What have you done to your XS today?

[Its been a long time]

Some sympathetic paint retouching this morning. Mostly on the battery box that's been badly corroded by battery acid fume. Also front engine mount where it's been blasted by road gravel. The Jenolite rust converter works extremely well and gives a nice base to take a coat of black hammerite (smooth) paint.

While the paint dries, new HT leads made ready to fit later with a set of new Daiichi points. NGK plug caps, 7mm copper wire. New condensers were fitted while I had the top engine mount off. Only the coils haven't been changed, but they test OK.

The points fitted look new/unused but are Chinese made. I like the Daiichi made in Japan ones better. Probably last the duration of my ownership. (What a morbid thought).

View attachment 323218

Dreadful weather today, hail, horizontal rain, wind, cold. Unusually bad for mid April, even for England.

So not much done on the bike. Just finished the mount plate for the voltage regulator, fitted it, fitted the rectifier and put the screws back in the battery box. More progress tomorrow, hopefully.

 

[zrx1100]

I have used this battery for the last 8 years almost every day. PTX14AHLBS-FS. No issues and still going strong

Bought it from mikexs. I remember that the first one they shipped was a dud. Then they replaced it and since then the battery has been worry free for 8 years.

Had a good ride with the '78 xs650
Took it out with friend on his '76 BMW 75/6
I rode the BMW for the 2nd half of the ride and he took out my Bonneville for the first time.

I have a cheap battery in my XS650. Who makes a good quality AGM that won't drop voltage as much when starting?
Battery in this one drops to well below 10V making the starter clutch clatter. Jumping with a spare auto battery it sounds much better.
View attachment 323276

 

[jetmechmarty]

The Deka in my XS650SK is 8 years old. It’s still functioning AFAIK.

 

[Wingedwheel]

Another small task done. Replaced the muffler gaskets on the ‘75. The threads on the cap or on the mufflers was barely holding but it worked well enough to fit the gaskets. Been procrastinating that little job for a long time and it only took about 30 min to do both sides. I was lucky because on some bikes I’ve had there was no getting that threaded cap off.

 

[lakeview]

Windshield Added
Giving in to the inner wimp.

 

[Its been a long time]

Domestic chores had to be done today. But had time to get the bike into a rolling condition again. Next on the agenda is left side casing back off to tidy up in there and thread the new chain on

 

[Commuter]

I took off the pattern silencers and replaced them with the original silencers because they sound better . The original silencer chrome is pretty good but they are both dented. I dont see those dents as I ride the bike but I do hear the exhaust note! I used to drive a volvo 740 GL estate.. the car was square shaped and very ugly to look at but when I sat inside it to drive it was very comfortable and easy to cover long journeys without getting pulled over for every possible transgression.....in this respect, it was so much better than a Maserati and the view from the window was just the same....Sometimes , looks arent important.

 

[lakeview]

Changed my 122.5 main jets in my '77 to 127.5, pilots 2 turns out, no more popping on deceleration, plus smoother cruising at 80 to 90 km.
(Adjusted pilots first, tested that and deceleration pop pretty much gone with that change, then upped the main jets this morning)

 

[lakeview]

Well There's Yer Problem, Laddie
Couple weeks ago old faithfull lost a cylinder on the way home. Limped 'er in and left it for a week or so. Pulled the tank off today and felt the left ht lead loose on the coil, then looked to the right side and saw this.
I had used the threaded collars off a dual tower coil and they were slightly larger than the 77 items. They seemed to snug up when the ht wires were first installed, but a bit of heat and vibration loosened them dramatically.
Feeling better now.

 

[Melnic]

For the past few years, I've been using Chrome batteries. They've worked well so far. They are reasonably priced and shipping is free .....

https://chromebattery.com/pages/product-result?rq=qq_motorcycle~yr_1978~mk_yamaha~md_xs650-650cc

That pirate battery is what is in the bike right now.

