Yamaha XZ550 restoration

Handlebar switches.

2011-04-24T22:43:00.004+01:00

With the bike reliably up and running I turned my attention to smaller details.

The switch gear although perfectly functional looked tired with faded paint and worn off lettering.

From my box of spares I stripped the left and right switches.

These were primed and sprayed with a satin black.

The sheet was bought from ebay 3mm high to match the original which is rubbed onto the surface to make up the lettering.

The 2 pictures below show the finished lettering.

Both sides were given several coats of clear lacquer sprayed in a way so it remain a satin finsh.

The clip that holds the throttle cable in place was a bit rusty so I made a new one from a piece of stainless sheet.

The last picture shows the internals re-assembled and the switches back on the handlebar.

Overlooking Godrevy in Cornwall UK

2011-01-08T11:37:00.003Z

With a few more updates on the bike I took it out for a ride between Christmas and new years day to Godrevy, a couple of miles away from where I live. I took a camera along to take some decent pictures but the batteries died when I tried to take some. I ended up using my phone, hence the poorish picture quality. The top picture is looking back along the beach back to Hayle with surfers just behind the bike which are overexposed and don't show in the picture.

The lower picture has Godrevy lighthouse in the background

Turntable.

2010-07-28T23:18:00.002+01:00

Here's a couple of pictures of the underside of the turntable to show its workings.
The blue base is a piece of medium dentisty fibre board, which just happened to be painted blue.
The joist has a piece of wood cut to fit the groove and a piece of aluminium bolted to the side for the side stand.
The turntable turns on universal roller bearing houses.

The whole thing pivots on an M16 bolt which is self tapped into the wood floor.

The finished XZ550 on my shed turntable.

2010-06-21T23:48:00.005+01:00

This will not be the last post but it does show the finished bike on my shed turntable.

Petrol tank before repainting

2010-05-30T23:33:00.002+01:00

Here's a few pictures of the tank before it went to the sprayers.

Looking at the underside the paint looked quite good and shiny.
Unfortunately under all the paint was a slight bit of surface rust.

So before going to the sprayers I stripped the paint as below, further after with various abrasives I got the underside gleaming like new, but I forgot to take a picture of that.

Using up the last bit of stripper I took some of the paint off the top.
The top didn't have anywhere near the amount of surface rust on it.

It then went to the spayers the next day to be given a new coat of metalic blue.

Air box flapper and fuel filter.

2010-05-05T21:46:00.006+01:00

On UK bikes of this type the air box has a weighted flap on the air intake.
This helps to stop the a stutter when accelerating ( apparently ).
The rubber hinge had perished as in the photo.

A new hinge was cut and secured with stainless screws instead of rivets.

Next on the list is an essential thing for a 28year old bike is a fuel filter.
I purchased a quality filter but needed a bracket to support it due to its weight.
I'm using a stainless plate that I had from a previous bracket.

A vertical cut and a drilled hole finishes the bracket.

A small circular clampl holds the filter.

A piece of rubber pipe protects the filter glass from the clamp.

The backet in place fitted to the side of the carburetor connected with new rubber tube and pipe clips.

Engine rebuild

2010-04-19T22:45:00.003+01:00

Time to put all the refurbished parts back together.
New gaskets go on under the cylinders.

Cylinders with top gaskets new seals etc, etc

The timing mark lined up to get the cam in the camchain in the correct location.

Cam chains in their correct location, I couldn't get a picture of the markings, but they're in the Haynes manual.

Finally the cam chain tensioner gets put in to get the correct tension.

Cylinders back on and all torqued down.
Intake boots with rubber gaskets instead of card ones supplied in gasket set.
Engine now ready to put back in the frame.

I have at this time got the bike back together and have started her up, just need more time spent on this blog bringing it up to date, more pictures to follow , keep tuned folks.

Regulator/Rectifier relocation.

