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Brand spanking new here gentlemen with a 1979 Yamaha bar hopper project. Bike has decent compression but has been sitting for a couple of years. In the the process of the trying to breath life back into the old girl. This piece of metal was found stuck to the rear drain plug when I drained the oil. I am not that familiar with Japanese and mainly work on British iron. Photos attached, I am already worried, question is how much should I be. Any help would be greatly appreciated....


George
Fredericksburg Va.

Hmmmm - that's a very odd looking piece to have come from inside an engine.....

Broken dipstick?

Ahhhhhh......yes, it does look like the end of a broken dipstick.

I believe you have hit it on the head. It never dawned on me about the marks, thanks one and all. I do apologize for registering and posting a problem immediately. I will throw up some additional back ground info and more info about the "Little Bobber" who wants to live again when more time is available. Now I am off to work and going ride the Moto Guzzi, that alone should show you I am not all that normal...........

no problemo - getting quick answers is what makes this forum to terrific!

BTW - you might want to check the dipstick to be certain that the end is indeed what you have found and if so - you probably should get a new stick as XS650s can sip a little when run fast on hot days (don't we all....).

If it is the dipstick and the end of the debris and the end of the stick match up then you know that there isn't likely anything else in there and you should be OK.

Pete

Britman said:

I believe you have hit it on the head. It never dawned on me about the marks, thanks one and all. I do apologize for registering and posting a problem immediately. I will throw up some additional back ground info and more info about the "Little Bobber" who wants to live again when more time is available. Now I am off to work and going ride the Moto Guzzi, that alone should show you I am not all that normal...........

Click to expand...

Hi George and welcome,
Guzzi/XS650 makes you more normal than my buddy who was left with
a Guzzi/XS650 with Dneipr sidecar/New Hudson moped after he sold his BSA A10 & B44.
Does your bike's dipstick end stop short to match the piece that was stuck to the drain plug magnet BTW?
About your bike:-
Nice looking hardtail and although some of the builder's design details are sub-optimal they can easily be fixed.
Those pleated cone air cleaners don't work well with the XS650's stock carbs, Unipods work far better..
The shorty exhaust makes it hard to tune, stretch 'em rearwards and add back-pressure, eh?
You sure an off-road front /street touring rear tire mix is a good thought?
A forkbrace will reduce the front end flex that was caused by removing the front fender.
The small master cylinder/stainless line/drilled disk upgrade will improve the front brake.
And if that long skinny rear brake rod is set up to work in compression
(my old eyes can't make out the pedal mechanism) the rear brake ain't gonna work well at all.

Just a little follow up, yes it is indeed a dipstick end, not mine which is all there. The break apparently came where the flat goes to round and must have been from a previous owner. Maybe a little longer than the black goo I drained out this morning, it was dirty buy no metal particles. Fred, you are right, there are some good things about the bike, most of the aftermarket parts are good quality to include the complete frame, and nearly everything is powder coated. Free time has been spent straightening out the minimal wiring, apparently no one in the past owners family owned a soldering iron. The carbs are on bench waiting for kits, new throttle cable, brake lever, stop light switch, tail light, also all on order. The compression is great, starter is unhooked but tests good, I may re-wire it depending on how hard it is to start. Overall it is a great project, and at age 68, it is just a project. If I went out on that they would send me to the home. Now off to a belated Farther's Day dinner with the Wife, and hopefully when I get home I can get the damn filter cover off, side and bottom, like I said it has been awhile since this machine saw any TLC. Thanks again everyone, I am looking forward to input as this progresses.. (Yep I am looking for a decent set of headers also, neighbors would lynch me with the current set up.) Attaching a shot of my herd besides the XS. The Honda 450 is gone, it was another rescue project...

It's easy to mis-insert the the dip stick and if you persist in "making it fit", break off the end. If it doesn't start to thread easily, remove and insert again in the "right spot". after couple of times it's obvious when you get it where it should be. Welcome aboard Guzzi or no.

Nice herd!!

Love that Guzzi - I've always been partial to fore & aft vee format engines. In fact, my modern bike has a pair of them!



Pete

Any Guzzi guy is OK with us real bikers ! (whatever that means)

Welcome to the forum, Britman.

Britman said:

...hopefully when I get home I can get the damn filter cover off, side and bottom...

Click to expand...

Here's the oil filter thread:

http://www.xs650.com/threads/oil-filter.72/

GggGary's cool tool for the side filter cover:

http://www.xs650.com/threads/oil-change-and-sump-filter.8176/#post-227411

And some cautions:

http://www.xs650.com/threads/sump-plate-bolts.3183/
http://www.xs650.com/threads/something-to-keep-in-mind-with-sump-plate.11823/
http://www.xs650.com/threads/damaged-threads-sump-plate.23698/
http://www.xs650.com/threads/sump-plate-broken-bolt-now-a-major-issue.29320/
http://www.xs650.com/threads/cant-get-oil-sump-filter-plate-off.29233/


Let us know if you find any money in there...