 

[46th Georgia]

View attachment 323363
Well There's Yer Problem, Rider
Couple weeks ago old faithfull lost a cylinder on the way home. Limped 'er in and left it for a week or so. Pulled the tank off today and felt the left ht lead loose on the coil, then looked to the right side and saw this.
Feeling better now.

Yeah, ya' might wanna' adjust that air gap.

 

[zrx1100]

Nah, just needs stronger coils lol

Yeah, ya' might wanna' adjust that air gap.

 

[sleddog83]

Replaced the sidestand. Way too much play with the old one.. probably about 3/4 inch play. Put a new one from Mike's on today. Play is about 3/16. Stud on the frame where the sidestand pivots is worn but can't figure an easy way to repair it, so will live with the improvement from the new sidestand. Might take the center stand off, clean and repaint it. It looks pretty nasty compared to the shiny new sidestand.

 

[Bob Wegman]

Yesterday I started by carrying the engine from my 80 up the cellar stairs and out to the garage. Heavy. Do they gain weight over the years? Thirty years ago it didn't seem quite so heavy. Disassembled frame comes up next, with new paint on it. Motorcycle was disassembled to paint rusty frame.
On the engine I decided to remove the rocker cover to inspect the front cam chain tensioner to see its condition. Didn't want to have to remove the engine from the newly painted frame to check it later. I had rebuilt the engine a few thousand miles before.

 

[46th Georgia]

Yesterday I started by carrying the engine from my 80 up the cellar stairs and out to the garage. Heavy. Do they gain weight over the years? Thirty years ago it didn't seem quite so heavy. Disassembled frame comes up next, with new paint on it. Motorcycle was disassembled to paint rusty frame.
On the engine I decided to remove the rocker cover to inspect the front cam chain tensioner to see its condition. Didn't want to have to remove the engine from the newly painted frame to check it later. I had rebuilt the engine a few thousand miles before.

Yes Bob, like many of us, motorcycle engines tend to gain weight over the years.

 

[Resto_Paul]

Managed to get back to my project this week. Finished fab and mockup of the exhaust system today. I don't have a bender so I used a builder kit from TC bros then expanded the end of the 1.5" pipes to fit into these 1.75" fishtails. It's going to be a lot of work but hoping to use a pipe polisher to blend all the exhaust welds in and look close to seamless. Also mounted the battery box I fabbed onto the frame today. I'll probably only use it as a stash box and keep a mini battery in the oil tank with the electronics.

Next up I'm going to make a slightly smaller oil tank hopefully with some more character than this one. Want to round the bottom edge more and possibly some raised portions on both sides similar to what I did with the lid to the battery box.

 

[kondorp]

Zrobiłem korki rozrządu, aby sprawdzić olej spod uszczelek. Teraz wystarczy sprawdzić, jak opisać.

 

[Oldfartaussie]

While riding home I stopped at the red traffic light, the engine died with no power, no horn, no lights or starter?.
Check fuses and all good there, check battery cables then turn the ignition on and the neutral light is on so I try the horn and no sound but the neutral light went off.
First time I've ever not been able to get it going and had it transported home.
Battery shows 13.4 volts?.
Searching for faulty wires. Any ideas.

 

[zrx1100]

Did you check the ground cable from the battery? I had my original cable break once because of vibration

While riding home I stopped at the red traffic light, the engine died with no power, no horn, no lights or starter?.
Check fuses and all good there, check battery cables then turn the ignition on and the neutral light is on so I try the horn and no sound but the neutral light went off.
First time I've ever not been able to get it going and had it transported home.
Battery shows 13.4 volts?.
Searching for faulty wires. Any ideas.

 

[Its been a long time]

Sometimes it's the little things that please ( ).

Noticed yesterday that one of the long screws was missing from the tail light lens when I was fitting a new bulb. Today I discovered the screws are still in stock from Yamaha dealers (98580-04055-00) and cost about £2 each. Terrific.

Even better, while I was ordering, I put four OEM fuel tap screw seal washers (90202-05187-00) in my shopping cart for a grand total of £0.48 each.

No expense spared on this job.