Hello all. My name is Thaddeus. You can call me T. I'll jut give you all the whole story, because in my experience, the more you know about anything, the better you are able to offer advice. So, this is my first motorcycle,chopper,and XS650. I have wanted an XS for years, ever since me and my stepson built motorized bicycles together and I quickly caught on to the fact that most of my favorite "bobbers" online or in "The Horse" mag were XS650's, or vertical twins. Fast forward about 5 years to this february, I see an ad on Craigslist while at the gym for two XS's, "make an offer". I offer 450.00 and two days later I have my first Xs- a 79 engine with a PAMCO HIGH OUTPUT ignition kit, including the NGK BPR7EIX plugs, in an '80 frame that has been chopped with a Monstercraftsman brat kit with a Biltwell diamond-stitch seat, rolling on spoke wheels. I was thrilled. I thought I had gotten a deal. Now here is a good point in my story to point out a couple facts that are relevant today. 1. I am married, and the wife has me on a strict budget of 100.00 a month. I don't want to talk about it. 2. When me and my buddy picked up the bike, the P.O. Had it wired with a battery and ignition key, but the battery was dead. My buddy hooked his jumper pack up to the terminals and we kickstarted it and watched it idle for about a minute. I revved the throttle and it was smooth and responsive. I kickstarted it again in my driveway when we got home with the jumper pack to show my wife and kids. So I know it IDLES Good. 3. I have no wiring harness, I bought this as a chopper, and the wiring was a fucking MESS, but it ran with a jumper so I knew it had to be SOMEWHAT correct. The P.O. Claims he replaced the piston rings and lapped the valves. At this point, I have enough budget and believe all I need to finish it is a headlight, taillight, and some cosmetic things like bars and grips. A couple weeks later a friend of mine sees the bike and tells me the welds are total shit and not to ride it. I stress for a week but decide to take the plunge and I order a TC BROS engine stand and the day I get it I tear everything off my bike and with the help of my buddy, manage to get the engine in the basement. I notice the right exhaust port looks wet, so we take out the plugs. They looked weird and had little teeth on them. I realized about a week later that the head had been tapped, and that the thread inserts came out with the plugs. I found some inserts at auto zone, which appear to be exactly the ones that came out. The tapped threads in the head are oval shaped; I can thread the insert in about halfway and can wiggle it left to right about 1/4 inch. I also realized that if I threaded the spark plug all the way in, it was contacting the valve! After looking at some more pictures online, I realized the head for whatever reason has been countersunk about 1/4 inch where the tapped threads are, thereby sinking my spark plug the equal distance TOO DEEP into my piston chamber! So, here I am today. It's April, I want to be riding by my Birthday in June. My brother in law, a professional welder by trade and a hardcore biker/Harley guy, is cleaning up my frame and re welding the shitty welds on the brat kit. When he texts me to let me know it's done, I will start sanding and prepping it for a QUALITY rattle can paint job. (Thats one thing I CAN do GOOD). Once it's painted I will be ready to re-install the engine and hopefully that will be that. I am planning on using a PMA and capacitor with headlight/taillight only to run the SIMPLEST and CLEANEST wiring possible. My plan is to order Hugh's PMA, and a SPARX Cap. I know this probably WON'T be the case, but I am HOPING since the bike kicked over and idled strong before I took it apart, that in theory it should run just as well after putting everything back together. My plan for the threads is to install the inserts with GREEN loctite, as recommended by my machinist gear head friend, and to use washers between the spark plug and head to make up the difference of the countersink in the actual head. I am already WAAAAY deeper than I ever planned to be in this thing. I am basically Building a chopper from the ground up at this point, but I really couldn't get deeper than opening the engine, which I REALLY can't afford to do right now, time-wise or financially. I guess what I am HOPING for is the Approval of everyone on here whose experience and wisdom I trust. Please let me know if my plan seems reasonable enough, or if it's too much to hope for or there's something I am overlooking. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and for any advice or wisdom you have to offer!
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wots that in English ?....sorry xjwmx these modern acronyms are hard work for us sexagenarians 
