An XS Odyssey and props to MadMike!

[madmike2]

Ray, I was looking through my photobucket pictures searching for something and came upon this picture.

It has to be from 2002 or 2003 w/ my buddy's GL 1000 parked behind.

 

[Silent]

Update time yet again B) I'd guess there's enough in the stock pile to warrant it. I've been a busy boy

Looks great! :thumbsup: One suggestion. You might consider a lower profile bar. I'm thinking the 'superbike' bend would bring you into the air pocket without being uncomfortable. Again, just a thought.

Ya got me thinking to much. I went down to Road Rider in San Jose to take a peek at what they had on hand for Café style bars. I was taken aback by the prices on the bars! They only wanted $21 for a set of super sport bars! The ones I'd seen on line earlier, they wanted up wards of $100-$150! Sooo, I bought a set to try out. The 3 bars I've got for the XS now are the original buckhorn bars that are like a tiller, the standard bars that Mike had put on (quite comfy btw), and the sport bars

So with all due vigor, I proceeded to install the new sport bars and test things out.

Wouldn't ya know, the controls hit the tank now :huh: So I decided to fix that problem instead of just trying to mask it, or ignore it. So off comes the front end again so I can weld an additional 1/8" per side to the steering stop on the neck. This is the best way I know to fix the problem.

Before

After. I take the opportunity to clean and paint all my welding on the bike. Keeps future rust at bay. Eventually I'll probably repaint the entire frame properly.

Now on to the next issue. Them grips just didn't cut it for a Café style bike. So I installed a set of standard gel grips from Road Rider. Only one problem, the throttle tube on the XS is to short for any of the 'standard' 7/8 grips! That and the end is capped off so you can't even put a longer grip on! (This is why I'm looking for an FJR tube btw) So I came up with a solution of my own. I cut the end cap off of the XS's throttle tube and installed the longer grip. The new grip was dragging on the handlebars, so another solution was in order. After thinking about it a bit and taking some measurements, I found that a 3/4 coupler for copper pipe would just slide onto the 7/8 bars and spin freely! So I cut a copper bushing that will spin with the grip and keeps the throttle from dragging or binding on the handlebars. This is a temporary solution until I can get ahold of an FJR throttle tube. Damn I wish I'd kept mine now when I installed my G2.

The gold has gotta go. I've got a set of black Honda weighted bar ends to replace the gold bits, but I've got to turn the ends down at work first, as they sit now, they won't fit. The only real drawback to the new grips is that they are longer. That moved my mirrors in another 1/4 inch or so. Now my left mirror hits the Café fairing :huh: So I'm fabricating a relocation bracket for the left mirror that will address the problem and put the mirror back where it belongs.

Ok, off to the next problem area. The exhaust gaskets are leaking and I've got a set of replacements that I picked up awhile back. I'm thinking the back pressure might be dropping since she's idling a tad rough. So I figure it's time to install those new gaskets and see if it fixes that too. So off comes the entire exhaust system for the bike. Wait... This doesn't feel right... That's not suppose to wiggle like that... Ahh hell.

Broken pipe about 90% around the exhaust. Good thing I know how to weld So again I fire up the Oxy-Acetylene and get to welding. I love being so versatile B)

Everything goes smooth and the weld is strong and fairly decent looking. I even took the time to weld up a heat shield mounting bracket that was broken as well.

After installing the full exhaust system with the new gaskets, I fire her up and she's just as loud as she was before. Darn, I hoped the new gaskets would quiet things down a tad. My guess is the baffles are just worn out after 30 years. And since the stock cans have seen better days, I figure it's time to look into the possibility of either slip-ons or a full system. Only 1 maker of full systems these days, and there about $330. EBay slip-ons are going for about $200-300 a set to. Damn thats pricey. So you can imagine my surprise when I come across an eBay deal for a set of new turnout slip-ons with only 500-700 miles on em, and super clean for only $30!!! You KNOW I snapped em up, they have the same inlet size that I need, and a proper length ta boot!

So when those baby's come in, I'll pull the exhaust and turn it into a 4-2 system instead of the 4-2-Y system thats on there. I'm hoping that it quiets it down a touch and increases the back pressure enough to smooth out the idle. I got a PM on the XS forum, and my new seat pan is in route, so there's another project in my future too.

I'm not quite sure where she's going, but it's been a damn fun trip going there B)

I guess that's enough for now, time for another Corona, I hope you enjoyed the read :drinks:

 

[RadioHowie]

MAD SKILLZ!!!

:envy:

 

[beerme]

MAD SKILLZ!!!
:envy:

indeed :clapping: :dribble:

 

[Silent]

Woo Hoo! My seat came in today! I got to spend the entire day cutting, welding, bending, finessing, and such. I think the pan is finally done, and it's hanging out back with a fresh coat of paint drying. I'm thinking of taking a trip down to Hollister and visiting Corbin. I think they are about the closest custom saddle shop. I want to leave the foam and cover to the pros B) I took alot of photos of the work I did, I'm just not gung-ho enough to upload them yet

 

[wheatonFJR]

Wow!

