$100 1982 Yamaha Heritage Special

[59Tebo]

Your starting attempt sounds a lot like what I encountered with "The Basketcase". If I had seen the bad (I mean, completely broken!...) coil, I wouldn't have even tried to start it. As it was, the E-start didn't work either. Undaunted, I put gas in it and proceeded to kick. And kick. And kick. Almost kicked myself in the ass. Wait. I did kick myself in the ass. Do I smell gas? Yup. Every hose, and both petcocks had gas pouring out. The cure? Rebuild kits and new plumbing throughout. Look on the flea-web for "Tygon" fuel line. It comes in various lengths, diameters, colors, and is impervious to just about everything. And those little tiny springy (expensive) hose clamps? What a buddy of mine has been doing for years is using safety wire (the kind you put on screws and bolts to keep them from loosening) on the hoses. The smallest roll of safety wire will last you damned near forever. Cheers!

 

[Hightower-Ash98]

Your starting attempt sounds a lot like what I encountered with "The Basketcase". If I had seen the bad (I mean, completely broken!...) coil, I wouldn't have even tried to start it. As it was, the E-start didn't work either. Undaunted, I put gas in it and proceeded to kick. And kick. And kick. Almost kicked myself in the ass. Wait. I did kick myself in the ass. Do I smell gas? Yup. Every hose, and both petcocks had gas pouring out. The cure? Rebuild kits and new plumbing throughout. Look on the flea-web for "Tygon" fuel line. It comes in various lengths, diameters, colors, and is impervious to just about everything. And those little tiny springy (expensive) hose clamps? What a buddy of mine has been doing for years is using safety wire (the kind you put on screws and bolts to keep them from loosening) on the hoses. The smallest roll of safety wire will last you damned near forever. Cheers!

Mine is trying to turn over, at least. Thanks for the line recommendation, that stuff looks a hell of a lot better than what I have. Mikesxs petcock rebuild kit any good? I may drive to Tampa and load up on everything I need

 

[ReycleBill]

I paid $1,000 for a complete, fine running '83 XS with nothing wrong with it but a slight oil leak where the jugs connect to the cases. I was certain I could re-torque the bolts and solve the issue. Wrong. While I had it apart I went ahead and rebuilt the whole top end as it didn't cost all that much more.

Fifteen years, thousands of dollars, and thousands of miles later... I admit I have no control over my addiction to XS650s.

 

[59Tebo]

I admit I have no control over my addiction to XS650s.

LOL!! I can stop any time I want. I just don't want to!

Mikesxs petcock rebuild kit any good?

Sorry Ash, no experience with them. However, I've heard they can be hit-or-miss as far as quality/correctness... I'm going with new, aftermarket tank and petcocks. All it takes is money, so it's goin' slow...

 

[5twins]

If the MikesXS kit is the K&L brand then it may be OK. It seems many have had good luck with that brand. But, you may not need a kit at all, just a thorough cleaning. I would try that first because the kits aren't cheap. If the 4 hole rubber disc that the lever works against looks bad, many times you can just flip it over to present a new unworn side facing out. If all you need is that rubber disc, it can still be purchased from Yamaha.

 

[Hightower-Ash98]

If the MikesXS kit is the K&L brand then it may be OK. It seems many have had good luck with that brand. But, you may not need a kit at all, just a thorough cleaning. I would try that first because the kits aren't cheap. If the 4 hole rubber disc that the lever works against looks bad, many times you can just flip it over to present a new unworn side facing out.

I'll give that a try first, I took it apart to clean it out, must have put it together wrong

 

[Hightower-Ash98]

Seems as if the PO discovered JB weld and had a field day. It's looking like a little bit more than a rebuild at this point.

 

[Hightower-Ash98]

Here I am again, I've got another question.
Does the bike need to actually run to get power to the lights?
Any light, the cluster, tail, head, all of them.

 

[59Tebo]

If I'm reading the schematic from the Clymer manual correctly, turning the ignition key to the "Park" setting should give you head, tail, and cluster lights. This, of course, is assuming you're still running a battery. If all you have is a capacitor and the PMA (kick start only), you'd have to have the engine running to make juice for the lights. And if you discharge that capacitor (by running lights), you'll need a "jump start" to supply the voltage to get the engine to start. Does this make sense?

 

[Jim]

Taillight and cluster only. Engine needs to run for the rest.

 

[59Tebo]

Is that because the headlight is going through the headlight/safety relay and reserve lighting unit?

 

[5twins]

Yes, no headlight power until the headlight safety relay gets tripped by voltage output from the alternator. That's running, of course, but not always. Sometimes just prolonged cranking of the motor will get the alternator spinning and putting out enough juice to trip the relay, even though the motor hasn't actually fired up yet. That's the big issue I have with that headlight safety relay. If you're trying to start a troublesome machine, the headlight can come on and start sucking power away from the ignition and starter motor where you may need it.

 

[Hightower-Ash98]

Yes, no headlight power until the headlight safety relay gets tripped by voltage output from the alternator. That's running, of course, but not always. Sometimes just prolonged cranking of the motor will get the alternator spinning and putting out enough juice to trip the relay, even though the motor hasn't actually fired up yet. That's the big issue I have with that headlight safety relay. If you're trying to start a troublesome machine, the headlight can come on and start sucking power away from the ignition and starter motor where you may need it.

Can it be bypassed?

 

[59Tebo]

Then, if I'm building my own wiring harness, and deleting the safety relay and reserve lighting unit, I should use a (RH) handle bar switch (as found on the '76 and later models) with the headlight on/off switch, to prevent battery drain before I get the engine started...
The plan is to have a CDI ignition, but keep the battery (albeit a much smaller, Antigravity type) and the electric start. I don't need relays thinking the engine is running while I'm trying to get 'er started...

 

[5twins]

Well yes, but then the headlight is going to come on with the key, unless you add a headlight on-off switch. These bikes actually had that up until 1978 .....

If your battery is low or the bike is hard to start and requires lots of cranking, having the headlight on could be an issue. The ignition needs a good supply of power to work right. The battery gives it that until it starts, then the alternator can do it.

 

[59Tebo]

Dang, Ash! Your questions are raising more questions! But this is a good thing, 'cuz we all get to learn stuff...

 

[Hightower-Ash98]

Dang, Ash! Your questions are raising more questions! But this is a good thing, 'cuz we all get to learn stuff...

I bought a Mikesxs factory harness, everything is colour coded to the manual I bought, but my bike it far from factory.
So far, I've got power to the coils. I've got no flasher relay, none of the anti-battery draining cutoff, and none of the lights.
If I could find all of that factory trash I'd shove it on, but I"m not gonna spend money on stuff just to cut it off later. I want to turn the key, switch to run, start the bike, and have lights all on the factory harness. I've bypassed the starter relay and such but that's it so far. If I knew what all wires were hot I could just link some together and have a complete circuit

 

[Hightower-Ash98]

Update: I bought a cheap petcock off Amazon, fits perfectly works alright. I set everything up, grabbed the carborator fluid, and spent about 10 minutes on the kick start until It fired up! Maybe I do want a starter on it after all. Either way the bike runs, now to find more pieces of this puzzle.

 

[timbeck]

Hey Ash---Good for you on getting your bike to fire up. When a project fights with us it is nice to win a battle now and then. I know that's what keeps me trudging along . Good work.....

tim

 

[Hightower-Ash98]

At this point I'm at a stand-still.
I need tires, and want wheels as well. I was looking around for mags but am unable to find anything. I need to find a way to mount a gas tank, and I need to find a new gas tank. I've got so much to do I'm unable to narrow it down to what I want to do.