Woot! More bikes!

[inanecathode]

I should be getting a DT360 and a TT500 soon, in trade for my harley golf cart (with a 483 snowmobile engine in it) and my xt250 respectively :D

DT360 was running, but he let it sit with gas for a couple months (two stroke goes bad pretty quick). The TT500 isnt running, he took the electrics apart to make it a dual sport and never finished it. Both fairly easy projects.

I am curious about oil injection, i've always heard you can just mix fuel and block off the injector but the more i think about it the more i think the engine was designed to have oil injected at key points. Is there any advantage other than convenience to oil injection? Also, do they have rebuild kits for the pumps? If this one is borked i'd like to just rebuild it and run the two separate tanks. 

[Rick G]

Inane , the favored drill, if you racing or running it really hard, is to disconnect the cable at the pump and use something like a  28/32 to 1 mix  in the tank .This way the pump is still running , but at the volume for idling .Yamahas  autolube  system  was inferior to Suzukis . Suzuki had a line that fed the bottom end  and  rods and seperate line that fed the intake.

[inanecathode]

Alrighty, the guy just disconnected all the lines and plugged them.
Would there be a danger to just reconnecting all the lines and using the stock oiling system?

Whats up with the compression release as well, both bikes have them. My xt250 has one but its automatic (hooked up to the kickstart). What does it do? What happens if i dont use it?

[Kevin]

Your into vintage stuff now. On the 360 the compression release helps braking when you go through a mudhole and lose your brakes. It's a sound I haven't heard in years. They also used them racing flat track.I would stick with premix rather than hooking the oiler back up and bleeding the lines. I still use golden spectro 50:1. On the xt500 You will want the valves set to spec. and in time. They can be a bear to start out in the woods when hot. 

[kwells]

i'm thinking bout finding a good dirt soon too...

oh will this ever stop?  I think not.

[inanecathode]

The sticker on the tank says "You MUST use the compression release before starting"
Is this so the kick start doesnt plant my knee in my face, or for ease of starting as well as braking?

[Kevin]

That sticker is on th 500 thumper. It is for starting. Your right leg is about to get stronger.

[inanecathode]

Oh, heh, i can imagine why i need to release compression on the 500, but the 360 is the one with the sticker.

[h2olawyer]

A good friend had an XT500.  Great dirt bike.  It could be a real bear to start - but I'm remembering the way it was when I was around 20 (about 95 pounds ago).   ::)  It could launch a person over the bars pretty easy.  This was the same friend who had the Suzuki Water Buffalo.

I had the Kaw KDX175 at the time.  Another friend had a YZ125.  We all were out on a ride one Labor Day weekend.  The clutch went out on the YZ & we were 30 miles from the nearest road.  The guy with the XT towed the YZ & rider out to the road.  We left the YZ where it died overnight & went back out the next day (Tuesday) after work to retrieve it.  There were several long steep hills and two major river crossings (water handlebar deep).  Didn't take too long to get back in to the bike but the return was pretty slow.  As we crested the high point - a bit over 10,000 ft on a barren ridge (appropriately named Burn Ridge) - we met up with a pretty strong thunderstorm.  We waited below the ridge, near some trees, but taking cover under some low brush.  Felt the hairs on my neck get tingly a couple times just before lightning strikes.   :o  I was the only bike with a headlight, so I led the way.  A little while after the storm passed, the full moon came out & the remainder of the ride was done under moonlight.  A very memorable evening!

We finally got the bikes loaded back up in the truck & home around 2AM.  Had to be at work @ 7AM, ready for a 10 - 12 hour day.  Wasn't too bad as I was about 21 at the time.  Don't think I could pull that one off today.  At least not if I was still doing large tire work.

H₂O

[kwells]

at least no broken bones in addition...those tend to complicate those rides

[Rick G]

The 360 is a two stroke , and the compression release is  for braking on long, steep down hills . its sort of like a jake brake on diesel truck . I loved the sound of  a 2 stroke with a compression release , sounds like one loooooog continous fart.

Xt 500s were only marginaly better starters that 600s . even with a comp. release. We had a TT600 in the shop in OR. and the thing terrrorized me. To many creakey joints for that stuff.

We I was young, and full of  Piss and Viniger ( still full of Viniger , and old men pee a lot , so much less now)I worked for Joe Koons in long Beach CA. He was selling off his racing( The wrecking crew) team bikes. They were BSA Gold Stars, Veterans of  the famous, Ascot Park in Gardena CA. (long gone now) .
No one would buy them, because they couldn't start them. Since I had tuned at Ascot, and was responsable for starting the race bike, to save the riders strength , I was elected to start the Beezers. People were really impressed with the ease of starting , untill they got them home and got their    right leg shortened , or kicked them selves in the butt.  I ended up giving starting lessions to all buyers.

Kick starting was one of my main concerns, when I bought my XL350 Honda . Their no ball of fire , but are pussy cats to start . They always start on the first or second kick and require no great effort . Later dual sports handle better  and are faster , but I can reach the ground on it and it has a wide cushy seat to go along with my wide cushy butt.

[Walt_M.]

Been there, done that, had one. The compression release on the 360 is to ease starting. It wasn't really needed on the DT but Yamaha has always been conservative on that stuff. As for braking, the orifice was not large enough to have much effect. In fact, I saw a guy riding one with the release on! He said they told him to turn it on when he started it, they just never told him to turn it off when it started!
He probably died in the shower when he washed his hair. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Rick G]

Walt, I don't remember ever seeing a DT360  new witha comp release . We installed them after sale . Never heard of any one using them to ease starting on a two stroke , just to keep it from swapping ends on a long down hill , or for backing into a turn on a TT track .

[Walt_M.]

They were stock from the factory, little silver lever on the left handle bar. As I said, I had one. Mine was a '71 RT1B. A friend of mine bought a '74 DT360 and it had it too.

[inanecathode]

Yeah yeah
Heres how i see it:
Theres a silver lever on the left grip that has a cable that goes to a rubber booted round box on the front of the cylinder head. And theres a valve type thing screwed into where i think you'd put a second spark plug, theres a cable end broke on the end of it, you just push it down while you kick it and all the compression just spoots out the valve.

[mdskinner731]

ya my four wheeler has a decompression valve.... its much needed.. with out it i try to pull the thing over and damn near break my wrist

[Rick G]

Pulling a ATV rip starter, is a whole differant ball game . Every time I try, I cripple my self . I posalutly ,absotivly  HATE ripstarters.  Give me an electric leg anyday!! >:(

[inanecathode]

Should be getting the 500 tomorrow.