| Author | Message | ||
     Starwolve |
Well, I've been back from Afghanistan for almost a month, and after riding my other bikes for a few weeks, I decided to get serious about finishing the 04 XB12R. (First thread here) - please check out the old post if you don't remember me or this bike, it has an interesting history (my friend was hit by a drunk driver on it), and I've been away for a year with the Army, slowly collecting parts for it. Well, this weekend, I stripped it down to rotate the engine, insulated the inside of the frame with heat shielding, changed the plugs, put in a new wiring harness, etc. It's been a fun process, and I might be able to fire her up tomorrow if I can get a new battery. Here's some pics: What I started out with a year ago:  Collecting parts:  Where I started this weekend:  Rotated:  Pipes wrapped and painted:  Heat shielding:  Old harness out:  Almost back together:  Not bad for a Buell "newbie", huh?! I owe a lot of thanks to the people on this board, without your help I wouldn't have been able to gather all the parts I needed to put this bike back together. I have to ask one more time for help. If anyone here has upgraded their exhaust to a drummer or something else, and has the stock cable that runs between the servo and the exhaust valve, I could really use it. I'm going to run the stock exhaust for the rest of this season (probably upgrading to a Drummer over the winter) but that's one part I'm still missing and never noticed until I went to look for it today. I can probably run it without the cable for a while, but I'd like to use it if I can. I can pay for shipping if someone has this and doesn't plan on using it. Thanks! | ||
| Greg_e |
You could wire it open and retune, or keep it closed like the XB9 and retune. If you are set on a drummer in the next two or three months, I wouldn't put too much effort into getting the stock system to work. If you do either of the above, you should probably look for the servo cheater circuit or disable the servo and error messages in the ECM. | ||
| Starwolve |
Thanks for the advice Greg. I'm probably going to leave it closed and run it like that for now if I can't find a cable. I'm definitely going the K&N/Drummer route this winter... the drummer just sounds too good not to run one. I also just called the HD shop, they have a battery in stock. So hopefully I'll be posting a video of this running later today. | ||
| Greg_e |
You may want to wire it open and put in the cheater, I think this would be a lot closer to the Drummer so you might be able to load a Drummer map and get by for now. | ||
| Starwolve |
Video of first start after rebuild Still have a few things to do before I can test ride it, but she runs!!! | ||
| Starwolve |
Ok - bike wouldn't start today, after a few short test runs yesterday. Starter and fuel injection worked, so I tested for spark, and then pulled the plugs. The spark tester showed the coil was outputting fine, and I zapped myself at least once making sure the plug itself had spark. I had "upgraded" to the Iridium plugs from American Sport Bike. The bike was previously running the standard HD 10R12 plugs. Here's what the iridium looks like compared to the old plugs (new Iridium on left, old 10R12 on right):  The iridium looks a little too black. The electrode is smaller than the 10R12, but they're normally that way. I put the 10R12 back in the front cylinder, and the bike fired right up. I can't really tell if it's running on one cylinder or not, but there's still a lot of backfiring and popping. So what is going on? I was thinking maybe the plug had too much carbon on it from running rough yesterday? Maybe the rear one is the same way? Any advice here? I know a dry black plug usually means the plug was fouled from being too rich or excessive idling. I think I'm going to pull the iridium out of the rear cylinder, put the 10r12 back in the rear, and see how both of those run. | ||
| Starwolve |
Well, I changed the plugs back to the old ones, and the bike ran like a CHAMP! Spent a good hour riding around the country "block" - couldn't go far because it's not legal yet. I think the iridiums were just fouled, and wouldn't run. I'll stick with the 10r12's for now. Lost a bolt for the shifter, luckily I was in 2nd so I was able to get home. Immediately after the bolt fell out, I got stung by a bee. Great first test ride though, anyways! Went back and found the bolt, put it back in with some blue loctite. Now it's just on to tuning. I've been reading my ECM Spy manual, and plan to do some data logging to get a baseline and see what I can do. It's not running bad now, with the exhaust valve wired open it does get a pop every now and then, but it's very rideable. And tomorrow I'll head to the DMV to start the registration and inspection process. | ||
