nayruf

Hi Dan I am an ex Heavy Goods Vehicle mechanic and an ex Aircraft engineer, The only addition to the tools I already had has been a magneto puller, so as Noise states the skills are transferable, I find that 2 strokes are just as entertaining as any other engine. however I always research tasks that I am unfamiliar with first, such as, before I re-spoked the rear wheel I found out about measuring the hub off set before I cut the spokes out, some thing that I had not originally thought about doing,

Hi M try this link: One of the members (Neo) has been running a thread doing exactly the same thing, I have considered it on my 175 also, but at the moment it isn’t broke so I will leave it as is, I believe though that its not necessarily the volts that make the lights brighter but the wattage of the bulb, A 6 volt bulb can shine as bright as 12 and 24 volt. PS, forum ettiquet ,if you post a hello in the new nembers section more people will reply.

Hi Yamily A friend of mine brought a Honda 250 Dream which the owner had said the engine was knackered, only firing on 1 cylinder and fuel vapour was spluttering out of the exhausts, He told me It turned out to be that a rag had got sucked into the air box and was blocking the air flow through one of the carbs, Hope it is as simple as that to fix for you.

Hi Your list of things that have been carried out should allow the engine to start, What worries me is that you said the ‘TIMING CHAIN TENSIONER’, was missing, if the engine has been turned with this missing then the inlet/exhaust valves will stay in their position until the tension has been taken up and not close under the spring tension quickly enough to miss the piston, If this has happened you might find that the piston has hit one of the valves and bent it. Hope not because this would be annoying to fix, Also you I think you say the kick starter kicks back when you try to start it, This could be a sign that the timing is still out (valve timing as well as ignition) I would check for compression and try to get a look into the combustion chamber to look for signs of piston/valve contact. If all ok and compression is good then I would dry crank the engine slowly by hand with the ignition plug out several times to ensure that the valve/ignition timings remain correct, then go to the ignition (good spark at the right time) If after this the bike fires and runs for a few secs then I would go back to the carburettor, By the description you give the engine needs to be stripped down in anyhow to undo any previous mistakes made (stripped/missing threads/bolts) so spending too much time on an engine that might go pop at any time would not be productive. Until the engine has been overhauled. Good luck

Hi Rob Good luck, hope your project goes well, I would get a manual for the bike and take loads of picks as you go,(easier to put the lot back together) If you don't have all the tools try to be patient and scrounge/buy/make, the tools you need, working on machinery with the wrong tools can often lead to more work repairing damaged parts and also involve lots of band aids

Hi NB I will keep a look out for you, I live in NG31,

Hi Sean I got a Blue FJR also. its a bit too fast for me really, so I got a DT for the slow lane. Bet you don't need to use the heated grips much, I would not be without them here,

Hi I had a problem finding a new brake arm for my bike, I fount that the same brake arm is used on some of the easy rider Yam bikes, I have had a quick look and I think that the Virago 535 used the same shoe's. So the springs should be available with a new set of shoes.

Hi Your XS, when new I think it was a bit of a flop in the UK, there were other bikes of smaller capacity that were more entertaining in both looks and speed, also there were bigger bikes that would appeal to far more people, Because of this most of them will be long gone, So for me this would make it a bike to keep, if it was still in good condition and most of the bike could be renovated back to standard that’s what I would do money allowing. If it was too far gone but the I would look at turning it into a dirt track or café racer type of bike, As for fuel consumption my old Honda 400 four would return around 50 mpg, so I would expect an XS 360 to do the same.

Hi Assuming your bikes front brake is a disc and you can see that there is plenty of brake pad friction material left the brake pads are fitted correctly including any pad backing shims, and the brake calliper and or disc if they are floating type components are not jammed or seized, Make sure that your disc brake has not got a foreign object such as a stone or other debris jammed in the brake assembly or in the pad material and that there are no deep radial scores in the disc surface. If all looks ok then you might find that the probable cause of your discs squealing will be moisture that is present in the pad material, this can often happen in the winter because of the damp conditions, I find that a nice long ride which involves some moderate use of the brakes will dry out the pads and the brakes will stop squealing, When you wash the bike or when the disc is viisibly wet the squeal will often go as the water on the disc surface will lubricate the pads for a moment, normally the moment is a heart stopping one as the brakes will loose the stopping ability until the pads have warmed up and the water has been dispelled, If you are in any doubt about the safety and operation of your brakes take the bike to a bike shop and ask if a mechanic can have a quick look to see if there is a problem, most bike shop mechanics will take a quick look for no charge because this type of assistance could lead to more work.

Hi Ju123 I used to put semi sinthetic10/40 straight from Halfords in my 1997 XJ900 divi, It never had any problems, I know its sucking eggs, but Just be sure that the oil you use is specified as suitable for motorbikes, normal motorcar oils have various additives that can mess up the wet clutch on a bike.

Hi to grip the fork leg and stop it turning wrap a leather belt around the chrome leg and trap the belt in a vice really tight and close to the leg when the chrome trys to turn the belt will bind up and grip the leg, look in the thread about renovating a suzi ts 250. barkwindjammers post

Hi Having changed the brake lines on my Divi to braded hoses, I bled my brake from the top pumping the lever to force the fluid to push the air out. Once I had bled the front brake, I left the bike parked up with the bars turned to make the master cylinder the highest point of the front brake system, I then pulled the lever in and wrapped a strap around it to keep the brake on, leaving it like this over night, the next day the last of the air in the brake line had worked its way up into the master cylinder and the lever felt much more firm.

