[55248]

Whats up, Im Chris and am wanting to get my Grandpa's 1978 Yamaha 750 Sportbike up and running. He passed about 5 years ago and his bike is sitting in the garage rotting away. I need to do something with it.

What do you suggest for a bike that has been sitting for 10 years? Battery, tires, plugs, oil, carb rebuild? Is there a way to see if it is worth the money and not locked up? Throw in a battery and some oil with a bit in the plug holes and fire away? What kind of oil and how much do they take anyway?

Sorry guys, Im a car man. I just getting into the biking scene. Help me get this thing back on the road!

 

[RayOSV]

Whats up, Im Chris and am wanting to get my Grandpa's 1978 Yamaha 750 Sportbike up and running. He passed about 5 years ago and his bike is sitting in the garage rotting away. I need to do something with it.

What do you suggest for a bike that has been sitting for 10 years? Battery, tires, plugs, oil, carb rebuild? Is there a way to see if it is worth the money and not locked up? Throw in a battery and some oil with a bit in the plug holes and fire away? What kind of oil and how much do they take anyway?

Sorry guys, Im a car man. I just getting into the biking scene. Help me get this thing back on the road!

Everything you said would be good to do. If it was in running condition when put in the garage, nothing has likely seized. But, it was also close to 20 years old when parked.

I'd recommend motorcycle specific 10-40 oil and it should take about 3 quarts. Add brakes to your list. The fluid should be flushed and changed, pads checked, lines checked for cracking, and caliper pistons checked. Not sure what kind of clutch it has (cable or hydraulic), but that should be checked over and fluid changed if hydraulic. Air or water cooled? If water, coolant should be flushed and changed.

All of this is likely to cost several hundred in parts and labor you may not be able to do. Check your local Cycle Trader and Craig's list to see what those bikes are selling for in your area. That will help determine if it's worthwhile. Remember though, it will never be a modern sportbike if you get it back on the road. Have fun!!

 

[enos]

To add to Ray..

probably closer to 4 quarts of oil. There will probably be a sight glass somewhere on the bottom rear of the right side of the engine/trans. That has two marks, a low and a high. That's your dipstick (unless the bike has an actual dipstick). Bike needs to be vertical but on both wheels when you look at this.

As for brakes, change the fluid and inspect the rest. If they work, keep em. If the lines need replacing, get stainless steel lines. Lots of places make them for the old bikes, and their cost is comparable to regular ones.

Carbs will certainly be dirty, so the bike probably won't start (it might on starting fluid). You can clean them yourself, or have a shop do it for a few hundred.

Check the chain, and LUBE IT.

Change the tires.

Decide what you want to do to this bike. It can be on the road for a few hundred. If you want to keep it, clean the carbs yourself. It will get you familiar with working on the bike.

Try searching on this site: www.thegsresources.com
It's a site for the old Suzukis ('76+) but there are some crazy knowledgable people on there and lots of threads about how to resusitate old junkers. They also have a carb cleanup series (a picture guide) on the main page. Pretty much everything will apply to your bike except part numbers.

Oh, and the general advice for brining an old bike to life is to get it to run, take care of safety issues (brakes, chain, wheel bearings, etc), then do NOTHING else for a few hundred miles. Things will fix themselves, and things will break. After you ride it a bit then start fixing things.

 

[enos]

Oh, and get yourself a shop manual. If you can't get an actual Yamaha one, a Clymer manual should be a piece of cake to get at a dealer/online. The manual will explain the procedures in detail for that particular bike.

edit: if you really want to make sure it's not seized, take off the cover on the right side of the engine. You'll have your ignition points behind there (no electronic ignition for you.. hope the points aren't rusty) along with a big nut. That big nut is connected directly to the crank. You can turn it clockwise and turn the engine. Don't turn it backwards, and if you encounter hard resistance for the love of god stop.
You can also put it on the center stand, in the top gear, and just turn the rear wheel the way it would normally turn. Don't turn it backwards without being in neutral or have the clutch in.

 

[55248]

Thanks guys. This info is of help. Some sites have been telling me to check the fork and oil it. What fork are we talking about? I am a automotive technology student and should be able to take of most of this stuff myself, yet is there things I should worry about handling?I only want it to be a weekend cruiser. Some sites have been telling me to get new pistons and rings and to hone out the cylinders. I can do the honing at the shop, but I do not want to put too much money into it. Let me know if you think of anything else!

