Relining Brake Shoes

The brake linings on the front of the DeLuxe are practically shot.  The rear aren't so bad, so I'll let those go for a while.  I didn't want to pay to send my brake shoes back to England for relining, so I talked to some of the local antique car guys.  I was recommended to get some "green gripper" Semi-Metallic Woven brake lining material from McMaster-Carr.  The catalog number is 6224K115.  It comes in 1 inch strips and is available in 3/16 inch thick rolls.  It came the NEXT day.  McMaster-Carr is amazing.

The next trick is to remove the old brake lining and take some measurements.  The brass rivets drill out nicely with a 1/8" drill bit.  Once seperated I used a depth gauge and subtracted that from the total thickness to arrive at a 0.057" thickness to leave at the bottom.

To create a counterbore tool.  I took a 1/4" cheapo twist drill bit and mounted it in the lathe.  I strapped my trusty Dremel to the tool post with a grinding wheel.  I slowly removed half the thickness of the tip of the drill.  I was mindful to keep the 1/4" step nice and sharp.

I mounted the counterbore bit into the drill press, and set the depth limit jam nuts to that 0.057 inch limit using some feeler gauges.  Placing the new lining carefully around the shoe,  I marked the first two holes... made a pilot hole with the tip of the counterbore bit, from the back of the shoe.  Then flipping the new lining over to the drum side, I counterbored it.  The rivets will drop into the counterbore the same as the stock rivets and can be set in place from the rear of the shoe.

What would be nice would be a kleko that I could hold the shoe in place at the end while working toward the other end.  The excess 1/8" of the brake lining can be easily removed by grinder to obtain the same 7/8" width of the shoe.

I'll likely epoxy the new lining to the shoe for added security.

Its beer 'oclock... I deserve it.

I can't drive 55

I can't drive at all with a blown crank bearing...

The old XS650 was designed for a slower pace.  With 17-32 sprockets, 5th is still revving a bit high.  While its apart I'll drop one of MikeXS 5th overdrive gears in.



The new crank has less than 1thou runout.  The original had over 5thou... no wonder it gooned the bearing.

It should be all back together sometime next week.

S7 work on hold - something else is broken

The S7 engine work is temporarily on hold.  The crank went to the local NAPA machine shop last week.

I'll be trying to put a new main bearing (probably a new crank) in my Yamaha XS650 and get that cleaned up before I continue with the S7.  This will give me some extra time to consider how to place an o-ring in the head gasket to insure a good seal between block and head.  My initial thought is to widen the hole in the copper gasket to make room for the o-ring.  After that I can countersink the hole in the block until I get the needed crush on the o-ring.  More to come on this subject.

Shining new rear main

Behold the glory of a new rear main bearing -0.020"

Many thanks again to David and his wife at Stewart Engineering.  I wouldn't have been able to get this far without them.

Now that I know the exact measurements of the bearings, the crank will go off to the machine shop.  First I'll have to find one who can do a good job.

In the meantime, I have lots to do.  I have to make new brake linings for the front shoes... and probably the back as well.

During all this my poor XS650 has thrown a crank bearing, and is torn completely apart.