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Message started by penguinsscareme on 12/01/05 at 17:06:31

Title: Hi
Post by penguinsscareme on 12/01/05 at 17:06:31

Hello, I have a semi-basket case '86 Savage. I watched it go from a relatively decent bike to a rolling rat in the span of a few years while it belonged to a neighbor. I recently picked it up for cheap. I'd like to make a bobjob/ratbike/chopper/war pig out of it.

After an afternoon of playing with it, I can tell it needs a head gasket, fork seals, rear shocks, a battery, and a lot of cleaning. Also the rear fender is cocked so that it doesn't sit directly over the rear tire. I was relieved to find that it was the fender and not the swingarm!

I looked through the Chilton's (Clymer? I forget which.); I wasn't that impressed. It does tell you how to perform service procedures, but it doesn't answer more "real world" questions, like, What's the blue wire with the yellow stripe?

Basically I know nothing about this bike except that I like the way it looks and sounds, and it looks like it would be easy for my wife to learn on but still frisky enough to be fun for me.

There seems to be tons of good information on this site, but it's all buried. Anyone point me in the direction of a few threads on care and feeding of the LS650, and basic performance mods?

Thanksabunch!

Title: Re: Hi
Post by vroom1776 on 12/01/05 at 17:16:36

Welcome!

Check out the Technical section. Very heavy with top notch info. There is one thread in particular that is called "Mods" where several folks have posted all of there mods and reviews of them.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by HawkEye1967 on 12/01/05 at 18:02:45

welcome

Title: Re: Hi
Post by penguinsscareme on 12/01/05 at 18:08:25

penguinsscareme wrote:

Also the rear fender is cocked so that it doesn't sit directly over the rear tire. I was relieved to find that it was the fender and not the swingarm!

"Thingyed?" Does [rhymes with rocked] appear as "thingyed" to everyone else too, or just me? Is c[cough!!]ocked a forbidden word here? My apologies if so.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by Jim_R on 12/01/05 at 18:22:17

CLICK SEARCH!

its a great feature :)

oh and check ebaymotors for all kinds of stuff, i have got alot of stuff for cheap.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by Savage_Rob on 12/01/05 at 18:22:43

Welcome to the site.

The filter on this one is odd, to say the least. It doesn't like sp00n because of p00n. It defines a b1tch as a pregnant dog rather than simply a female dog. Go figure. Most of the time it's easy to figure out what folks mean. When it's difficult, it's fun to try.

Definitely use the tech section but be sure to read the posting rules at the top of each forum. Use the search facility too. The 180 day default is far better than the previous 7 it had and is usually sufficient. I'll sometimes use 500 though - just to get a really good search.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by slavy on 12/01/05 at 18:24:59

I am almost sure , You don't need a head gasket, but You hava the famous oil plug leak /read the posts/. The rear shocks are a breeze to get from ebay and change /or You can go with diff. shocks/. The cleaning is the first thing to do, before You start working.
Read the posts in the technical section as somebody mentioned before. It will worth Your while.
Welcome !

Title: Re: Hi
Post by Savage_Rob on 12/01/05 at 18:32:36

Yeah, chances are that Slavy is absolutely correct and the seepage/leakage you see is from the infamous plug.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by penguinsscareme on 12/01/05 at 19:11:45

Jeez, that doesn't make me very happy. When I cracked open the throttle at highway speed, the revs came up right away but the bike took a few seconds to actually accelerate. That plus the oil leaking from the head gasket told me compression loss due to bad head gasket. But maybe the clutch is slipping? Could be wrong type of oil on the wet plates. Or could need a clutch.

Oh well, winter is a long season in New Hampshire.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by penguinsscareme on 12/01/05 at 19:17:00

vroom1776 wrote:

I just figured out yours is the bike I saw on ratbike.org or some such. Dude, that is one tortured, tormented machine you've got there. I was inspired, just inspired by it. I hate the seat/fender contraption, but otherwise I think that is exactly the kind of approach I'm taking with my bike. It shall be named Unshiny, and it shall be mine.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by vroom1776 on 12/02/05 at 08:18:56

Thanks (I think! ;) ). Yeah, lotsa resources & good folsk here. my "seat/fender contraption" is, IMO, more comfortable than the stock seat. I'm not kidding. I don't sit on my tailbone! Anyway, keep us posted on your progress.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by slavy on 12/02/05 at 08:40:00

So You have 2 easy problems to solve- better than one hard.
THe clutch plates are worn-out. This is absolutely comon problem on all 4 gear bikes. I had 3 '86-'88 Savages and I had to replace the clutch of all 3 of them. You will need a clutch cover gasket and clutch plates. If You go with EBC plates, it is EBC #3359 for all the years.
Every time when I do a clutch of one of these, I put washers to have a little more preload on the springs.
One more thing- If the bike has a lot of miles and is in this condition, You better make sure the cam chain is in good condition. If the bike has a rattle when running- new cam chain /approx. $95 from the dealer/ This way You will do the work only once. To do the cam chain You have to remove the clutch cover and the head cover, what You are doing anyway. Read the instructions about the timing very carefully couple of times. The mistakes are costly.
Good luck !

Title: Re: Hi
Post by Savage_Rob on 12/02/05 at 11:29:27

Seems like the simplest thing to do first is change the oil and filter so you can be sure you don't have clutch slippage due to the wrong oil. Then go from there.

Title: Re: Hi
Post by SeeAPierce on 12/02/05 at 15:38:26

Savage_Rob wrote:

Seems like the simplest thing to do first is change the oil and filter so you can be sure you don't have clutch slippage due to the wrong oil. Then go from there.

Savage_Rob is right there. Anytime I bought a used bike I'd do a top to bottom tune up - points, plug(s), plug wire(s), hoses, filters, and all the fluids first. That way if there was a problem, you could rule out "the basics"...