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horrid yamaha


tobyd

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I bought a horrid bike from £95 Peugeot. I went and collected it. I tried to post this a few times but the pictars machine was broken.

 

Packing Ratchet straps

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Sunny Ipswich. Make up your own maritime history because no one knows what Ipswicheseses was.
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So many Chimneys. Theres a song about Chimneys. I forget who its by.
 
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Mystery station and Picasso. Street lamp on in case the sky isn't good enough for you.
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8.5 hours later, ho ho whats this?

 

Friend has van, van is half full of mobile bar, I have my doubts. Still he has the van and is helping so I keep doubts to myself. Cheers John! not that you'll ever read this (he's not dead in case you think I meant it like that)

 

The YPLACs in the green pug were playing elbow which was some sort of self-inflicted admission of parking shitness. That might not be apparent from the photo.

 
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£95 Peugeot = nice bloke, cheers! Yamaha inna van. This went surprisingly well. old door as a ramp, 3 of us pushed it in. strapped it down and away!
 
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Saw this
 
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Fuck off St Tropez
 
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Now, I said earlier that it wasn't too bad getting said bike into a van. A ha. well. between then and this point the front brake had seized itself on. Summoned another friend who lives nearby and has a bad back and some scaffold boards and between the three of us drag the diversity into my garden. This took about half an hour. to move 30 feet.
 
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Some hours later
 
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The front brakes were pretty manky. eventually beat them free with much wood and rubber mallets. The battery was in the prime of itself life putting out 0.3v. the charger wouldn't even consider turning itself on for that. connected up a car battery and there were indicators, main beam, then regular beam. some lights on the dash the switch gear works in places and many other things.
 
The engine I strongly suspect is horked. the gear shifter sort-of shifts but I don't think it actually changes gear, the clutch is probably glued together by now. There is some action and some noise but jury is out. The throttle is stuck, presumably a bad spring on the carbs. The fuel hoses are shot, I just cut them off the tank petcock. the front caliper is seized and the disc has seen better (but not that much) days. the back is likely in the same way. There is some mank at the head gasket joint but I can't tell if its blown or is unrelated. I'll take a peek under the valve cover when I've got the rest of the intake removed but a top-end rebuild is hopelessly uneconomic. Whatever has gummed up the gears is likely much deeper down that particularly hell.
 
Stripped the plastics off the front and sides, pulled the tank, pulled the battery, pulled the wing mirrors. No broken bolts. Someones been in there at some point and reassembled with copper grease (THANK YOU!, I THOUGHT IT WAS ONLY ME!). The tank doesn't want to open and there is a fair amount of what can only have reverted to dinosaurs in there. Left it soaking in Wilko brand releasing fluid. will see what its up to tomorrow.
 
Its in remarkably good condition from first impressions. Ok the engines very probably honked but they aren't too pricy off ebay. Not sure it'll be a mammoth task to get fixed up. exhaust seems sound enough, tank looks to be in good nick, seat 4/10 suspension even seems alright.

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Put off saturday unpaid overtime bug fixing some code (for a while) to delve into yo (my) new (to me) Yamaha.

 

Pulled carbs, these will be 1.5 laughs to sort out. about a gallon of clear liquid that didn't smell of petrol came out.

 

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Checked the oil. oh wait. no i didn't.

 

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pulled the valve cover

 

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worst-design-decision-of-the-day-by-someone was some sort of half torx, half hex, all shit vacuum / oil take off point. banged a t40 torx bit in and removed it. i bet its about £90 for a replacement...

 

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anyway cams and gubbins. eh? its pretty shiny in there. hmm.

 

I condemned the tin-man to rust to death on his way to emerald city and instead used his oil can with mostly diesel and some 10w40 to fill up the bores thinking i'd let it sit for a while.

 

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instead span the engine on the crank bolt and it turned over schmove as one likes. spat oil and diesel out of the plug holes all over the place from the left two plug 'oles, right-side less action. more derv and oil in them and environmental damage achieved within seconds.

