First time rehab of a 1976ish basket case

Should I cut down front fender or leave it?


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LiveSlowDieWhenever

probably broke down. Just call me greasy.
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**edit, March 2019, retitled thread to avoid all xs2 confusion, read on for explanation**

Greetings all! I recently stumbled into a new project, a 72 xs with a menagerie of shadetree mechanic work and apparent roadside cob-jobs from the headlight to tail light. I'll be posting my progress here, as well as harassing all of the experienced owners here on the forum with any questions I can't find the answers to! Gentlemen, start your engines (if your bike turns over, that is)
 
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Am I doing this right? Hit the reply button to expand on a thread? Never used a forum before aside from lurking.. off to a solid start with the dumb questions! Anyway, here's where I'm at so far. Basic tear down and inspection. Wiring harness had been absolutely hacked to bits and wired together with totally sub par equipment, leading to an intermittent short somewhere that caused occasional shocks via the shifter lever (who needs coffee?) so with absolutely no electronics experience I've stripped every bit of non factory wiring off. I'll be rewiring from scratch in order to retain factory color coding, since both the mike's and the niche cycles harnesses don't use factory correct color coding
 

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The wiring is going to take me quite some time, as I have no experience and want to do everything by the book in order to avoid confusion down the road, but the list is long as is on any rehab project. The "drag pipes" on the bike were made with mandrel bent galvanized steel and welded with a hot glue gun hot wired onto a 220 plug, so they were pulled and replaced with a $40 set of eBay headers. Left side cover is flooded with oil from pushrod seal, and left carb dumps gas from float bowl gasket if petcocks are left on. Tons of little stuff but these are the biggins for now
 

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Yeah, you got it right. Welcome to the forum!
12V ain't enough for a 'feel-able shock'. I suspect that's coming from the high tension side of the coil somehow...
The K&N style filters will fit your garbage can perfectly.... they don't play nice with the CV carbs.
We love pics. Keep 'em coming :)
You doing a restore, mod, or just fixing what you have?
 
Yeah, you got it right. Welcome to the forum!
12V ain't enough for a 'feel-able shock'. I suspect that's coming from the high tension side of the coil somehow...
The K&N style filters will fit your garbage can perfectly.... they don't play nice with the CV carbs.
We love pics. Keep 'em coming :)
You doing a restore, mod, or just fixing what you have?
Hello Jim! There was an absolute rats nest where the two looms met inside the crook of the frame (directly on top of coils) so I'm not shocked.. no pun intended. Bike runs a tad rich I think (dark, damp plugs) but it's hard to say as I believe it's running almost purely off of the main jets. Things didn't get exciting until above 3000 rpms on test ride. I just plan on cleaning things up and getting it on the road!
 
Manuals are in the TECH section. Sounds like you need to start with this well written carb guide.
Thanks Jim! going to come in handy for certain! Haven't pulled carbs yet, my lizard brain can only handle one problem at a time. Once wiring is sorted they'll be next on the list. I've got a clymer, and just found and ordered a factory service manual but will certainly be ears-deep in that tech section once I figure out how to properly navigate this sight
 
I suggest you give this well written article a read before going much further also....
That's a great article, and if I had spent any real money on this bike it would have failed initial inspection for sure. But I restored my first bike (Honda Crf230l with very little wrong and a lazy p/o) over the summer and made a big profit on it, so I'm prepared to dump some time and cash into this bike to get it right
 
Also a little fun backstory. When I was born in 92, my dad bought a 72 triumph and it was the first bike I ever rode on (as a passenger throughout my childhood) and I always dreamed of riding it myself, but unfortunately he fell on some hard times when I was still very young and that bike was lost and gone forever. This xs2 is going to be the bike that my romanticized childhood bonneville will live vicariously through!
 

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I like the 1972 connection! For sure , getting your electrical gremlins and carburetor issues settled will be your major challenges. The XS2 is an early model with some unique parts on it, which makes sourcing replacement parts a bit challenging. Some things have no modern reproduction replacements and your alternative will be to post a Part Wanted ad in our classified section or do a search on EBay.
Beware, many parts dealers will mistakenly advertise tha a part will fit later models AND your XS2, and often that’s just not the case.
If you have any doubts about a replacement part for your bike, post your question here. The pool of knowledge here is deep.
Welcome and good luck with your project!
 
I like the 1972 connection! For sure , getting your electrical gremlins and carburetor issues settled will be your major challenges. The XS2 is an early model with some unique parts on it, which makes sourcing replacement parts a bit challenging. Some things have no modern reproduction replacements and your alternative will be to post a Part Wanted ad in our classified section or do a search on EBay.
Beware, many parts dealers will mistakenly advertise tha a part will fit later models AND your XS2, and often that’s just not the case.
If you have any doubts about a replacement part for your bike, post your question here. The pool of knowledge here is deep.
Welcome and good luck with your project!
Thanks mailman! I'm sure there will be plenty of trials and tribs finding parts for this bike, but between the relatively large aftermarket and massive collection of information and dedicated owners here, things are looking promising. Winter is approaching and parts are piling up! Hoping to make this thread as thorough and helpful someday as your 77 build, as if that could even be possible
 
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Have you pulled the points cover yet? Curious as to whether it's got OEM points or aftermarket electronic iggy....
 
Put a short name we can call you in your signature. LiveSlowDieWhenever is way too much typing for these fumble fingers...:rolleyes:
 
You should probably do some serial number checking because all of what I'm seeing is newer than '72. The motor is newer, the carbs are newer, forks, front brake and wheels are newer. The rear brake plate is from a '77 so maybe the wheels are too. The cam chain adjuster is a type D which was used on the '76-some '79 models. The carbs are a linked set of BS38s which means they may be a '76-'77 set or a '78-'79 set. I suppose it could be a '72 frame with all that stuff swapped on.
 
You should probably do some serial number checking because all of what I'm seeing is newer than '72. The motor is newer, the carbs are newer, forks, front brake and wheels are newer. The rear brake plate is from a '77 so maybe the wheels are too. The cam chain adjuster is a type D which was used on the '76-some '79 models. The carbs are a linked set of BS38s which means they may be a '76-'77 set or a '78-'79 set. I suppose it could be a '72 frame with all that stuff swapped on.
Oh boy, I'm not surprised. A lot of things didn't look quite right but I haven't had the time to sit down and start rooting around the web for answers. Front forks/brakes are definitely not original, in fact the left fork has mounting points for dual disc config. didn't notice the other red flags.. this is going to be a more interesting project than I thought... thanks so much for the heads up. I'm totally in over my head here with almost no mechanical knowledge and this being my first big bike project, but diving headfirst into uncertain territory is nothing new and I'm chompin at the bit to learn everything I can about this thing!
 
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The extra disc mount is normal on the later forks but a '72 didn't have it. After looking at some '72 model pics, your frame appears to be a later one too. Notice how the '72 eBay headpipes lower tab doesn't come anywhere near the frame mounts you have. All of this really isn't a bad thing. Parts will be easier to come by (and cheaper) for your later model assemblies. You'll just need to positively nail down the year of some of the things like the motor and carbs.
 
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