Boov

I replaced the rear brake pads on my '99, and the old ones had a couple of extra pieces of hardware attached to each of them. They look like one part is for anti-vibration, and the other is for air flow for cooling maybe. Should I keep those parts in there with the new pads? I got really basic, nothing special pads and I'm still using the stock rotor. Thanks

Gracias!

I'm an electrical engineer, and I'm doing some wiring "stuff". I don't have a schematic for '99 so could somebody look this up for me? I'm looking for 5-10amps of ignition switch controlled power. Is there that much available on any of the stock circuits, or am I going to have to install my own "ignition on" relay off of the fuel pump curcuit or something to make what I need? Thanks

I need the plastic piece that holds the license plate holder. It has a red reflector on each side and I think this is what the stock rear turn signals mount to.

If you want way too much information about display and mirros, here you go: I used to work for an auto supplier that made rear-view mirrors For the rearview mirror that has the compass and temperature (comp/temp) display we would start with a regular, full mirrored peice of glass. This is a peice of safety glass coated on the back side with silver, some other metal, and two layers of paint. We would then mask off all but the comp/temp window and sandblast the paint off the back side of the glass with a baking soda sandblaster. We then used a special acid compound to dissolve off the metal and silver to create a clear window where the display is going to go. The VFD (vacuum flourescent display) on the comp/temp circuit board lines up with the window. We also made the mirror that has the backup camera display built into it. I only ever saw this on a comercial once, but it's really cool. When the car goes into reverse a display turns on that is behind the mirror and displays through the reflective surface. When it's not on you can't tell that it's there. These mirrors have a special (thinner) silvering on them that a display can make it through. This type of silvering takes a zillion-dollar machine to apply properly using technology you've never heard of in a machine that looks like it belongs in NASA. Anybody ever heard of sputter-coating? Unfortunately, this is not a retro-fit you can do to a regular mirror.

This was my typical tightening strategy too, and maybe this wasn't entierly from being too tight. The first time I turned this nut after buying the bike was to replace the back tire. It took me 10 minutes to get it off, and I definitely rolled some of the threads out. I should have gotten a new axle then, but I'm way too dutch to but something before I absolutely need it. Typically you keep a fastener from galling by lubricating it. Would you dare to give the threads a drop of oil?

Years ago someone had told me that you couldn't get the rear axle nut too tight (within reason). In other words, the tighter the better. Well, I spun the threads out of mine, destroying the nut and the axle. So, I have two questions: What is the Honda torque spec? How tight do you put yours?

I'm all set. Sometimes I'm a little hesitant about an eBay seller shipping stuff in a timely manner, but this seller seems okay. Thanks.

I am in need of a replacement rear axle and nut for my '99 XX. I will give up in a day or two and order one from Honda, but they seem to think that these are made of gold. If anybody has a parts bike or just happens to be sitting on an extra one of these, and you wouldn't mind looking into next-day shipping for me, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

I have a craftsman lift. It is just a bottle jack connected to a linkage that lifts two horizontal bunks off the ground. It worked awesome for my Magna a couple years ago, mainly because I could get both tires off the ground and wheel it around in any direction on the casters once it's lifted. Now, this lift doesn't pick up my XX worth a crap. I'm thinking that I need spacer blocks, or adaptor brackets, or something so that I can lift this bike while keeping it centered and stable. Did anybody come up with anything? Can youu share drawings or pictures or anything? Thanks.

Heh, just asking.. And yes, you can tee right into the return line without any problems. Post up some pics of your finished product. I'm curious to see the final result. You have some good points above. Sweet, thanks. Since I'm in Michigan I have at least 4 months of down time in the winter to tinker with this sort of thing. I'm just doing the research now so I'm ready. I'll post up pictures when I'm done.

