I got me a 81 midnight special too. Mostly in good shape. I just had a helluva ignition problem clear from last summer (2023) that I just fixed. Damn, motorcycle shops in my town won't work on anything older than the year 2000 bikes. Anyway, it Died on me right in the middle of a busy 4-lane intersection, and the bike was too heavy for me to push over to the side of the road by myself. Eventually got help from a FedEx driver to get it off the road. That event took the wind out of my sails for driving that bike or even to get it running till a few weeks ago.
Good luck finding new parts, and if you find old parts, hope you have a deep wallet, if and when you get it going, make sure you adjust the timing belt tensioner, every 2000 miles, i didint do that to the xs850 i own, and it slipped time.
Hey man, I’ve got a 1980 XS850 Special as well. I’ve had it since January. I lost interest in it for a bit but I recently got back into it. I figure I’ve probably got close to the amount of work you’ve got to do on yours, just a few different things. How’s your project going? This is my wife’s account btw lol.
Hey man are you in Idaho? I'm in Idaho. I just bought a 1980 Yamaha xs850s and I need some help. I don't know where what lines connect where between the petcocks, carburator and the little spigots on the top of the engine facing the carburator. Got any wisdom or advice to share with me? I'm getting close to being done
2 carb fuel lines connect down (just above the float bowls) between the 1st and 3rd carbs. The fuel lines are the bigger diameter. The small diameter lines connect to the carb vacuum ports on the top of the carb inlet. Those vacuum lines pull the carb petcocks to the open position so fuel starts flowing. When you shut the engine off, the vacuum goes away and the fuel valves close. That way there is no leaking of fuel after the engine is shut off.
I got me a 81 midnight special too. Mostly in good shape. I just had a helluva ignition problem clear from last summer (2023) that I just fixed. Damn, motorcycle shops in my town won't work on anything older than the year 2000 bikes. Anyway, it Died on me right in the middle of a busy 4-lane intersection, and the bike was too heavy for me to push over to the side of the road by myself. Eventually got help from a FedEx driver to get it off the road. That event took the wind out of my sails for driving that bike or even to get it running till a few weeks ago.
Good luck finding new parts, and if you find old parts, hope you have a deep wallet, if and when you get it going, make sure you adjust the timing belt tensioner, every 2000 miles, i didint do that to the xs850 i own, and it slipped time.
Hey man, I’ve got a 1980 XS850 Special as well. I’ve had it since January. I lost interest in it for a bit but I recently got back into it. I figure I’ve probably got close to the amount of work you’ve got to do on yours, just a few different things. How’s your project going? This is my wife’s account btw lol.
Hey man are you in Idaho? I'm in Idaho. I just bought a 1980 Yamaha xs850s and I need some help. I don't know where what lines connect where between the petcocks, carburator and the little spigots on the top of the engine facing the carburator. Got any wisdom or advice to share with me? I'm getting close to being done
2 carb fuel lines connect down (just above the float bowls) between the 1st and 3rd carbs. The fuel lines are the bigger diameter. The small diameter lines connect to the carb vacuum ports on the top of the carb inlet. Those vacuum lines pull the carb petcocks to the open position so fuel starts flowing. When you shut the engine off, the vacuum goes away and the fuel valves close. That way there is no leaking of fuel after the engine is shut off.