Yamaha XS900 Triple Cafe Racer Build......."SHAFTY"

[madsod 0]

very nice work m8 when i had mine i done a full rebuild on it , got it for £50 engine was in parts , and in a box at the time it also came out of 2 & 3 gear , any way it cost me £ 650 . at the time . yam parts are not cheap . so i hope you dont need to pull the engine apart , mind i did take it out to 850cc new cam chain and all rails oil pump small ends big ends etc ,, gearbox

[pugeyed 0]

ill be pulling the sump off and checking/cleaning in there, then i want to pull the head off and see whats what. lets hope it all looks brand new!

[XS1100 0]

Them Calipers look well nice ,did the nipples undo ok?

[pugeyed 0]

yeah they did gaz but one went with such a crack i thought it had sheared! all good though, got new stainless ones in the mail along with seals etc.

[Gazman 0]

@pugeyed wrote:

hey gaz how are you?
where you been anywhere nice?
yeah been busy spending money as always.
ive got a plan with the seat so will see how it goes, will end up using it on one bike either way.

small update,
dismantled , de-greased and blasted all the calipers,
came up better than expected tbh.
sprayed them up with metalic enamel paint my mate had left over .
they are now ready for rebuilding.
bit of a bonus, one piston wasnt knackered so only have to replace 2, think ill put the stainless one's up front and have the original steel one in the back brake.
sorry to drone on lol.

Just down to Cornwall mate, took the van and a couple of tents and lived on pasties for a few days. You look like your making good progress mate and you sound like your enjoying it too. Mine will be a little slow getting off the mark as I am very busy with work at the moment but once I can get a bit of time, it should start to make a bit of headway. I'm gonna get my office cleared out at the back and get the frame in there once its powder coated and I can work in comfort over the winter then. Planning on a spring deadline to be on the road. Keep up the good work, I will be keeping a close eye on your progress mate.

[pugeyed 0]

if i didnt work on bikes i would lose my mind, blimey you need to get a wriggle on if you want to be done by spring, mind you there is not much to em really.
im sure it will be just as good as the last, cant wait for more pics!

[pugeyed 0]

well fibreglass seat came today, dont get attached to it as its going back, not up to my standard im afraid.



took the front end off



anyone know what these lugs are for? (top big ones)
little ones are for oil cooler i pressume gaz?

[dick65 0]

shame about the seat mark and gaz will know what the lugs are for

[Stue11 0]

Yea shame about the seat Mark, but if it aint up to standard then its gota be put right

[madsod 0]

top 2 are oil cooler , bottom is for a bracket for the cooler pipes

[pugeyed 0]

right ok ta , so i deffo need them, just trying to sort out the good ones to the useless ones.

[pugeyed 0]

well new kickstart rubber turned up so put that on.

took the swingarm out

and the centre stand off.


bloke i bought it from said he put new swingarm bearings in, we will see as he deffo hasnt put new seals in, if your gonna do a job right....

[XS1100 0]

All this brings it back when I pulled mine down 23 years ago :)I remember sitting in a cold shed in late November setting the swing arm bearings up.Hey them wheels and brake disc,s are heavy ant they !My XS11 Fell over on the grass I had to dig the handle bars out the ground to get the thing back up again.great daze

[dick65 0]

youd think he would have changed the seals as well

[pugeyed 0]

so new piston and seal kit came today, rebuilt 1 caliper but wanted to crack on with the swing arm so will do the others later on.

new spark plugs came, (yes i know im sad taking a photo of them lol)

took the rear wheel out the swingarm and started taking the bearings out (they deffo havent been replaced as you can see the wear on the cup)
new kit is only £20 so not the end of the world.
think i can get on one cup to get it out but the other is in a blind hole



took the top race out of the frame, bottom one is a little more tricky.


worried that when i send the swingarm for powder the bearing holes will fill up with the stuff as i cant block them off like i normally do (threaded rod and large washers)

ho hum we will see....

[Stue11 0]

I may not comment much on the build sections as i have no idea what bit goes were but i do enjoy watching the progress made by all, well done so far Mark

[XS1100 0]

Excellent the calliper looks great,plugs pic all adds to the flavor of the build.
I never had my swing arm blasted or coated as I thought the blast beads and paint would be more trouble than its worth you need to get rid of every last bead or it will wreck the shaft and any bearings.

[Gazman 0]

Only an idea Mark but I reckon you could plug it off with some paper or tissue and then some putty or plumbers mate (doesn't set/ stays soft)to stop the ingress of blast beads/ grit. Gaz

[pugeyed 0]

well i rang my mate who is ging to do the blasting and powder and he said why dont i get it dipped instead of blasting, that way it takes off all the rust and old paint/grease etc and leaves a good surface for the powder. bit more expensive but think it will be worth it.
im going to make a plate to cover where the shaft connects to the rear wheel etc.

[darkember 0]

LSX Fernox its the stuff I use to seal water pipe threads. Basically stiffens to a flexible silicone that can be picked off by hand

[pugeyed 0]

would it be ok under heat though matey, dont want it to bugger up the powder.

