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Being partially serious . . . and partially humorous . . . I'll say
The "one size fits all" jetting strategy only works because you never have to give a 490 more then half throttle to go anywhere . . . do anything ... that any other bike might ever attempt to do at full throttle !!

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Well folks, had a fun day in the garage working on Blue Bomber while it was COLD outside (45, that's cold in CA,,,).
I decided to work on decarbonizing the head, so I sprayed it with WD40 and let it sit a bit while I was organizing things. I then took 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper and put a few drops of two stroke oil in the combustion chamber and went to work with a bit of Swedish elbow grease, it cleaned up pretty well!
Here's the before:




And here's the after:



The remaining dark color was just staining in the aluminum, but all the carbon was taken away. The cocktail of the WD40 and the two stroke oil worked very well. I contemplated doing the same to the crown of the piston, but I just didn't feel comfortable doing that. The thought of goofing something up trumped the bit of carbon on the crown. After that, I buttoned up the top end and torqued things down to spec.
Next up were the new brake shoes. The shoes on Bomber were the original units, and they were quite ineffective the last time I rode, so this will be a great upgrade. I ordered the grooved EBC brakes, and the
process was easier than I thought.
Before:



After:


Baby got new shoes,,,,,,

The last major task was to take off the carb and do some cleaning. It was very clean inside, and the slide is showing minimal wear, but then again, it hasn't been ridden all that much over the years and a Yamaha is built like a brick house. I took the carb apart and cleaned things up in solvent, and all looks hood from what I see.
I last ran a 370main, 45 pilot and the clip I the 2nd position. But as GFrench has such good luck with his recipe, I may try a 340/40/3rd clip position for grins,,,






The clutch is next, but first I have a steelheading trip next weekend in. No. Cal.
Thanks to all who have offered thoughts and suggestions on this project. If you need help figuring what fly to drift during a BWO hatch or how to rig a two nymph set-up drifted over a deep slot, let me know and I'll return they favor!
Brian the biknflyfisher

Hey All:
Even though I am getting ready to head out tomorrow on a steelheading trip tomorrow to Nor. Cal., I could'nt resist getting out to the garage and playing around. Played out there until midnight!
I have not removed the swingarm from the frame, but did take each and every bolt out of the various links and gave them a good cleaning and new coat of Maxima lithium grease. In addition, I made sure the grease zerks were full and operational. No problems with any of the bolts other than the large swing arm bolt which was completely dry and had a bit of rust on it. I find it somewhat odd that Mama Yama didn't fit a zerk or two on that large bolt. But I detailed that bolt too and gave it a fresh coat of grease. Then torqued all the hardware back to spec, so that's done.
Here are some pics of where we are,,,







Thought you'd like to see the "other" Yamaha in the garage,,,



Well, more work will follow next when when the supplies arrive.
Cheers,
Biknflyfisher

Spent last evening in the garage working on Blue Bomber, and made some good progress. I had the old rear tire taken off and the new Pirelli XCMH installed at Wilson's Motorsports in Fresno, and I installed the tire and a new 520 O-Ring chain on the bike. The clip-style master link played "difficult" with me, but I eventually prevailed!
Tire off the bike



Tire and chain on the bike



I noticed the wheel has a tiny bit of wobble which I believe came from when the shop was getting the rock-hard Metzler off, but I"ll just have to ride it and see if it's noticeable. With the basic trail riding I plan to do, it may just not even be felt. If it is, then we"ll go to plan "B" , whatever that might be.

I then turned my attention to looking into the clutch which was sticking after sitting for a long time. Once inside, it's amazing to me how clean the inside of a Japanese bike stays - they are pretty amazing machines. The plates look good, and I'll borrow my Dad's measuring tool to check for width of the plates and spring length. May be time for a new clutch kit, we'll see,,,

Various clutch shots







Lastly, I installed new venting lines on the carb and zip tied them together for a neat and organized look.
My "care package" should be coming from Yamaha Parts House today or tomorrow with some gee dunks in it, and with rain in the forecast for Sat ( boy do we need it in Central Cally) I see a day in the garage looming.
Biknflyfisher

The stack of plates did not get attached in the above post, so here they are,,,
Biknflyfisher

Making some real nice progress my friend- Won't be long and you will be firing that old girl up and taking it for a spin!

Have you ever ridden this bike yet?

Oh yah! I've got probably 300/400 trail miles on it ( that I have put on). It's last time out was a 139 mile junket at Jawbone/Dove Springs/ Red Rock Cyn north of Movaje.
Found a small crack in the exhaust pipe last night that I am going to have a welder look at. I'm tempted to just upgrade to a FMF/DG/ Pro Circuit pipe, but I'm try in' to keep the "stock" vibe on the bike for giggles.
This has been a blast to get into the bike and work on it getting ready for riding. Who knows, maybe I can come to Hungry Valley for a day ride when the event happens. That's about 2 hours south of me via easy freeway drive.

Have a look at the pics of the tank where the oil bled through the plastic over the years. I wonder if that would sand out.. New decals from wicked tough are in order,,,





Pics of the vent lines too






Lots of fun,,,
Brian the biknflyfisher

Sounds good!

Get your bike ready and join us for California Dreamin- would be great to meet you and have you ride along with us... Going to be nice group of fella's out there for 6 days.

I have a NOS tail light lens for your 490 I picked up for my 465 but did not fit.PM me if your interested,still looking for a 465 lens for mine.

Hi All:
Spent some time on The Bomber today. I've been awaiting a care package from Yamaha Parts House with assorted replacement items, but it's apparently being delivered by the Pony Express, so I'm doing other things in the meantime.
I started by giving the expansion chamber a good workout with a wire brush in preparation for being painted. I had spotted a small crack in the pipe last week, so on Sat I brought it to a local welder who did a nice job of fixing it. I also worked over the silencer with the wire brush so it would be receptive to the paint as well.
Here is the rig I had for painting after the wire bush treatment, I call it my " Swedish Paintbooth".






While the fist coat was drying, I worked on putting the clutch back together. I had looked over all the friction plates and the springs, and they were all still within tolerance. If I end up ridin a lot this year, I'll probably do a new clutch kit next year.
Here's the clutch basket empty



And after being put back together



I had a bit of trouble with the process in that the lever would not move at all, so I just took a deep breath and took it back apart. I realized that the internal adjusting mechanism was not aligned in the pressure plate, and that's all the problem was. So, all is well