2010-04-06T21:19:00.003+01:00

With the heat build up of the R&R beside the exhaust manifold I decided to relocate it in fresh air. I used a bit of stainless plate cut and drilled to shape.

The plate with the R&R on the back of it.

The R&R bolted to the plate with stainless dome head nuts to finish it off.

The R&R and bracket in place on the bike. Its bracket is fixed on the engine mounting bolt which I remade with threads each end rather than a bolt and put domed nuts on each end.

Oil filler, stator and Regulator/Recifier

2010-04-05T12:35:00.003+01:00

I intend to put the fairing that came with my purchase on the bike but not all parts were included for the full adaption.
One part missing is the adaptor that replaces the oil filler cap that fits an oil tube which extends the filling to fairing bracket.
I can't find anything close on ebay so I had to find something else.
I did find a 1/2" BSP tail fitting on ebay which is a fairly standard part for hose fittings.
Only problem is the thread in the casing is metric so this was tapped out to 1/2" BSP.

The fitting as it came from ebay, fairly cheap as a used item.

The fitting screwed in place. It has now been shortened, I'll post another picture with the hose attatched when I've taken one.

The connections and sleeving on the internal engine electricals get updated next.
I bought a 3 way waterproof electrical connector off ebay for the connection between the R&R and the alternator.

The connector all fitted.

A picture of the R&R which came off the bike, soldered wires and hardened sleeving needs replacing. I found on the internet that this one comes off a Yamaha XV535, original ones tend to burn out due to the heat they produce and they are loacted in an enclosed space close to the rear exhaust manifold. I'll post another section of how I dealt with that.

The finished article with new connector and heat resistant sleeving (thanks to Mike and Chris) .

The other internal electircals also get tidied up.

Oil pump clean.

2010-03-29T23:20:00.003+01:00

When I removing the oil pump, this is what came out of the suction tube filter gauge.

With the parts within tolerance when measured, when I was replacing the unit I noticed the bottom thread had been repaired. Unfortunately the thread insert was proud by about 1mm.

To counteract the raised insert I counterbored the oil pump housing, this lets the pump sit flat.

Starter motor

2010-03-13T22:17:00.002Z

The starter motor gets my attention next, on taking it apart some bits fell out.
Further inspection showed them to be the insulation on the square bolt head for the main terminal post.

The steel body gets an undercoat of zinc primer.

After removing the starter from the engine, there was a screw in a srange place.
The screw was removed and the correct one keeping part of the crankcase together was put back in place.

With seals replaced, brushed measured and within limit and a new high temperature plastic insulator in place the starter was put back together.

The starter has been sprayed all over with a high temp silver paint and screws replaced with stainless ones from ebay.

Starter clutch.

2010-02-24T22:43:00.003Z

Here's a good example of the difference between the Haynes manual and practical advise from the Riders of Vision forum.
These starter clutches are well known to the forum members for failing due to the screws undoing. The Haynes manual says to tighten to a torque with loctite applied.
Unfortunately this is not sufficient to stop the bolts undoing.
The forum suggests getting 2mm longer bolts and riveting the ends over.
Taking my side cover off and trying the clutch mechanism seemed to work perfectly well and so I thought mine had not suffered from the loose screws.
The wiring from the stator had some bare wires showing, so I decide to get it out for repair.
The rotor had to come off and with pullers and a gentle tap it eased off. Normally these parts fly off once released but the key was a bit stiff so mine all came off quite slowly.
Now I could see the damage, the screws were just held on with one thread.
As shown in the 1st picture is the damage to the back of the rotor caused by the loose screws.
The burrs around the screw holes were ground off with a dremmel so the surface was flush.
Surprisingly only the end of the thread had been worn away, the rest of the thread was tight so I retapped the threads with an M8 solid tap.

Next picture shows the damaged bolts but luckily the cage and rollers were undamaged.

I found some M8x16 allen bolts and drilled a 3mm hole x 3mm deep.

