'd start a new thread on the project.
As clean as the bike looks cosmetically, as always, I'm finding the ills (and bonuses) caused by others hands in the bike's past.

The bike has a 4-in-1 exhaust but a stock air box, which contained an ancient Uni filter. I've ordered four pod filters for it but will keep the stock air box in the shed.

I've also discovered that the bike has been re-jetted a little richer on the mains. Hopefully this means that someone knew what they were doing when the exhaust was installed.

The weird thing is that this bike came in a couple different fuel feed versions. One containing a vacuum manifold (Octy) and some did not. Either mine had already been removed (common fix), or it never had one. Regardless, the two petcocks are really odd. They have an off, on, and reserve positions, along with a fourth "prime" position.....and of course, there was no arrow on the handle. Does the handle point at the position?... or the opposite side of the handle? Each petcock also had two fuel outlets each, for a total of four.....but the bank of carbs only has two fuel inlets.

I finally got to the bottom of it all by internet research and also, taking them out of the tank and blowing through them, the old fashioned way. Glad I did because someone had swapped both petcocks side to side, then managed to feed the bank of carbs out of the "prime" outlets, and the "on" outlets were bridged side to side with a common hose. Either way, it was all wrong.

The brake fluid looked years old but bled out nice on the rear. I replaced it with some good DOT 4. I still have to do the fronts but won't get to that until the new bars arrive. The ones on it are bent.

So far each carb has been cleaning up nicely and I only found one (badly) stuck float. Got all four rebuild kits in yesterday, so that's going to be finished today.

[2LZ]

Got the carbs done today, as hoped. Just waiting on the new fuel tees so I can bolt them all together for mounting.
Also mounted the new intake boots. Glad I did this for two reasons. One, they're 40 years old and rubber. Two, I found two had been leaking at the face. No more..... Unfortunately, I had to Dremel off on froze-on clamp. I used what I had. Hell, they fit so tight, I may end up with a zip tie.
Also, the choke lever on these notoriously break off, so I made a new one. Much stronger than the original pot metal.

[TxTaoRider]

What a cool old bike. They were big and heavy and made great torque. Keep us updated!

[cheesy]

I know where there is one of those settling in the dirt in N Wisconsin. I've asked my almost BIL to let me rescue it, but after 15 years of him hemming and hawing, I gave up. He also 1200 Goldwing rotting away in my sisters garage.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by cheesy

I know where there is one of those settling in the dirt in N Wisconsin. I've asked my almost BIL to let me rescue it, but after 15 years of him hemming and hawing, I gave up. He also 1200 Goldwing rotting away in my sisters garage.

Really hate those people. "You can't have it but I'm just going to let it rot."

[2LZ]

Carbs done and mounted on new intake boots. Got the fuel line and fuel filters delivered today.
Waiting on the oil filter before I can fire it.
July in CA. It's hot. Fortunately Spot has the whole idea of the swamp cooler. She's spoiled. I keep the bottom half of the louvers pointed down to her level.

[2LZ]

Since I covered a lot of this in another thread, I'll just post a short update.

In the process of rebuilding the forks, I f-ed up my very first new fork seal....ever. Another pair should be here on Tuesday. The good part is, if I f-up another, I'll have a spare!

The very first parts I ordered were oil filters. They finally arrived yesterday. It's the only thing keeping me from firing the motor....other than having it dangling on a jack, at the moment because of a lack of front end. I ordered two filters for another change after the initial 50 miles. It's been a while since it's seen a fresh filter.

Should be a fun week, coming up. Finally get this thing off the rack so I can start the Yamaha CT1 project.

[2LZ]

Some more...

The goose neck bearings were super-chunky due to ancient grease so I dropped it out, cleaned and repacked. Butter smooth now.

Also included is a pic of the fuel lines and filters Chief helped with. Dual petcocks run to opposing carb banks and everything fit perfectly.

Also a pic of test fitting the new pod filters. The stock box (in perfect shape) will be stashed and sold with the bike.

[herbie]

Cool bike 2lz! I think we are cut from the same cloth. That first fire after reviving it makes it all worthwhile!

[david3921]

Aren't you concerned about the adage that CV carbs don't like pod filters?

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by david3921

Aren't you concerned about the adage that CV carbs don't like pod filters?

Nope. I've run pod filters on CV carbs. It has to do with mounting (support from the air box) and spacing from the carb more than anything. The stock box does have torque tubes but the filter size if almost a joke for how much air this motor pulls.

As long as the filter neck is long enough not to block the idle jet or the CV intake vent, it should all work. They do sell (of course) neck-down washers (like those included in EGR valves on cars) for regulating the intake air flow. These filters stand out at least 1/4 inch from the carb intake so there's lots of breathing room.

Here's a vid on CV carbs and pod filters and the standard issues. I just love this guys dry sense of humor!



We shall see.............

[david3921]

Thanks for info. I haven't checked out the video yet but remember something about a "kidney shaped opening". Maybe the issue is more confined to single cylinder bikes.

Do you have to sync the carbs?

Edit - Watched the video. Yep, there's the kidney.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by david3921

Do you have to sync the carbs?

I bench sync'd them. Should be close enough. If not, then I'll have to deal with the gauges.

Fingers crossed!

[2LZ]

Now that I finally got the correct fork seals, they popped right in, and the forks are mounted on the bike. Time to move on....

Grab the speedo drive and cable. Yuck. Get all that cleaned out and re-greased. It's ready to mount.

Grab the front wheel. Stick my finger in the bearings to do the twist-check. Froze. Try harder......barely moved. Stuff in a drift, "chunk, chunk. chunk...." Dammit. Someone had been in there. One dust cover was missing. Both bearings are 6303-z and the other one had both dust seals, but it looked like someone had hammered on it at one time.

Once again at a stand still waiting on parts. I was really hoping to get the front end on this weekend so I could fire it.

[2LZ]

Axle spacer and flange. Obviously one of the past owners was a ham-fisted brute.
Worked out on it with pliers, flat-nosed drift, tap hammer, and vise to reshape it.