Not yer mama's XS.....

9c1cap

9c1cap

XS650 Addict
Messages
204
Reaction score
1
Points
16
Location
Maryland
.....more like yer little sister's!!! Well I startin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so I thought Id thow up some pics of what I do when Im not choppin!! This bike is an '80 XS400 Special II, it belongs to a friend of mine (she's also my tattoo artist, I love trading labor!!). She got the bike on trade for a ribcage piece on a friend of her's. Its a low-buck build, basically she wanted a paint job and a once-over on the mechanicals, but I get a little carried away....
Was a non-runner when I got it to the garage, left side exhaust valve was bent and allowing no compression. Replaced both valves left side and cleaned up the bs34s and she sings once again! Parts, btw, are near impossible to find for these things, lots of time wasted on ebay but it was about my only resource besides what I could adapt from Mikes.
Day 1:
101_2165.jpg

101_2164.jpg
 
Not so good at takin the progress pics so we'll skip a few steps here, but I went down to bare frame and took to sprayin her down with black, every part/nut/bolt was either cleaned, polished painted or replaced....
Fo-Hunnerd025.jpg

Fo-Hunnerd002.jpg

Fo-Hunnerd005.jpg
 
Helped the ol man last winter tearing out some bathrooms in an office building so I scored all the stainless shitter rails, perfect size for the exhausts on these jap bikes!
2Fo-Hunnerd2009.jpg

400Special007.jpg

Polishing stainless is a real bitch tho!!
400Special009.jpg
 
Thanks Gary! the bends are kinda tight but perfect for this!
Not much filler needed for a 30 year old bike....was pleased with that!
Painted all the parts today so theyre still hanging in the paint booth as I type. Prolly gonna wetsand/reclear the tank but should look like a complete bike again here real soon!
2Fo-Hunnerd2006.jpg

Chrome was pitted pretty bad on the chain guard so speed holes became obligatory
2Fo-Hunnerd2008.jpg
 
And this is where Im at today...Got her off the stand and fired her up again, pretty good runner I must say....Still gotta polish up the side covers(been dancin around that, I HATE polishing.....)
400Special004.jpg

400Special003.jpg

400Special008.jpg

400Special005.jpg

400Special006.jpg
 
Nice work! Now I feel kinda bad about you havin to put that on the back-burner while getting my project running. :D i didnt know that project was that in-depth. Keep up the good work and the updates! :thumbsup:
 
No problems, Ive been known to multi-task! Need to get this one done, I just traded an old ceramic Goodyear sign for a 1969 Rupp minibike. The niece and nephew are already buggin me to get it fixed up!
 

Similar threads

Ghaniba
Build Thread - 1978 XS650 Special Edition
2
Replies
34
Views
6K
nj1639
nj1639
Back
Top