[XS1100 0]

The frame lugs may be for these look

[madwilly 0]

must admit its looking good so far .the time and effort that goes into something like this its so satisfying to say that you done it ...nice one mate

[pugeyed 0]

cheers willy!

think you may be right gaz, ill offer up the cooler 2morrow night and see where abouts it mounts etc, hopefully i can get rid of those indicator mounts then.

[stantheman 0]

try caustic soda for stripping the swingarm its about £3 from b&q

[pugeyed 0]

cheers stan ill try that!

front wheel bearings and seals came today so put them in.

side stand bottom was nearly through the base plate with wear/rust so cut it off and made a new one, just gotta weld it on at work 2morrow.

contacted the chap who made the seat base and he said the mold has gone funny so is going to make me a new seat free of charge , should be here in a week.

going out to the shed now to take the bearings out of rear wheel then i can order them up.

[Davehutch-hutchs 0]

Nice 1 mark ,and that's good with the seat

[dick65 0]

great news on the seat front mark at least the guy owned up- result

[pugeyed 0]

so after 4 hours of cutting, grinding and filing, have removed all the tabs from the frame i dont need.


still need to shorten the rear frame loop as its far too long and sort out seat and battery tray mounts.
and weld in some frame bracing in the corners
but its getting there.


took the lower head race out of the frame, had to weld a bolt across it so i had something to hit against, worked though....


oh gaz or madsod , do you know what this tab is for? , thought it was ground mount so left it be until i work out what its for.

[XS1100 0]

Not quite sure right now but I think its to do with the the rear brake lever stop.I will check on it though.

[madsod 0]

@XS1100 wrote:

Not quite sure right now but I think its to do with the the rear brake lever stop.I will check on it though.

i think it for the hight of the brake lever , but its been some time since i had mine ,

[madsod 0]

this will help you
http://xs850.minek.com/

[pugeyed 0]

cheers madsod , great site!

ok im thinking of just running the kickstart and ditching the starter motor, making a custom loom with just the basics.
would i be able to ditch the battery too or would i still need a small one?

[XS1100 0]

Nice idea but to be honest I would keep the lecky starter and bin the kicker.and not butcher the loom.them kickers where pain in the ass if remember right.and only realy there as back up for the starter and the 11 the kick starter is in the tool kit!

[pugeyed 0]

hmm ill have a think, i wouldnt butcher the loom as the one that came with the bike is in very good condition, and wouldnt want to cut it up

so today i finally took the bearings out of the back wheel and ordered new ones, there is 2 one side and 1 the other, one of the seals you cant get anymore (unless you import it from the netherlands) but its not in bad nick so will reuse it.
should be here sometime this week.

[Gazman 0]

Good work Mark, How good is this cafe racer thing ?, I love it.

[dick65 0]

the netherlands! should ask our swedish branch if they can help

[pugeyed 0]

so dropped some stuff off to the powdercoaters this morning and some other stuff off to be blasted , should get it back on friday...

reassembled my calipers , which look good, stainless pistons are in the front ones.

swingarm bearings turned up today.

took one of the old races out of the swingarm (still got the blind hole to do, not looking forward to that.

welded the foot on my side stand and burnt my finger in the process, blood sweat and tears (mostly mine) goes into these bikes folks....

[dick65 0]

great work on the calipers mark

[madsod 0]

very nice work

[Stue11 0]

@madsod wrote:

very nice work

[Gazman 0]

Looking good Mark, Gaz

[pugeyed 0]

cheers folks! , just bought some of these for the front disks as the old ones didnt have any tabs!
and am gonna buy some 10.9 bolts to hold them on with.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400240810651?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_500wt_997

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350233697857&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1123#ht_2121wt_905

also won the xs750 tank on ebay, dont know which one im going to use yet but am leaning towards the 750 one as the 850 was is too big.

[pugeyed 0]

petrol tank turned up today, deffo going to use this one as it suits the bike much better , even has some slight "cafe" style knee dents.

ill drop it off for blasting on friday with some other parts.

here are some pics, the seat that came with the bike suits it well i think.






finally took the blind race out the swingarm, welded a bolt across it and yanked it out with me slide hammer while it was still warm.



oh and rear wheel bearings came today too, gonna fit em in a bit.

[Stue11 0]

Im likeing the look of this

[madsod 0]

yep that tank looks much beter , nice lines . i may have a cap you can have it PM me your address

[pugeyed 0]

cheers madsod thats nice of you matey!

[dick65 0]

taking shape tank looks good

[Gazman 0]

I really liked the tank that was on the bike Mark, but after seeing the mock up I think the 750 tank is far better, I really like those knee indents and the flatter lines as well mate.

At this rate you'll be finished and on the road by October. Keep up the good work. Gaz

[pugeyed 0]

well didnt quite go to plan today folks, took the frame to work today to cut the back end down abit, was cleaning some paint off some metal tubing i was going to use to hold the new rear loop for the frame together on the grinding wheel/wire wheel and it spat the tubing out and sucked my finger in!

took it down to bone quite quickly!

4 hours down casualty, x-ray, tetanus shot and 6 stitches and finger is as good as new (well almost) said it will take 2-3 weeks to heel so im out of action for a while.

still gonna pick up parts that have been powdered 2morrow and drop off my tank