Dan53

Well I put some fresh gas in it, without any oil mixed in, and just had it sitting there idling when all of a sudden it died and wouldn't start. I realized the fuse was blown so I replaced it. Started it again and it ran for a split second then died, another blown fuse. I replaced the fuse again and now nothing happens at all. The lights on the speedometer come on in the ignition switch's first position but go out in the second position and nothing works at all. Doesn't blow a fuse but just seems crazy. With the key in the first position everything electrical seems to work that I'm able to test. Any thoughts would be appreciated. There seems to only be one fuse on the whole bike from what I can find. I don't know what would cause the fuse to blow suddenly while the bike was just sitting there running. And why nothing works at all now is really beyond me. It's one thing after another with this bike but I'm determined to get it 100% working and reliable. Dan

Here's a couple photos of the bike cleaned up, polished a little (hard to tell, I know), and running. Still a couple issues to sort. There's a short in the brake light somewhere, and my dad put a really big sprocket on it years ago to give it some more torque for driving around the trails, which is all he really did with it. I want to put the stock sprocket back on, which we found but we haven't been able to find the chain yet. Overall it's coming together well! Dan

How does one adjust the idle, by the way? Do I perhaps turn the brass sleeve that the end of the throttle cable conduit hooks into, seen in the pic above? Dan

Yeehaw! I did what I said (blocked off the petcock port and hooked the carbs up to the two ports that are meant for a cross-tank link) and after a lot of kicking the bike fired up. Then I got to go for my first ever ride on a motorcycle around the back yard! I think I'm in love. The petcock was the worst of the bunch, I spent hours cleaning it a week ago. I'm embarrassed to say that I sadly am to blame for what happened, though I never saw it coming. I put the threaded union on the top of the petcock and then installed the whole thing onto the tank. As I'm tightening it, and I was barely using what I would even call medium pressure on the wrench, all of the sudden the petcock fell out from under it. When the petcock hit the bottom of the port on the tank when I was tightening the union it just pulled right through its threads and out. I was disgusted. Like I said, I didn't even feel any resistance to have noticed. Oh well, add it to the list of mistakes I won't make again. Luckily the threads on the tank are totally undamaged. In the mean time, this sucker runs and seems to run good. I think I need to up the idle a bit because it sometimes wants to stall when the RPMs get low, but otherwise there's no problems I'm aware of. I'll shine it up some and post picture soon. Thanks for all the support so far. Dan

Ugh, well it's not going to happen today. This fuel petcock is no good. I might rig up some way to plug the port for it and then route the cross-tank ports to the carbs to see if it will start, but we will see. Disappointed. Dan

Thanks. I took the carbs all apart and cleaned them. Took hours to do. It would have never started, all the jets and passages were plugged up. Should be smooth sailing now, though. Tomorrow morning I should be ready to start it up. I've made the necessary preparations and I'm going to give it a go. Wish me luck! Dan

Thanks for all the advice. I'm not convinced these throttle cables are working correctly, and the choke is also jammed on these carbs. How do I remove these cables? I don't want to go turning on things until I know for sure. Thanks! Dan

These are the things I don't think about. Thanks, good call. Dan

In another news, I'm currently sealing the tank with a Bill Hirsch repair kit. Dan

Thanks for the story. My only concern about removing the head is that I don't know the torque settings or sequences to reinstall it. Would anybody be able to help me with that? Oiling the vintage Volkswagen engine is critical. When starting one for the first time after a build we leave the rocker arms and spark plugs out and crank the engine with the starter until oil pressure is established. We then continue cranking it for about a minute. Then we install the rockers and plugs and crank it with the starter for another minute before hooking up the ignition and firing it up. This way everything is nice and oiled. I can probably do something similar with the motorcyle. Obviously there's not an electric starter, but I can just crank the heck out of it for while with the pedal to make sure the oil is pushing through the passages and into the bearings. Dan

How do you bleed the oil pump? It seems to be hooked up via cable to the accelerator, which looks to be one cable that splits into three (one for each carb and one for the oil pump). Dan

Understood. So it injects the oil into the cylinder rather than having you add oil to the fuel tank, and then the plug on the bottom is for the crankcase oil. I spent two hours last night cleaning up the fuel petcock (as I'm told they are called). It was like someone poured cement down there. Luckily it was switched to the STOP position so hopefully the carbs are pretty clean, which they seem to be. Though I'm a little concerned because the lever on the side, which I assume is a choke, won't budge. I might run into some problems. I've got some spark plugs and a battery on order so next week some time I should be able to see what kind of luck I'll have firing it up. Dan

Thanks, guys. I'll keep you informed. Ride a bike, yes of course! Dan

This is my first post (other than my introduction). Forgive me if this is not the appropriate forum for this question. I am getting my dad's old 1968 Yamaha YL-1 back on the road. Hasn't been driven in decades. I restore vintage Volkswagens but I know nothing about motorcycles, so I appreciate any help greatly. I don't have the owner's manual so my question is simple, what oil should I use in it? It has a "Twin Jet 100cc" in it. Also, I'm a little confused. The bike fell while in storage and bent what I now know to be the oil pump cover on the side of the bike and all the oil leaked out. I bought a new cover for it (on its way) but it's strange to me that there's no seal or gasket that goes here. Amazing to me that it doesn't leak oil all the time (coming from someone that deals with how "drippy" old Volkswagens are). Anyway, what confuses me is that on the right side under the seat is a compartment with an "oil tank" and a sight glass on it where you evidently put the oil. However, there's also a plug on what I suppose is the transmission that looks like oil is added there as well. Can anyone shed light on this? This is the "oil box" I spoke of and if you look down below it you can see the silver plug I mentioned. Is one motor oil and one gear oil? What kind of oil should I use in either case? Thanks very much! Dan

Hi, my name is Dan and I live near Youngstown, OH. I have a 1968 Yahama YL-1 that was bought by my uncle and then was owned by my father. It hasn't left the garage in well over 30 years. My whole life I've wanted to get it back on the road, and I guess the time has finally come. The chrome is all pitted but otherwise it's in excellent shape and I don't think it will be much of a challenge at all to get it running. Only problem is that I know nothing about motorcycles. I've never even driven one. I do restore vintage Volkswagens for a living, though, so hopefully some of that will transfer over. I am sure this place will be a very valuable resource for me. Thanks for having me! Dan