Hello,

I am new here and this is my first ever motorcycle project, well it's a dirt bike as of now and that will change. To be honest I chose this wicked scoot because of this forum and I just flat out fell in love with the TT500s and XT500s. The more I looked at pictures and stories the more I had to have one. I saw this dirt bike on craigslist and figured I should go look at it and make sure I really want one of these bikes. I checked it out and boy, it looked rough and I thought "ugh, I dunno." But I found out from ARB and the DMV that any dirt bike 1977 and before is able to be converted to on highway. Needless to say I bought it. 8)

Now I am unsure of what I want exactly and I know there are purists on here who might disagree but I am still up in the air. Maybe a restore, maybe a cafe racer, maybe a street tracker, maybe a bobber, or maybe somewhere in between. For now I will get this beast running perfectly. I'll worry about the overall look of the bike later. On that note, I took the spark plug out and looked at it and it looks burned with ashy white specs on it. I peeped through the hole with a mag light and sure enough scorch marks on the piston. I kicked it over and it started but didn't run for long and the compression is pretty good.

An entire rebuild is in order anyways, who knows what is wrong with the internals the PO rode the piss out of this thing and if a part fell off he tied it on with a rope or welded the supertrapp can to the pipe lol. First up is the carburetor! I am ordering a new petcock, carb gasket kit, and a new intake rubber mount probably next week. So, for now, here are pictures before I wash the bike which I will be doing later today.

Also, any encouragements, criticisms, advice, stories, or anything anyone wants to share is encouraged. That's why I love this TT community and what drew me to these bikes. Thanks!

Pudgy

Edited by PudgyOTE, 08 March 2012 - 05:54 PM.

I don't know much about these bikes, except that they sound AMAZING. This deserves to be completely unsilenced when ridden. My favorite four stroke of all time.

Yeah I fired it up for a second and I couldn't help but grin. Luckily my neighbors ride dirt bikes and Harleys so noise shouldn't be an issue.

Edited by PudgyOTE, 08 March 2012 - 07:05 PM.

Must be great to have neighbors that wouldn't have a problem with that. Even better if they could help you with the bike.

Cleaned green dusty crap and nasty goop out of the carb bowl. There was gasket glue all inside of the bowl, it was kind of fun to obsess over it and scrape it all out lol. Change the oil tomorrow and fire it up! We'll see

75mx125, on 08 March 2012 - 07:56 PM, said:

Yeah! One of my neighbors lends me advice here and there and has a wide array of tools, which is crazy beneficial because minor parts is about all I can afford right let alone tools lol.

Edited by PudgyOTE, 08 March 2012 - 08:56 PM.

Now that's a project!!! Looks like a few of the last ones iv'e done....I'm seeing about 1000.$ worth of needed parts there..

scalejockey, on 08 March 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

Well, I might just get the engine running so I can sell it for more than I paid. But, who knows I've been itching for a street tracker and my brother in law really wants a cafe racer so I might go in one of those directions. I just cleaned the carb and put it back together without the float bowl gasket and I kicked it over and fuel was spilling out lol. I ordered some gaskets and I'll go buy oil, oil pan and some gasket glue.

Hey I was just wondering, what is that third lever? The little tiny lever next to the clutch lever. I'm pretty sure I need that but I dunno why. any info would be greatly appreciated!

Decompression lever. Ashy white may well mean that the carb wasn't rejetted to allow for the loss of the airbox. You probably need a bigger mainjet and to lift the needle one notch inside the slide. On the plus side the plug isn't soaked in oil.

Edited by cloggy, 09 March 2012 - 03:27 AM.

cloggy, on 09 March 2012 - 03:27 AM, said:

Oh, thank you. I thought it looked like the bike was running too lean as well. I can kick it without the decompression lever so that tells me there is a lack of compression. I wanna go through the engine for educational purposes anyway. The oil is black but doesn't smell burned, changing it later. I'll order the new jets and adjust the needle in the slide.

Edited by PudgyOTE, 09 March 2012 - 07:22 AM.

Took carb apart today. Called Mark at Thumper Stuff and ordered a #250 Main Jet and a 35 pilot jet, speaking of the pilot jet. The PO stripped the pilot jet which I guess isn't hard to do. I drilled it out and I hit some of the carb lol. We'll see what happens when I get the jets from Mark.

LOL. Found tiny metal shavings in my oil last night. Weeeeeeeee. Once I get gasket kit and jets I will rebuild carb (if at all possible from drilling out stripped pilot jet). I am going to dismantle this engine this week. Can you replace bolts with regular bolts from OSH? Is there a drawback or anything? I want to replace my drain plug on the down tube and replace the air bleed screw. I stripped the air bleed screw and stripped the drain plug too. After stripping it, I soaked it with WD40 and then I tapped it with a hammer and used vice grips and the thing came right off lol. I'll try the latter before stripping anything next time.

How small were the metal shavings? If the oil looks just glittery that is fine, but some small chunks are definitely not.

75mx125, on 11 March 2012 - 01:04 PM, said:

The oil was black and luckily didn't smell burned or like gas. The gas tank has no rust or visible damage inside. The metal in the oil though, was literally shavings, very small thin shavings. I wouldn't have noticed them except I got the oil all over my hands and the floor lol! So when I rubbed my fingers together I felt the shavings. The PO didn't care about this bike but I hope it isn't too thrashed inside. I plan on hopping the engine up anyways so I am not too dismayed nor do I really care, that piston and the other stock parts are gone either way.

Are there two different oil chambers for the crankcase and tranny? If so, which did the shavings come out of?

75mx125, on 12 March 2012 - 06:55 PM, said:

The shavings came out of the down tube drain plug. I found a few in the bottom plate with the rectangle screen in it.

I am really not sure about those shavings. But if you are going to tear the motor apart and rebuild it, it doesn't really matter.

Well I decided to drill out the pilot jet on the carburetor and now the new jet won't thread. So, I am going to buy a Dellorto PHF 36 carburetor. Which, I have wanted since I first saw it. There are kits for XS650s and figure once I hop the engine up it's gonna be perfect with the smallest jets and lower needle adjustments.

I don't have any time for an engine overhaul right now because I'm helping my wife start her business. But next week her business starts and I'll have a good amount of time to do the overhaul. I'm going to take tons of pictures and video.

Are there any special tools I am going to need before I begin the overhaul? I have sockets, wrenches, torque wrench, soft blow hammer, ball peen hammer, impact driver, loads of cleaning solvents, WD40, PB blaster, the service manual and a clean well lit area to work. I want an engine stand and a vice. Am I missing anything that I NEED to have?

If you are doing the bottom end also you would need a crank puller.