Checklist

[The Prophet of Doom]

My car is French - should I get a Solex?

[dingleberry]

Ha ha. I'd like to see you ride that through the Molesworth Station Road.

[The Prophet of Doom]

OK so I'd be dead keen for a Molesworth trip.  I've wanted to do that for 30 years.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/nelson-marlborough/molesworth-brochure.pdf

Not much of a challenge on big arse 1100GS BMWs though.  What say we get a bunch of C50s with dirt tyres ?  It's open 31st Oct to April, so perhaps next spring ?

[dingleberry]

Now that does sound like fun. I'm up for that 8)
Have you got MacGyver's number for when we need him to weld up the broken frames?

[The Prophet of Doom]

Tig would be into this, I think he did something crazy like going to Alaska on a scooter

[Rikugun]

Or was it South America? Alaska to Argentina - we were both right  :)

[The Prophet of Doom]

I heard from the guy I sold the XZ400 to in the weekend.
He's had an experienced race mechanic working on it for many hours and he can't figure out why it's making no power either. 

Well at least that makes it something unusual - I'd have felt like a real dick if it had been something like a loose wire.  I gave him a pile of TCI boxes from my stash to try - otherwise I'm completely without ideas.  Not that I have to care so much any more :-)

[Rikugun]

Did they "de-twingle" it and start from factory parameters?

[The Prophet of Doom]

I don't know what they have done.  I think the twingling was the only weird thing I did, and they've been told about it.

[The Prophet of Doom]

Seems it was a TCI issue.  The one that came with it was out one cylinder, the replacement I put in not advancing so made no power.  I'd never come across that before.

[QBS]

I've had two TCI failures.  Neither was like that.

[Rikugun]

Lack of advance would certainly explain the lack of power - thanks for the update. I'll bet that was fun to check as your sighting eye and timing light gets coated with oil mist.  :o  :)

[nzvision]

I found the problem, there was a tiny chunk of gasket cement I'd missed when I cleaned it all out.  these don't need or benefit from cement in there.

Replaced the rear head gasket, and a couple of the bolts that were feeling like they were made of clay.  I'll be wanting a set for my racer but these are not available from Yamaha and they don't look like generic parts.

New spark plugs also as the ones in there were correct spec resistor plugs but with US spec resistor caps.  The two don't go together so well.

Started first time, and other than some smoke coming from the rear pipe.  Either my fix isn't quite fixed, or it's just burning off the exhaust cement, and oil that had leaked on to it.



what gaskets do you need?   I may have some here

I need to run it up on the manometer, do a road test and top up the fluids but otherwise (with any luck) I'm just about done.

[The Prophet of Doom]

Thanks, Let me know what you have and we'll work out something.  I don't NEED anything at the moment, but always nice to have spares.

[nzvision]

I have the rocker cover gaskets brand spanking new even. I couldn't believe how much they were being sold for.   112 each (they are for a 400, I'm not sure if the 550 is the same )

[The Prophet of Doom]

The 400 are the same as the 550.
Ouch $112 ! lets hope mine last a while.

[nzvision]

They were the last ones avaliable from a dealer in nz Apperantly.  And I didn't pay that much for them as they had been sitting for a while. 

[pinholenz]

I've been threatening my bike with a shim adjustment. If you are selling a shim tool and rocker gaskets, let me know.

Cheers John M

[The Prophet of Doom]

Hey John, I thought you had bought a shim tool.  I'm done with mine for a while so you can borrow it if you want.

[nzvision]

Hey pinholez.    Sorry i didn't check back here.    Got your email and replied.    I'll whip them out.   Let me know about the carbs.

I don't have the tool though sorry