A new to me 77 XS 650

I just a 77 xs 650. It’s been hardtailed. The welds are good and the rear kit looks to be from a reputable company. It came with the original front end. The frame numbers match the engine number. All that is with the bike is a rolling chassis and an engine. Where do I start in getting parts and getting what I need. My plan is a stripped down chopper. What electrical do I need? How do I set up the rear end? There’s no rear brake pivot or brake pedal. No carbs, and I have idea what electronics are in it. Give me a list of ideas or people to talk to please. Thanks upfront for any info you can give me

Steve

Being a newbie, I suggest you check out the tech section as well as utilize the search function. There are a lot of knowledgeable members here that are always willing to help, but don’t expect us to spoon feed you info with general statements like “tell me what to do and who to talk to “. Buy a manual and do some research on your own so that you can ask more specific questions. I don’t mean to sound like a dick but for your first post it sounds like you just bought an incomplete project and want us all to tell you how to build a bike.

Yah you come off like a dick. I have a knowledge on how to build bikes. I don’t know a lot about an XS and I’m trying to find some answers. You want a specific question, here you go buddy, how much of the electrical harness do I need to make an engine run? I have 0 wires for this engine or for the bike. Thanks for not a single help to anything I asked Willis. Welcome to the forum I guess.

welcome,

This guy makes harness's
http://www.xs650.com/threads/harness-kits-and-custom-harness-plus-a-heads-up.58611/#post-668879
............As willis says, you need to learn and engage and not just rely on us to spoon feed..........
Use the search feature and tech menu. ............Use different phrases in search to get different results.

click o "search",..........go down to "more"........fill in "Keywords", (i put in "Hard tail rear end"), and hit search and got this
http://www.xs650.com/search/75018004/?q=Hard+tail+rear+end&o=relevance

Skull. Thanks for the info. That’s at least something helpful. Again I’m not looking for nor do I need to be spoon fed. Just looking for information. I will do more searches and I will have more questions. Hoping to get some decent responses to them. And not spoon fed either

Post some pics and tell us a bit about how you got the bike and what you are going to do............open a thread as a build thread helps a well

I like that. I can do that. So I planning to build a bobber. Sportster tank. Springer seat. Mini apes. Mag wheels. Custom paint. Bought it off Facebook marketplace here in Sam Diego. This isn’t my first build, just my first XS build. Going to do build post. Hope you enjoy the content

newbie77 said:

I just a 77 xs 650. It’s been hardtailed. The welds are good and the rear kit looks to be from a reputable company. It came with the original front end. The frame numbers match the engine number. All that is with the bike is a rolling chassis and an engine. Where do I start in getting parts ...........and getting what I need. My plan is a stripped down chopper. What electrical do I need? .................. How do I set up the rear end? ................ There’s no rear brake pivot or brake pedal. No carbs, and I have idea what electronics are in it. .................. Give me a list of ideas or people to talk to please. .................. Thanks upfront for any info you can give me Steve

Click to expand...

Don't be to hard on people.......in your first post there are 5 questions asking what to do...TBH, they, (questions), come of as a little more than an ask, and come across as someone who doesn't know what to do, especially asking how to set up to run on a basic battery harness.

"Tech menu", "electrical", has a lot of threads relating to diagrams and the charging system..........the more you research, and even if you get confused in the threads, then the more you will find the answers to questions will make sense. Will get more help if people see your doing your own research in conjunction with questions...............

In the garage there s a sticky 650 model ID...about the 4th thread from the top, this has links to online manuals and a couple of other sites that are full of XS650 stuff.Well worth a peruse

Don't take this to heart. ...........members will bend over backwards to help.

Thank you 650skull. I appreciate you. I will do some looking around and find some stuff out on my own. I’ll look into doing a build thread as well. Thanks for the info.

I'm not a har-tail guy so how to's on them are not my thing, can point, but there are a few guys who are regulars on here with Hard-tail builds.

looks like a good clean start. with the wheels and engine you can build what you want...........Lining up the rear wheel sprocket with the engine front sprocket is the go to start and make sure the wheels are in line.......the manuals show a how to on this.......basically use a straight edge along front and rear wheel, if both wheels are straight to the straight edge then they are right. If either wheel is off on an angle to the straight then it needs to be corrected. rear might not b square at the axle, front cold be bent forks or not set up in the triple tree properly...........

Engines from 74-83 are the same internally and externally. The only difference is 74-79 have points from the factory and 80-84 has a TCI, (factory electronic ignition). this does also mean the charging systems are different. not much just the regulator and rectifier are separate on points models and combines on TCI models.

