An introduction and question

Well it's been awhile so I thought I would give ya all an update. The bike is completely disassembled and I'll be getting it to my buddy for powder coating. For the most part disassembly was uneventful. The biggest problem I had was getting the front hub off the axle. Seeing as those are had to come by, caution was the focus. The backing plate was frozen to the axle and after three days of Krol oil and occasional heating it would still just not budge. I believe it was after that third beer I decided the only way it was going to come apart was to cut down the right side of the axle, remove the drum and work with just the backing plate and axle.

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Have to let you ya all know this was undertaken only because I have an extra front axle. Well I got it cut down so the drum would slip off and was able to press the axle out supporting the backing plate at the bearing area. I'll be heading up to my buddys shop tomorrow to clean and blast both front and rear hubs for through inspection and prep for polishing.

The forks had me going for awhile but putting them in the lathe using the lowest gear as a brake the outer tube nut finally yielded without the use of heat or leverage. Have to say I was smiling ear to ear over that one.

Naturally the disassembly process resulted in finding a number of parts that will hopefully be able to be replaced. I'll be posting a want add in the near future hoping to trade off some early XS parts for them. One question I do need some assistance on is the inner fork tubes. The ones I have a pretty heavily pitted up by the lower triple tree clamp. I cleaned them up with a soft brass wire brush and Simichrome polish, whereas they are better it is something I would like to replace. So the question is does anyone know of a source for new inner fork tubes? If there is no source for new ones is rechroming possible? If rechroming is possible would the pits need to be ground out?

Lastly the front motor mounts came out good. Well at least the second set did. I bored the lightening hole off location so with enough material for another set I made them over.

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As I begin cleaning up parts Ill post some pics of how that goes.
 
Quick question. Is the nut that holds the speedometer worm gear left or right had threads?

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Hey Gary. Yeah Wisconsin can get cold. I spent a year in Oshkosh and even being from Western Michigan originally, it was a lot colder Wisconsin. Spent a good amount of time at the local corner bar. :) No hurry on the thread direction request. Stay warm.
 
It's been awhile since I have posted anything on the build progress so here goes. Last weekend I got the frame and related parts to powder coat. Since it is being done by a friend of a friend I said no hurry. I decided that the engine should be next so yesterday I began the tear down. So far I am quite pleased with how it looked. Just FYI, the pics I am posting are what I see as the worst case.
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I was going to jump right into new pistons but now wondering if I might be able to clean things up and reuse what I have. Any observations, thoughts and input are, as always, very welcome.

Cam and rockers... Again, these pics show what I consider the worst looking of parts, but feel they are very serviceable. if I am out in left field please let me know.

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Cam chain guide and tension-er.

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Next is to complete the tear down and begin the prep work for painting cases. Because the engine is painted black I'm hoping to find a local source for soda blasting. Lastly if anyone has any ideas or suggestions of pics that would be beneficial in determining serviceability please let me know.
 
Well, I'm going to venture an opinion. But with the caveat that there are people with far more experience than me on this forum.

I would say the pistons and bores look fine - in fact, the honing marks are visible in the bores so wear should be minimal. However, it would be a good idea to check the fit of the pistons - this can be done by trying thin feeler gauges between piston and bore. Clean off the rust, new set of rings and I think they will be good to go. The cams look fine. Not quite so sure about the followers - it's not completely clear from the pictures whether those are surface marks or scoring? If the hardened surface is going through, probably best to replace the rockers. And from what I have learned on this forum, it's always a good idea to replace the cam chain guide while you are in there. There are suggestions for how to upgrade the guide and warnings about knock-off copies that have inferior rubber and won't last.

Just my opinion, hope this helps.
 
Raymondo, Thanks for reinforcing what I feel is the way to go on the cylinder bores. Today while tearing the rest down I spent some time looking more closely at the bores and pistons and I came to the decision to give it a go. As for the rocker arms I am going to give them a go too, because of the condition of the cam faces. I may be in left field but if the cam surface looks as good as they do, would it not be reasonable to think the rocker arm face should be serviceable too? :umm: Final decision to come a bit later as I continue to clean and check.

