Looking good buddy! You’re gaining momentum, don’t let up!
-
Enjoy XS650.com? Consider making a donation to help support the site.
XS650.com receives a small share of sales from some links on this page, but direct donations have a much greater impact on keeping this site going.
What have you done to your XS today?
- Thread starter I am Carbon
- Start date
-
- Tags
- maintenance
Looking good buddy! You’re gaining momentum, don’t let up!
Thanks! I won't let up!
Love those black rims!!!! Are you putting the factory star black tins back on? That would look sharp with those rims!!!!
I'm definitely considering it!
Last edited:
TZ;
… Buckhorns. ."I’m honestly missing my buckhorns enough.." Ohhhh, Yeah! You go! BTW, Where did you get them there pegs? They look new! I got a set just like them on E-bay but instead of the rubber in the middle they say YAMAHA. I ordered new bolts because my crash guard has the holes. Waiting on the bolts to get here. ( As well as some other goodies!)
… Buckhorns. ."I’m honestly missing my buckhorns enough.." Ohhhh, Yeah! You go! BTW, Where did you get them there pegs? They look new! I got a set just like them on E-bay but instead of the rubber in the middle they say YAMAHA. I ordered new bolts because my crash guard has the holes. Waiting on the bolts to get here. ( As well as some other goodies!)
https://smile.amazon.com/Radracing-Motorcycle-Anti-Vibrate-Softail-Sportster/dp/B07544LFLG
Well, it says they’re unavailable now, but they were pretty cheap on Amazon. Took a short ride yesterday and they stay put; I like em.
Well, it says they’re unavailable now, but they were pretty cheap on Amazon. Took a short ride yesterday and they stay put; I like em.
Cool beans! ( I think were drinking the same water?)
Edit: I did pick up a good looking set of Buckhorns to compare to my pullbacks. Just curious.
. Thank you again to those who helped out as quick as they could. Here's a fun cold start video.
Damn man, that puts my cold start to shame. I’ve been reading through the carb guide today, thinking I’m going to have to take the carbs off and do a thorough cleaning. Hopefully that’s all they need. Many decorating and home improvement projects this week.
Muckroot
XS650 Addict
I've been quite busy with my engine recently. where to start!
I got the frame back from the welder a couple days ago, and since then I've managed to clean up the welds on the neck a bit. I only did this part because it'll show between the top of the seat and the tank, and I want it to look nice. I threw some primer on it to keep it from rusting while I get other stuff sorted out.
(P.S. I'm almost afraid to ask but: are the TIG welds in the first picture quality welds? I took it to a pro shop, the guy has a jig and 30 years under his belt, but they don't resemble the TIG welds I've seen online.) I used a wire fed to do the cosmetic welding. The TIG bits look like they have good penetration and are a nice concave shape, but I really don't know a whole lot about how TIG is supposed to look, so any comments on this are welcome.
Next, The carbs I bought showed up. They were in really good shape, but I gave a bit of TLC on some parts, mostly just putting silicone spray on o-rings to keep them fresh while the carb sits in a box waiting to be installed.
I also polished up some more ally parts. Here's some pictures of one in particular that had been spray painted with gray primer for some reason. As you can see the ally beneath the paint was in perfectly good shape.
Now on to the engine stuff!
I soda blasted the ally bits on the cylinders and took them to a local guru who helped me hone them out. Only ended up costing the DW-40 we used for cutting fluid. Really pleased with how they came out! I also massaged in a good amount of oil after honing to keep the cylinder walls from flash rusting while they sit in my basement waiting to be installed.
lastly, I took apart the heads with the 16 dollar valve spring compressor setup I put together. It worked well enough to get them apart, but for the reassembly I'll be borrowing a legit valve spring compressor so as not to foul up the faces on the valves. I was able to soda blast (baking soda) a ton of gunk off the heads and valve seats. I used a super low PSI when I did the steel parts of the head so as not to risk messing up the valve seats or valves. Also got the hardware cleaned up and bagged to make reassembly a breeze. Tomorrow I'm going back to the guru to lap the valves and seats so they'll produce the best compression they can. After that it'll be final assembly and... you guessed it... the head will sit in my basement until it's ready to be put on the engine.
For those who are curious the reason so many parts are waiting in my basement is because the bottom end is waiting on a crank I shipped out. After that comes back everything is ready to go, and I'm hoping to have the engine back together after a couple days. For any interested in following this build I post regular updates to an instagram account for this project called muckroute.
I got the frame back from the welder a couple days ago, and since then I've managed to clean up the welds on the neck a bit. I only did this part because it'll show between the top of the seat and the tank, and I want it to look nice. I threw some primer on it to keep it from rusting while I get other stuff sorted out.
(P.S. I'm almost afraid to ask but: are the TIG welds in the first picture quality welds? I took it to a pro shop, the guy has a jig and 30 years under his belt, but they don't resemble the TIG welds I've seen online.) I used a wire fed to do the cosmetic welding. The TIG bits look like they have good penetration and are a nice concave shape, but I really don't know a whole lot about how TIG is supposed to look, so any comments on this are welcome.
Next, The carbs I bought showed up. They were in really good shape, but I gave a bit of TLC on some parts, mostly just putting silicone spray on o-rings to keep them fresh while the carb sits in a box waiting to be installed.
I also polished up some more ally parts. Here's some pictures of one in particular that had been spray painted with gray primer for some reason. As you can see the ally beneath the paint was in perfectly good shape.
Now on to the engine stuff!
