She lives to die another day!

[J.M.]

So as some of you may have known, my bike was suffering a few issues. Namely the fact she could go from having the correct level of oil to having the oil light on over a period of around 50 miles. Some of you may have seen the video of the bike acting like a 2-stroke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5BpzRsbQuY

I finished my University exams and came home. Iain managed to get me a gasket set for my bike for a good price, so I got to work diagnosing and fixing the problems present with it. I should note that a compression test indicated 170-180psi on all cylinders which I why I decided to work on the bike. With the rings priced at £40 each, if my compression was low I would have simply written the engine off.

I started off by tidying up the wiring on the bike. It had a Cyclone V2 alarm which was installed in a hurry, so the wiring was terrible and all over the place. There was no solder, simply twisted and taped wires. That was all resolved. After some clever routing/installation of the wires, now none of the wires for the alarm are visible whilst the rear fairings are on. I also moved the siren somewhere more audible yet hidden.

https://i.imgur.com/sykFRIG.jpg

I also installed a mobile phone charger (in the form of a USB socket):

https://i.imgur.com/OIlm9UC.jpg

It utilizes this 12/24v to 5v 5a regulator. It uses a waterproof connector so that I can remove the fairings without having to cut wiring.

https://i.imgur.com/wqD6gB3.jpg

Happily the head was able to be removed with the engine still in the frame. This cut a large amount of work out. I hate removing engines

https://i.imgur.com/WHrR9BO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wDYx4lU.jpg

Whilst the head was off, I did a little work on the valves too. The top port is what they all looked like before, the bottom port is what they all looked like after.

https://i.imgur.com/jeE21XL.jpg

Eventually the valves, springs and seals were removed. All this work because those seals needed changing.

https://i.imgur.com/DA6Lj3b.jpg

I did some other work like cleaning the carbs and getting the exhaust welded up, but I didn't grab photos of everything. With the work all done, components cleaned and reassembled, I decided to try her out. However I thought it was a perfect opportunity to fit my luggage for the trip to Spain with Iain and Paddy. So I packed up all my travelling gear at set off.

I decided to head towards the Fosse Way as that's a nice road. A few nice bends to test how it handles around corners. A few nice straight stretches to test the bike at speed. A few slow sections so that I'm not ragging it constantly. However, I decided there was no fun in taking the 'roads' to find this road. So I decided to take the lanes

https://i.imgur.com/Rnxwogz.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/oixH6qk.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mvEjYmA.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/U5tsTRL.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uaHzSDt.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WSVQsH4.jpg

All in all she behaved exactly as an XJ600 should. Nothing special, but still manages to put a grin on your face and handles everything like "meh, I can do that I suppose". No signs of the oil burning yet but I guess time will tell whether she's really fixed or not. Hopefully she'll survive the trip to Spain though.
____________________
2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[sidewinder]

Excellent work .glad the divvy lives on

[bren_9311]

[sidewinder]

[UnspeedySam]

Did the exact same job on the rear cylinder of the Bros 400 a few weeks ago, as it was pumping oil into the airbox at high revs and then smoking like a 2 stroke on startup.

Thankfully it was that and not rings, and my partner is very much enjoying her new steed. Glad I didn't tart it up cosmetically for her though as she's already thrown it at the ground!

Anyway...glad you're enjoying your bike and nice going on the fix.
____________________
Riding: BMW R1150RT `02 bought mildly crashed
Fixing: Also the BMW as I get less broken bits
Gone: ZZR600 '00, TRX850 '97, RXS100 '93, JS125-6B '07, BMW R1100RS '93, Kawasaki ZX-6R-J2 '01, Honda Bros NT400 NC25 '88