View attachment 101400 View attachment 101401 View attachment 101402 View attachment 101403 TwoManyXS1B.s

Thank you, very much appreciated. You saved me tons of time using the the search feature. Copying Gary's homemade tool this afternoon, don't think that cover is moving otherwise and I have a gasket on order for the sump filter from Mike's. Very helpful and friendly bunch of this site, again thanks everyone. Attaching a couple more shots of the project on the day it came off the trailer. Found a set of headers this morning from a site member and the broken right foot peg/rear brake lever has been welded back up. Don't know about you guys, but I am the happiest when knee deep in a project......

Haha, "knee deep".
Some of these guys are at armpit level.
Or worse, over their heads.

Methinks that your brake lever should be rotated about 100° clockwise.
That should put the brake rod in proper tension, more parallel with the lower frame, with the rear brake lever moving forward, per normal...

welcome Britman ...love your 'herd' ......your beautiful TR6R puts me in mind of my old 6T, my first bike 50 years ago.
The next owner buried it in his garden ! I've often thought about tracking it down and exhuming it

The mark 2A cover tool They usually fall off in fear when they SEE this thing.

Filter cover is off, before constructing the tool I cut two small pieces of rubber fuel line that would fit in the screw recessions tightly to prevent damage. A couple of taps with a blunt drift and access was granted. The "put drain plug back into the bottom sump plate trick worked perfectly". Of course the bottom filter screen has some minor tearing so probably an aluminum Coors Light can /JB Weld shield fix will come into play since I am waiting on gaskets and other parts anyway. (I would use a Budweiser can but the bike would probably develop a headache and do nothing but watch NASCAR.) I must say that in all of the motorcycles I have done valve adjustments on, this one was the easiest. I am relatively sure also that the PO was missing a manual along with the soldering gun, valves were either too tight or way too loose. I am hoping to kick her over for the first time after the resurrection in the next couple of weeks. Of course that all hinges on life's little inconveniences like part time jobs, a lawn that grows so fast it is starting to eat squirrels, and keeping a Wife appeased that will live with a garage full of orphan motorcycles.

Britman said:

I must say that in all of the motorcycles I have done valve adjustments on, this one was the easiest.
valves were either too tight or way too loose. .

Click to expand...

Oi! ....lay off the Buds bud, I like my Buds. Occasional Headaches are indeed a pain sic especially with no Nascar .

There is a growing school of thought and much debate about the best valve lash settings for XS650 .
Yamaha started out with very relaxed settings with the XS1 and XS2 but later the gaps got tighter and tighter as Yamaha presumably tried to make their valve trains run quieter .

The trouble with very close clearances is if the gaps are not set with meticulous care it is extremely easy to get them too tight . This naturally effects starting and running and eventually can cause damage to the exhaust valves and seats from excess heat as the exhaust valves get no time to dissipate heat to the cylinder head . Consequently many owners are leaving valve clearances looser ....closer to that recommended by Yamaha in the late 60s and early 70s

i'm rambling again... you might find this technical article interesting (down bottom of page)
http://www.smedspeed.co.uk/tech.html
http://www.smedspeed.co.uk/tech.html
ps join the NABCi ...designate the lawn as a Wildlife sanctuary , build the Wife a revolving shoe rack, install a Coors Light chiller in the garage and you're sorted !.

Peanut, no offense on the Bud thing, and I really do follow NASCAR or at least what's left of it. Coors Light for me, made by the Gods and sent down to earth for us morals to enjoy. I went with .003 intake and .006 on exhaust, I will give a listen when and if I get it fired to see if any noise is heard. I ride a 64 Triumph, you can hear those valves coming around block and I know they are in spec. I ended up using a Diet Pepsi can to do a patch repair on the filter, (trying to lay off of the beer, at least through the week to drop a couple of pounds.) Damn sure isn't pretty but I believe it will hold up once the JB sets.

Ok boys and girls just a little follow up on the neglected bobber. Carbs rebuilt, oil changed, Uni pods installed, gas tank flushed with new fuel lines, valves adjusted, timing checked, new plugs, and new longer headers. Then came time for the first kick over. No gas flowing on the first 20 or so tries. Back to this site to check settings on idle jet screw and wala, not enough turns out apparently for 38's. Re-adjusted and fired on the third kick. The old bike runs really good for something that has been sitting idle for at least two years.

For some reason I have really been rushing this project and after hearing the "Old Girl" come back to life and actually sit and idle, I have decided to slow down, make a list, and solve one issue at a time. I am currently still running on a remote battery and jumpers. Wiring is still jacked up, ignition switch is a toggle and it doesn't shut down until the the headlight is also cut off. There is no low or high beam, only on and off. First up a complete re-wire with a heavy duty key switch and done correctly. Brakes front and rear need a ton of attention. With the this custom frame and an apparent drop on the rear lever side, it is going to take some real fabrication to get everything in synch with a new brake light switch functioning properly. Overall I am happy as a calm, the motor is strong and sounds awesome. Time to make it pretty and rideable.



Now I am going to take the old 64 TR6R out for a seafood dinner run with a couple of cold beers to celebrate the awaking .