| Starwolve |
A few pics:   Can you guess my favorite color for bikes?  | ||
| Greg_e |
Did you have fun at the DMV? | ||
| Starwolve |
No problems at the DMV. Paid my sales tax today, and I'm sending in the forms for the salvage inspection. The woman at the counter was a biker, and she reviewed my paperwork and said I shouldn't have any problem with the salvage inspection. Now it's just waiting for the appointment, probably 4-6 weeks she said. However, the people watching at the Syracuse DMV is almost as good as the State Fair. I think that a good 20% of the people that are there are in some sort of trouble and have lost their licenses or vehicles. It was an interesting cross section of society... | ||
| Greg_e |
I'll be interested to see what happens with the salvage title, what I read on the dmv site scared me away from them. Does it need to pass emissions for this inspection? If it does then it also needs to pass noise so you better tune for the valve closed and just live with it until after inspection. Spec. is like 88 db at 3 feet and 3000-3500 rpm (should be stamped on the muffler). (Message edited by Greg_E on September 05, 2012) | ||
| Starwolve |
The salvage inspection is really just for stolen parts. The bike doesn't get the state inspection there, you still have to take it to a bike shop to have it pass inspection, and you only have to do it beforehand if you want to get a temporary registration to ride it to the inspection station. I plan on hauling it there. I'm going to call them today just to double check, but it really shouldn't be that bad. The exhaust valve is just held open with a zip tie right now, so if I have to close it I can just snip it. I probably won't put the chin fairing on until after the inspection, so I should be able to get at it easily. (Message edited by StarWolve on September 06, 2012) | ||
| Livers |
I only have two data points, both in Syracuse. It is a paperwork check and recording of the numbers on frame and engine. They don't care if there are pistons in the cylinders or a battery in it. The last I was told to leave it on the trailer. Learn to love the ugly sticker. | ||
| Starwolve |
Glad to hear it - I'm hoping that it won't be too involved, and I'm really not worried about running a "salvage" title. This bike has a great back story, to go from this to where it is now:  This bike will never be perfect, but I rebuilt it to ride, not to show... and they won't see the sticker if I keep moving fast enough! | ||
| Livers |
From your pix, you'll have zero problems, as long as the numbers are good. Nice to see one come back from the dead. And you can never go wrong with black. | ||
| Richardbiker |
Hey, nice muffler! Welcome home, bike looks great, well done. Rich | ||
| Starwolve |
I posted over in the knowledge vault as well, but I'm having some trouble with the headlights. I was missing the small harness that goes from the wiring harness to the headlights. I ordered the amp connector and made my own, but when testing I noticed that I am not getting any voltage from the middle pins (high and low beam lights) on the connector that is on the main harness. I can run the low beam with the orange/white wire, which makes them "always on", but I still have no high beam, and also no high beam indicator light on the dash. I thought this might be the LH switch, so I connected a spare to see if that would change things, and no luck there. All the fuses are good. So to sum up - no power to the high or low beam pins. Fuses good. Tried another LH switch unit, no change. Anything I'm missing? I checked the wiring diagram and it does look like the lights feed into a relay, but isn't that just to shut them off during start up? If that was bad, would it cause the lights to be inoperable? Any help would be appreciated. | ||
| Dtech |
BTW, I pulled out my exhaust valve cable a few weeks ago. Let me know if you still need it. I have a D&D exhaust and the sound it makes is un-freakin believable. | ||
| Starwolve |
Double checked everything... again. Found a burned out fuse, replaced that, and I have high and low - but the high beam won't turn off, either! The high beam stays on now all the time. The switch doesn't change anything, except for the high beam indicator light on the dash. I suppose I could run it as is, but I really want to get this fixed if I can. I'll have to take some time this weekend and dive into the wiring harness. | ||
