Talk about Ugly

The engine is definitely one ugly hombre. But at least the innards are in remarkably good shape. I am in the process of cleaning up and painting the cases. It should be a whole engine again by this time next week. I'll leave you with the ugly-ness.

Meet The New Tank, Not Quite The Same as The Old Tank

What to do, My tank has more holes in it than a wore out pair of socks. I discovered this as I media blasted the old sucker to give her a nice new coating of House of Color Shimrin BC-26 White. But much to my dismay, I noticed a small amount of moisture had developed on the bottom of the tank.
I shut down the blast cabinet, and pulled the tank out and there was a little water trickling out. After I cleaned the tank of the old gas I put a couple of ounces of water in it before media blasting, just in case there were some pin holes that I might miss. It worked, although when using this technique, make sure you drain the water out and get some WD 40 in there as soon as your finished stripping the paint so rust does net rear its ugly head.
Unfortunately for me this had already had happened. There were several pin holes by the bottom seam of the tank producing water. I had a couple of choices to make now, try and fix the tank myself by cutting out the bad metal and replacing it with good. I thought this would be too time consuming given my limited metal working skills. So I could scour eBay looking for a used tank, and more than likely ending up with the same problem I have now. Buy a brand new tank from Yamaha for around four hundred bucks, which would put a serious dent in my rebuild budget. Or I could choose option four which is to buy an plastic replacement tank from Clarke Manufacturing and not have to worry about dents or rust for as long as I own this bike. Clarke makes replacement tanks for a wide variety of bikes, so if your looking for a replacement for your current tank, Clarke may just have what your looking for.
As you can plainly see, the Clarke tank route is the road I choose to point my bike down, For less than half the price of an OEM Yamaha replacement, I bought myself a tank I don’t really have to worry about. The tank looks about as good as the stocker and has a bit more fuel capacity 4.0 gallons to the stockers 3.2 this will get me a bit farther down the road. I have busted down the motor and am getting all its bits and pieces in order. I have not come across any surprises in the engine as of yet. Every thing has been within specs so far. I am getting the all the cases ready for paint and should be getting the motor back together in the next week or two.

Till Next Time...........................

Time to Pop Her Top

She is a whole lot cleaner on the inside than the out.



Looks ok so far,More to follow.

A Little Work Horse

I recently picked up a Chicago Pneumatics CP7200 mini orbital sander kit. I’ve been looking for a setup like this for a while. It fills a need I have for a compact sander that I can use for spot paint repair and buffing fenders and side covers. I jury rigged a system that I used with my D/A that worked pretty good for my needs. But this little baby blows it away and allows me a level of control that I did not have with my D/A or Makita buffer.

I also purchased an 3M adaptor kit so I can utilize 3M’s Roloc system of mini disc abrasives with the 7200. This will make this about the most versatile tool I have in my arsenal. All this utility for right around a C note, can’t hardly beat that one if you tried.
The Specs for this little piece are as follows:
•Compact and lightweight for easy access in tight areas
•Rubber molded palm grip for added comfort
•Adjustable power regulator
•Two finger throttle for easier control and less fatigue
•Silenced handle exhaust directs air away from work area
Kit includes: mini random orbital sander plus (1) 2' and 3' backing pads, (10) 2' 320, 400 and 600 grit sand paper, (10) 3' 300 (10) 3' 320, 400 and 600 grit sand paper and spindle key packed in a heavy duty carrying case.

If your in the market for a mini buffer/sander/ polisher/grinder the Chicago Pneumatics CP7200 may just be the ticket you’ve been looking for. I’m starting the tear down of the XT motor next week, so I should have a little more to write about.


Till Next Time...........................

You’ve Got to be Kidding Me

Now I Have heard just about everything, but this new product just about takes the cake. I have heard all the usual warnings about the dangers of riding motorcycles. From everyone that has a friend or relative that has been killed or injured by just looking and thinking about riding a motorcycle, to being called a organ Donar by a local law enforcement official.


But now I can add cancer to that ever growing list of worries. There is a guy out there who has written an book to promote his invention of a shielded motorcycle seat to keep your bits and pieces from becoming a slow cooked blue plate special. Man, if I don’t have enough to worry about as it is. Ths guy comes along and is telling us all that it isn’t the cell phone talking, SUV wielding, whopper eating, makeup applying driver we have to look out for. No, no, nooo, it is that we have been micro waving our genitalia and if we don’t do something fast like buy his book and seat we are all on a rocket sled to chemotherapy.
Now I guess a new never ending debate about motorcycle emf’s and their fricasseeing of our nether regions is just around the corner. What will they come up with next, I for one can hardly wait to see.


Till Next Time..................

Six for the price of one

I just bought six tires for sixty bucks off an ad on craigslist. I hate to keep going on and on about craigslist, but I just find way too many deals there. The tires were one use take offs from the sellers KTM’s. He explained to me that they never use OEM tires. That is just fine with me because I am a notorious cheap ass and am not above the use of not only OEM tires but used tires to boot.

The tire sizes are, two 80/100-21, one 90/90-21, two 110/100-18, one 100/100-18, as luck would have it, these tires fit both of my bikes. The tires on my bikes are completely shot and I was just about to order me a couple pairs of new tires when I spotted this ad. So it’s back to craigslist to see what other deals I can find.


Till Next Time.....................

At Least it Looks New

The XT seat had seen better days and I really wasn’t crazy about the color. I was looking into recovering it when I spotted some SEM color coat at my local paint supplier, GNE paint. I inquired as to the durability of the paint and was told it was developed by SEM for refinishing auto upholstery. And for changing the color or touching up auto carpeting, and is extremely flexible as well as being very durable.

They suggested I pick up a can of SEM’s plastic adhesion promoter along with the color I was planning on using on the seat (black). So with my billfold a few bucks lighter and a plastic sack filled with newly purchased SEM products, I set sail to try this miracle paint out for myself.

After following the instructions on the paint, I can say that I am completely satisfied with the results. The seat looks like a new seat. After throughly cleaning the surface to be painted the whole process took only about forty minutes including paint flash times. The finished product looks fantastic, time will tell on the durability side of the equation.

But if what my paint guy tells me is true, this stuff will hold up longer that the seat will. The only drawback I can see is you have to go to a auto paint outlet to buy this stuff. It isn’t sold at your local auto supply, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Most towns have a auto paint supplier nearby. Then there is always the internet if all else fails. Check out SEM’s website for a supplier near you.


Till Next Time....................