From basketcase to bobber? 81 xs650

SmokeyTheBear

XS650 New Member
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Location
Saunderstown, RI
My second bike, second(ish) build. A couple of years ago me and my buddy slapped together a cb750:

DSC05884.jpg


And somehow the confidence inspired by painting and polishing parts made me think I should buy a basketcase xs650 bobber project off craigslist. After squeezing all the parts into my VW gti, I brought it back from Maine, assembled it, got the engine running, and bolted on a seat and clip-ons. After letting it marinate in my garage for the last year I've decided its time to finish it. I'm hoping that a build thread will keep me somewhat motivated.

As it sits now:
2012-07-11_09-01-40_542.jpg


2012-07-11_09-01-24_221.jpg


The plan:
Tuck the wiring under the tank
Fix and finish the hardtail (currently looks like it was welded on by a drunk blind man)
Fab up an exhaust
Rebuild clutch or free the seized one
Figure out who i need to bribe to get it registered without paperwork :doh:


Thoughts??
 
UPDATE:

I cut the wiring harness down to the bare essentials, and cut the brackets mounting the coil-pack out from underneath the tank. The plan is to relocate the coil pack off to the side so that i can cram the rest of the electronics under the tank. No pictures of the sliced up harness.

Then I removed all the wiring from the bike and got this:

DSC07090.JPG


Lincoln 180c, Its my first MIG welder, but so far I'm really impressed with it.
In order to get some practice on something non vital i started fabricating the exhaust. I don't have a tubing bender, but i do have an angle grinder so i started piecing the bends together.

2012-07-26_17-07-44_906.jpg


First Welds AWWWWW

2012-07-26_17-43-18_641.jpg


2012-07-26_18-24-30_509.jpg


Muffler baffles

2012-08-09_15-37-57_337.jpg


Mock up. I intentionally made the muffler too long so that i could cut it to the correct length, the baffles are all in the first third of the pipe. The plan is to make the muffler end beneath the seat, with the tip angled out. Hopefully in a way that doesn't set my leg on fire...

2012-08-10_10-14-07_314.jpg


DSC07086.JPG


DSC07088.JPG


DSC07091.JPG


The headers are the same length (within a half inch) that's why there is the crazy bend in the pipe. I smoothed the inside of the pipe with a die grinder as I pieced them together but I'm still not sure how they are going to flow with a bunch of pie shaped pieces (vs bent pipe).

The issue now is that i cant take the headers off if i weld them together into a collector. (unless i take the front tire off...) As a result I have a wacky sleeve clamp system in the works.:thumbsup:
 
Back
Top