Final picture shows the screws in place with the hole expanded with a centre punch.
Another job was to make the rotor fit correctly on the taper. A previous owner hammer the end of the rotor so it formed a ridge on the inner taper. This had the effect of the rotor clamping on the ridge and not the taper allowing it to rock slightly. This ridge was ground away with the dremmel and now has a bite to the taper when putting the parts together.

A final big thanks to the riders of Vision forum for the fix for this problem.

Front electrics.

2010-02-16T22:44:00.003Z

I'm going to use a fairing that came with the parts I bought, unfortunately it didn't include the bracket and rubber bag that is used to put the the loom joins in. Normally they go in the headlight bucket but with the fairing the headlight sits further forward and the wires don't stretch that far. I made a plate from aluminium with 2 folds back over the fork stanchions.
The plate was drilled and tapped with cable tie bases screwed on which lined up with the various incoming looms.

The picture below shows a stainless square tube cut at an angle and drilled and tapped to hold the front plate on.

Front shot of the plate with all the cables connected.

Velcro was put on the sides and back of the aluminium plate which holds a sheet of vinyl over the top and around the sides of the plate.

Out with the old in with the older.

2010-02-06T23:52:00.005Z

Well it had to go, I don't have space for 2 motorbikes in my shed so my loyal GS500 was sold today. I only hope the Vision will be so reliable as this bike.

Some more pictures of my bike stand for a colleague at work who couldn't quite see how this lifted a motorbike. 1st picture shows the stand with a few modifications since the last photos. The main difference being the front wheel clamp.

The ramp is used to push the bike onto the stand, its a little higher than the stand so I can put the centre stand down without it touching down.

Now this part needs 2 people as the bike is held the lift is jacked up and starts to lift the bike on the centre stand.

The wheel is clamped and the stand lifted to its full height and then lowered onto the dowelled block so the pressure of the jack is relaxed. Lowering is then a reversal of lifting.

Simple really all you need is some extruded aluminium from a bench from work which was destined for a skip, a set of double sliding quick clamps and an old car jack which refuses to keep any jack oil in it for any length of time.
Final pictures shows how far along I am with the bike, plenty done but still plenty to do.......watch this space.....

Oil filter and water pump housing clean and polish.

2010-01-10T20:40:00.005Z

The oil cover housing was stripped of paint rubbed down with wet and dry and polished with autosol. 3 stainless screws replace the rusty originals.

The water pump housing came off easily, but the thermostat housing was a different story.
One screw head had already been sheared off and the one holding it in place was the old philips head which was rounded off. The top of the head was ground off which then allowed the housing to come free. I tried to use the screw stubs to undo them with a mole wrench and heat, but no luck. I filed them flat and drilled and retapped the holes in the end.

Once apart the thermostat appeared to be permanently open.

Taking the thermostat out showed the reason why its permanently open, its all bent and twisted.
I will have to find another one somewhere.

Water pump and thermostat housings polished in the same way as the oil filter housing.

Engine refurb.

2010-01-03T19:52:00.003Z

The time has come for the big technical bit.
I had previously fired up the bike when I first bought it so there appeared to be no nasty rattles, but there were signs of fluid leaks.
The first picture is of the engine prior to any dismantling.

One problem during the stripdown was to take the end gears off to remove the cam chain.
The first gear to try to undo would not budge even with 18" of leverage going both ways and 15 stone weight pressing down on the levers. I decided to leave them on and take off the cams and swing the gears out from under the chain.
Somebody had been here previously, unless the Yamaha people mark the front cylinder with blue paint.

All parts laid out and marked up to go back where they came from.

The head was cleaned inside and out. Parts measured as per the Haynes manual and found to be in tolerance......so far. The valve covers have been painted with a silver grey engine paint, but look more grey then silver. I'll get some silver enamel engine paint and do the cyl. block, head and cover all one go.

One of the old container cases we throw away at work has been put to further use holding all the valve parts in order.

