drewpy

very nice Merv, hope she goes as well as she looks!! ( or is that a he!)

could strip down the carbs and check for blockages, check also your rubber manifolds for cracks.

"plop" is the sound of my crap hitting the bog water, "thump" is what i do to the kids when I'm trying to watch MotoGP

sounds like carb diaphrams either perished, hard or holed. also check the slides move freely and drop with a "clonk"

Sounds like an earth problem. indicator lamps usually have separate earths and pulling the clutch makes an earth conract.

I used a plastic waste pipe as its just the right size, keep the seal on the bottom. and drift the bearing into place after warming up.

1. by all means check the rod, as if it is bent you will have clutch problems 2. zerk? I assume you mean nipple? whereabout is it? 3. do the forks yourself, 20w oil use an impact driver to take off the lower screws (1 either side) and pump forks till all the oil is expelled. fill up with correct amount. I'd let the shop do the master cylinder, although I've seem a couple on NOS ebay which would be cheaper!!

is it just slight oil vapour or is it puffing out like a chimney?

I was thinking more like 50 psi, as that is what I did my carbs. 100psi will be too dangerous as it can pierce the skin along with the other bits of crud. My little compressor can only make 60 tops.

what certain things?

69mm is quoted as standard, so iwould assume you are on standard. the overbores go up in .25mm increments

i'd say high pressure is best to shift the crud. just be careful

that's a good tip Joe, no basket ball needles but plenty of football ones

your not too wrong when you say marbles. the starter drive behind the rotor works by having 3 small dowls which are sprung in towards the crank and are at an angle so they can free run when the starter turns off and the engine fires up. Its these buggers that flat off over time and start to slip. you need to get new dowls and springs from yamaha (you need 3) this relates to the xs400 and I'm sure they are the same for the 500.

LOL I forgot to mention the vaseline

very good the guy talking other than hitler was on LEXX a really good sci fi show which got shit in the final 2 series. ( although "Sev" was Fit as F*ck)

i did'nt, but i suppose you can just to even up what's on the cases

use acetone to clean both surfaces. Go in extremely thin ( use a syringe and tiny bead , then finger it over the cleaned surfaces)and let both sides skin for a full minute or so, will seal great and still allow the case halves to be easily seperated later

sounds like you got an air leak usually its the rubber manifolds cracking and letting in air, or over tightened to the cylinder, causing warpage. keep and eye on your oil level, it could be a sticky piston ring if it has been stored for any length of time

check out the other thread on this section

cheapest way would be to get a large cardboard box and open it out, then fold in the centre and wrap around the bike from the front, carefully cutting out holes for the headlamp and handlebars etc. Finally finishng off by careful use of sissors and selotape. Make the end into a bat wing shape like a bat-mobile! Add some stickers from the Panini collection range which you can get from newsagents all over Britain, for that extra personal touch. just my take on things

I remeber them , though not quite that way . who remembers the I-spy books?

wha wha whaaaaaaaaaaa! I was reading this book today, The History Of Glue. I couldn't put it down.

my mates Gilera does the same (honda engine) till its warm

1) the starter has only one lead from the cover, this is the positive and goes to the positive jump lead( usually red) 2) the engine is earth or negative, use the clips off the jump lead and open jaws and clip to engine fin (it completes the circuit for the starter motor) 3) attach jump leads to a 12v battery observing correct polarity 4) starter should spin, if it don't its knackered