Today was the last real day of work before the Christmas break. Despite having a short bench Eric the Doc and myself kept our noses to the grind stone and continued to move forward on the reconstruction. We checked some of the electrical connections fixed the some of the problems. We also began tensioning the chain and truing the wheel. Its been a great semester and with only two weeks left after the break we have a lot of small things to finish up but have the end in sight.  

We almost there y'all!!!!

 Today the boyz worked very very well. Its almost a reality that we can say "the bike is finished". Steffan and I finished synching together the exhaust pipe to the bike. Ben did some great electical work but there is still some to be done. Like putting the new blinker lights in and making sure the starter will work fine. over all everything looks great. Cheers

Internal Shadow Day

On Friday, it was internal shadow day at rockway. Four grade 8 students came in to shadow us and what we were doing on the bike. Sunjin and his shadow continued his work on the brakes and attaching them on the bike. 

Eric continued to clean and attach the exhaust pipes onto the engine block.

Steffen and Jackson worked on reattaching the chain, cleaned the mounting bolts and polished some chrome components.

The new battery came in today, so Noah and I filled up the battery with the acid provided. While we waited for the air bubbles to escape from the acid, we attempted to get the headlight on the bike.

Alec Dawdy

Auto Assignment Part Three

Front Forks

Upgraded fork damper valves   

drill holes in the cylinder fork

i did this by making a center punch on where i wanted to drill then started drilling with a ⅛ bit

then moved up to ¼ bit i had to drill a total of 4 more holes in each cylinder fork

had to buy an put on the upgraded fork damper valve had to put the new fork damper valve on in between the cylinder fork and the spring

For this we had to buy the upgraded fork damper valve  

Needed new fork oil

after i finished putting the seal on the outer fork pipe and putting the inner fork pipe with the upgraded cylinder fork in with the new spring then screwing in the fork drain bolt i was able to put the fork oil in and then put on the top bolt to close the fork

we had to buy fork oil and new seals and dust seals

Gas tank and seat

Gas tank

had to remove gas tank

sand it i had to sand it with 220 grit then 320 grit then 600 and then 1000 grit sand paper and now the last thing i need to do for the gas tank is to paint it and put it back on the frame

had to buy more sand paper  

Seat  

we bought a an scrap seat to use it for extra or missing pieces once i removed the seat i had to take the lever from the scrap seat and put it on the new seat i also had to use some spare screws from the scrap seat by the end of mixing and matching pieces we had a seat that was in very good shape

bought a scrap seat and the only problem i ran into was that one of the bolts broke in the seat so i had to drill a new hole

Part 3 - Research

The two parts of the bike that I worked on and are being repaired and replaced are the carburetor and the ignition coil.

The carburetor, from the outside, looked to be in an alright condition. However, once I removed the diaphragms and the float bowls, it was clear that the carb could use a good cleaning and some of the parts might need to be replaced. Basically, the two options we had were to simply clean the carb with carb cleaner and brush, or clean the carb and replace and upgrade some of the components inside. While the simple cleaning was cheaper and took less time, if the upgrades were made then the carb would run much more effectively, cause less problems down the road, (get it?) and would make the engine run far smoother.
We decided to go with the upgrades because we want the bike to last as long as it can without needing repairs, and something as sensitive as the carburetor would be one of the first things to go.

The ignition coil is a component that I researched a lot about but never had the chance to actually work with. The two stock ignition coils that I removed from the bike were dirty but in good working condition. However, further research reviled that stock ignition coils for the XS650 send out a rather weak charge to the spark plugs which could lead to incomplete combustion. Again we were faced with the same decision concerning the carburetor: Do we upgrade the system or simply clean it and leave it as it is? Eventually we decided to upgrade to a duel ignition coil, meaning we get one component that provides a charge to the spark plugs instead of two separate components. The duel coil also produced a stronger charge than the stock coil. One issue was that the duel coil was bigger than the stock, therefore putting it where the other coils were mounted wasn't going to work. Fortunately, Steffen and Mr. DS made a mount for the coil so it wouldn't be in the way of anything else. Cost was also an issue, but the coil came in a package with the new spark plugs and other components so it was a bit cheaper.

this what eric did that
he reconnect throttle cable

And steffen he made get back the chain  and reconnect clutch cable and cover

and Sungjin cleaned the part of cover

Blog Assignment

Part 3

Electric starter Unit: Replacing the electrical start unit by Pamco was an upgrade that we decided would be in the long run a good decision. The reason for this is because the traditional starter was much more fidgety and can wear out over time. The old starter unit worked by pieces touching to complete the connection of the breaker points. This system while it is effective does wear out and will no longer work not allowing the engine to start and fire. The new system, The original PAMCO Hall effect ignition motor uses the same idea but instead of a breaker point system its a constant connection and the current flows on a timer. This timer is set using the timing light and adjusting the mounting screws. The Drawbacks to switching to this system is firstly the cost. The system costs $100 dollars before shipping. It also comes with a new coil which is much larger and does not mount the same. This poses the problems of where do we have the room to mount whilst keeping the coil close to the top of the engine and how do we mount.

   http://www.yamahaxs650.com/

Pistons and Piston Rings: The pistons were in rough shape. We looked at replacing them but we thought with a little elbow grease we could get the pistons back in working order and save the money. The drawbacks of this are if we damage the outside of piston walls we will loose compression. The gist of the job was removing the seized piston rings and cleaning the grooves so the new piston rings fit and moved freely. After about 3 classes of sanding the piston ring grooves and the outer wall we had the pistons back to working condition without sacrificing the compression caused by damage to the piston. Overall this process saved us around $80.00 helping

balance the cost of the Electric starter unit.

https://www.mikesxs.net/products-25.html#products

 today the boys work real hard

 eric and steffian broke stuff

 sunzin got the back shocks on

 and i got the brakes and handle bars on

ben started wiring the head lights

The Engine is Back in!

Today we did a lot of good work on the bike. I finished up the carbouretor and Eric put it back on the engine.

Then Eric, Steffen and Alec all moved the engine into place and began to bolt it down. Steffen also connected the spark plugs with the ignition coil.

Alec worked on putting the handles on the new handlebars.

Once I completed the carbourator, I began connecting the wires on the rear and in the headlight of the bike.

The End is in Site!

Today was a great day, the boys and myself saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Ben finished rebuilding the carburettor so that is ready to be installed once the engine is in place. 

Alec installed the ignition key and finished fixing/ rebuilding the switches and control. 

I polished all the engine mounts and bolts in preparation for mounting the engine back to the frame.
Sumgjin cleaned the disc brakes. 

Engine ready to go into Bike BUDDD!!!!

 Today the boyz worked fantastic. Ben replaced part of the choke and it looks dandy.

 Steffan put on the cutlass, and installed the diaphragm to the frame.

I crimmped the wires together and this engine is ready to get into the bike

Alec Shined the handle bars and disasembled them.

Sungin Cleaned the tiers.