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Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:10 pm

steering stem conversion finished yesterday :kuda: also got some tyres fitted to the rims. The guy who does the machining is getting pretty good at this - the new stem was the perfect length. Tapered bearings all fitted up nice :kuda: here are a couple of photos of the bits....

Donor lower clamp from a YZ490 L..

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The new stem, modified to suit the Honda bearing sizes - pressed into a YZ490 lower clamp.

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back-to-back clamps - the modified YZ clamp is on the right

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Close-up of the lower clamps - you can see how much bigger the YZ forks are :lol: its chalk and cheese, OEM is 34mm. YZ is 43mm....

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Will have another couple of shots in the morning - all the bits were fitted up today and the XL looks pretty good with its new legs........

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Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Sun Nov 09, 2014 7:26 pm

Nothing like a new set of legs :kuda: :kuda: this was yesterday arvo.


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Today spent most of the day sorting out the final bits. Did some maintenance to the wiring harness - which was in pretty good nick all things considered. Still waiting on a gasket kit so I can't give the old girl a kick in the guts yet, but that shouldn't be far away now.......this build was never about re-sprays or stuff like that - just a good clean to all the bits, and renewed the important stuff. So the frame/swingarm etc still carries all the old baggage of over 30 years of belting around.

Looks OK for an old dunger I reckon ......


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The list of things to do becomes smaller every weekend :lol: .....need some new front brake shoes and a brake cable. Alternator cover gasket. Air filter. Engine oil. XR-style headlight to cover the wiring ;) I have left the original switchblocks in place and will set up the lighting etc as per OEM. But that can wait until the bike is up and running reliably......

Pretty happy with the build costs so far - the most expensive bits were the new rear shocks @ $160, the triple clamp conversion was $140 - and everything else has been way under that ;) will do a final cost breakdown once its all finished. Everything going OK, I expect to upload some video footage of this old dunger up and running next weekend.

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Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:17 am

Fucking awesome restoration job mate. Quality mods.......

Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Sat Nov 22, 2014 5:11 pm

cheers Marty :kuda: not so much a resto, as I haven't painted the motor or the frame etc - just cleaned all the old gunk off and done the mods. But it does come up good in the photos :lol: ;)

The correct gasket kit finally turned up yesterday, so I pulled the clutch cover off to clean the oil screen - no oil filters in these motors, just a small screen down under the gearbox. The screen was actually a lot cleaner than I expected, given the colour of the oil left in the motor (black as phuck).

Fitted that cover back up, then the stator cover. Only 1.5l of oil in these motors :shock: I will be changing it after each weekend away I think. Filled the tank with juice, then did some dummy start runs in the shed......before pulling the bike into the back yard for a proper starting attempt. Old mate who used to own this bike always said it started pretty easily :kuda: he was right. The only thing I need to do now is fit the new front drum brake shoes when they arrive, as well as the new front brake cable. Chain is fitted up - it needs a headlight as well and some bark-busters fitted - but its about 95% done now - and all before Xmas !!!! :lol: :lol:

Here is a short clip of the old girl running - next video will be its first test-ride out at my sisters place.



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Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Thu Nov 27, 2014 7:31 pm

That is going to be heaps of fun to go for a belt on. Top job! :kuda:

Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Mon Dec 01, 2014 6:39 am

cheers buddy :kuda:

Here is the first short video of the beast back on the dirt for the first time in a long time.......worth watching all the way through ;)



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Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Mon Dec 01, 2014 7:04 pm

All good Gos, don't you love the old bangers ? enough get up and go with the added comfort of a well padded seat.What did she foul a plug or just ran out of fuel?

Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Mon Dec 01, 2014 7:34 pm

I love them old dungers mate :lol: easy to ride easy to fix......and yeh that seat is a ripper - should be very comfortable for the hard-core Vinduro tracks ....

Didn't foul a plug although that was my first thought - I really should change that plug its been in there since 1996......no shit :lol:

Pulled the float bowl and it was full of small-scale garbage - lots of old stuff that looks like it has been sitting in the fuel tap area for a long time. No filter fitted at the moment - so it just stalled due to this crap. Once the bowl was clean, it went heaps better - #2 video being uploaded tonight :)

Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Mon Dec 01, 2014 7:54 pm

Trials tyre and bring on some vintage flat track gos. I'm building a 125 Elsinore flat tracker so we will have to go for a spin

Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Mon Dec 01, 2014 8:49 pm

steve086 wrote:.....Trials tyre and bring on some vintage flat track gos. I'm building a 125 Elsinore flat tracker so we will have to go for a spin.....


I could be up for that mate - mate of mine and his son both race flat-track on XL500's - Greg and Corey Banks. Banksy used to run the best local wreckers we ever had in Canberra - even though the shop was in Queanbeyhole. I knew the run of that shop better than he did :lol: :lol: really nice bloke he does bike transport up and down the east coast these days.....

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Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:05 am

Here is Part Two video of the beast in action on Sunday.....



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Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Tue Dec 02, 2014 5:26 pm

You can tell she is a 500 the way you position that kick starter to avoid a good kick back :lol: Must admit those crash bars you have on the handlebars remind me of the old yammy ag 100 we had years ago :kuda:

Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Tue Dec 02, 2014 7:22 pm

yeh this thing is a pig to get over TDC on compression - the motor has a 10.5:1 Wiseco piston fitted, done less than 10 hours - and no decompression cable fitted.......so its very tight .

Good news though :kuda: - have worked on the technique for all of last week, got it to the point I can kickstart in thongs - 1 kick :lol:

Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:25 pm

Gosling1 wrote:yeh this thing is a pig to get over TDC on compression - the motor has a 10.5:1 Wiseco piston fitted, done less than 10 hours - and no decompression cable fitted.......so its very tight .

Good news though :kuda: - have worked on the technique for all of last week, got it to the point I can kickstart in thongs - 1 kick :lol:


lookin great as usual Gos! :kuda:

Re: ... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:11 pm

Did a bit of work to this jigger today - after sorting out the jetting on the XT550, I figured that it was time to give the OEM carbie on the XL the big heave-ho. Its a 30mm Keihin with a car-style choke - just a pile of shit really......

A lot of the US XL/FT forums all have good threads on swapping out the 30mm Keihin for a 34 or 38mm VM Mikuni. This is your standard round-slide Mikuni found on all sorts of bikes, but mainly 2T bikes. The jetting specs for 34mm were pretty easy to locate - so I pulled a 34mm from the carbie box and built it up as per the specs.

The 34mm VM fits the OEM Honda inlet boot no worries, you just need to use a 45-deg bend on the throttle cable inlet at the top of the carb, so it routes the throttle cable along the frame nice and neat. After a couple of kicks - the beastie fired into life :kuda: - its early days with this conversion, but the throttle response feels really good - immediate and snappy. Jetting will be done out at the farm, if the weather is good I will take both bikes out there next weekend for a full day of sorting out.

Have a slight issue with fuel overflow - the float height needs a bit of work and may also need a new needle & seat. Apart from that - I think the VM conversion should be a good one.

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