 

Ok, so the engine turns happily what is going on here?

 

The clutch works ok so thats not at fault. the gear shift is wankeled but does make nice gear shift noises so i'm hopeful that its just the tensioner spring out by the clutch that boned and stopping the lever from centering. at the moment it just sits where you leave it...

 

pulled the starter out and plugged it into a battery. sparked, span. 10/10

 

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So my puzzlement is (ignoring the gearbox), what caused this to be abandoned, it doesn't seem too bad. grotty and dirty but cleans up ok and someones taken some care of it at some point and greased a lot of the fittings?

 

i bet the answer is in the petrol tank.

 

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perhaps not...

 

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and what the muvva hubbard are these!

 

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looks like someone filled the tank with snakes. i assume its some sort of liner. its fubardo now. took ages to un-gunk the petrol cap.

 

by this time i needed to move my working bike into an accessible place. i did this via dropping the bike on myself and having it shear the waste water pipe from my sink outlet pipe in half and snapping the mirror off the offside.

 

really happy about that...

 

i stopped crying eventually. or did i?

 

not sure where to go from here. the thing seems in fairly good condition really. the carbs are disgusting but shouldn't be too harrowing to sort, the intake boots are rotten and i'll need a couple of fixings that i've broken. an back to front rebuild replacement of the brakes but everything else seems ok? Not sure about the engine, i'll pull the clutch cover to see whats going on there, if its got two good springs then the gearbox is probably the reason why this thing lived in a hedge for ages. if not then i'm cautiously optimistic that a new head gasket and a threesome with the brakes might get this one to the third day.

 

its fucking great for putting things on whilst your working, my other bike sheds loads like a greasy shetland pony in the rain.

 

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took a picture of my vacuum cleaner (using it to de-mouseify the spark plug holes) for good measure. stuff keeps falling off it and i have to buy the bags from ebay.

 

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Modern petrol is shit isn't it.

 

My VFR tank contained several milk cartons worth of orange truckers piss after 3 years in the shed.

 

My spitfire had the same fuel in it for 14 years and came out looking and smelling like petrol. I didn't try it, but I think it would have run on it.

 

Is it part bio fuel now? Has the nun and kitten poison been removed?

 

That bike looks really rough but it will be impressive to see it live again.

 

Edit: what's the recommended way to get rid of several bottles of stale petrol?

 

I tried leaving the lids off in the hope it might all evaporate but

A) That doesn't seem to work.

And B ) I think there may be a health and safety issue.

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I mix up stale lawnmower petrol with my cans of used engine oil and sling it all into the container at the local dump. It says not to, but I can't imagine a few litres of manky pez mixed in with the hundreds of gallons of old engine oil causes much of an issue.

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Guest Hooli

When my MG was off the road (stolen by a garage who wouldn't return it, long story) for five years or so around 1996-2001 it run fine on the same petrol when it came back.

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Always good to see a bike being resurrected! Although all yamahas are horrid, or something...

 

For example here a week or so back I decided on a whim to unearth my old honda.

 

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It got abandoned at the back of the garage some time in 2002

 

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I wasn't expecting much, but it actually took longer to wash most (some) of the grime off it than it did to make it all work again. Battery was toast, tank was empty. Everything else works fine so I insured it and have been hooliganing around on it much to the disgust of the shiny classic brigade.

 

Maybe a back tyre soon though, it's a bit squirmy on bends.

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The chunks of shit that came out of your tank I would bet is probably 'Petseal'. This was a sealant that was (still is??) around about 15-20 years or so ago and was used to seal up rusty/pin-holed tanks. It did work well, I used it on my LC but I think it's the ethanol in modern fuel that eventually fucks it up and it falls off in chunks. I had hours of fun a couple of years back extracting it all before I could reseal the tank (different product!). 

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Just swap the tires front to back, it'll be fine! The Yamaha had a tax disc holder. it fell off when I tried scraping some muck off to see the last date...

