| Author | Message | ||
     Puls4521 |
Hey guys, I have been around for a little while now but had spent most of my time in the old school section when I was building my '98 S1W. I sold that bike a in February leaving my Buell-less and bikeless. Monday I was fortunate enough to buy a 2003 XB9S from a co-worker. He taught MSF courses for Harley and had purchased brand new at a discount in '03. He barely ever rode it, and sold it to me with 518 miles on it! The only small detail is that it had tipped over on him at a crawl and scratched the header and brushed the frame, no damage other than cosmetic. Any way, I'll post some pics when I get home tonight. Also, any heads up on issues that are common to these bikes? I will probably do the oil pump drive gear at the end of the season, its my understanding they had the same crap gear as on my s1 until 2006. Any other tips would be welcome! Thanks! | ||
| Nillaice |
sounds like you've scored an un-molested machine! oil pump is a notorious one. 77 connector (stator to VR) needs soldered/RF cable spliced or upgraded to the pin style deutch connector. the blade style will corrode/melt and fry the VR. drive belt and pulleys and idler will need upgraded to the 04+/chain drive. the 03 belt is inferior. frame pucks will serve to cover up the scratch on the frame and offer protection in an unfortunate event. wheel bearings had a few revisions. the orange plastic means you might have the old ones. rear, right (drive pulley side) is the most stressed wheel bearing | ||
| Greg_e |
The 03 belt is just fine! Check it for dry rot and if good ride the hell out of it. If concerned the new replacement belt is stronger, so just replace it. | ||
| Puls4521 |
Thanks for all the tips! Here are a few pics.    | ||
| Greg_e |
Yeah, the frame pucks will cover that damage. I'd probably use etching primer and frame paint just to preserve the metal, but you won't need to try the blend it or anything. You may want to wrap the header, huge amount of heat on your leg at stop lights, and I burned far to many things on mine. That will hide the scratches for you. I would go with the titanium color, will kind of match the yellow. (Message edited by greg_e on July 17, 2015) | ||
| Puls4521 |
Good call Greg, I think I will be ordering pucks this weekend. Header wrap is a good idea, it has always worried me that I might corrode the pipe, but its already a little messed up anyway. Titanium would look good with yellow, but it won't be yellow for long! The plastics are in perfect condition so I don't really want to paint them. I am going to try plastidip this weekend and see how it turns out. That way I if I don't like the color I can just change it with no harm to the plastic. Should be matte pearl white by the end of the day. | ||
| Greg_e |
Plastidip always looks ghetto to me, but it will let you decide if you like the color. The white vht paint I used on the natural header wrap came out a kind of dull light gray, but it does look good in pictures with my white 2003 XB9R, my machine is basically monochrome. | ||
| Puls4521 |
My buddy has the dipyourcar spray gun and it actually turned out awesome. We finished it about 2 hours ago. It is matte pearl white.  | ||
| Puls4521 |
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| Greg_e |
If you like it, you should track down white plastics and make it permanent! I like the way it looks in pictures, but durability will be in question to me. He's mine so you can see the exhaust wrap, doesn't look great in person, but decent enough. Now that it's cured for a few years, I should probably try a new layer of vht white.  |