This is quite the journey...

 

[Draggon Rider]

WOW Silent!

It's Sunday morning and I've read the entire thread from start to finish. You're a better man than I, for I would have given up months ago.

But you did help me deside, I was considering buying a 88 Goldwing, the pictures look great, but after reading your thread I realized how much more

could be hidding under the skin. So I'm just going to stick with my 05 FJR, and wait until I win the lottery.... LOL!

Great thread.

 

[Silent]

WOW Silent!It's Sunday morning and I've read the entire thread from start to finish. You're a better man than I, for I would have given up months ago.

But you did help me deside, I was considering buying a 88 Goldwing, the pictures look great, but after reading your thread I realized how much more

could be hidding under the skin. So I'm just going to stick with my 05 FJR, and wait until I win the lottery.... LOL!

Great thread.

Go buy that 88 Goldwing! You have no idea how much fun it is to tweak on an old scoot like this B) Half of the stuff I'm doing is more because I want to, rather than need to. I could have spent a total of $200-$300 or so and gotten the bike into good ridable condition. I choose to spend 2 days welding, cutting and finessing the seat pan to get the look that I want. My total outlay so far is just the cost of the used pan.

Ya know, there's a guy a couple miles from here selling a Maroon mid 80's Venture h34r:

 

[Draggon Rider]

Yes I know, I did a ground up frame swap\restore on a 82 Honda FL250 "oddsey", after it was rolled, I did it out of love.

Powder coated EVERY thing.

But I don't have the time, room or the money to do something like that again.

Go buy that 88 Goldwing! You have no idea how much fun it is to tweak on an old scoot like this B) Half of the stuff I'm doing is more because I want to, rather than need to. I could have spent a total of $200-$300 or so and gotten the bike into good ridable condition. I choose to spend 2 days welding, cutting and finessing the seat pan to get the look that I want. My total outlay so far is just the cost of the used pan.

Ya know, there's a guy a couple miles from here selling a Maroon mid 80's Venture h34r:

 

[Silent]

Ok, got off my arse and uploaded the pics to Photobucket so I can post up some seat pics

Here's a preview of the finished product

Ok, ok, back to reality B) This is what happens to a seat pan after sitting in the weather for 30 years. This was the standard seat I was going to modify to use on the XS. I really liked the cowl that the standard seat has. The pieces missing were salvaged to add to the other pan. I'll explain that later on in the post. No real loss I suppose since I did get the seat for free. The cowl on the back was in excellent shape tho. And most of the hardware and bumpers were still usable. Good thing too, I found I needed a couple of the short bumpers from this seat.

So I was able to get this '80 Special seat from one of the guys on the XS forum. I had full intentions of stripping the seat and just using the pan anyway. Good thing too, the pans in great shape, but the foam and cover are shot. The PO had apparently shaved down the foam to accommodate stubby leg syndrome.

I did find out that the lines on the '80 Special, and the '79 Special are different :blink: You can see how the pan hits the side cover and doesn't follow the lines as well as I'd like. It will take a bit of work, but I'm up for it. A bit of trimming here, welding there and presto! Well, ok, not that easy. it did take 2 days

After looking at the pan a bit, I had a thought. How about if I graft the cowl from the '78 Standard seat to the '80 Special seat. I'm fairly good at metal working, and the seats going to have to be custom made to the pan anyway. My basic thoughts are to mount the cowl where the '80 pan had a tail light mounted before. Here's the mock up, sorry Mike, there's no storage access on this cowl.

After staring at this configuration awhile, I decided that the cowl sits WAY to high off the rear fender for my liking. So I decided to replace the rear bumpers with shorter ones, and section the seat pan so I can set the cowl into a much more aesthetically pleasing location.

I also welded in a few screws and ground the heads down to make mounting posts for the new cowl to mount to. Four mounting bolts are more than enough for this task. Ya know, it's not that easy welding sheet metal

Ahh much better. I do like the way this seat sits now. I sat and stared at it a long time before I realized I was just sitting there staring.

Kinda hard to tell in this pic, but I also cut back the material from the pan so there's a nice even spacing off the side covers.

When I thought I was done, I realized something just didn't look right. Can you see what I see?

I see that the lines of the seat pan just don't line up with the cowl on the back. This could have been a disastrous mistake IMO. So back to welding. This is where those pieces of metal from the old seat pan went B)

Now that I can live with :yahoo: After grinding down my welds, priming, and painting the seat pan, I'm ready to start exploring the possibilities of where to get the seat built. I don't necessarily want a 'custom' seat, but I do need new foam and a cover made. For now, the fresh paint dries

The story will continue at a later time, Cheers! :drinks:

 

[HotRodZilla]

Dang Silent,

I saw this thread when you started it, and just kind of lost track of it for a while. I stumbled upon it tonight and spent the last hour and a half catching up on all the work you have done. What a great project. I think the seat is going to turn out great since you don't seem to be the type that is happy with a half-assed finished product. You know...When you finish this, you are gonna be lonely for a while and have garage/tools separation anxiety.