Hi Bill Having read your last, I have just gone and had a look at my bike with the tank fitted, My tank rests on the middle rubber mount just forward of the petrol tap and I can just about feel that the tank touches on this mount pretty much all the way over the arch of the inside of the tank. I have noticed that my harness fits under the joint of the centre spine and the front of the seat/frame loop and then fits over the web that the rear tank pillar is positioned on. Your harness looks to fit over the the joint of the centre spine and then under the web that the rear tank pillar is positioned on. I don't have a suitable camera so I can't post a picture, I wonder if Blackhat could post a picture of how his harness is routed.

Hi Bill I have just been out to my bike, it has the later type tank, (less rounded than the red one pictured) measuring the frame from centre of the front horse shoe to the centre of the rear pillar the distance is 16.5 (16 ½) inches give or take a fraction, The tank is also 16.5 (16 ½) inches from centre of the front tank mount to the center of the rear mount ; the rubber bush grommets have a diameter of 1.75 (1-3/4) inches. When the tank is fitted the distance of the front lip of the tank to the rear of the top bearing cover is 1.625 (1-5/8) inches. And its bloody cold here too, ‘to cold for the DT’, the FJR has heated grips might give it a run when the sun has come up. I have just had another look at my bike, the middle rubber on the frame spine in your picture it looks further to the rear of the bike than mine, have you tried to fit the tank with it removed? If you try this it will confirm that the tank is not being restricted from sitting correctly on the bike. My only other thought is that if it is a replacment tank and the previous owner did not have this tank fitted, where did it come from.Is it a refurbished second hand tank that although is a yamaha tank design, it has been incorrectly sold on as a DT tank for your bike? I agree with Blackhat your tank looks exactly lke the same shape as the red tank pictured,

Hi The picture of the blue 175 dt has a tank that looks the same as mine, the picture of the red 175 dt has an earlier tank, I believe both tanks will fit either frame, I find it hard to figure why your current tank won’t fit, as I assume that it used to fit when it was with the previous owner. I have noticed when fitting my tank it can be difficult to push it on to the inner mushroom mounting grommets and some times the tank can slide into place and locate under the mushroom grommets resulting in the tank not fitting correctly, also when the tank has fuel in it because of the ‘sloshing about’ of the fuel when manhandling it in to place you can often catch the front lip of the tank on the triple clamp, this can make it hard to locate the tank correctly, Try to post a pic, as at the moment we are all at sea and can only guess what the problem is.

Hi Bill Here is an earlier thread about tank sizes () I think the tanks from the 175 and 125 were the same in 1976. the 175 was predominatly white with a red stripe then laterly silver with a large multi blue decal, the 125 was often white with a blue stripe, I do not know what the later decal was on the 125, some times the horse shoe rubber is not positioned right on the frame spar and the tank will not fit properly, so I would have another look at how it is fitting on the frame, the early tanks were a slightly different shape though but I dont think you have one of those. post some picks of the tank, it will give a better idea of what the problem is.

Hi I don't know the parts you are after but I would try this place: and some of the Yam shops on ebay,

Hi, I have been told that the second plug is so that a plug with a different operating grade can be fitted to give the bike the option of swapping over the plug cap if the first plug fails, others will know more, I suppose a De-compressor valve could also be fitted there if needed, a mates DT had a second plug and it had a blank fitted in stead of a plug.

I like the 'porch' for ur cat.

Hi Assuming that nothing daft has happened, ie: air cleaner blocked fuel supply not being starved, If it has points and a condenser and you are sure that the fuel supply is ok, I would make sure the plug is ok, I would then check the points through the magneto window (Do the points open when the piston is at the top of the stroke and the timing mark is lined up?) Then I would remove the magneto and ensure that all was ok. (Look for any wires shorting out? Do the points need changing or dressing, does the advance mechanism function?), These checks it would only take about an hour, You might find that you get more responses if you post a hello in the New Members bit,

Hi I agree, If better performance is what needed, I have often pondered about getting a spare barrel and boring my 175 to 200 cc, I have heard that has been done on TY 175's, have you thought about this option, My 175 will just touch 70 on the speedo with a nice cruise of 50 to 55 mph, if it were 200 cc iI figure it might just up this by 5mph and allow me to use 70 mph dual carriageways, all be it at 60 to 65 mph

Hi Yes I have used them to have the forks on my DT re-chromed, they hard chromed them which I believe is more durable than the original chrome, but it does not shine like the chrome on the cycle parts such as the head lamp rim, they turned the forks around in about 2 to 3 weeks I cannot remember the exact amount of time because they plated one of the fork legs twice as it did not pass their quality control, I would use them again,

Hi I also have a DT 175 of near the same age, I have more fun on it than I do on my FJR because it is so easy just to wheel it out and blat it around. are you sure he has brought it for you, Hope you have loads of fun on it,

Hi No picture yet, But there was a model of DT in the UK, called a DT125 E, the bike looked a lot like the 125/175 twin shock but it had an electric start combined with the magneto, the magneto cover was larger because of this, also the exhaust ran down the right hand side of the bike. it also retained a kick start. could this be what you have?