| Greg_e |
So there are both on all the time? The low beam is not supposed to switch off on the R style, just wondering if they are connected backwards. | ||
| Starwolve |
The low is on all the time because I connected it to the "city lights" pin (or whatever the one is called that is always on) I didn't know the low stayed on for the R models... I'll add another wire to the amp connector and see if I have the wrong pin. I hope it's something simple like that. | ||
| Greg_e |
The two light wires are the yellow and white, I just don't remember which is for low beam and which is for high beam. As far as I remember the low beam should always be on when the ignition is on (it actually uses the same path as the ignition or ECM). This is different from the S models which use a different wire for the low beams. If you pull up my Hella threads, you might find the info on the wire colors, I might have put that in there or in one of the pictures. | ||
| Starwolve |
Got it sorted out - wrong wire for the high beam, and the bad fuse. The headlights are working great. I'm planning to upgrade them to the HID bulbs soon, but it's good to know that the wiring is working as is. Still need to adjust the idle speed, but otherwise she's running great. Now if the DMV would just get back to me on my appointment date, I might be able to take this bike for a nice long ride before the snow flies! | ||
| Frinzo |
If ur getting a HID kit for ur xbr.. id recommend the dmmtuning. A pair is $35 last week when i looked... i currently run them and have had no issue since i installed them roughly 2 yrs ago.. i got the 35w with 8k bulbs.. world of difference compared to stock. | ||
| Starwolve |
DDM Tuning? That's the site a few other's on this forum have used with pretty decent success. I'm still not sure which wattage and color I should go with, though. I tend to do quite a bit of night riding, so I'm thinking the 55w kit - but I'm also a little concerned with the heat output with the Firebolt headlight housings. | ||
| Brumbear |
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| Frinzo |
Star, I would recommend getting the same kit as i did, lots of my bueller buddies run the same kit. its clear white and i do ride abit in the dark also, city and country. I can try taking a pic, not sure it will come out that great though. Will try getting one tomorrow night. | ||
| Starwolve |
Thanks Frinzo - I'm all about getting as much light as I can out of the HID's, but I don't want to over do it and melt the housings. I'm not in any rush to do the upgrade, so take your time. I'm still waiting on the DMV for my salvage inspection appointment, and then I'll have all winter to do upgrades. Did have it out this weekend to do a few more test rides. Got the idle speed adjusted, and also tested out my new helmet... Icon Variant. Very nice helmet, and the first full face I've worn in a long time. I was a little worried about whiplash from the visor, but I tested it "at speed" on the Buell, and there's no wind buffeting at all. Very impressed with it. | ||
| Starwolve |
She passed the NY DMV salvage inspection this morning!  The inspector did ask to have it off the truck, which wasn't a big deal. He looked at my binder with a parts spreadsheet, bille of sale, receipts, and documentation, and just said "wow - you're thorough!" 15 minutes later, I was good to go - with no yellow sticker, either! Since none of the VIN information changed, there was no need for the sticker. The only downside of this whole process is that it's a rebuilt title, and I can't insure it for collision. (Not that I really want to anyways - I don't have a lot into this bike.) Hopefully I'll have my title in hand before the snow flies, so I can take it on a few rides! Already gathering my parts list for winter upgrades - heated grips, DDM Tuning lights, Drummer Exhaust, GPS mount, and a few other goodies... Also - my friend who was the previous owner (Nadz on this forum) had another accident a few weeks ago on his Ulysses. He's alright - but it looks like I'll be rebuilding another Buell soon. He's having his Uly shipped to my garage so we can put it back together. If anyone has some Uly parts laying around, I know we're going to need most of the front end components. I'll let him start a thread for that rebuild, but I'm looking forward to putting everything I learned to use on another Buell rebuild! Save em, don't scrap em! | ||
| Brother_in_buells |
Save em, don't scrap em! You have my vote sire! chris your buell looks good! And it is nice to bring it back on the road right!? ,i've done two so far. |