 

Whatever it is there is more in there which should be plenty fun to get out. The inside of the tank doesn't look that bad but i might try some sealant? Any suggestions on that?

 

I'll check whats behind the green door clutch cover tomorrow and whats up with the shifter. If the shifter can be coaxed into working then I think the plan is to pull the head, swap the gasket as a precaution (I don't like some of the marks barrel-head join on the right) see if it'll run on its own steam. If so i'll sort the brakes, chain and sprockets and see about looking very 90s on my way to the MOT. I'll investigate the DVLA paperwork side tomorrow too and try and get it registered to me.

 

had a brief look at the carbs, they appear to be identical to my Suzuki ones which is a win since I know how they work. The JIS (hur hur) screws for the diaphragms (hur hur) came undone ok and all that looks ok but the bowl ones are more stuck than I want to test. I replaced them all on my GS carbs with hex ones (after cutting new slots in the screws with a dremel...) and might have some left. Could be the first big spend, £2 on a packet of screws. out of control. I'll buy some carb cleaner when i'm out buying waste water pipe tube tomorrow. the stuff eats the diaphragms so they have to be stored a safe distance away. The intake rubbers are screwed big time but look like they aren't big money for a set.

 

Might clean up the frame, under the filth the paint work isn't too bad.

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So after 2 trips to B7Q to buy some 40mm pipe to fix my house from the suzuki fall fail i got on with some of this. Whilst at the park q&b is on i went to halfrauds who took £7 off me for some carb cleaner.

 

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I will admit that a whole can later the stuff absolutely ate some serious grot off the carbs. I got some in a cut which hurt a lot too. anyway, using a t-bar and a sharp philips bit i cracked all 16 JIS screws on the float bowls so might take a look at them later. I suspect its just rank in there. no way am i going to buy any rebuild kits for them just yet though, thats well into three figures for subpar pattern bits...

 

next on the concerns pile was the shifter. and lack of return. this mean going behind into the clutch house and that meant removing the oil.

 

removing the oil meant removing the exhaust.

 

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this is in good condition, i might try and remove the rust blemishes and polish it up.

 

alas

 

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the right-side exhaust ports are rank with oil and mank and there is plenty of staining around the back

 

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This is making me think even more that its suffered a OMGHGF and maybe even then been kept going.

 

The other side f'instance

 

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is quite clean.

 

job at hand was the shifter though

 

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sump nut lives behind a outcropping of aluminum engine case which would definitely not come off in a big chunk if you somehow missed that rock in the road with the front wheel but it caught the sump. It was a geoff capes affair to undo as well. is it ok to use a torque wrench for undoing? I have a big 1/2" one which i use to loosen things (like axle nuts) and often wondered if it seriously fucks up the calibration. not that clarke calibrated it to start with...

 

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oil looked a bit like that (this was later on when i'd removed the back wheel (if you are on audio description)) black but clean and didn't smell of petrol, i then tipped in some old fork oil and some other old pap in so its quite rank but before that it wasn't bad.

 

I found the dipstick.

 

its a sight hole. you lay down in the filth and look in a manky little window even though they'd provisioned a hole in the casing which oil goes into...

 

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So, the parts diagram shows the shifter mechanism runs from your left foot through the engine into the clutch housing on the otherside where there are some springs. The fault is that the shifter doesn't return. you click up to upshift and it sticks. So I'd assumed that there must be a broken spring.

 

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This is what the clutch arrangement looks like. those 5 bolts undo to let the friction plates out. Now someones been in here before as there was shiny copper grease on the bolts and the gasket was too good to be original '93. the bike is showing 50k so i assume its on its second or third clutch (probably 2nd). Took it to bits to see what the state of it was and its still got a fair life left in it. and didn't smell of toast. if it smells of toast its burnt and needs replacing. not replacing this.

