The XL600 thread

[Schrauberklaus]

Originally Posted by crobox

Here you can see the frame-brace / seat mount thing welded into place. That particular frame component in stock form just seemed really under-engineered to me, and probably not able to prevent much flex in those rear frame spurs. Lots of cracking near the welds sorta supported that hypothesis. That's the only reason I replaced it.

Also visible here is the sub-frame reinforcing I did last night. I was able to tie the triangulation elements into various pre-existing frame elements, such as those threaded-nut-ears that drop down from the main frame about 4 inches forward of the rear-most holes. I am not even sure what those nuts are for, other than a rear rack (which I may well use them for at a later date.) I think this reinforcing will really increase the amount of weight I can hang off those rear-most holes.

You can also see the flanges that I added lower down on the rear, angled tube of the sub-frame. These each have three holes with nuts welded behind them, so three places to attach stuff. Probably used in the future for frame-mount rear pegs and the forward mounting point for pannier racks.

Does anyone on here have an XL600 with a center-stand? If so, any chance of snapping a picture of the mounting points and spring configuration?

And lastly, that blue and orange color scheme looked really perfect in my mind. But as I look at my photoshop mockup, I am not quite so sure of it anymore. Gotta keep thinking about it.

You are on the right way . I even extend my rearframe by 20 cm to give the Luggage Rack a stable mounting point.
Be aware that the original Muffler will not fit anymore , the Pipe need to be modifyed .
Guess thats no Problem for you .

[Stretchah]

Originally Posted by crobox

Here you can see the frame-brace / seat mount thing welded into place. That particular frame component in stock form just seemed really under-engineered to me, and probably not able to prevent much flex in those rear frame spurs. Lots of cracking near the welds sorta supported that hypothesis. That's the only reason I replaced it.

Also visible here is the sub-frame reinforcing I did last night. I was able to tie the triangulation elements into various pre-existing frame elements, such as those threaded-nut-ears that drop down from the main frame about 4 inches forward of the rear-most holes. I am not even sure what those nuts are for, other than a rear rack (which I may well use them for at a later date.) I think this reinforcing will really increase the amount of weight I can hang off those rear-most holes.

You can also see the flanges that I added lower down on the rear, angled tube of the sub-frame. These each have three holes with nuts welded behind them, so three places to attach stuff. Probably used in the future for frame-mount rear pegs and the forward mounting point for pannier racks.

Does anyone on here have an XL600 with a center-stand? If so, any chance of snapping a picture of the mounting points and spring configuration?

And lastly, that blue and orange color scheme looked really perfect in my mind. But as I look at my photoshop mockup, I am not quite so sure of it anymore. Gotta keep thinking about it.

Looking good :)

I think the centre stand normally mounts where the pegs do - I'm sure someone will correct If I'm wrong. I did win one on ebay, but, then the breakers that were selling it couldn't locate it :( Still searching for another....

Still, here's a photo of the stand in case that's any help :)

[Billtr96sn]

My centre stand was stolen!!. It fits between both front footrests and a bracket in the middle. If you breaker finds another I hope it aint mine!

[Sierra Thumper]

Originally Posted by Moparmanpete

Yea I dig that bare Aluminum and black cover look, The black and white color scheme looks good but would be hell for me to keep clean.

Actually the white sidecovers and fenders are great at hiding scratch damage, and clean up extremely well with some soft scrub, waay better then other colors. The only prob is white plastic tanks suck, because they turn birdshit yellow over time from the gas fumes leaching through. I had a blue and white 88 banshee that I owned for years, it looked like new when I sold it because the white was so easy to clean and so good at hiding scratches.
As long as he has a white metal tank, NOT plastic, he's golden

[crobox]

Originally Posted by Billtr96sn

Gold?? Superb, my 84/85 XL6 has gold rims,gold forks,gold swingarm all as standard. Also the rims are tubeless which is very useful.