The cylinder head now cleaned and the valves have been lapped into place, probably one of the most satisfying jobs to do on an engine. All valves were checked with fluid and no leaks.

One cylinder bank cleaned one more to go.

Carburetor refurb.

2009-12-19T22:43:00.003Z

The carbs in the 1st 3 pictures are as they were when I pulled them off the engine.

One problem I found were these nozzles were blocked. I managed to clear them with one strand of a wire. This allowed me to attach a hose and flush through with carb cleaner.
The ball, weight and bore for the non return part of the nozzle were cleaned and polished.

All parts of one carb laid out, I changed all the screws to stainless cap heads. All parts cleaned and all bores checked for flow.
All seals have been checked and replaced where needed.

The brackets have been cleaned, wire brushed and spray with a rust inhibiting zinc spray.
All parts put back together with no left over parts.
Some hoses and hose clips were replaced due to perishing.

Number plate holder.

2009-12-15T23:17:00.002Z

I drilled off the back plate which just left the light holder/plate bracket.

Parts then stripped of paint and sprayed with a zinc primer then silver spray and finished with a clear laquer top coat.

A couple of stainless dome nuts finishes the look.

The rear mudguard was cut down to level with the bottom of the number plate.
The inner metal part of the mudguard was discarded due the amount of rust on it.
A stainless metal plate with 3 holes support the bracket mounting screws and a tube was glued to the mudguard to feed the light wire back to the frame.
I had a couple of pairs of carbon looking indicators which I stripped and soldered the wires which I took out from the original ones.

Rear upgrade

2009-12-06T19:15:00.007Z

I bought a new seat cover off ebay some time ago, although the bike came with a seat in good condition it didn't have the original stitching.
The ebay purchase had the original stitching and help with the lines of the bike.
The seat cover was carefully removed and was used again to recover my Suzuki GS500 seat.
I bought an electric stapler especially for this job and some stainless staples.
The seat was placed on the cover all upside down, placed on a stool and press down with a clamp pressing down from the shed roof. This compressed the foam a bit making the pulling and stapling of the cover a bit easier. A few staples in strategic places and the clamp was released and then the cover was fully stapled all the way around.
1st pictures shows the original plain cover that came with the bike.

2nd picture shows the loose cover on top of the foam seat.

Nice line of stainless staples which will not rust.........ever.

Another underside shot.

A new seat stay was made from 5mm stainless bar replacing the rusty old one.
The hinges were rubbed down and given a coat of zinc anti-corrosion paint.

Finally the top side in all its glory,.
Only problem was while being stored in the shed rolled up, I was using my hand grinder and didn't notice a few sparks drifting its way. Hence the couple of small off colour patches on the back seat.

Front upgrade.

2009-11-25T21:09:00.003Z

I had to buy another pair of forks from ebay as one of my stanchoins had a large rust spot halfway along the sliding stem.

Parts all stripped with the lowers stripped of paint and polished.
Springs checked and found to be correct for free length.
New seals, dust seals and fork oil were purchased and re-assembled as per the Haynes manual.

Forks rebuilt ready to go back on the bike.

Front and rear wheel got my attention next.
Rear wheel bearings were fine but the fronts still had the old one side open type.
A bit of heat applied and a gentle tap released the bearings.
A bit more heat and bearings in the freezer let the new bearings drop into place.

The wheels looked tired with the paint showing the aluminium through it and the aluminium having a bit of surface corrosion.
The aluminium was cleaned with a scotchbite pad and then polished with autosol.
I decided to brush paint the wheels with QD90 machine paint. An enamel paint which self levels and dries quickly.

Wheels nearly finished, just need new tyres, although there's plenty of tread on them, they've not been on the road for over 7 years and have hairline cracks in the side wall.

Petrol tank washer and wiring loom

2009-10-26T20:53:00.006Z

Another rusty bit needing replacing, out with another bit of scrap stainless plate of the same thickness. Covered with permanent marker and scribe around the outside.

