1971 xs650 build. Newbie will need help

[azcafe]

So I hit up Hugh about my problem with the PMA not sitting flush and he hooked it up. He sent me a new crank case bracket that had a wider center hole and then also shaved the stator bracket down just a scontch. It worked out great and I was able to get that installed.

After that I started to clean up the frame and make a new cross bracket where the seat pan will attach.

my welds are terrible i know.

The other day after work I started to strip the paint off the gas tank. I really like the way it looks raw so I prob wont repaint it.

Then I finished it all off with one of these tasty treats.

Up next I need to fabricate a seat pan and rear cowl. Still not sure exactly what I am going to do with the rear cowl. I want to make it myself but have limited metal working skills. Also need to get my motor in and install the PAMCO do some wiring and get this thing fired up.

 

[azcafe]

Hey All,

So I got some fab work done this weekend. My parents went out of town so I took over their garage. My apartment is very suitable for welding and grinding ,

My goal was to get the seat pan rear cowl and gas tank all figured out. I got the seat and rear cowl pretty much complete may make a few changes though. The tank I ran into a problem with the petcock not having enough clearance so I am going to have to relocate the petcock which I am not super excited about but oh well.

For the seat pan I used 14g steel and for the rear cowl and gas tank mount I used 18g since it was easier to shape. I think I may have a clearance issue with my seat pan so I will have to make a cut out to give the tire some more room. I think I may narrow the rear cowl a bit to bring the sides in a bit tighter with the tire. I am going to try and put an electrical box under the seat pan and hopefully hide it behind the frame rails.

The tank I had to cut out a template for the rear part of the tank to mount on the frame. I will weld a tab onto that and then put a tank bung in the frame to bolt into. For the front tank mount I am going to mount two rubber stoppers to the front gusset and then the front tank will just slide into those.

I want to get the motor in now and get it all wired up and see if she runs. Hopefully soon.

 

[jdizon]

The rear cowl looks freakin sweet man!

 

[azcafe]

Thanks Jdizon I appreciate the feedback.

 

[tscacadc]

Looking good, I want to see how it turns out.

 

[thatguy]

looking sweet
i got a couple questions though.
what welder is that?
and what size rim you running in the rear?

 

[azcafe]

Thanks tscacadc Im excited to get it done and start riding it.

Thatguy. The welder is just a 90 amp flux welder Chicago Electric I think from Harbor Freight. The thing was like $90 so I figured why not. Anything that I need welded that needs to be super strong or sealed real nice then I take it to a friend that has a nice tig welder.

The rear rim is a 18 inch with a 4.5 firestone tire and the front is a 19 inch rim with a 4.0 firestone tire.

 

[thatguy]

cool. thanks for the speedy reply...how you like it?

 

[azcafe]

Its works for me. I splatters a lot but I just spray the surrounding area with pam and then all the splatter comes right off. My thing is I am building this bike in my apartment and dont have a garage so I dont really have room for anything much bigger than that welder.

 

[westonboege]

Cowl def looks sick! Looks cool from the side view with the angle that the tank makes...

 

[650Skull]

So I hit up Hugh about my problem with the PMA not sitting flush and he hooked it up. He sent me a new crank case bracket that had a wider center hole and then also shaved the stator bracket down just a scontch. It worked out great and I was able to get that installed.




my welds are terrible i know.

.

Are you seriously going to use those welds without redoing them. There is not enough weld penetration to hold that together

 

[azcafe]

Its been a while since an update. I am getting close to finishing this project. The work has been slow lately though since I have to work on my bike outside and here in AZ its been a lovely 120 degrees.

I had to put new petcocks on my tank because the original one sate to low and hit the top of the engine. I took the tank to a local shop called Dunlop Customs. He welded in new petcock bungs for me and also welded on all the new mounts for the gas tank. Once I got it back I lined the tank with Red Kote which worked our really well.

I ran into an issue with the fairing and the stock master cylinder. It was too big and would cause the headlight fairing to push forward. I ordered up HHB's new master cylinder and it fits great. The HHB brake is actually really nice and already had the brake switch built in just needs to be wired up.
I dont have any good photos of the HHB brake up close yet. I will have to take some and post them.

I also had to make some modifications to my seat pan. It was extremely close to the back tire and was only leaving about 1/2" of clearance. I cut out a section of the seat pan and raised it up a bit to give it more clearance. I also bent up a small electrical box that will mount to the front of the seat pan and inbetween the frame rails. Not the fanciest of electrical boxes but most of it will be hidden.

Then I started the wiring process. At first I just wired up my HHB PMA and my headlight to my sparx capacitor. Then I wired my PAMCO to a seperate battery to test the out put on the charging system. I was able to get the thing started a lot easier than I thought for its first start up after rebuild. Once I started it the thing revved super high a totally freaked me out but once I killed it I notice the throttle cables were super tight and causing the throttle to stick fully open. Once I fixed that I got it started back up and tested the ouput of the HHB to my capacitor and it was reading at right around 14 (volts I thinkg) and never went above 15. I was pretty excited it all worked so well considering this was my first build. After I tested it I wired up the rest of the bike and wired the ignition to the capacitor. Then I started it again to make sure I wired it up correctly. I was able to get the bike started again and let it run for a min. The brake light nor the running light was working so I will have to try and figure that out. Also I noticed the bike is leaking oil in a couple of spots, out of the drain plug on the bottom and out the top end from behind the PAMCO Ignition. I am going to work out these few kinks and get my chain cut to size and see if I can't take it for a ride.

Here is how the bike sits now. I will lay down some seat foam and wrap that is some upholstery. I may do a little bit of paint on the front fairing but I'm not really sure yet. I think I will just leave the bike raw metal for now.

 

[azcafe]

I finally finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ran into a few more problems had to replace the bottom triple tree and the neck bearings. had to drill out an exhaust stud and had to replace the shift shaft.

Here she sits let me know what you think. Keep in mind this was my first build and I built it in my apartment.

 

[GeorgeKillianLett]

I'd take it in a heart beat!

 

[azcafe]

Thanks George.

Ive been following your Sushi build and am loving your ideas and direction for the bike. And I agree if money was not an issue I would have one of those cook custom front ends as well.

 

[Jpwhit1]

Did you have room to go to a 4.5" on the front tire?

 

[twindallas]

I like it! But I always love as much raw steel as possible.