 

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I somehow got muddled up during this process of removing bits so had to go away and find out the order they went back on it, there were 4 01 plates and 4 02 plates so 02 went at the back and i interleaved them. I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

plates bathed in fresh oil, slotted back on, bearing (think a 2p dimensioned roller bearing for the release) cover back on (loosely, it'll need a new gasket). reconnect the cable and bam! gear shift happy, up-down-left-right-abc the hole bit. won't go into 1st but does neutral through 6th. I don't think this is a problem though i think if i turned the engine a few times i'd have 1st again. So thats one investigation over.

 

Thought i'd free up the back brakes which were only seized on a little.

 

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2 bolts holding the caliper in place on the disk and 2 pins for the pads later 1 pad falls out, 1 backing plate falls out and the other pad comes out in one piece. disc is in much better shape that the front, the front probably needs replacing given the lip on the outside edge. sigh. bike brakes are expensive, might 2nd hand a replacement if it comes to it.

 

pulled the back wheel to inspect the cush drive things. they were ok. i took a picture of the wheel for some reason so here is a wheel.

 

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the chain and sprockets are for the bin.the sprockets aren't so bad but the chain is just rust so they'd want doing as a unit. The brakes lines are junk and both master cylinders will probably need rebuilds. they are simple to do but its heading towards three figures for the parts. they'll wait till i find out what is going on in the cylinder head. I'm pretty sure its head gasket is horked. I'm concerned that this would have put it off the road, it doesn't seem a hard job? My suzuki needed the valve cover cutting off before i could even begin the rebuild on that.

 

Anyway, i guess the cylinder head is the next investigation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Guest Hooli

I'm confused. Why would you think it's had so many clutches at such a low mileage? wet clutches shouldn't wear like a dry one even if it's been ridden like a granny in a 850 mini.

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a couple of the friction discs measured at 2.9mm and from factory they were (some guy on a forum said) ~3.0mm give or take a smidge. I can't believe this thing has worn 0.1mm of clutch over 50k so its got to be at least its second and since these were commuter hacks, perhaps its third?

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Guest Hooli

I ask as my last three bikes modern bikes have been on 40k, 45k & 118k all on original clutches. The only person I can recall changing the clutch on a modern bike had buggered it up with the wrong oil, had to strip it & decided to replace it rather than clean it.

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you might very well be right, these things aren't hugely powerful nor anything you'd track day so the clutch should have an easy time. I think Stop-and-go city traffic (if this thing came from london) is hard on even a wet clutch so if it spent 50k taking tat around London it might very well be into a replacement.

 

I'm just going on the newish looking gasket and copper grease on the bolts that someones been in there. adding that to the low wear makes me think its not the original.

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The chunks of shit that came out of your tank I would bet is probably 'Petseal'. This was a sealant that was (still is??) around about 15-20 years or so ago and was used to seal up rusty/pin-holed tanks. It did work well, I used it on my LC but I think it's the ethanol in modern fuel that eventually fucks it up and it falls off in chunks. I had hours of fun a couple of years back extracting it all before I could reseal the tank (different product!). 

 

I used Petseal on my 1100 Katana back in the early 2000s & it's still holding up well :-)

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Cracking effort, looking forward to more updates!

 

sump nut lives behind a outcropping of aluminum engine case which would definitely not come off in a big chunk if you somehow missed that rock in the road with the front wheel but it caught the sump. It was a geoff capes affair to undo as well. is it ok to use a torque wrench for undoing? I have a big 1/2" one which i use to loosen things (like axle nuts) and often wondered if it seriously fucks up the calibration. not that clarke calibrated it to start with...

 

No don't use a torque wrench for undoing, I broke my first one that way.

 

https://www.fastco.co.uk/sealey-breaker-bar-600mm-1-2-sq-drive-ak730.html

 

Add a quid's worth of nuts or something for free delivery, or they're £13.79 delivered on Amazon. I have that exact one, it's slightly bent now from me standing on it and bouncing up and down to try and get a hub nut undone, but still works OK.

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