I soda blasted the ally bits on the cylinders and took them to a local guru who helped me hone them out. Only ended up costing the DW-40 we used for cutting fluid. Really pleased with how they came out! I also massaged in a good amount of oil after honing to keep the cylinder walls from flash rusting while they sit in my basement waiting to be installed.
lastly, I took apart the heads with the 16 dollar valve spring compressor setup I put together. It worked well enough to get them apart, but for the reassembly I'll be borrowing a legit valve spring compressor so as not to foul up the faces on the valves. I was able to soda blast (baking soda) a ton of gunk off the heads and valve seats. I used a super low PSI when I did the steel parts of the head so as not to risk messing up the valve seats or valves. Also got the hardware cleaned up and bagged to make reassembly a breeze. Tomorrow I'm going back to the guru to lap the valves and seats so they'll produce the best compression they can. After that it'll be final assembly and... you guessed it... the head will sit in my basement until it's ready to be put on the engine.
For those who are curious the reason so many parts are waiting in my basement is because the bottom end is waiting on a crank I shipped out. After that comes back everything is ready to go, and I'm hoping to have the engine back together after a couple days. For any interested in following this build I post regular updates to an instagram account for this project called muckroute.
Judging by the weld splatter, looks like it was wire welded (mig) to me. Having said that, looks like good penetration from what I can tell from a pic.
Muckroot
XS650 Addict
Tiesco
XS650 Addict
Tiesco
XS650 Addict
Yup definitely TIG.
Muckroot
XS650 Addict
If it were me I would use some quality assembly lube to lube up everything that needs oil, especially wear surfaces like the rocker faces, cam lobes, cam bearings, and cam chain. then give it a couple 5 or so priming kicks and fire it up. let it idle for a couple 5-10 seconds and shut it down. then remove the banjo bolts on the oil tube at the head and see if they have oil residue in them. If they do, your system would seem to be operating correctly. if not, something is wrong and you need to start back tracking. The 5-10 seconds it ran will have used up the assembly lube (at least in my mind), so I would personally re-lube everything in the head if you end up without any oil in the banjo bolts the first go around. that's as simple as popping the top cover off, no need to take the whole head off the cylinder again. everything in the bottom end should be getting the right amount of oil if you properly inspected your oil passages before reassembly, unless something is wrong with your oil pump, but that's pretty unlikely as long as you installed it correctly.
So to answer your question: no, I don't believe there is any way to actually prime the oil system. The assembly lube is what gets you past the handful of seconds it takes for the oil passages to fill with oil and for the oil system as a whole to become pressurized and begin delivering oil to all the important places. Also, don't install things dry with only assembly lube. I find it's a good practice to oil everything as you assemble the engine with an oil can full of whatever you'll be running in the bike, and then apply assembly lube to the high wear points, which is essentially anywhere two pieces of metal make contact and rub against each other. This process ensures no unfortunate premature wear on parts while the oil pump does it's thing.
Last edited:
Steve C
XS650 Addict
If you have electric start, you could pull plugs and ground them to the engine and turn the motor for 10 seconds or so on the starter and then check for oil in the head.
No starter you can center stand it, plugs out and put it in 4th or 5th and spin the engine with the wheel?
No starter you can center stand it, plugs out and put it in 4th or 5th and spin the engine with the wheel?
My drill for fresh engine... plugs and valve adjusters removed. No compression and no valve movement means the starter's just loafing and high friction surfaces like the cam lobes aren't being loaded at all. 15-30 seconds and you should see oil flowing down the rockers. You'll get a little splash of oil from the chain... just look for good flow from the rockers. If you don't have anything after about 30-45 seconds... time to investigate.
I couldn't get oil to prime up to the rockers after one of my rebuilds but after doing this it worked great.
My Luggage Rack came in yesterday. No idea what Yamaha it's off of. I really liked my grab rail but I needed a place to carry my Whiskey.
The hole centers were 8 1/4 inches not the 10 1/4 of some of the newer bikes, so it fit. But I had to revert back to the turn signal ears that bolted under the aft rack brackets, frame and fender. The shoulder bolt was too short and finding a longer one by 1/4 inch was hopeless.
Ok, took a 3/4 inch bolt, cut the head off and put it in the lathe. Turned down the 3/4 inch bolt to 15mm. Step drilled a .385 hole to about two inches in depth.
Cut the "bushings" off to 14.5 mm long, 2 each.
Slip the bushing over the longer bolt and were in business.
The rack looks a bit long? Maybe not as high at the seat but what the hay, I did get a Chevron type Sissy bar with 10 1/4 between centers.I can cut the arms down and install it and use a Mole pack but I'll try this first.
Hummmm will have to see.
The hole centers were 8 1/4 inches not the 10 1/4 of some of the newer bikes, so it fit. But I had to revert back to the turn signal ears that bolted under the aft rack brackets, frame and fender. The shoulder bolt was too short and finding a longer one by 1/4 inch was hopeless.
Ok, took a 3/4 inch bolt, cut the head off and put it in the lathe. Turned down the 3/4 inch bolt to 15mm. Step drilled a .385 hole to about two inches in depth.
Cut the "bushings" off to 14.5 mm long, 2 each.
Slip the bushing over the longer bolt and were in business.
The rack looks a bit long? Maybe not as high at the seat but what the hay, I did get a Chevron type Sissy bar with 10 1/4 between centers.I can cut the arms down and install it and use a Mole pack but I'll try this first.
Hummmm will have to see.
