What have you done to your XS today?

It appears you mounted that brake line sort of backwards? Usually, with an angled fitting, you angle it away from the part it's attaching to. On the caliper, this gives more room to access the bleed nipple .....

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I thought so but couldn't get it to flip that way without straining the cable. Unhooked it, rerouted it and flipped them both around. Seems to be much less strain now too - must have twisted it earlier or something

Thanks
 
The GopherGlass Champion tail section and late style XR750 teardrop tank came today. Inspiring.:thumbsup: Maybe I`ll get more done on whatever that thing is I`m building?
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Looks awesome!
This is the big reason why I don't do big mods to my bike-nobody stocks anything and I have such a hard time with visualization. seeing that first photo I hated it, but it looks fantastic on the bike
 
Halfmile, do you mind sharing what those seats cost? I’ve been to their website but cannot find a price anywhere.
 
Going back to the side stand... I can see no reason, inspecting the side stand, for it to be bent. But, putting the bike on it's side stand scares the S*it outa me. It seems to lean way to far over. Not so with the CB750. Does your bike look like it's about to flop over when on the side stand? ( stockish bikes)
 
Weird sometimes it does but if it's on any slight hill, like in side of some streets. I've had it where it was to upright and worried it would tip, and I've had it actually tip.
I can't imagine it would lean so far it tips on the stand side, it does lean some nothing crazy if it's on flat ground. Do you have different size shocks or an altered stand?
 
Halfmile, do you mind sharing what those seats cost? I’ve been to their website but cannot find a price anywhere.
The tail section is $100.00. The pad is $100.00. I did not get the pad for now. Probably use Counter Balance for the pad. Gopher Glass price list is on the left side of the home page.

Buzzword. I did ask Randy if he makes the fiberglass for Redmax speed shop? Answer was yes.
 
Looks awesome!
This is the big reason why I don't do big mods to my bike-nobody stocks anything and I have such a hard time with visualization. seeing that first photo I hated it, but it looks fantastic on the bike

Thanks for the compliment. The tank will sit another inch lower on the bar because it hits on the original tank mounting cups. When I make the rear section on the other frame I`m using I`ll align the seat and tank for a proper fit. I like to keep the seat and tank on the same line.
 
Joebgd,
Hummmm Could be the shocks but I think I matched the replacements in size. I do have them all the way up but I'm 180 and get a good ride so...I might look around and find me a side stand to play with. Thanks,
 
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Going back to the side stand... I can see no reason, inspecting the side stand, for it to be bent. But, putting the bike on it's side stand scares the S*it outa me. It seems to lean way to far over. Not so with the CB750. Does your bike look like it's about to flop over when on the side stand? ( stockish bikes)
The spokes are white zinc plated. I would spend the extra and get stainless.

>> Got the ft/spoke kit from up the road....$28 delivered...quick. Still waiting on the NOS rear set...in the mail. What I can say...took on spoke n lightly wiped with Blue Magic and it is not as white (zinc) as the rest.
 
Realized I had not photographed the finished "black painted" parts that have been sitting around and before they go onto the bike.. Here that are. Also, Got one day service on these Ebay front spokes from up the road. They all measure out @ spec. Will see how they last. I did take one and wiped it lightly with Blue Magic. That took a noticeable amount of 'white' off the metal. Can't really tell as much in the attached photo. So, just using acrylic sealer on top of the newly spoke wheels. waiting on some more rear spokes NOS from a bike dealer.P8230793.JPG P8230793.JPG P8230797.JPG
 

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This triumph style manifold is kickass!! Thanks gggGary!! Still need to find a dual throttle cable that will fit these. Any ideas guys? or will just about any work?

I also finished re-doing my whole shifter lol
 

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Finished bleeding my brake this morning then went for a two hour ride. Wow, what a difference! Not sure if it's mostly the stainless line, the new M/C or a healthy mix of both, but to call it "night and day" would be under selling it. Way more usable control for light braking and way more stopping power if you give a good pull... I know because a couple of times I grabbed a handful of brake, forgetting that they were performing so much better. Whoops
 
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My New Favorite Drill Accessory
The tungsten step bit is so handy in a build.
I am always looking for the right size washer and this item turns SAE into metric in a flash.

The blue 77's road trials were going really well after I put in new brushes, still has a rough band about 4000 rpm, but brought it in last week and oil leaking from under left cover. Having put in my first clutch pushrod seal and bought two, I figured I had ham fisted it and let it sit for a few days.
Who knew I had ham brained it and the front sprocket nut was finger tight!
Easy fix.
 
Doing a carb rebuild right now (81 XS650SH). The left carb has a rubber plug on the slow jet but the right doesn't. Is that how it should be or is it missing?
 