 

[RayOSV]

Thanks guys. This info is of help. Some sites have been telling me to check the fork and oil it. What fork are we talking about? I am a automotive technology student and should be able to take of most of this stuff myself, yet is there things I should worry about handling?I only want it to be a weekend cruiser. Some sites have been telling me to get new pistons and rings and to hone out the cylinders. I can do the honing at the shop, but I do not want to put too much money into it. Let me know if you think of anything else!

Fork is the front suspension - one spring and damping on each side making the shape of a fork. Not sure exactly about your bike, but most have some sort of damping rod or cartridge with oil to smooth out the springs. It's like a shock or strut plus a spring. Not a bad idea to change the fork oil after so long. In order to do this, you're going to need rear and front stands or some other way to hold the bike up while you take the front forks off.

I wouldn't worry about pistons, rings, or cylinders until you know there's a problem. A compression test or leak down test will help tell the story there.

+1 on the shop manual. It will really help with what you're doing. Might want to check out the suggested maintenance schedule and see what we've missed.

 

[55248]

Where can I get a repair manual from?

 

[RayOSV]

Where can I get a repair manual from?

Is it an XS750 triple?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...,GGLG:en&q=yamaha+XS750+repair+manual&spell=1

If you can find a Yamaha factory manual, that would probably be best. The Clymer and Haines manuals are sometimes not exactly accurate.

 

[Muffler Bearing]

Good thread and great information. I'm looking to restore an old Honda CB750 or something of the like and this gives me a nice headstart.

 

[enos]

As for holding the bike up, you can get away without stands. Your bike has a built in centerstand which holds the bike vertical with the back tire off the ground. All you need to do is use a jack to tilt the balance so it's resting on the centerstand and the back tire, with the front tire off the ground. You also probably have two convenient frame rails going down the bottom which you can use jackstands or wood blocks or what have you to hold the bike up. You can make it very stable this way (that's how i've done it).

On new bikes you can't do this. First, they don't have center stands (too heavy..). Second, the frame rails are high up. So on these bikes you use a special stand to grab onto the swinarm in the back and the bottom of the forks in the front. If you have to take the forks off, though, you need a stand that grabs by the steering head. an expense you don't need.

get a manual and it will tell you how to do the forks. basically there's a drain on the bottom then you open the top and put new stuff in. Every fork needs a different amount, and i doubt anyone here will know how much your bike needs. You do this by oil level, which you measure by taking out the spring and compressing the whole thing.
You should do this sometime, but it's probably not a priority. I bet that your fork oil seals will be leaking soon so you might want to just change those while you have the forks off the bike.

seriously, at the beginning keep it minimal. do only what you have to, and run through the regular maintenance from the manual.

 

[55248]

Alright guys. I am going over there today to start ripping it apart and do some checking and cleaning. I will keep you updated. Oh - the bike IS an XS750-2D.Yet, now that I am reading the owners manual, I think it is a 76. The first page says "XS750-2D Owners Manual 1st. printing, September 1976 All rights reserved ect, ect."

 

[Oni]

:needpics

 

[55248]

I gotcha.

I got a lot of stuff removed in the time I had. Im going to clean what I can and hack at it tommrorow. Can I just throw the carb into a parts cleaner?

 

[55248]

Two more. Forgot a pan at home and had to find something in my grandmas garage. Wasnt big enough - it split a bit.

 

[Muffler Bearing]

Lookin good, keep it up.

 

[Pretender]

That's a great bike. It should be fun to work on and to ride. You should be able to clean up the carbs just fine yourself, but a little reading up front will save you a lot of time and $ with it. There is lots of info on the Internet for free if you search for it. Here is a good site to start for carb work: http://www.dansmc.com/carbs.htm
Probably won't be specific to your exact carbs, but it will definitely be close. Good luck and thanks for sharing the pics!

 

[55248]

Also, I am having trouble getting the oil filter out of its housing. Is there a special way or is it just seized up? Thanks for the site!

 

[RayOSV]

Also, I am having trouble getting the oil filter out of its housing. Is there a special way or is it just seized up? Thanks for the site!

Not sure what you mean by this. Is it a cartridge filter that is under a cover and you can't get the cover off? Is the manual clear on what should be done? Pic?

 

[Muffler Bearing]

If you mean just taking off the oil filter it just takes an insane amount of elbow grease. I took me about 10 minutes to get mine off and out as I had to reach in between my crankcase and my header.

 

[55248]

Its at the very bottom of the bike. I had to take what looked like a section of the pan off and the oil filter it was. If I compress the filter within this housing the bolt within turns, yet if not, it doesnt. Ill just have to give it a bit more encouragement. I was probably sissying it. :lol