My rebuild journey. (old title: Future owner - Help me identify this 650.)

Have a read here on waking a bike from a deep slumber. If you take nothing else from it, remember this; never try to start a bike that's been sitting forever without cleaning out the tank, petcocks and carbs. Odds are there's all manner of nasty's in the float bowls. You might even get it started, but all you're doin' is sucking all that junk into the jets and passageways. It just makes it that much harder to clean 'em out when you've completely clogged 'em. Get the entire fuel system clean before even attempting to start it.
 
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All excellent advice. But we are all getting ahead of ourselves. A lot will become clearer once you have the bike at home and can start to take a good look at what you have.

Take your time, assess what is there, decide what needs to be refurbished or replaced. Don't worry that things might have been replaced or swapped in the past. These bikes often compared to Lego - within broad limits, bits can be swapped about. And there are experts on this forum that will advise.
 
Thinking out loud again
The larger rear wheel sprocket ..and tire can it be that it has been used for Motocross type riding


I have heard of them, used for sidecar before ..Bored out to larger Displacement
Out on the field going for a jump landing on a rock --- Ploing the rim and spokes are gone
Rear wheel bent -Parked .
 
All excellent advice. But we are all getting ahead of ourselves. A lot will become clearer once you have the bike at home and can start to take a good look at what you have.

Take your time, assess what is there, decide what needs to be refurbished or replaced. Don't worry that things might have been replaced or swapped in the past. These bikes often compared to Lego - within broad limits, bits can be swapped about. And there are experts on this forum that will advise.

Yep I do have to get the bike to my garage before I can get going. But i love the moral boost. Yall seem like a bunch of good guys and im excited to get working on this! Also gotta wait until he lawyers are done with figuring out the title situation.
 
Well, truth be told, sometimes surprisingly little. Everything needs to be checked, gone through and cleaned up, but much of the stuff can be re-used after renovating it. You will probably need to replace a few oil seals, some seals in the carbs maybe, but mostly it's going to be renovating what you got. And you won't really know what you need until you start going through things.

I suppose you could start laying in some supplies and maybe a few "specialty" tools. You'll want a basic solvent for cleaning off the oil and grease (I use kerosene), some chrome polish and aluminum polish (like Mother's). For the rubber, vinyl, and plastic parts, wiring especially, I use a product called the Tannery. It does a great job of cleaning and preserving all that stuff, and it's easy to use. It sprays out like a foam and you just let it soak a bit then wipe it off.

For tools, this is a metric bike so if you don't already have them, you'll want to get some metric wrenches and sockets. Also, one of those hand held impact tools you hit with a hammer. You most likely will need that for some stuck on fasteners you'll probably encounter. There's more, lots more, but this will get you started.
This probably is a good time to emphasize that the fasteners that look like Phillips head are NOT - they are JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). Do not use a Phillips head screwdriver on them - get real JIS ones.
 
This probably is a good time to emphasize that the fasteners that look like Phillips head are NOT - they are JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). Do not use a Phillips head screwdriver on them - get real JIS ones.

Hi Sudonate,
you won't be using those JIS drivers too often, just enough to remove all the bike's JIS fasteners and replace them with Allen screws.
IMHO NO sort of crosspoint screw should EVER be used where it needs to be routinely taken out again.
 
The bike doesn't have a center stand..........handy to have............Have look around the shed when you get there

Very handy - if you can't find it, might even be worth tracking one down. Starting on this forum.
 
Yeah maybe I can find something. If I can confirm that the motors runs. I almost wanna replace the back wheel back to stock. Also put turn signals back on and a better fuse box.
All parts removed for the typical chooper build, not hard to find, a wanted in the local CL or FB groups often finds what you need with a short trip to pick up.
 
DanielBlack ??? He may be a good resource since he relocated to STL no too long ago.... If nothing else it's good to know members in your neck of the woods.
 
I have an update! I was able to pull numbers off the frame and engine!

Frame: 3G0-001792
Engine: 4N9-003339

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I ALSO was able to talk to my wife's uncle about the bike. Her grandpa(his dad) bought it wrecked... Which is more like his character since I bet he got it dirt cheap. Also explains all the odd parts. The uncle said they rode it 4-5 years ago and dumped it on grass. Which is what broke the back spokes. Y'all have good eyes!

Bike might have more history than I thought. Interested to investigate if the wreck makes the bike a risky ride.
 
Bike might have more history than I thought. Interested to investigate if the wreck makes the bike a risky ride.
History is cool. Almost any bike can be made safe to ride again. You just have to want to.
I brought a bike back that had a broken frame and engine cases. If I can do that so could you.
 
With any luck, that is the reason it was left in the shed.........and not engine related...........

Yeah the uncle said it was left in the garage for while after he retired and they were bullshittin- fired it up to take it for a spin in the lawn. I guess the old man was riding it and dumped it on dewy grass. The uncle said it scared the crap out of him because he saw his dad dump it and thought he was hurt. But ended up misaligning the front end (which he said they were able to straighten up) and broke those two back spokes. The lawn dump was 4-5 years ago. The rebuild was from the previous owner I believe.
 
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