jimmythemoonlight

just to update .......still collecting dust in the garage, at least my powder coated frame aint going to rust.....i guess its not my time to hit the open road yet .....is there a for sale column on this site ?? or possibly a fully trained yamaha psyciatrist or should i say shrink.

just to update .....................................i have somewhere to hang my overalls in the garage....my xvs 125......best lookin and most expensive hanger i ever did have ...quite funky really , and to think people pay a fortune to have a table made of an old plane wing to be oober funky and futuristic,i am well ahead of that.

fair one, i am having a bad time at the moment my van has broken down today too..looks like i will have to put this on hold till i can get back to normal...i think it was 2 turnouts according to the manual.

fair one thanks mr paulwhite..i have tried the spark plug thing and to be fair it has a reasonable spark...i have done all that was suggested to me so far exept one thing that i have over looked reference your earlier post and that is the fact i havent put the exhaust on , i have not had anything that felt positive enough from both pistons during the attempts to start that would make it worthwhile....in the mind set that i would have to take it off again anyway..also my old origional standard pipes where rotted to death ....i have got a highway hawk straight through system to put on...i unknowingly thought that they wouldnt offer a great deal in the way of back pressure anyway ( to display my total lack of knowledge) does it work on back pressure????? i am thinking that i have a prob with the electrics for sure maybe not just the one either ... along with other issues ...i have a mate who has a lot more experiance than me willin to have a look ....i am just in the process of coaxin him round .... what lovely weather we are having perfect if the bike worked ......i guess .....here's hoping...

i could of bought a rickshaw and housed and fed a family of peddlers for a minimum of 80k miles with what mine is costing me....

yes i believe i have ticked those box's ....however i put my rear swing arm on today and the wheel so i could put it in the garden.....i had it on blocks(level) at first, as a result of this i had the bike on its stand....and it still tried to crank over...is this wrong ? i thought there was a safety non start incorporated with the stand ref the switch,....and besides this i remember the being a problem with the rear cylinder on the original engine..i dont know if this is a fluke or some kind of pointer to the fact that it is the electrics...is there a chance that the ht lead and coil is not doing its job...also i had porposfully wired the ht/coil s up the wrong way..front to back and i still get the same reaction off the engine.. front cylinder tries a number of dull to run...the poping has returned regardless to which way i wire this the same reaction,,,, i am at the point of giving up...on the brink i am,,,,,, what do you reckon of those symptoms ?

sound thats great.......there is only one valve left that needs clearing ...thats the one in my underpants....at least that one aint let me down....yet....

can anybody please explain ref these clearances ...these are the size of the gap..right?? what makes me scratch my head is why is there 2 settings ... or is it the actual tollerance if so for example the intake at 0.08mm-0.12mm to me thats 2 different settings...would it be correct to set it at 0.10mm which is bang inbetween ??????

just to update ...i have just crawlled out the garage after an intense couple of days, i have learned a lot about this bike...ref tdc and tappets ......i thought the line on the timing chain sprocket was meant to line up with the dot that is cast into the housing of the timing sprocket,,,,oh how wrong i was after struggling like a bugger trying to line everything up to this point i cranked the engine by hand to discover it wasnt prepared to do a full revolution (even in the manual it has an arrow pointing to it) then whilst scratching my now balding head i saw a faint line on the face of the housing...this faint line was the same on the rear housing too so i lined up my sprockets with this both front and rear and making note of the "t" and"i"marks on the generator side, ,,,sorted i got it lined up and good to go....i think they where already like that i was just looking at the wrong point ..this was complemented with the standard poor luck of dropping the chain down the gap so i had to take the clutch housing off to retrieve it and so on ..this exersise took a good few hours but at least i know i got it right. cranks easly and smoothly in the correct anticlockwise direction, so new oil, batt charged,plugs clean, airbox/filter on, carb serviced no air leaks,, all connections sound,tappets set,........have a cup of tea and a fag to celebrate .........hit the start button....she cranks over (startermotor good)...still cranking .....puff of smoke out the front cyl....puff of smoke out the rear cyl .......i can feel her trying......... and thats as far as its willin to go... almost at the same point now as i was 2 days ago......keepin it as positive as possibe......is there anythig here i have overlooked?? any ideas fella's ?????????????????????????

