The unfortunate story of my new XB12R (project)

[adjwoolley]

So my new 04 xb12r has turned into a BIG project for myself. I'm new to the forum because I just got the bike but here goes the story...

2004 XB12r with 25K miles. EBR ECM, White Bros. exhaust.

PROBLEMS I found so far with the bike:

Bad HID conversion. (Must have high beams on and it cuts off sometimes)
The bikes been painted at least 3 times.
Tripometer inoperable.
It had a dirt bike muffler welded on it! (figured this out because it said for 'for 4 stroke motors' so I looked into it..)
Fuel pump whines at a higher pitch sometimes.
Fuel tank breather tube lets off a lot of fumes and drips (even for 10 mins after bikes been shut down) normal?
IDLE PROBLEM sometimes causing motor to DIE. (motor eventually dies, sometimes 10 mins, sometimes 2 mins)
No front exhaust crush gasket. (oil was leaking around this area and smoking pretty good.)
Oil pump leaking, oil lines leaking, clutch cover leaking, small oil leak from rear pushrod cover base, several other leaks possible (need to narrow them all down)
Right fork seal leak.
Had a slight knock one day when I showed it to a few people. (seemed to be gone the next day???)


TRIED FIXES:

New battery
Fresh tank of 93
New spark plugs
Spray intake gaskets with carb cleaner (check for leaks)
Reset TPS with ecmspy and ran diagnostics.

COMPRESSION TEST = 145 front, 150 rear

So I was completely unhappy with the bike and I don't trust it AT ALL. I'm pretty much stuck with the bike and I need to get back on the road A.S.A.P.

MY CURRENT COURSE:

I've ordered a Hammer Performance 1250 kit for the bike....

Tore the motor out. (vent oil line has some white gunk in it, one push rod was possibly clogged, possible ring blow by but they really didn't look that bad) There's A LOT of carbon build up on intake valves and piston tops.

Motor had little over 3 quarts of oil in it. (manual calls for 2.5)
I've installed a different fuel pump assembly that I ordered from EBAY.
I've ordered a factory ECM because I've learned that you can ruin the EBR ECM from TPS reset and cant tune.
Ordered factory replacement bulbs to get the HID ballasts out of the way.
A few gaskets here and there to plug up some of the leaks.
New fork seals and fork oil has been ordered...
Plastics have been given to a friend and are being custom vinyl wrapped.
Cleaned injectors.
Ordered new plugs and wires.


I know I've got a lot going on with the bike but I'm trying to get it all figured out and post a success story on here. Any help along the way would be appreciated. I do need a 1250 map to get me started if anyone has one. I need to figure something out about a muffler too but have stretched myself thin and don't have $400 for anything new right now.

I'll try to get some pics going on here too so you get a visual with the project....

 

[wolfo68]

HID conversion can be taken care of fairly easily
Paint can be stripped or sanded fairly easily.
guages can be replaced
Try finding a stock muffler, or the dirt bike one may be a good temporary.
The fuel pump normally primes with a whine
The breather tube with drip if the fuel is overheating and evaporating (condensing in the line) can happen when the tank is getting low or if it is overfilled
The idle problem is from any number of tings, where is it idling when you can get it to stay on? it may be set low
the exhaust gaskets are an easy fix
undo oil lines and use thread sealant made for oil lines
leaking fork, just rebuild the set and you should be fine
knock?, if it was a true knock then you may have serious issues it could possibly just be incorrect detonation (timing)?



Sounds like you need a top end gasket set (need for the 1250 kit anyway)

The white gunk on the oil vent is probably from water in the oil

 

[adjwoolley]

FRONT PISTON

REAR PISTON

REAR PISTON ( the pic actually makes this look worse than it is in person, in my opinion)

4 stroke system? Dirt bike muffler!

 

[arikam]

Wow. Looks sucky.

 

[Omiotek]

sucks man.... best of luck to you.

 

[wolfo68]

I had a piston that looked like that on the rear after I blew the rear head gasket.

 

[wifarmboy]

What does it sound like with the white bros on it...its pretty wide open pipe. Iv wondered what a 4stroke exhaust would sound like

 

[chevy42083]

FYI.... our bikes are 4 stroke.

Dirtbikes come in either 2 or 4.... so that really doesn't mean anything anyways.
Diameter and maybe packing material is all that matters. Believe me, there've been MUCH worse exhaust made by and put on by Buell owners.

I've heard an xb9 with an FMF pipe.... popper and backfired a LOT. They all sound good at idle.

 

[adjwoolley]

It sounded pretty raspy with that pipe on it. I understand it's a 4 stroke motor... My concern is this...

Most dirt bikes that this pipe would be on are probably in the 450cc range. The Buell is 1200cc running fairly high compression. I'm just worried about it not flowing well and really heating up/choking the motor. I wonder if I'm better off running open header for a while until I can get a decent pipe on it??

 

[Omiotek]

Just get a stock exhaust from someone on here or eBay. They are inexpensive

 

[wolfo68]

No matter what you do, tune it for that situation.

 

[adjwoolley]

Motor is together... Just gotta find the time to put it back in and get everything buttoned up!

 

[Negative]

Man that 1250 kit looks good on there ..... This is going to make a good success story I can just feel it ... [up]

 

[chief_of_smoke]

looking good.

 

[adjwoolley]

UPDATE: Got the bike together and tried to run oil through the system by turning it over with the fuel pump unplugged and the spark plug wires disconnected. Apparently that doesn't work very well because the first several times of starting the motor with everything connected the top end was knocking pretty loud.

I guess oil has made its way through the system because the loud metallic sound is gone but the bike wont run for more than 10 seconds!

If I unplug the head temp. sensor it will start and run for about 10 seconds (it varies). If I plug the sensor back in the bike doesn't even want to start. So... I ordered a head temp sensor...

Also found out that my connectors for the voltage regulator are melted and not making good contact anymore so I had to buy the new connector kit.

So that's the status for now... It starts but I need a couple of parts to get it running right before I can test ride it.

 

[adjwoolley]

Long story short: bought a bunch of parts, went through a lot of troubleshooting, bike is on the road now!

It will never be the cleanest Buell around but at least I'm back on 2!

 

[Mwstevenson]

Looks good to me![up]. What did end up doing for an exhaust?

 

[adjwoolley]

Still running the dirt bike muffler because funds are tight. It's just making it run a little hot.

 

[WayneBrettzky]

Do you need the straps and mounts, or just the muffler? Does it have to have the active valve for a 12 or will a 9 muffler work?

 

[onelogue]

[up][up][up][up] major respect for bringing the Buell back to lie and not parting it out.
I restored my 04 Firebolt after a bad accident and now my friend rides it everyday.

Thats a lot of work! Enjoy the bike. If i lived close i would have gladly helped you out. [cool]