In August 2007, I acquired this 1973 Yamaha TX650 as a platform for what I envisioned as a mildly cafe'd roadster. It was in fairly good cosmetic and structural condition, but was not running. I'm fairly new to bikes and, with limited skill and resources, it took me a couple of weeks to get the bike started and sort out some fuel, electrical/ignition, and oil leak issues. As of this writing (August 2009), the bike has undergone repairs/modifications which include, but are not limited to, the following:

- installation of new/correct petcocks, fuel lines and microfilters, as well as K&N "oilcan" pods;

- several carburetor cleanings and replacement and/or proper adjustment of floats, needle valves and seats, pilot and main jets;

- replacement and proper routing of throttle, decompression, speedometer and clutch cables;

- replacement of clutch actuator worm gear assembly and proper adjustment of clutch actuator mechanism;

- replacement of main output shaft seal and crankshaft seal;

- installation of PAMCO electronic ignition trigger (replaces points and condenser), including plug wires, caps and dual point coil;

- new brushes;

- new front/rear-specific Kenda Challenger Sport tires, tubes and rim strips;

- installation of voltmeter;

- installation of new front brake light switch and new cafe-type tail light;

- installation of Ace cafe bars and new grips

- installation of Mike's cafe seat (slightly adapted to fit '73 hinges;

- new battery

- general cleaning (assembled) and some freshening of frame paint and krinkle-finish case covers;

- new rubbers and removal of pillion pegs;

- installation of header wrap and Mike's shortie reverse-cone mufflers; and

- installation of Mike's reed-type breather valve to help mitigate oil loss by creating crankcase vacuum.

The most recent endeavor has been to investigate a notion by Pete (of PAMCO fame) to use ambient air at speed to reduce notoriously high cylinder temperatures. My approach uses Spectre Performance Products automotive air intake plenums to collect ambient air from forward of the headers, and direct it at the cylinder bells, where there are no cooling fins and airflow is obstructed.  Testing on the road is in progress; the setup seems stable, unobtrusive and practical, but I still need an infrared thermometer to get real-world temperature readings.

After two years of some trials, tribulations and a bit of a learning curve, I'm cautiously hoping that some frustrating oil seepage may finally be mitigated or corrected. The bike runs very well through the gears and at speed, and has a quite acceptable idle, as well as excellent throttle response, but there are still some minor fuel delivery issues to fine tune, and I am still in that phase of establishing a "relationship of trust" with the bike and with my own level of competence.  Like most such projects, work is never "finished", but I'm starting to see feel the fruits of my labor in the pit of my gut when this old gal presses my butt back against the bumstop.

TC