There are a couple of reasons I don't like gravity feed. First, I don't like manual valves, because they can get bumped, accidentally left on, and they are bulky. Plus the lines to and from the valve are exposed to damage, and the valve itself has to be mounted somewhere where it's accessible while driving. It doesn't seem like it's something I can do and make it look really sexy. Second, if I only tee into the return line than this setup can be 100% removed some day with no evidence. If I do ever sell the bike someday, I don't want to have to explain extra holes and brackets and stuff, I just want to bring it back to exactly stock. Besides, I'm an electrical engineer, so I really want to put some cool wiring farkles on it somewhere. So, back to the original question: can I tee into the fuel return line and pump gas into there without causing problems?

I was thinking that I want to pump from my aux tank to my main tank. I have a few different styles of small form factor, high pressure (fuel injection) car fuel pumps that I have been collecting for this project. What I'm hoping is that I can find a pump that doesn't allow the back-pressure of the return line to go backwards into the aux tank, and also have a low enough pump volume that it won't effect the bike while it's running. I had a setup kinda like this on my Magna and it worked really well. It sounds a little overly complicated, but I like it because I can hook the fuel pump switch to a ignition-controlled power source and nobody can mess with it. On my Magna I mounted the fuel pump under the seat towards the back, and it looks like there is room back there on a Bird too.

I want to add an external auxillary fuel cell to my '99 Bird. I don't want to modify the fuel tank at all to accept fuel from an ouside source. Can I tee into the fuel injection return line between the fuel pressure regulator and the tank? How much back pressure and flow is there during normal operation? Would it cause problems if my system added additional back pressure to the tank side of the FPR?

I put Roadsmarts on my 99. I have about 3k on them so far and I really like them. They're not half gone yet, and I like how they're not squaring off at all. I don't "push it" much so I don't know about their sport performance, but they are great in the rain. The tar snakes still give me a handful.

I really want to experament with different grip locations. I have an extra set of stock clip-ons and I've been thinking about trying to cut them and weld in different spacers at different angles. I've seen lots of threads about different purchased bars but I'm wondering if anybody has tried making any. I've also been thinking about starting from a block of aluminum and whittling clip-ons out of it. Clip-ons are pretty much a shaft clamp with a 7/8" bar attached to the side, so how hard can it be? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions, anything is welcome.

My '99 sounded like it was knocking only at idle, but it was actually dropping a cylinder (missing) at idle. I could have sworn it was knocking. It cleaned up when I gave it throttle. The cause was a blown fuel pressure regulator, it sent raw fuel down a vacuum line into one of the intakes. It take 30 seconds to test if you have the right side off, just pull the vacuum line off the pressue regualtor and turn the key on, see if it drips.

I pulled the vacuum line off the fuel pressure regulator, turned the key on, and drip .. drip .. drip. It makes sense that this raw fuel running into my intake would cause these problems. Thanks for the advice. I have it off and I'm looking for a new one. Suggestions?

+100 , pull the vacumn line from the FPR and fuel will run out with it running. Where do I get one, and how quickly can I have it?!

I think the battery voltage is fine. It restarted strong every time I shut it off, and the headlight was bright. Yes it did get progressively worse oer the last 800 miles or so. Tell me more about the fuel pressure regulator.

I just got back from my first XX Iron Butt, and it went great, except my '99 ran worse and worse the whole way. I'm loosing a cylinder or two at low RPMs and I slowly gain them back as the revs increase. I have to give it a ton of throttle so I don't stall it just to take off. It has okay top end, not quite it's normal self. Also, the tips of my stock pipes are turning Black, like it's running too rich or something. I threw in a ton of injector cleaner and that didn't help. Here's my guesses, in order of likeliness in my opinion. - Plugs - Clogged injectors - Loom needs the fix (although it's not throwing up the FI light) Ideas?

I was trying to figure out what happed to my mileage... Thanks!

Yes I do. I'm just curious how the instrumentation ties into the driveline. My XX is my first bike that didn't have the speedo come off the front tire.

I put a 18T sprocket on my bike and the speedometer is virtually perfect. I assume the pickup for it is somewhere on the final drive side of the transmission. Is this the pickup for the odometer as well? I want some accurate milage recording for a trip.

Is that Givi screen the touging one? If so, how much taller is it than stock. BTW, a high school friend had a similar caddy, that's 6000 pounds of good ol' American steel right there.