Bike upgrade/downgrade - with bonus MOT

[J.M.]

I got fed up of the GS500. Utterly uninspiring bike that keeps breaking down and raping my bank account for money in which I do not have. Started looking at XJ600s and one came up online in Maidstone.

Iain and Paddy went and had a look at it for me. I transfered them the money and they bought it for me. Then they spent ages working on the bike for me, getting it ready for its MOT, getting it running.

I came down on Thursday afternoon and then me and Paddy spent Friday finishing off the bike and getting the CBR through its MOT.

The XJ600's MOT was today and we nervously headed down, 50/50 on whether it would pass or fail. Iain applied some pre-MOT decals for us:
https://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/7292_562356710465963_261101279_n.jpg

Took it down (decals still intact) and I now have a fresh MOT with clean sheet. Booyah!

So, looks like I have a new bike.

-- more pictures later, once it looks a bit more... photo worthy
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[P.addy]

It is a twat. HOURS of work on that thing New tool kit was handy though. MOT is a bonus

[Sako]

'Twat' decal is the nuts.

[N cee thirty]

What was up with it ?
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[J.M.]

With the XJ?

I'm not entirely sure on everything that Paddy & Iain did to it. But I know that the inlet rubbers were extremely cracked and split (currently bodged as the new ones still haven't arrived) and the carbs were full of gunk.

Mostly cleared the carbs + jets out, enough to get it running. When I get it home I could do with soaking them in degreaser or something so that they're properly clean. Also the tank could do with treating for rust on the inside. XJ carbs are funky. It has hot engine oil pumping through the bottom of the float bowls to prevent carb icing.

It's a good bike though, even if it's a little cosmetically bad. <10k on the clocks. Has been stood for 4 years prior to this; last MOT was in 2008 and between that time and now it covered 500 miles.

Also power wheelies in first with stock gearing and the engine makes an awesome sound under acceleration when you hit the power band. Can's a bit quiet though. Why did I ever buy a GS?!
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[P.addy]

Switch gear was fitted badly, carbs were full of shit, inlet rubbers are perished, previous owner gave us replacements...from a different bike.

Centre stand was worn to the point it wobbled so much, doesn't look like standard one anyway so was removed. Removed the shitty bolts that were there, got some painted up so they didn't stick out like a sore thumb.

Removed both calipers and cleaned them up as they were sticking quite bad, sorted the lack of rear brake light and basically cleaned it... just badly

[blurredman]

This bike looks very familiar. Is it an S reg?
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 52k.

[P.addy]

[Moxey]

[J.M.]

Burning oil like a 2-stroke at the moment. Faaaarkkkk.
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[UnspeedySam]

[J.M.]

Well it was full when we left this morning. Did maybe 30 miles? I was ragging it a fair bit though and 'playing' with it.

Check out the smoke from this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5BpzRsbQuY&feature=youtu.be

When leaving the beach, I noticed the oil level (not pressure, I checked) light was on. We went down to the garage with me riding pillion with Paddy and bought a litre of 15w40 (was 1/2 price of 10w40 and I'm doing a oil change in <200 miles). We put the entire bottle in.

Rode it the 40 miles home. At times gently, at times trashing it a little. No smoke at all. Went to grab some things from Paddy's parent's then set off of the ~1-2 mile ride back to Paddy's. About half way it was smoking like a 2-stroke again.

Not sure what oil is currently in the thing or how long it has been in there though. I'm hoping that an oil change will fix the issue... if not then I'm hoping simply valve seals (inlet rubbers were completely perished). Rings would be a PITA and costly. Although seals are costly anyway as you have to take in to account the head gasket...
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[J.M.]

Leysdown beach was infested by scooters

https://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/58047_562778140423820_1634194507_n.jpg
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[Drake]

does your bike smoke as much as this?
https://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/901772_10151614704041320_11258762_o.jpg
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was: derbi senda, aprilia sx125, nsr250 mc16, cagiva mito, cb600 hornet now: mk1 bandit, KR1S, landrover series 3 light weight 2.5 petrol, 5speed box

[evoboy]

Looks about fooked in the video!

