New owner 1982 XS650J Heritage Special

JayR

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Advice? Hairy Electrical Mess - New owner 1982 XS650J Heritage Special

Hi everyone- I've been a member of the site for 3 months now, looking for a motorcycle and hemming and hawing about what to buy - and what's available. Thanks to the expert advice of many of you, I finally pulled the trigger on a homely 1982 Heritage Special.

My last motorcycle was a 1979 Suzuki RM250. It was fairly new at the time and I bought it with my paper route money. Well, I sold the paper route to Jimmy Flanagan and eventually the RM too and now I have 3 active boys, a wifey who just said :wtf: did you buy, and a great dog I rescued from the pound who loves the sound of my new Yammy. He knows who's boss.

The bike was cheap, came with a clean title, 18,000 miles, the serial numbers on frame and engine match 5V4-005X57, and the build tag on the frame says it was manufactured September 1981. Alright alright!

That is not the original tank as many of you know the 1982 HS was black only (thanks again for the album Skull650). The PO bought it from a PO who disassembled it and then lost interest. The guy I bought it from slapped it back together, including the pod filters, mixed up some parts, and flipped it.

OK by me. It's a good platform to start from for what I have in mind, without paying for great condition parts that I won't use in the final product anyway. Because of that I am not going to bother with the electrical (new harness) or brakes before I tear it down, but I do want to get the carbs halfway decent first so I can do a proper compression test and determine if engine work is needed. Right now it only starts with the choke on full. Sounds strong though. I read an article in the carb tech section that I need to go back to.

Here is my plan, what do you think?

PHASE ONE - Goal is to get to a ROLLER
1. Clean and rejet (?) carbs so she runs without choke or significant backfire
2. Perform compression test, make a note of results, determine if top end work needed
3. Disassemble motorcycle, catalog parts, take notes on needs and lots of pictures
4. Grind and fabricate parts for frame, electronics pan, and powder coat
5. Seat pan, custom seat tbd
6. Do up the suspension according to design plan, refurbish wheels, tires, drag bar
ROLLER Complete
 

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Man it is almost ridin time.
Ride a little. Get the immediate needs straightened out.
Ride a whole bunch more. 3 kids and dog each will need a night of riding, the wife gets 2 nights. That only leaves 1 day for you.
J/K. Glad you found a deal you liked
 
Man it is almost ridin time.
Ride a little. Get the immediate needs straightened out.
Ride a whole bunch more. 3 kids and dog each will need a night of riding, the wife gets 2 nights. That only leaves 1 day for you.
J/K. Glad you found a deal you liked

Haha! :laugh: thanks for your advice the past few weeks WER, very helpful and appreciated. I may need some more soon!
 
clean your pilots.
You don't need a good running motor to test compression. prop the slides open, open the throttle all the way, and kick until the needle stops going up.
sounds like a good buy. how much?
 
clean your pilots.
You don't need a good running motor to test compression. prop the slides open, open the throttle all the way, and kick until the needle stops going up.
sounds like a good buy. how much?

Hey Angus thanks again for your help, I appreciate it. So, I paid $900 which I thought was fair given what I've seen in NJ/CT/NY the past 3 months.

Slides. You mentioned this before. I'll do some proper form searching and do it.
 
They are exceedingly rare but the Heritage specials DID come in red....

Don't rejet the carbs yet. Unless you have straight pipes the stock jetting will run the engine just fine for now. A shim washer on the taper jet cures an off idle stumble. Do a head retorque read the it's new to me up in the tech tab for a list of common maintenance issues and how to repair them.
+2 run it and ride it this year till she purrs like a kitten and roars like a tiger. Gives you a base line and some fine bugs in the teeth. Enjoy this summer a bit!
 
read the it's new to me up in the tech tab for a list of common maintenance issues and how to repair them.

Sorry to butt in to the conversation but I think I have read this "new to me" thread but I can't find it under the tech tab. Am I losing it?
 
Thanks gggGary I'm not going crazy after all.

JayR The bike looks like a good starting point to me. Mine came with an interesting pearl purple paint job all the way down to the frame. So step 1 was get the purple off and I'm still on that step, lol. Your plan seems way too thought out and logical. :wink2:
 
- - - I finally pulled the trigger on a homely 1982 Heritage Special. - - -
Here is my plan, what do you think?

PHASE ONE - Goal is to get to a ROLLER
1. Clean and rejet (?) carbs so she runs without choke or significant backfire

Clean the carbs Clean the carbs Clean the carbs Clean the carbs - - -
especially all the slow running stuff, the smaller the hole, the easier it clogs up
Do the carb work inside a cafeteria tray to keep those tiny parts from disappearing


2. Perform compression test, make a note of results, determine if top end work needed

If the bike has been parked for a while the compression numbers may be low but will improve after a few hundred miles. Best numbers are got with the carbs off, you gotta clean them anyway, right?

3. Disassemble motorcycle, catalog parts, take notes on needs and lots of pictures
4. Grind and fabricate parts for frame, electronics pan, and powder coat
5. Seat pan, custom seat tbd
6. Do up the suspension according to design plan, refurbish wheels, tires, drag bar
ROLLER Complete

3) thru 6) Nah, apart from taking pictures and replacing the rototillers, go ride the thing until next fall before you do the big teardown

And fit a front fender, that skinny ol' fork is all wobblyarsed without one. Or a TKAT forkbrace.
Note that I have no connection with TKAT except I send him a money order and he sends me a forkbrace.
Signals too, dunno if signals are mandatory where you are but they are still necessary.
 
Step one is to get a repair manual.
Step two, read it.
Step three, www.amckayltd.com/carbguide.pdf, Read it, print it out, read it.
Step four,ride the thing to work out any bugs in the carbs, electrical, brakes and suspension
Step five, wait till it's winter to tear it up.
Leo
 
+1 on what XSLeo says.

If you want to change the look a bit just put new lower bars on and make a front brace out of an early, 74-76 front guard
 

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They are exceedingly rare but the Heritage specials DID come in red....

Don't rejet the carbs yet. Unless you have straight pipes the stock jetting will run the engine just fine for now. A shim washer on the taper jet cures an off idle stumble. Do a head retorque read the it's new to me up in the tech tab for a list of common maintenance issues and how to repair them.
+2 run it and ride it this year till she purrs like a kitten and roars like a tiger. Gives you a base line and some fine bugs in the teeth. Enjoy this summer a bit!

You all are probably right ... Still feels like winter here!
 
They are exceedingly rare but the Heritage specials DID come in red....

I wish!

Don't rejet the carbs yet. A shim washer on the taper jet cures an off idle stumble.

Thanks - just watched a you tube vid on how to do this on a Suzuki

 
thanks Leo, making a little progress there too

Step one is to get a repair manual. have the Haynes manual and starting to dogear it pretty well
Step two, read it.
Step three, www.amckayltd.com/carbguide.pdf, Read it, print it out, read it. id add read it a couple more times!
Step four,ride the thing to work out any bugs in the carbs, electrical, brakes and suspension
Step five, wait till it's winter to tear it up. yeah you guys are right - once the flipping weather warms up id be pushing the roller to the top of the hill for a scooter ride down
Leo
 


And fit a front fender, that skinny ol' fork is all wobblyarsed without one. Or a TKAT forkbrace.

Yeah the front fender disappeared somewhere along the way...I looks wobbly just sitting there.
 
+1 on what XSLeo says.

If you want to change the look a bit just put new lower bars on and make a front brace out of an early, 74-76 front guard

That's a great idea - I really dig the look of that front guard and like you said it'll be needed. I'll check the classifieds. Rototillers lol.
 
moved to new thread in electrical
 
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