OK, OK, all you gold guys are making me think twice! But what color scheme goes with Gold??? Red white and blue I guess, if you're a 1980's Honda designer guy! Those tubeless style rims you're talking about are very cool, but as far as I can tell they are not available around these parts.

Originally Posted by Stretchah

Still, here's a photo of the stand in case that's any help :)

Thanks, that does help. I think I'm gonna do mine a little differently; probably hang it off the BACK of the main engine box part of the frame, as opposed to the BOTTOM, as it looks like that one does. There seems to be plenty of room back there, and ground clearance would remain unchanged.
But it's great to see the stand itself and the arrangement of the springs.

OK, off to the shop!

Christian

[crobox]

CONVERSATION CROSSOVER ALERT!!

Originally Posted by Sierra Thumper

Actually the white sidecovers and fenders are great at hiding scratch damage, and clean up extremely well with some soft scrub, waay better then other colors.

That's good to hear, because my white plastics are pretty dirty. I was lamenting the idea that I might have to get new ones.. but now I'll try cleaning them up first!

[Stretchah]

Originally Posted by Billtr96sn

My centre stand was stolen!!. It fits between both front footrests and a bracket in the middle. If you breaker finds another I hope it aint mine!

That's bad news..I hope not too, he doesn't have another one :( so, I'm going to keep trawling ebay until one turns up either that or get someone to make one up. I'm guessing it shouldn't cost too much. If I do go that route at some point I'll let you know, but, the centre stand is a way down my list at the moment ;)

Glad the photo was of some use Christian looking forward to seeing how the stand turns out :) Plus the rest of the bike :)

[crobox]

Just got back from the shop... mostly because it's suddenly too darn cold to work in there!

But I did get my center stand mounts done. For some reason none of the pictures turned out very well.... This one is the best...



We're looking at the back of the bottom corner of the engine compartment. Swingarm linkage mount area is sort of in the center of the image, kick-stand mount flange is at top left.
Just to the right of the kickstand pivot bolt you can see a piece of 5/16" round stock with a necked down collar near the end; this will be the spring mount for the stand.

Now I know I'm getting ahead of myself here... and this might be a little crazy... but I've been brainstorming some ideas about an electric start for this thing that would be totally external to the engine, and here is what I am thinking:
Mount a starter motor for a motorcycle (I happen to have one hanging around) below the carbs, like this:



The crankcase breather would have to be modified somehow to make room, but otherwise I think it would fit. Then mount a one-way over-running clutch (like McMaster-Carr item number 4752N4, for instance) onto the output shaft of the electric motor, and a small sprocket on the other side of the clutch. Mount a larger sprocket (as big as you could get away with for gear-down, and these sprockets could be much smaller pitch... like 25 or 35) next to the main output drive sprocket of the engine, and connect the two with a chain.

If you were to engage the starter motor, it would spin the drive sprocket of the engine, thereby turning over the engine, as long as you were in gear. I'm guessing 5th gear would be the way to go. The implication, however, is that your rear tire would be spinning too... hence the center stand. This is another reason I went ahead and positioned my center-stand mounts pretty far back, to get the rear wheel off the ground. Now... once the engine is started, you pull in the clutch, shift down to first, roll off the center stand, and ride away. While riding, the smaller chain connecting the engine output drive sprocket to the starter motor would be spinning like crazy, but the overrunning clutch would prevent the starter motor from spinning.

Yes, it's a crazy idea. And I'm not sure yet if I will try it. I would need to probably go with individual air filters and make a bigger battery box for a bigger battery. More weight. There are several other challenges, too, like mating the little clutch to the starter motor and mating a second sprocket to the engine output sprocket (hard to do because those sprockets are hardened; no welding, no machining)

We'll see what happens. More food for thought, for now.

Christian

[High Country Herb]

Originally Posted by crobox

OK, OK, all you gold guys are making me think twice! But what color scheme goes with Gold??? Red white and blue I guess, if you're a 1980's Honda designer guy!