.....the story so far.......i had a look at the tappets this mornin(took another day off)....looking at my manuel ref I mark on generator(for rear cyl) and i mark on sprocket it had become apparent that the marks did not line up regardless to how many times i rotated the crank...possible ureka moment ?? well see ................................ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ahh thanks fellas,, i am stoked by all the effort you have put in on these replys i was at a point of allmost giving up, i was unable to get any footage today because for some reason it wouldn't parrp, spent all afternoon getting the soddin tappet covers off as they where so tight it was beyond a joke in particular the one at the back over the rear cylinder it rounded on me ...oh fun and games...i got the bugger though and as i have the old lump its a sweet swap with a gooden, i am going to revise with great vigour the instructions that have been put out for me ...thanks fellers...you guys know who you are...i have to dash but i will be sure to keep you posted...once again thanks..

morphheuz....i too have a 2004 dragstar as is well documented upon this here site, i would just like to say any noise comming from the engine has got to be a good one...i have had mine for a number of months now and i still dont know what it sounds like...besides popping noises and front piston parrrrps................just as a matter of interest has anybody got a clue how much these things were to buy new in the day???was it in comparison to other 125's a top end of the market machine ??

sound as , thats what i would call a pearl of wisdom...i think it would be best for me to have a good look at the carb as if i am honest i did nothing to it other than stick it on my new lump... i did notice that when air box and stuff was off that i had fuel mist squirting out of it..but connecting the dots with what youve said i think i would be write in assuming that thats the pressure for the black tube in the wrong place ?? i ahvent a clue how to ste the mix and i cant make head nor tail of the manuel .. could i be rude and pester you for a basic run down please..??

hey there, thanks for that , top one ref the oil in pot tip,. yes i see what you mean with this however in all honesty i think it will take me a while to process this info... i agree with the hunch on the timing thats what my gut instinct was tellin me ...i am sure that the fuel mix is not correct however even at its worse would i be right to assume the motor would run ..if not really badly as opposed to this case not at all,,,,i am going to look at the valves at some point next but i have taken on board the spark sequence.. in relation to the video footage i will have a go but i am even worse with computers than i am at bike engines .. thanks .. with a bit of luck i can get something uploaded...can i do this through photo bucket ??

thanks, i will have a go at it some time soon..

hello mr two wheels...thanks for your reply, ref the fire ball out the carb.. i had the air box and filter etc set up on the initial start attempt but as i was having no luck i turned it over with it off at which point i saw the fire ball , after putting it all back together for more start attemps i could see the air filter box was jerking agressively with a silenced /dulled pop from within it ...if you get me, i have followed mr whites(avatar of eyeball and razor) advice ref the teaspoon of oil in the piston pot and it deffo worked for the front, it now fires up and runs...not well but it works, i am thoroughly gratefull for advise and look at this site with anticipation of a reply,..................however the rear cylinder is not firing at all ....taking on board what was said ref spark plugs i swapped them over knowing the front one worked, i put a drop of oil in the rear cylinder but that never worked..bearing in mind i have the exhausts off out of the rear pot i am getting a random blue flame ...so i would think it safe to assume i am getting fuel and a spark ( fuel all be it a wrong mixture).. however when ignition has taken place some times the front cylinder will run faster and faster louder and so on in a steady incline, , , i let it pick up pace hoping for the back pot to kick in ..but nothing just more blue flames..

sweet as . i am going to keep it relativly standard, changing the lights front and rear and having a non standard paint job, but right now i would be happy to have it bloody runnin.......................yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

thanks mr never say die, i appreciate your help/advise.......please keep it comming

are you doing a resto and modding yours by chance?? or have you been to the university of shite luck like me and passed with merrits??

i would talk about gravity......................... but it only gets people down

hey paul thanks for that ...i will have another go and take it from the top in the mornin, i cant thank you enough for your posts , this site is really the only source of info for me, the type of info that aint in any book ,,,,, have a cyber pint on me ..cheers. i will keep my progress logged.

thanks paul, i havent touched the tensioners, to be fair i steered clear of that , any other ideas ?

no i havent checked the valve clearance but i did all the other checks, however how do you prime the fuel ?

thanks paul, as far as i am aware the fella that sold me the engine did not tamper with the heads and it was runing prior to me having it delivered, i have done every permutation possible with the leads/plugs and had no joy, i reverted back to my manual for the correct wiring format, i dont know much but is it possible to mess the timing up by rotating the middle of the pick up by hand when the covers where off ??

just to add a bit the fuel is fresh i got it today,