Only 4stroke ive seen smoke that bad was an engine that had been sat on its side, full of oil, for who knows how long.

Just fill it back up with thicker oil and see if it still smokes.

Have you made sure all the crankcase breathers are clear?
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Suzuki GT250 x7------- Fazer 600------CB250RS------Aprilia Rally 70----- Bandit 600

APT Motorcycles

[STONEY!]

does your divi have oil heated carbs? I have a vague recollection that they do and its a common problem for them to fail and fill the airbox with oil causing the engine to smoke.

I may well be completely wrong and its on another bike all together but might be worth checking out.

If not Im afraid to say that as the smoke is when you rev the bike I would be pretty sure its rings not valve seals as usually valve seals only cause smoke on start up.

the other thing to check is does the oil smell of petrol, sometimes if the fuel tap and float needles fail it can lead to the petrol in the tank being dumped in the oil which will make the bike smoke.

[ChrisJ]

Oh dear, not a good sign when they burn so much oil
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C90 for commuting and Divvy 900

[STONEY!]

aaah just done a quick google and it appears Im not quite correct, apparently its where the engine breathers get full of goop and fill up the airbox.

Better explaination here

https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061017074655AAelHyd

[J.M.]

Yep, it has oil heated carbs. Utterly confusing design when you don't realise they're supposed to be oil heated... and it just looks like some muppet has attached an oil line to the carbs instead of petrol.

The really strange thing is... it doesn't smoke when cold. It doesn't smoke when warm. It only smokes after a seriously good thrashing (read wheelies).

I haven't a clue what the oil is like that's in there, so it's going to be getting changed. The Haynes manual states 20w40 so I'll grab some of that and do and oil + filter change. Hope that it goes away.

I rode home yesterday morning. Journey of 144 miles. No smoke what so ever. The first 130 miles were done on the motorway between 80mph and 110mph, so only 6-9kish RPM. The last 14 were spent having some fun on the lanes/A roads, so it got a bit of a thrashing. I arrived home and there was no smoke at all!

The petrol tap on the tank isn't great... so that could be a reason? I'm really doubting it's the rings because surely the rings make a tighter fit when hot so it would smoke only when cold/warming?
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[P.addy]

I'd be surprised if it was rings at 10,000 miles on a known bullet proof engine.

[STONEY!]

I'd agree with paddy, these things are pretty bombproof, I bought a job lot of 5 of em from a courier once for the grand sum of £100, all of em had done just over 100,000 (that was his rule for replacing them) and non of em smoked but bloody hell did they all have some serious clutch rattles lol.

Change the oil and filter (use decent bike oil not car stuff) , clean out the breathers, double check the carb heaters (or remove em if you can) sort the fuel tap out and make sure your chokes aren't sticking.

If its been left standing a while it is possible that the rings have got gummed up and aren't sealing properly, only had that once though.

[J.M.]

Yep, going to go to HG this afternoon to grab some bike oil. I have 5L of crappy car oil in my room at Birmingham I was going to put in, but I've decided that I should put some good stuff in whilst I figure out what's wrong.

I'm doubting rings but that would be just my luck

Going to have to have a flick through the manual and familiarise myself with what everything is on this engine. I knew the GS500 inside out... this is all alien to me.
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[P.addy]

Sat for 4 years.

Carb heaters can be removed, but tbh there is no real need, goes from the rocker cover back to the rocker... would mean running new pipe or blanking them off. I'd not touch personally.

I'd say compression test. Like I said before, bit of oil or something down the bore, if it increases PSI substantially, rings, if not quite possibly the valves.

It is a bomb proof motor so if you find the cause of the 2 stroke smoke you'll hopefully have an engine that will do 80k

[J.M.]

Need to find somebody that I can borrow a compression tested from first
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[P.addy]