Hudson
XS650 Member
Hello!
Joined a while back now, picked up a basket case 1978 XS650 that had been stripped down and thrown in to boxes through a mate of mines dad's mate's - mate (or something like that!). All in all cost me £250, the frame, wheels, forks brakes, tank etc were all there, the engine was half-stripped, no head or barrels fitted, one piston left connected etc etc. Bit of a confusing load of bits to myself, this is my first bike project but thought it'd be cool to get in a bit of a deep-end to learn the ropes!
So this is it when we picked it up:
Collected a few bits here and there:
Tank
An 18" Alloy rear wheel and 19" front (selling front as I want different rim type)
Also got a TC Bro's weld-on hardtail from the states.
Then didnt touch any of it for ages due to my car projects. However started playing with it this weekend!! Started by sorting through the bits and boxes of nuts, bolts and washers:
Standard carbs??
I took the gear round to my friends house who has a great workshop with all the gear, him and his dad build Harleys so think im in the right place! Took the frame round to get the hardtail fitted, all of the fabrication to this project will be happening here as i only have very basic tools at my disposal!
And trial fitted the tank!
Tank sit's a bit too high for my liking, though im going to wait until i get the frame rolling and decide on bars etc before cutting into it!
So yeah, fitting the hardtail went really well and has made me really eager to crack on with the rest of the bike!! Next major thing before anything else is breaking down the rest of the engine and rebuilding that. The barrels were screwed so I have some replacements to use. Need to take it all apart and see what the deal is. Need gasket sets, o-rings, bearings etc etc. Where do people source all of these from over here in the UK? Heiden Tuning is a site i keep coming back to, and MikesXS, shame neither are in the UK!
The engine and the rest of the parts have returned to my garage for now, while i work on the engine. Got a TC bro's engine stand when i bought the hardtail, which im sure will come in really handy!!
So yeah thats the stage im at now, cant wait to get stuck in!! Hope everyone is ready for a load of noob questions hahah.
Cheers
Rich
(PS- Sorry for all the pics, hope they dont bore people to death!!)
Joined a while back now, picked up a basket case 1978 XS650 that had been stripped down and thrown in to boxes through a mate of mines dad's mate's - mate (or something like that!). All in all cost me £250, the frame, wheels, forks brakes, tank etc were all there, the engine was half-stripped, no head or barrels fitted, one piston left connected etc etc. Bit of a confusing load of bits to myself, this is my first bike project but thought it'd be cool to get in a bit of a deep-end to learn the ropes!
So this is it when we picked it up:
Collected a few bits here and there:
Tank
An 18" Alloy rear wheel and 19" front (selling front as I want different rim type)
Also got a TC Bro's weld-on hardtail from the states.
Then didnt touch any of it for ages due to my car projects. However started playing with it this weekend!! Started by sorting through the bits and boxes of nuts, bolts and washers:
Standard carbs??
I took the gear round to my friends house who has a great workshop with all the gear, him and his dad build Harleys so think im in the right place! Took the frame round to get the hardtail fitted, all of the fabrication to this project will be happening here as i only have very basic tools at my disposal!
And trial fitted the tank!
Tank sit's a bit too high for my liking, though im going to wait until i get the frame rolling and decide on bars etc before cutting into it!
So yeah, fitting the hardtail went really well and has made me really eager to crack on with the rest of the bike!! Next major thing before anything else is breaking down the rest of the engine and rebuilding that. The barrels were screwed so I have some replacements to use. Need to take it all apart and see what the deal is. Need gasket sets, o-rings, bearings etc etc. Where do people source all of these from over here in the UK? Heiden Tuning is a site i keep coming back to, and MikesXS, shame neither are in the UK!
The engine and the rest of the parts have returned to my garage for now, while i work on the engine. Got a TC bro's engine stand when i bought the hardtail, which im sure will come in really handy!!
So yeah thats the stage im at now, cant wait to get stuck in!! Hope everyone is ready for a load of noob questions hahah.
Cheers
Rich
(PS- Sorry for all the pics, hope they dont bore people to death!!)