Make sure you ask before buying any electrical components......... local knowledge will point you to the best solutions, or where to buy. There are some easy to make parts, that are after market, and can be adapted rather than to buy from a dealer, especially when checking out some of the hard-tail sites they will recommend to buy this or that as an upgrade, when in fact sometimes there are cheaper solutions and these so called upgrades are not so much.........i'm not being specific as that would mean getting into way to much stuff and these things will reveal them selves as you get into it.

Thanks man. I really appreciate the feed back. I will keep looking around the tech forum and looking for info. Yah I’ve already been lead down the path or new and improved and it’s a hard lesson to learn but I’m past that. I’ll figure out my wiring and my ignition issues and move forward from there. Thanks again

Newb, sorry again that I came off as a dick. I was about half asleep when I typed my response and was not as thorough as Skull was. That’s bad on me, and for that I apologize. This is one of the best forums around for getting help on your bike and I was not a good steward of that, which is not my nature. You threw a lot out on your first post, so I’ll grab one topic and throw a few suggestions. Electrical, if you are wanting to wire it yourself check the TECH thread under the menu. There is a sticky there with many different diagrams listed. It’s a rabbit hole and you can get lost in there. Another option is to contact DaddyG over in the classifieds. He makes and sells bare bones wiring harnesses. He (Rich) has been building chops for a long time and is very resourceful. Welcome to the forum and like Skull says, we love pictures here. It can help us help you when we can see what you are working with.

Welcome aboard.
The XS650 is the near perfect start for what you are building.
Hard to beat a bike that's light, simple, has classic looks, and is well supported.
It's not too late, you can change the title of this thread and boom it's your build thread. Honestly my build threads are as much for me as the denizens here. Get done at night post a few pics and details of what happened that day and you have a build record. I often point prospective buyers at my threads here for details on what the bike is.
Warning; you are going to be dealing with a bunch of experienced guys that will voice their opinions, that won't always be what you want to hear!

Thanks for the feed back guys. Thanks for your words Willis, I appreciate it. I’m glad that I found this forum and I will be learning as I go. I’m excited for this build. After the holidays I hope to get this project moving along, until then I’ve got lots to read. Thanks again

Hi
if this was me If not much is known .. the first thing would be to start the engine
And going through gears.
If it is not a well documented Runner as it does not appears to be -- it can be a lot of work even starting it
There are carburetor experts here but their view is that the carburetor needs to come off and be cleaned
No carburetors on picture

After that it is the electrical for the ignition and getting it running .Listening .and so on
Smoke ? etc.
In worst case the engine is shot it needs a rebuild Rings ? Valves ? will take some time money and effort
or replacement.

Wiring can be found on the web How and buying. and Mikes XS page has parts and info
If you like you can take pictures and post here . Around the cylinder head we can se the Coils and if you remove the
Cover up on the left side and right side we can se if it is stock ignition
And on the right side then points.

There appears to be a black line under the Cylinder head on the left side indicating a leak perhaps.
Perhaps not that big issue but depending on future plans and budget something that one can do directly.
The engine then needs to come out of the frame. And once that happens more job is usually done.
At the same time --- again according to the future plans. And budget. How many miles one plans to run ..
Some people are going " All In " Replaces everything others like myself uses the parts there a little longer.
And consequently ends up using tools more often.

This is how I would do it taking it step by step .Before buying the rest ..
The risk is as I have seen it before a heap of parts but no running engine.

Yah it doesn’t have much of anything. Needs carbs, carb boots, and all of the engine wiring required to at least make it run. I will check out the ignition system since again I have no idea what it has. It doesn’t even have a kicker. Got a long road to go.

You can find a lot of the big parts in the classifieds here. Do your homework before buying aftermarket rubber parts. Some are inferior to others. There are many threads here discussing these issues. My recommendation is to buy OEM when you can. I use Partzilla to find the factory part numbers. Some parts you can buy directly from them, but I usually use that factory part number and put it in a search engine to find alternate sources as options to purchase from. JBM industries is a decent source for aftermarket carb intake boots and carb slide diaphragms if needed. Niche Cycle Supply is another good source for hard to find parts.

A non titled barn bike would be a good companion for that one, out of your trading area but a complete 78 for $500 in MN has gone begging of late.

So carb questions, since I don’t have any carbs at all and I’m trying to figure out what I need to get am I looking for 34s or 38s? I have no idea of anything was done internally to this engine and the PO doesn’t know as well. If I find what I need should I buy cleaned and prepped ones or buy ones taken off and clean and rehab them myself?