Re resurecting my old XT600

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Bustaspoke
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Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

Seeing as it's pissing down outside it's as good a time as any to do a write up on my old currently deceased XT600.
If I get it on the road this summer I'm going to call it Lazarus...
This last weekend I started to sort out the garage.I moved everything around so that I could rip out the old carpet & took the XT600 out from under the cover where it had been languishing in a state of semi disgrace since it expired over on the Isle of Man in 2017...

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I took the old FZ750 off the ramp,spent a day getting in a few runs to the local tip & then placed the XT in a position where I could work on it once again.It currently looks like this :wtf:

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I bought the XT from one of my old mates back around 2008,it's a 43F Kickstart only.The deal was that if I could kick start it I would buy it,I'm only 10 1/2 stone,he was 20 stone,easy for him to fire it up.I managed to start it so the deal was done & I pushed it about 800 metres to my place :thumbup:
This is what it looked like when I brought it home

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It was dog rough & smoked like a two stroke,but it was all there,it ran & I was looking for a Old School thumper trailie so £900 & it was mine.
I rode it a few times just to see what I was getting myself into.I knew pretty much imediately that it was a dog,but I wanted something that I could strip down,sort out & ride around on without worrrying getting to precious about the bike.
I'm only 5'6 so I dropped the forks through the yokes to lower the ride height & did a few shake down runs on it.
Apart from the oil burning it also had a slow puncture,here's the front inner tube valva :shock:

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I fitted a new tube
I got a shock when I went to remove the front wheel,these were the axle clamp studs clamping the front wheel axle :shock:

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The fork seal was also leaking...

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tbc
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Skub
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Skub »

Cool.

I hope there's not too many horrors internally,although that would be more entertaining/informative for us passive onlookers. :thumbup:
"Be kind to past versions of yourself that didn't know what you know now."
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weeksy
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by weeksy »

This thread has legs :)
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ChrisW
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by ChrisW »

These fork leg studs have no threads! :)
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Skub
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Skub »

ChrisW wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 5:18 pm These fork leg studs have no threads! :)
Metric smooth. :thumbup:
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DefTrap
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by DefTrap »

So - what's the early prognosis for its demise?
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Bustaspoke
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

Skub wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 5:05 pm Cool.

I hope there's not too many horrors internally,although that would be more entertaining/informative for us passive onlookers. :thumbup:
Prepare to be enyertained / informed :wtf:
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Bustaspoke
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

Skub wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 5:24 pm
ChrisW wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 5:18 pm These fork leg studs have no threads! :)
Metric smooth. :thumbup:
We replaced them with Cylinder head studs from my mate's Honda GP125 race kit :thumbup:
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Bustaspoke
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

DefTrap wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 5:28 pm So - what's the early prognosis for its demise?
The early prognosis was that the bike had suffered a lot of neglect & I was surprised it still ran...
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

I stripped the forks to replace the seals,luckily apart from needing new seals everything else looked alright.
Note the custom Damper rod locking tool :D

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One thing I noticed when riding the bike at night was that the High Beam cut off went the wrong way,so I think the bike was an import.
Sure enough when I got the V5 back it said that it was firet registered over here in 2002.

I knew the bike had suffered a hard life but I wasn't expecting some of the other things I found when I tore it down :wtf:
Here's the coil,the front mounts broken off :shock: How do you do that??

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Here's the Air 'Filter' :shock: God knows what state the carb will be in when I take it apart...

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To my eyes that's just downright negligent
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Skub
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Skub »

It's maybe a racing air filter,what with the wirelocking and all. :lol:
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Tricky
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Tricky »

Loving this thread already and looking forward to the next installment, and hopefully finding out why it has no primary drive (and assorted other things ) :thumbup:

The old girl has been well loved in previous life(s) and no mistake eh! :D
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Bustaspoke
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

Tricky wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2023 8:12 pm Loving this thread already and looking forward to the next installment, and hopefully finding out why it has no primary drive (and assorted other things ) :thumbup:

The old girl has been well loved in previous life(s) and no mistake eh! :D
Tough love! :shock:
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Dickyboy
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Dickyboy »

Oooo an old thumper & serious neglect story, keep it coming.

Once volunteered to change the fork oil on a mates seriously neglected bike, a 3" long silvery worm emerged out of the drain holes before anything remotely resembling oil appeared.
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

The more I looked the more evidence of a lack of maintenance & hard miles became apparent.
Here's the De compressor cable

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At least someone's had a look at the tappets at some point,not sure what size socket/spanner they used :shock:

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Fotunately they didn't use Can bus wiring systems back then...

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Closer inspection revealed that the inlet rubbers had seen better days,when I pulled the carbs off they fell apart :wtf:

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Last edited by Bustaspoke on Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Bustaspoke
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

After realising how much neglect & abuse the old XT had endured I had a begrudging respect for the old girl.I was surprised that it still ran,albeit with a minor smoke screen & whiff of burning engine oil arounnd it.
The exhaust came off easily enough,after the trail of neglect I'd uncovered so far I was expecting the exhaust studs to snap or something,but no big drama's. :thumbup:
I took the engine out of the frame,removed the cam box,took out the camshaft & it looked like this,not bad :thumbup:

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The top end all looked good.The piston crown was covered in coke from all the oil it was burning but maybe I'll get away with just a rebore?

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I removed the barrel,the bore didn't look to bad

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How about the piston?

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Oh dear
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Supermofo
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Supermofo »

I'm no meccanic but that's not looking good!
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Gregor
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Gregor »

Bustaspoke wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:24 am

How about the piston?

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Oh dear

Poor old slapper :lol:
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A_morti
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by A_morti »

This feels like an autopsy, be a heck of a thing if you reanimate it.
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Bustaspoke
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Re: Re resurecting my old XT600

Post by Bustaspoke »

A_morti wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 10:48 am This feels like an autopsy, be a heck of a thing if you reanimate it.
I did reanimate it,but it got worse before it got better :wtf:
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