Yamaha XJ400

I wrote to JRC Engineering last night in regards to my wishes to use the flat slide 30mm carbs I bought from them several years ago. I bought them for a 750 twin and the Yam is a 400 twin. So I was worried.

In the reply the guy said one of their guys has the same carbs fitted to a 70s Honda CB400 twin - which is much the same bike, they were kind enough to give me the jetting they found to work best:
Main jet; 115
Needle std in center groove
Needle jet std
Pilot jet 35
They also told me that if I get the inside diameter of the carb boots on my bike they probably have flanges that would work - so I don't have to do anything crazy there. I have my Amal single throttle cable throttle, and I have plenty of cables stashed away.

So I have no doubt that I can now run my bike with new carbs instead of the worn out stock carbs.

So when the parts come to get the bike on the road I'll be prepared. I'm going to have to take the rear wheel off and much of the rear body work to get the airbox out of the bike (bastardly design). Once the airbox is out I will be able to get the stock carbs and boots off, change the boots, and by then hopefully I will have the new bits for fitting the Flat Slide carbs.

Anyways this news pleases me immensely.

Sitting here listening to Josh Ritter. Not too much going on. Smoking the Saint John's blend. I find I am smoking less, I don't have any real reason why.


It's easy to con Liam into an album, just sing a verse.. got him to put on Let It Bleed earlier.
Me: (8:30:10 PM) Well I followed herrrr to the stationnnnn
Liam: (8:30:14 PM) oh
Liam: (8:30:18 PM) please don't do that.
Liam: (8:30:29 PM) ugh
Liam: (8:30:30 PM) fine
Liam: (8:30:32 PM) ill put it on tooo
Me: (8:30:38 PM) hahahaha
Liam: (8:30:49 PM) love in vain kills me.
Me: (8:31:04 PM) same..

Still waiting on the following bits from Dillon Brothers, good place, they sell every OEM Jap motorcycle bit that you can still get. Now when avoidable I don't go for OEM because it costs more, but on certain things, like bolts, rubbers, gaskets, and brake shoes - you can't miss.

1HX-W253E-00-00 BRAKESHOE SET-2PCS (4G0-W2536-00-00) $24.87 2 $49.74
1L9-15417-00-00 COVER, CAP $4.32 1 $4.32
3Y1-17456-00-00 HOLDER, SPROCKET $2.69 1 $2.69
43F-W0045-01-00 BRAKE PAD KIT, FRO (11H-W0045 $27.73 1 $27.73
4H7-24181-00-00 DAMPER, LOCATING 1 $5.50 2 $11.00
90109-08406-00 BOLT $4.64 1 $4.64
90507-20002-00 SPRING, TENSION $3.62 2 $7.24
91490-20025-00 PIN, COTTER (91490-20020-00) $1.23 2 $2.46
92990-08100-00 WASHER, SPRING $0.99 2 $1.98
92990-08600-00 WASHER (92901-08600-00) $0.99 2 $1.98
95380-08700-00 NUT (95303-08700-00) $0.99 2 $1.98
97013-06012-00 BOLT $1.31 2 $2.62
98517-06025-00 SCREW PAN HEAD (92501-06025-00) (98511-06025-00) $1.58 3 $4.74
98580-06565-00 SCREW, PAN HEAD $4.34 2 $8.68
Subtotal: $131.80
Shipping: $18.08
Tax: $0.00
Misc. Adjust.: $0.00
Total: $149.88


So yes I spent $150 on little things, but they are needed little things.

As far as "Modding" The Yamaha goes, I think I am going to use what I have. What I mean is, I have a lot of spare Norton parts. So I want a Drum brake up front, well then I'll eventually rebuild the Norton front wheel, and mount that to the Yamaha - that will be my front TLS brake, so I'll have drums fore and aft.

I plan to use the Norton seat as well as the Norton tank. Not Dad's tank, but the new one I got. What I can do is eventually take them both to Worcester City Welding, and for the cost of Less than a Cafe tank that will fit I can have the stock tank bottom welded into the Norton tank shell.

The seat I won't have to mod at all, I'll just have to make some brackets for the frame to hold it. That won't be hard - the seat:

Has two spikes which you can barely see that go through holes in the Norton frame (brackets) so all I have to do is mount a couple bars with the same holes on the Yamaha frame. Won't be too hard.

I'll probably fit the Norton number plate and my "Stop" light.

I'll replace the current turn signals with Replica Lucas style:


So in a sense the Yamaha will be the best that I can have. Which it is.

Anyways, I'm done for now.

I'm not exactly in the talking mood right now. Because I'm not in a talking mood, I don't really know what I'm doing here. But here I am all the same. I'm just trying to keep my head together, it's a hard thing, I'm spending all my time down here.