 

[Silent]

Thanks for the good words B)

I'm going in Saturday to get the seat made at a local shop. I'll post up a nice update after it's all said and done. I've been doing alot lately tot he XS lately B) I must say, I'm really surprised that none of the big custom seat makers would even return my price quote request, other than Corbin saying they wouldn't do it unless it was at the factory. Never did get a price from them :huh:

 

[Moon Man]

Thanks for the good words B)
I'm going in Saturday to get the seat made at a local shop. I'll post up a nice update after it's all said and done. I've been doing alot lately tot he XS lately B) I must say, I'm really surprised that none of the big custom seat makers would even return my price quote request, other than Corbin saying they wouldn't do it unless it was at the factory. Never did get a price from them :huh:

You ever thought about trying it yourself? I always thought it would be fun, or at least a beautiful disaster!

 

[Silent]

Thanks for the good words B)
I'm going in Saturday to get the seat made at a local shop. I'll post up a nice update after it's all said and done. I've been doing alot lately tot he XS lately B) I must say, I'm really surprised that none of the big custom seat makers would even return my price quote request, other than Corbin saying they wouldn't do it unless it was at the factory. Never did get a price from them :huh:

You ever thought about trying it yourself? I always thought it would be fun, or at least a beautiful disaster!

It's actually a lot cheaper to have someone else do it in the long run. Figgure to do it yourself, you need a sewing machine that's capable of sewing the cover. That's several hundred bucks in itself. Then you need several types of foam, foam cutting tools, 2 types of cover material ($30-50 a yard), welting, ect ect ect. For $200 it's cheap, and done in less than 4 hours without any mistakes.

Plus I already know that if I did try and do it myself, it'd end up looking like an abortion on wheels

 

[Moon Man]

It's actually a lot cheaper to have someone else do it in the long run. Figgure to do it yourself, you need a sewing machine that's capable of sewing the cover. That's several hundred bucks in itself. Then you need several types of foam, foam cutting tools, 2 types of cover material ($30-50 a yard), welting, ect ect ect. For $200 it's cheap, and done in less than 4 hours without any mistakes.
Plus I already know that if I did try and do it myself, it'd end up looking like an abortion on wheels

Pshaw, that's the fun part! Point taken though. I have too many interests, and have a lot of the supplies, though NONE of the skills. Fantastic rebuild thread BTW.

 

[Silent]

My '79 Special had shorty grips on it, and they didn't really go with the café look, so I opted for some new grips. It turns out that most of the grips out there are about an inch longer than the XS's throttle tube :angry2: . Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the throttle tube looked a lot like the one from my '07 FJR

The one on the left is from the XS, the right one is the FJR push pull. Notice that the pull side is almost identical.

You can see that the FJR tube on the top is longer than the XS tube on the bottom. The copper pipe was a shim I was using to allow me to run the longer grips with the XS tube. Its no longer needed.

The installation of the FJR tube is just like the XS. Everything works well and I can now run any standard length 7/8" grips :clapping: I did need to slide the controls inward a bit more to make up for the extra length of the throttle tube.

Even my dog agrees that those gel grips look nice on there B)

The throttle tube was a generous donation by our own Ponyfool, I owe him a drink next time we meet :drinks:

More to come later. There's a new seat Saturday, and an exhausting tale still to come B)

 

[Silent]

I just got back from getting my seat done, and I must say they did a great job :clapping: and as promised, here's the resulting update B)

My slip-ons came in, so I spent a day mounting those up. $30 from FleaBay. The seller said they came off a Suzuki Blvd.

I took the old headers off the bike, and torched off the mufflers right at the joint. Then I took a 1.5" piece of exhaust pipe and welded an extension nipple onto the header giving myself a place to clamp the slip-ons. I mounted up the new mufflers using the old mounting points and fired her up.

As it turns out, the pipes are louder than I'd anticipated by a long shot. So my only course of action remaining was to install some baffles. I found a set on FleaBay for $6 and ordered em up. I installed them into the nipples I'd welded on earlier and tack welded them in place.

Back on go the slip-ons. They are still louder than I wanted, but not that bad. They quiet down a bit once they heat up. My plan is to get a couple stainless steel kitchen scrubbers and stuff those into the ends of the mufflers. They will break up the sound waves even more and making the bike a tad quieter. Thats for a later day tho.

GPS mounted on the RAM mount. Note the custom extension piece for the left mirror. When I put the sport bars on, the mirror was hitting the fairing. Nice and easy solution I must say.

And without further adieu, the new seat B) :yahoo: :clapping: :yahoo: :clapping: :yahoo:

It came out well.

I guess I can be done for awhile now :assassin:

Cheers! :drinks:

 

[Niehart]

Well done :thumbsupsmileyanim: Should that plate say "1979 XS1100 Silent Special"?

 

[Silent]

If you look close, it does say "Silent" on the plate frame B)

 

[Niehart]

Gotta love that!