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I was just talking to my friend Dave and I was asking him about the blog and whether he liked it or not. He said, "yeah it's good". As the phone call progressed, I could tell he hadn't read anything beyond the headlines and he had looked at a couple of pictures. Shame on you Dave! Now go and read the blog in its entirety and get back to me.
Now to today's entry.....
It looks like I have my oil leak figured out. When I do an oil change I need to drain the oil from the transmission as well. The engine oil in this bike also doubles as the lubricant for my clutch. I've read a few posting over at another forum and they mention it a few times. So one more thing out of the way. I'm going to get insurance on Tuesday and take it for a few 'fair weather' tests. I found a motorbike mechanic not too far from me and I'm going to see if he can balance my carburetors for me. I think it's asking a little too much for me to try and balance four carburetors at home. You need some special tools and I've never done it before. I'll practice on the two sets I have on my bench before I do anything too mission critical.
After I feel comfortable with the reliability of the bike I'm going to do something really dumb. I'm going to completely disassemble the bike for aesthetic purposes only. Who takes a perfectly fine 1981 XJ650 that was purchased for $400 and dumps more money into the appearance of the bike than the mechanics of it so that I can ride through Europe for a month and than just leave it there? I'm an idiot.
I called over to a local company to get a quote on ceramic coating the exhaust manifold and mufflers. The company is called Kool Coat Ceramic Coatings Ltd. and they are not too far away from me. Sean over there was quite helpful and set me straight on a few things. It will probably cost me a couple hundred bucks to have my exhaust sandblasted inside and out and ceramic coated to a satin black finish that will never discolor, improve exhaust flow, and radiate less heat (up to 500F). They also do thermal dispersant painting of engines. The only problem is they need to be baked and that would require even more disassembly. He recommended only doing the barrels and heads. I would have to remove them from the pistons and do a top end rebuild but it would look great and keep my engine cooler. Looking good and being cool are two things that I think are important in the 40 degree(Celsius) weather that I experienced last year in August.... Here's a couple of pictures of a bike done up with the ceramic coating and no chrome:
Looks pretty sweet
a closer look at the engine.
Now add these effects to a freshly powdered coated frame and new saddle and you have yourself the most beautiful Yamaha xj650 maxim in the world. Not bad for less than $1000 and a couple of months of hard labor.