Holes drilled at various points.

Over to the cut off grinder and cut roughly into shape. Finish off on the bech grinder and smooth with the abrasive flap wheel. Bent the 2 tabs up in the vice with a bit of hammer force.

On te original there's a notch to stop it rotating when tightening it onto the tank.
I made a small raised dome with an M12 nut and a ball pein hammer in the vice.

A cut with the grinder through the raised dome gives me the anti-rotating edge.

And finally in place ( but without the tank )

The wiring loom had some modifications which didn't coincide with the original wiring diagram.
Everything was put back to standard except a new blade fuse box was used.
The loom was rewrapped with self amalgamating tape.

I put the loom back on the frame and attached with the same tape, the loom holders had mostly rusted away and were ground off before it was sandblasted on painted.

Picture of the frame after painting on a windy day when the shed was tilting over a bit :-)

Bike lift

2009-10-13T21:56:00.004+01:00

Another project to help me with my Vision restoration.
I dismantled the trolley jack and turned some longer bars to put in the longer lifting arms.
The outside is currently made of wood which I expected to be too weak but I needed to develope the distances to make sure it lifts in a parrallel lotion.
It can lift around 100Kgs easily but as suspected the wood is starting to bend.
Pictures show front and back parts and is being designed to carry just one wheel and the centre stand. I will make a small ramp to push the bike onto the lift then put the centre stand down and lift the bike off the ramp.
I still have to make some extra bits like a hinged bar so I can relax the jack, a front wheel holder and some eye bolts on the frame to tie the handle bars down to.
I will get some long metal lengths now to replace the wood so it''ll be strong enough to lift the bike.

I've replaced the wood with lengths of metal and was tested lifting the familly on it a total of over 27 stone/380lb or 171Kg.
I still have the extras to make, but now with a weeks holiday I should get this finish and back to work on the Vision with it lifted off the floor and save wearing my knees out.

Parts worked on this week

2009-09-08T23:18:00.005+01:00

The brake pipe holders were a bit rusty so instead of painting them I had a go at remaking them in stainless steel.

I marked the shape on the plate and drilled the holes.

I cut the shape out with my 4" angle grinder in a cut off holder.

Basic shape all deburred and smoothed with a abrasive flap wheel.

A bit of hammering in a vice and round a bit of bar and one stainless replacement brake pie holder.

Shaft drive boot repair.

The rubber boot was in good codition apart from ahole worn through in it.

The boot is being repaired with a bit of an old inner tube and glued in place with the glue from a bicycle puncter repair kit.

The finished article repaired and cleaned ready to be put back on the bike.

Brake calipers.

2009-09-08T22:56:00.002+01:00

Originally the caliper was corroded but I cleaned it up with various abrasives and sent it off for alochroming, an industrial process used to stop aluminium corroding.

Calipers back from the finishers .

Finally finished off in high temperature caliper paint.

Rear brake switch

2009-08-12T22:15:00.003+01:00

The original part dismantled, the spindle was starting to jam with the rust on it.

So I found a piece of 1/8" stainless welding rod and started making a replacement spindle.
I drilled a 2mm hole through the end where the spring attaches.

Then cut to length, heated and hammered the end to a dome.

Put the plastic/copper tube bits back on the spindle, found a stainless spring to replace the original rusty one and re-assembled. One rear brake switch which won't rust.

Rear brake rod

2009-08-05T22:20:00.003+01:00

Pivot pin remade with stainless parts.

I straightened the rod and painted the parts with zinc primer.
The rod was also covered with a piece of 8mm stainless tube strengthening it and making it look cleaner. I just need to remake the adjusting nut and the brake drum lever pivot.

Rear foootrest

2009-08-05T21:55:00.003+01:00

The old thrust washer was worn and rusty so I made a couple of new parts.
I found a stainless plate which had a similar hole in the scrap bin at work.
A little filing inside and out and 2 new parts.