On the typical side of our beloved XS650 engines I too had a torn sump screen filter.
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I would have almost been disappointed it it had not been. :lmao:
 
Jake, again just a suggestion. There is plenty of guidance here on fixing up the torn oil filter with JB weld or alloy sheet. But I went for a conversion to a screw-on filter which eliminates that problem and gives better filtration - see this http://www.xs650.com/threads/hello-from-new-member.55057/page-2#post-598561

Bought this direct from http://www.smedspeed.co.uk/contact.html who will I think ship to USA or there are similar sump conversions available. I have no connection with Smedspeed.
 
Raymondo, way ahead of ya on the filter thing. We had a few miserable cold and wet days last week, so I spent them in the shop working on a spin on filter sump plate. I also just ordered some small neodymium magnets that I will be mounting on the filter mounting block. I'll post a pic of it when done.
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Jim, You said you used gloss aluminum with hardener for your engine paint on your 80SG build, page 37 post 729. I have looked on the POR15 site and cannot find a gloss enamel. Would you mind providing me the product number for the paint and hardener?

Thanks
Jake
 
Jim, You said you used gloss aluminum with hardener for your engine paint on your 80SG build, page 37 post 729. I have looked on the POR15 site and cannot find a gloss enamel. Would you mind providing me the product number for the paint and hardener?

Thanks
Jake
Sure. The POR15 was advertised as gloss, but it's not actually... more of a satin when it dries. Pretty sure I got it from Amazon.
The hardener is a generic from my local paint shop, now closed unfortunately. It's advertised as a hardener, but it's actually more of a plasticizer.

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Yup... Amazon. It's not advertised as gloss anymore, so either they fixed that or I just plain misread it.
 
Well, how about a quick Thanksgiving update. With the engine apart and the initial round of soda blasting done, today was spent pressure washing and seeing what needed additional blasting. As for the soda blasting, I used the hand held unit from Harbor Freight and their course grit soda. So far I am very please with the outcome. I'll post some before and after in a couple of days. Anyway, gasket surfaces need the most work. Worst of what I need to clean up.
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With the blasting inspections done and parts pressure washed, I started the process of checking parts for serviceability. Since this means lots of service manual time I detoured and decided to put the manual into sheet protectors and a three ring binder. Low stress job with time to enjoy a cold one or two and good tunes..
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Just going back through the last page... agree With Raymond on the pistons and jugs.
Have you made a decision on the rockers? I've got a spare set if you need them.
You cam chain guide may look OK, but if it's original, you'd be best served to replace it. Since you're a machinist, have you read this?
 
That was a great write-up, Jim! I had to skim through it again.When I tore into the guts of "The Basketcase", I found internals that looked as good as the exterior looked bad, including the cam chain guide. There's barely any wear on it! No rubber missing at all! Everything inside appears to be ready to go for at least 10,000 miles. My plan, then, is to either vapor, or simply soda blast the motor (to clean it down to the bone, and get rid of the barnacles!), and put it back together with all new gaskets, seals, and hardware. Again, kudos!
 
Jim, Great idea and write up. As recommended by others to replace the cam chain guide and tension-er, I'll be incorporating your idea into the build instead of simply changing out for new parts. The offer on the rockers is also much appreciated. As I get into more serious inspections of components I'll keep your offer in mind. Also, I've ordered the POR15 engine paint and our local O'Reilly's has the Evercoat hardener, so as I get closer to painting the cases I am sure I'll have questions.
 
OK.. I have been thinking about the rockers and questing what looked like lines across the face. So, on a cold, windy miserable day I decided to take a closer look at the rockers. Now I may be breaking every rule on this, but I took some 2000 grit wet or dry, soaked it with WD40 and lightly worked the rocker faces over the wet or dry on a surface plate. And this it what I have

Right Intake
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Right Exhaust
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Left intake
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Left exhaust (never mind the RE in the pic, I accidentally positioned the left over the right exhaust initials)
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So I have a few 650's under my belt but have never come across this. Besides needing new ones anyone have ideas on what caused this?
 
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