... or maybe an XL500S ?? lol

Done quite a few jetting tests out at the farm to try and get this conversion working OK - and have got a bike that now starts pretty easily (most of the time ) - and has a good WOT response. Problem being - the mid-range is still only maybe 60% ??

In any case - time to get the old girl out into some competition ......so last weekend, I entered Rd 3 of the ACTMCC club champs at the local dirt-track. Nelso and Leanne were also entered for the day, so we had a jolly old pit happening .....

Here are a couple of short videos of the 500 popping its long-track cherry, as well as some photos of Rob and Leanne hooking in. Leanne had a great day, pinching 2nd place on her 2nd race of the day, Rob had fun before a slight off - and I didn't finish last








I wasn't able to complete the 3rd leg as the carbie decided to flood on the starting grid.... - but all up it was a heaps good day, learned a lot about how slow I am on the dirt track - and saw some great racing in the Open 250 and 450 classes !! Those kids are way quick.

The 2 fastest bikes in my class - Pre-90 Open - were a YZ490 and a KX500. So it looks like my YZ500 will have to be dragged into some active duty ......

Here are a couple of photos of the XL500, Nelso on his Husky and Leanne on the KTM - thanks for a great day guys

Nelso





Leanne






Gos





Fastest bike in my class - a 1983 YZ490K....





Was a really enjoyable day out and I will be having another lash at this without a doubt.

maybe time for a short update on the old XL500S

In a nutshell - had another lash at flat-track a few weeks ago - again on a Sunday, straight after a PCRA round on the Saturday......talk about burning the candle at both ends....

The bike started first kick in the pits - always a sign that shit is going to go down later on !! Well it did - it stalled out and I could not get it started again. Pulled the plug - wet-fouled to buggery. Pulled the carb out - off with the float-bowl - and FMD the inside of the carbie and the area inside the needle&seat - where complete full of this horrid crystal shit.

Looks like the run of really cold nights we had in the week leading up to the weekend - about 4 nights in a row of -4deg to -8deg - has frozen the fuel in the bowl and the needle&seat area. It was a mess.

Cleaned it all out, cleaned the plug (again) - and she kicked over fine.......

Missed the first leg of my class while all this bullshit was going on.

Out in the second leg - first lap there was a massive bingle right in front of me, almost ran over 2 blokes and their bikes. This leg was red-flagged. When we finally got around to the re-start - there was another bingle, this time on the 2nd lap. Big prang, leg red-flagged again.

By this stage, the bike was again running like a dog, so I decided to pack up and fuck off. Leanne was doing really well in her classes though, so I stayed to help out and watch her race. She did really well

Big thanks to Nelso and Leanne for all the help during the day, I was not really in the right mind-set to be out racing, but there is something special about flat-track and I will be having another go soon enough. Just have to do a bit more pre-race prep on the 500 before the next gig

put a few hours into the XL this afternoon, after some wise heads had a look on Wednesday night, at the 34mm carbie I have been using.....

It turns out that the cutaway on the slide is about twice as high as it should be !! The stock cutaway for most VM carbs is a 2.5 cutaway. Sometimes they can be a bit richer (2.0) or a bit leaner (3.0). The slide as measured in my carbie - was 4.5 !!! i.e. it was waaaaay leaner than it should be. At some point in the past, someone has decided to either file the cutaway or hit it with a fucking belt sander !!! It was marked as a 2.5

I swapped it out for a 2.5 slide this arvo, which has not been modded. Also changed the pilot jet back down to a 25 (was a 30). Checked the needle&seat, and decided to swap that whole unit out for another one, slightly different style (no bleed holes). I had fitted a screen to the main jet, it is meant to protect the jet from surging/sloshing fuel in the bowl ( which happens in MX) back when this carbie was originally set up. I binned the screen today to see if that helps. Last 2 mods.......screwed the mixture screw in a turn......and fitted a new plug.

The difference on start-up was night and day. The motor sounds way more responsive now, whereas earlier today it was chugging and farting badly - as it did at the flat-track meeting the other week......but after changing the set-up, the response is heaps better and I could actually get a good idle and instant response.

The proof will be in some practice. If the new slide has helped richen the mid-range a bit - which it should - then that might have been all it needed to pull cleanly through and out of corners on part-throttle. Lets hops so !!

short update on this build ....

some ebay parts arrived last week - wheel bearings, cables - that sort of thing. Fitted where possible or put on the rack for later where required

Mick at the engineering firm will have finished the steering stem conversion this week, so the forks will be bolted up next week. Due to the problem with the OEM front rim and hub - I spent some time last weekend out at the local wreckers. Old mate was happy to let me dig through his stock of old Yamaha dirt bike front wheels - and I finally found a TT250J or K front wheel - 21" - which has the same sized front axle and more importantly - the same drum brake dimensions as the YZ490L front wheel. This means I just need to sort out one spacer and this wheel will bolt straight into the YZ forks, and still let me use the better twin-leading shoe drum brake that is stock on the 490 (single-leader on the TT and also the stock XL front ends). The rim is also silver so it matches the rear rim - happy with that.

The new rear shocks turned up this week so they have been bolted in straight away. Red springs to match the front gaiters - but they look heaps chunkier than the skinny stock rear shocks and are also a piggy-back canister style - so they look the goods for sure.

Will update this thread with some pics when the new front end is bolted in. Until then it looks very ordinary indeed.....

Update ?

Geez, all the old cahns are coming back.

Good to hear from you Mario.

Good to be back