I also made a stainless pivot pin

Holiday in Lowestoft.

2009-08-05T00:31:00.002+01:00

A bit of a break from work, home and the bike restoration.
Went from the nearly the most westerly point in England to the most easterly point.
Got there in time on Friday for the 2nd day of the Lowestoft airshow which was stopped half way through the afternoon due to a big thunderstorm which passed over.
Watched the power boats on Saturday and Sunday should have been the Eastern lights cavalcade, the bike showed up but the cavalcade never took place.
Just a few pictures of the 3 events.

Handlebar risers.

2009-07-19T19:10:00.003+01:00

Started with the standard flaking black paint risers.

Took all the paint off with paint stripper and polished with the abrasive wheel in previous blog post. Currently my favorite abrasive thing is the flapped wheel made from alternate emery cloth and skotchbrite pad.

Now all cleaned up, a couple of coats of primer and few more coats of silver paint.
Bought 8 stainless allen screws off ebay to finish it off.

The top yoke gets the same treatment which looks good with the contrasting black light cluster set in it.

Front forks.

2009-07-05T17:19:00.006+01:00

I dismantled one side and started to clean the aluminium ready for painting,
but then I remembered I bought a set of polishing mops a while back but never used them.

I had a spare 240v motor and decided to make a spindle adaptor to hold the mops.
Also make a bracket from dexion to screww it to the bench.
After a few hours of cleaning, using wet and dry then the polishing mops, I like the idea of the polished aluminium and have read about some wax polishes to keep it looking good.
Bit of a u-turn from a previous blog, lured by the shiny aluminium.

The Haynes manual said to get a bolt lock 2 nuts on it and tape it to a suitably sized 1/2" drive socket. I cut out the middle men and filed the inside of an M12 nut to 3/8" square drive so it fits straight on the extension drive.

Gear change link.

2009-07-05T17:05:00.007+01:00

The original part was functionally okay but the chrome has been worn off on one side.

I could buy a new one,but it'll be still be chrome plated mild steel.
Time for me to use my engineering skills and make a new one from stainless steel.
1 piece of 8mm diameter stainless, original is 7mm, close enough.
Turned the end to 6mm on me lathe and bought a Left hand thread 6mm die from ebay.

20 minutes later a left hand thread and a new nut again stainless and from ebay.

Chopped to the correct length, turned and threaded with right hand thread m6 die. Job done.

Finally with both ends threaded with corresponding nut secured and attached to the two ball joints.-

More before and after pictures

2009-06-20T22:48:00.002+01:00

Fan and housing stripped and repainted and all screws replaced with stainless ones.
Radiator has just been cleaned and lots of fins straightened.

Footrest bracket, with new stainless steel brake stop screw.

Footrest plate painted metalic silver. I was just going to polish these up and leave the aluminium,but I've done this in the past and you have to keep polishing it to keep up a decent finish.
The silver paint looks the same and lasts well on aluminium without the need for constant polishing

Swinging arm before and after painting

2009-06-20T22:46:00.000+01:00

Pictures of the rear swinging arm before and after stripping and painting.
I stripped it with paint stripper rather than getting it shot blast, as I could leave all the shaft drive internals in place. The swinging arm is steel and the hub aluminium so all was stripped and cleaned with all sorts of abrasives to get it all back to bare metal. The arm was then sprayed with zinc galanising spray and then finished with a metalic silver colour similar to the original.
I am trying to get the bike to look ok but more importantly to be corrosion resistant.
I use a bike most days all year round for work so with living in Cornwall not far from the sea and our mild/damp winters rust is always a big enemy.

Bike at the start of the stripdown

2009-06-20T22:27:00.005+01:00

I took a multiple pictures of the bike as it was and while stripping it down.
All loaded onto my netbook for reference during the rebuild.

2009-05-29T01:20:00.000+01:00

The bike and spares on the 1st day I brought it home.