Doing a carb rebuild right now (81 XS650SH). The left carb has a rubber plug on the slow jet but the right doesn't. Is that how it should be or is it missing?

Both carbs need the rubber caps on the pilot jets.
Sometimes it's stuck in the float bowl.
 
Both carbs need the rubber caps on the pilot jets.
Sometimes it's stuck in the float bowl.
Thanks. Guy who I was working with dug and found that. Checked everywhere and it was nowhere to be found so ended up fashioning one out of some rubber. Not ideal, but should be fine until I get the proper ones.

Everything else was a bit of a disaster, though. Everything looked pretty good in the carbs. Previous owner said he had done a cleaning but not a rebuild and it looks like he did a pretty good job, everything looked good in there. Diaphragms were good, no tears or anything funky looking. Popped in all the new parts from the rebuild, got the carbs back in and the bike wont idle. Just starts and dies. If you hold the throttle open it idles fine but the idle screw was bottomed out and it wasn't getting enough to keep going. By this time it was 9:30ish and I had to get home, so we rigged the throttle cable up temporarily so I could get home, and tomorrow I was going to get the bike back over to the guy and leave it with him to sort out, as I wouldn't have much time over the next couple days.

Getting the bike home was hell. Just ran awful. Really slow response if I gave it throttle, back firing out the left cylinder, sputtering out if I decelerate, and at stops I'd have to keep the throttle open and around 3k rpm so the bike wouldn't die. Holding the throttle steady the rpm would jump up and down a bit. All around it sounded like a dying animal. Then about half way home at a stop light it died, I tried to kick it over and there was no resistance on the kick lever. Had to stop traffic to push it over to the side of the road and try to get it going which, eventually I did. Then a little up the road it died again - this time at a roundabout so I wasn't even stopped, just slowing down and it died. Pushed it onto the sidewalk and again, just wouldn't kick over. Eventually it did and I blew all stop signs and red lights till I got home and it died pulling into the driveway.

I read that taking the acorn nut off the cam chain adjuster makes taking the carbs out easier, so I did that. As I was loosening it off the other guy noticed that the other nut was coming loose as well. I was going to wait until the carbs were back in to adjust the cam chain tension again, but totally forgot. I thought of this when I was on the sidewalk after the second breakdown, but didn't have any tools on me and it was way too hot to see if I could turn it by hand. So it's very possible that between the initial knocking loose of that nut then trying to get the carbs out of the frame that the cam chain came way loose, but reading symptoms of that it doesn't make sense to me - maybe part of the problem, but not all of it (though I know nothing on the subject and was just doing some searching, so definitely could be wrong). Going to check on that first thing in the morning. When I changed out my handlebars I had the problem of the kick not engaging, due to the clutch cable being all wrong after moving from the rototiller bars to lower ones, but we rerouted the cable, got it all adjusted and it's been good since. We weren't doing anything with the clutch today.

Any other ideas? Not feeling good about riding the bike back to my buddies tomorrow and don't really want to have to get a trailer sorted out, so if anybody can point me in the direction where to look that would be great.

*Edit:* This is the carb kit used, and we replaced the floats as well - https://www.revshop.eu/en/tourmax-carb-repair-kit-cab-y6.html
 

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I read that taking the acorn nut off the cam chain adjuster makes taking the carbs out easier, so I did that. As I was loosening it off the other guy noticed that the other nut was coming loose as well. I was going to wait until the carbs were back in to adjust the cam chain tension again, but totally forgot. I thought of this when I was on the sidewalk after the second breakdown, but didn't have any tools on me and it was way too hot to see if I could turn it by hand. So it's very possible that between the initial knocking loose of that nut then trying to get the carbs out of the frame that the cam chain came way loose, but reading symptoms of that it doesn't make sense to me - maybe part of the problem, but not all of it (though I know nothing on the subject and was just doing some searching, so definitely could be wrong).

Hi, Fixthe, if you have doubts about the cam chain tension then you need to resolve those before you even start the bike.

Don't want to frighten you but a cam chain which is way too loose or might have jumped a tooth or two on the sprocket can lead to mechanical mayhem in the top end of the engine. In the worst case, turning the engine over can lead to interference between valves and pistons.

Read about how to check the cam timing in relation to the crank. I had to deal with cam timing issues rebuilding my XS - take a look here:

http://www.xs650.com/threads/miss-november-xs2-tribute.55057/page-6#post-601284

But there are better threads which deal with the subject. Don't get panicked, read up, take your time, work methodically. If you turn the engine do it carefully and slowly. Once you are sure the cam/valve timing is correct, you can then turn attention to other problems such as carbs that might have made the bike run erratically.
 
Rust in a clutch cable can do the "no compression" thing.
Is the battery charging? If on the stock TCI ignition they will act exactly like what you describe if the charging system isn't working.
 
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