Now I do have motorcycle parts on the way. I have the bits and pieces for the Yamaha that I'll need. I'm still waiting on the Exhaust system - it should be around soon. The car is still down, down until this weekend.

Its been a rough few weeks. It's wearing on my optimism. I can deal with it, I always deal with it. This is the longest I've ever been down and not pretty heavily sedated. It's not... being on narcotic pain killers aren't, they aren't good for me, they mess with my head, they make me stupid, and they make me sleep all the time. BUT when I was on them, time seemed to flow easier. It also would wipe clean the memory of having been in pain so long. But now, now I'm on these other pain meds, and they leave me totally coherent. It also leaves me in a lot of pain. So I can remember the pain, and what's going on...

I have never been in this much pain this long, normally when it gets this bad, I have access to pain killers. I HATE them, I HATE feeling numb to everything, but it's better than This.

I'm a tough guy, I can handle this. I know I can. But how long? When will they get the medications right?

I am looking at being in pain for the rest of my life. There isn't a cure for 3 syndromes. There isn't a cure for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There's only therapy and pain management in my future.

I know that it does no good to mourn the life I didn't have. I'm still allowed to be mad as hell about it. Aren't I?

Anyways, this isn't productive. I'm just tired of being in pain all the time.

Welp

Well, there are 3 really hot guys around my age outside cleaning our gutters. I had no idea, I walked out there in boxers and a t-shirt. My god its actually nice outside. I mean really nice, I wanted to stay out there and bask in the sunlight, but I'm expecting a phone call from my doctor, and frankly I can't interfere with their work.

I have Dire Straights on now, and it's been an eventful morning. I had somewhat forgotten that certain friends know about this blog, but I'm glad they found/read it. Fears have been put out, and I feel that I am on better footing than I was. It makes me happy.

I'm in the process of Selling the Enfield bits, Its a project that would cost more than I could afford to finish, and I just... Its silly to keep it all around, just an unnecessary distraction and temptation to spend money I don't have. I will ride the XS400 until I can't anymore, then I'll get an XS650.

Anyways, I'm done for now, I'm going back to my show =p

Hair = Gone

My hair falls out sometimes, been happening since I was 12. It's linked to stress and anxiety. It started again. So I just shaved it off last night. I was able to get most of it myself, mom had to help with the back. Its not the best haircut we've ever done, been about a year since I last had to shave my head - but I don't get out much so it doesn't matter.

I have a doctor's apt in an hour, and I have to call a cab. Gonna do that right after I shave.

I dig this song btw:

How do I get myself into these things?

Ok that title isn't completely fair.

I have three friends, Mike, Cole, and Dan.

Mike and Cole have been dating for about a year. I've been friends with Cole for quite a while, we'd hang out and go for walks and just talk. I've been friends with Mike for a little less of that time, but not much less. I introduced them. I became friends with Dan a couple months ago, and saw a solid friendship in the making. It was kind of nice because he's fairly local, but separate of Mike and Cole for the most part.

So how does it go? How do you think it goes?

Mike met Dan online, and got to liking Dan. He'd hoped to hang out with Dan and keep seeing Cole, but it just didn't work out that way. So now Mike and Cole have split up. Something that puts me in a hell of a situation because I'm really good friends with both of them. Then I really like Dan, but Mike wants to date Dan now, or at least he did before he and Cole split up.

So I sort of watched this thing unfold, trying to support Mike while also talk him out of it at first, but there's only so much you can do in that line... I long ago discovered that if you push your ideas or feelings too hard on somebody who has a mind set that you'll push them away, and not only will they follow through with their plan anyways but it will cost you the friendship, or at the very least throw a large fucking wrench into the gears. So instead I got to sit back and watch the thing begin to unfold, or in a better way of looking at it, its like knowing a bomb is about to go off and there is nothing you can do about it...

I wanted to talk to Cole about it but Mike had told me he'd planned to, so there was really nothing I could do there, I mean I could have, but in order to help the one I'd have to betray the other. So instead I watched Cole get blind sided.

So now I'm banging my head against the wall. Because I watched two close friends get hurt tonight. Mike is one of my favorite people on the planet and he's going to lock me out now, I can feel it. The only chances I got to see Mike was when he was with Cole. I'll still get to hang out with Cole, it will sort of go back to the way it was before they were dating. We'll find opprotunities to get together. But Mike... ohhh Mike.


I've started writing my book again, I took a little break.

Anyways, I'm going to split, watch some 24, maybe go to bed, maybe work on the bike, I don't know.

Gah!

Well the car is still brakeless. I'm loosing track of the days. 2 or 3 weeks I think. I have lost track because I worked on it with Brent one week (but might have been the second week) then he worked on it for 1 or 2 weeks. I'm not sure.

Anyways she's still leaking brake fluid.

So the next plan is to get the Yamaha running sooner than later so I can put it on the road in case this problem with the Olds keeps going.

Humbug.