I think black seat, white bike, and gold anodizing. With that combo, the natural color Clarke tank would look good, and be clear enough to check fuel level. A white painted metal tank would look even better, but with less capacity obviously.

[Tomodan]

Hi all, I’ve recently bought an old (86) XL600 LMF and am loving it! What a cracking bit of kit, relaxed, bullet proof (I hope!) and cheap!
I’m sure I will have loads of questions coming up but for now there is one thing that I am really trying to work out……..
Why has my LM got a red frame?
It’s a UK bike & has the twin headlights, big tank & red engine (which has been re-painted but was also originally red judging by the paint underneath)
I have seen loads of pictures of bikes just like mine but never with a red frame!
Having stripped the tank & body work off to sort a leaky carb I am 90% convinced the paint is original as the bits under the tank, round the headstock & under the seat all look original?
Also the frame plate is in-tact & I can’t see any trace of overspray or re-fitting and when I was changing the oil a flake of paint cape off the down tube fight down to the bare metal & there is only red paint in the flake (no white underneath)
I am guessing it is one of 3 things.
1. I am a Muppet with the observational skills of a mole & it has had its white frame re-sprayed (with a bear metal strip hence no white under the red)
2. It is a super mega rare “red framed special” which collectors will sell their first born child to buy & my £600 hack has now become my retirement plan
3. Red frames were perfectly normal & its coincidence that Google images does not return any on the first few pages.
Any help working this out would be gratefully received!
I’ll try to upload a pic once I work out how!

[mcma111]

Originally Posted by Moparmanpete

How much oil does each fork tube take?

15.4oz or 455cc of ATF. Oil level is 150mm or 5.9"

[mcma111]

Each

[crobox]

I'm setting the "outside-the-engine-electric-start" idea aside for now. With the exhaust mocked up into place it becomes clear the electric starter motor I have will not fit. If I could locate a smaller electric motor I think the idea could be made to work, but I'm not gonna focus on it for now.

Last night I was perusing older sections of this thread and I came across the part about the reed valve in the head that goes between the intake ports, and the way that valve was superseded by a different intake manifold with a passage milled out between the intakes.

It turns out my engine has neither....





I'd rather not spend the $50.00 or more that the later stye intake manifolds are going for on eBay. And, I've thought about how to modify the intake to create a passage there, but it's not a particularly easy thing to do.

Any thoughts? How critical is this "cross-flow" issue? Anyone have a later-style manifold they don't need? (I guess I would need the spacer too) Any other insights into the topic?

Thanks,
Christian

[MentalGuru]

Originally Posted by crobox

I'm setting the "outside-the-engine-electric-start" idea aside for now. With the exhaust mocked up into place it becomes clear the electric starter motor I have will not fit. If I could locate a smaller electric motor I think the idea could be made to work, but I'm not gonna focus on it for now.

Last night I was perusing older sections of this thread and I came across the part about the reed valve in the head that goes between the intake ports, and the way that valve was superseded by a different intake manifold with a passage milled out between the intakes.

It turns out my engine has neither....





I'd rather not spend the $50.00 or more that the later stye intake manifolds are going for on eBay. And, I've thought about how to modify the intake to create a passage there, but it's not a particularly easy thing to do.

Any thoughts? How critical is this "cross-flow" issue? Anyone have a later-style manifold they don't need? (I guess I would need the spacer too) Any other insights into the topic?

Thanks,
Christian

Run what you have, the carbs are progressive. I wouldn't worry about it.

Was there any issues before the tear down?

[crobox]

Originally Posted by MentalGuru

Was there any issues before the tear down?

Well, the teardown was initiated because of a no-spark issue. It mushroomed from there into a much more ambitious project.

But the bike did run OK, several years ago. The truth, however, is that I have only ridden this bike about 4 hours TOTAL, and 95% of that was off-road. And it was 4 years ago. So, if it had issues related to this lack of cross-flow between intakes, I'm not sure I would have recognized them / don't really remember.