Recent content by 650Burger

Great light on my rusty XS650 work in progress. Has a 750 kit on, and lots of patina

`Great. That's where I messed up, I got a kit with a non bottoming tap. Thanks for your input, the helicoil saga continues.

I'm reviving this thread since I had a confusion I think many newbies will have: How does one actually tap the helicoil thread in a 7mm deep blind hole when the tap is like this: I've seen a couple videos but the hole always seems deeper or isn't a blind hole. Update on the jb weld fix: It...

I'm experimenting with different positions and tightness. I cleaned the breather when I vapor blasted the engine, and it was if pretty good shape and breathed fine. I did make sure to remove the old washers but I will try to torque it a bit more next time I'm working on it. Thanks for the clues!

The problem now is one of leaky valve covers. I had an issue with one that dropped a pin which I posted about in another thread. Once repaired, I vapor blasted the mating surfaces of the valve covers and put a gasket on instead of the rubber seals. This helped a bit, but there are still a couple...

I'm long overdue for an update post... recently got fired so life has been hectic. Sorry for the wait! Following Jim's post, I reassembled the head. I took the time to vapor blast it and I have to say I'm much happier with how it looks, here's a before and after. Here's a picture of it on...

Lots of information to unpack here. I think I will go with the mike headers, now on to figure out which muffler... Since we're on the topic of exhausts, is there anything great about having a 2 into 1? Is there a performance gain?

Nope, the head pipes are for the 2 into 1 and won't fit something like this. That setup looks rad!

Can't believe I forgot to post that... I have a 1980 xs650 Special II

I've been looking for a clean looking original stock exhaust with no luck since the beginning of this build... and not interested in paying 500+ for a resto. As far as loudness I don't want the deafening sound of straight pipes but I don't really have a preference. I only want the 2 into 2...

Hi, Figured I'd start a thread since the other exhaust threads seem kind of outdated and the prices are all changed now. I have a xs650 with a 750 big bore kit from mikes now breathing through a 2 into 1 presumably from mike's, but that system is rusted, leaks and quite honestly I don't like its...

These are definitely on the list for when my initial repair fails.

So I'm giving a small update to this thread which will I will return to when the fix fails. I went to drill out the hole for the helicoil to find it was already at the right size, making it impossible to carve threads into for the helicoil. I gave in to my instincts and just j-b welded a new...

No issue on that, apparently the P.O's P.O. did the swap. I put a new style in which I had planned to do since the 750 kit from Heiden uses it (Got an entirely new tensioner assembly). I do have a 447 engine, no clue why he did that! I am soon going to type up a big follow up post, but to be...

Yup I had a major brain fart with that one. I'm going to go the helicoil route, so I will report back with what happens once all my stuff comes in. Also seems like helicoils are cool tech to know how to use!