woot! 71 running strong

YES!!!!!!
I promised myself ide get at least one of my non-runners running this weekend.
I got the xl250 to start and idle ,but wont take throttle. Shows signs of life after sitting for years. new coil on the way.
For the past week, Ive had my xs's71 tank full of evap-o-rust, and turned out good. not spotless, but acceptable.
I thought I flushed it all out, then filled it up with 3.5 gallons of fresh gas. Then I cleaned out the carbs, put everything back together, kicked over, started strong, then one side died, then the other side. Yank the plugs. wet with water. wtf? I took a sample from my tank. lots of sparkly water. Drain the entire tank, 3+ gallons wasted. reclean the carbs, ran out of carb cleaner rite at the very end.
While I was cleaning out the carbs, I rigged a air line to gently blow air 5psi, into the petcocks, out thru the fill cap to dry it out.
Toss it all back together, fired second kick, but because I was monkeying with it, the carbs were out of sync, the idle mix was off. It started, but only one cylinder. I grabbed my timming light and found no spark on rite side, switch plug wires, still no spark on rite side. Grabbed 2 new plugs, gapped to .025, and put those it. started first kick! rpms skyrocketed! turned it off quick.
Slacked the throttle cable up top, turned idle screws so the throttle plates were closed all the way. Restarted manipulating the throtle to keep it from running away, tuned it to idle at 1300rpm, resynced the carbs, did dead cylinder method, and rode it up n down the drive a few times. Got back to garage, and checked timing. It flutters at the fire mark, but seems to idle smooth. It goes full advance at 2500 rpm's, and is about 1/4 inch past full advance mark.
A few weeks ago, I went thru curley's charging guide, and all components checked out, but was overcharging, was at 14.9 volts at 3000rpm's. I adjusted the regulator, and now its at 12.7 volts at idle, but only 13.5 volts when revved. I guesse I need to tinker more with the regulator. Touchy thing. At least I wont fry my battery.
This thread really isn't a question type thread, more like a whats happening thread.
I love this bike.
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I'm digging the paint too, overall a nice looking bike. Congrats on getting her back to life!

-Beard

That's awesome and sounds like good progress!

thanks, guys. unfortunately, I stripped out a tappet cover bolt. No worries. I already have a heli kit. Just need a new stud. The old one was already held in with what looks like jb weld.
I will heli it, then red Loctite it.

Yeah, you're havin' fun out there.

The spark scatter at idle, with the 'too much advance', could be caused by worn/sloppy fit of advancer weight ears in the slotted disc, plus weak springs...

Spring are tight. I should pull the advance rod and lube it up. Might help the scatter?

angus67 said:

...I should pull the advance rod and lube it up. Might help the scatter?

Click to expand...

It could. There's a certain amount of delicacy in our thru-shaft points ignitions. Suppose, for example, that a dry/unlubed advance rod has a tiny 0.002" (hair's width) wallow fit in the cam's bushings. That small wallow can add/subtract from the point's tiny 0.012" gap, significantly altering the ignition timing. The grease in the bushings can take up much of that sloppiness.

Here's RG's advancer fixing thread:

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8636

I have pamco. But in any case , I will take a look at it. Looks easy. Anybody know the size of the tabs when new?

Oh, yeah, Pamco. I've often wondered if excessive advance shaft endplay, bouncing the rotor in/out, could affect the trigger magnet's influence (hence timing) on the sensor. But, that's Pete's department...

My timing marks bounced around quite a bit too. I found what I thought to be a bit too much advance rod endplay. I shimmed it out and it helped calm down the bouncing marks. I did this while I still had points but retained the shims when I switched to the Pamco. Details are here .....

http://xs650temp.proboards.com/thread/1372?page=2

It's an inexpensive mod and well worth doing in my opinion.

Thanks for the report and photo.......beautiful bike !

(you may be an addict)

Your voltage at 12.7 and 13.5 isn't optimum, but it's good enough. I ran one at 13 flat for years without issues. These old bikes, I never worry if I get 13 volts.

What a fine looking piece of machinery! Thanks for showing it off. It's fun to see old bikes with original finishes and parts.

Thanks 5t. I will do that. I'm shooting for 14volts at 3k

I ran mine for about the first 6 years or so with only around 13.5 volts output. I didn't have any problems with dead batteries. I got 4 seasons out of my 1st battery, a wet cell. That's about the average of what I normally have gotten on any bike through the years. I finally tweaked the regulator about 2 years into the 2nd battery (another wet cell). I get a good 14.2 or .3 at 3K now. This 2nd battery gave me 5 years of service but I can't say the regulator tweak was responsible for that. Like I said, 4 to 5 years has always been my wet cell battery life in any bike for like the last 40+ years. I'm trying a sealed battery in the 650 this time. We'll see how well that does. It's good so far but I'm only just starting into the 2nd season with it.

A wet lead/acid battery needs to be charged at 14.1 volts, in order to be fully charged.

My bike charges at approximately 14.2 volts, and the last wet, lead/acid battery failed at 7 years. Bought another wet lead/acid battery,for the bike, because they are so reliable and long lasting. Electric start has never failed to start the bike in 8 seasons so far.

For my car (Camry),its first battery was a wet lead/acid and I changed it out for an AGM, after 10 years. The car charging system charges at 14.1 volts.

MY XS650 did the same thing when we got it and found the carbs needed to be cleaned out. Once that was done it would take throttle and run real good

oldcoal said:

MY XS650 did the same thing when we got it and found the carbs needed to be cleaned out. Once that was done it would take throttle and run real good

Click to expand...

Good to know.
I stopped at the hardware store and picked up some studs, m6x1. They are longer than the originals. And they are just raw steel, not plated or galvi. Will a raw steel stud cause problems? What if I use anti-sieze on it?
I have a spare motor I can rob from, but would rather not.
Today, She started first kick cold.

Looks beautiful. Angus. There's an oversize valve cover stud repair thread, YTMV

thanks, gggary. LOL, thermite.
heres the old stud vs. new
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Im just going to heli it. I will tap it with the quality tap I got a c.r.a.p., then grind a harbor freight one down to make a bottom tap, and finish that way.
Will there be any problems with a raw steel stud? Rust on sight?