1978 XS650 Special Project

Jim said:
Well, with my rewinds you'll never need the puller again :sneaky:, so I have a "loaner" if you'd rather not buy one. Also have a rotor ready to go currently. Lemme know...
Click to expand...
PM sent.

I"m going to test the regulator today hopefully. Saw a video on that.
I "think" that if it passes the test, I still need to monitor battery voltage when I get it running to make sure its not going over voltage at 3000rpm?

Rear brakes were seized on my friend I traded bike for, and unseized as we transported it into my garage. Tried to move bike last night to make more room and seized again so I'll be working on the brakes until parts come in. Lifted it up and rear tire will not move except by pulling REALLY hard on the tire.
 
Rear Brake seizure was the Master Cylinder plunger was not returning. Was stuck in.
Since it was not working, I have a spare MC for a front brake I used to push the caliper piston out with some left over dot 4.
Crud of course also built up inside the caliper. The piston was in good shape to reuse.
Pads were fine.
Will order rebuild kits for front and back.

IMG_7311.jpg
IMG_7312.jpg
IMG_7309.jpg
 
Melnic said:
Rear Brake seizure was the Master Cylinder plunger was not returning. Was stuck in.
Since it was not working, I have a spare MC for a front brake I used to push the caliper piston out with some left over dot 4.
Crud of course also built up inside the caliper. The piston was in good shape to reuse.
Pads were fine.
Will order rebuild kits for front and back.

View attachment 253291View attachment 253292View attachment 253293
Click to expand...
You'll probably want to get a hose while you're at it...trust me on this.

I just did both my 1980 Specials and both rear hoses were really, really choked down on flow and were holding back pressure when brake was applied then released.
 
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Stator is pretty dirty. Should I be cleaning it while I have it out and how do I? or leave it be?
 

Melnic said:
So are the 3.25 -19 tires the same thing as 100/90-19?
Those front tires look pretty darn close to the stock tires in some old 1978 XS650 adds I have seen.
Looked at my rear tire again and it does not have the dry rot like the front tires and are new. One's metric one's sae but it's so close I don't think it matters. I would run them as a set as they are matched for each other. And yes they fit the look. Since I found these it's all I run on. Put them on my sporty too.
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Front and rear calipers and Master cylinders are all disassembled and the castings are all cleaned up and awaiting the rebuild kits.
Pulled the Nut off of the shaft of the Rotor. I don't have an impact driver but borrowed the one from work. Came off in about 2 seconds. For all the work I do with equipment at home (did 3 brake jobs last year on my vehicles) and this is my 2nd vintage bike restoration, I don't know how I survived w/o an impact driver. I need to get one for myself :)
 
Melnic said:
. . . I don't know how I survived w/o an impact driver. I need to get one for myself . . .
Click to expand...
And consider one of these:

Vessel Impacta.JPG

Vessel Impacta, works as a normal JIS 'driver plus you can also hit it with a hammer and an internal cam rotates the tip 12°.

I do not work for or have shares in Vessel, just a useful addition to the tool box.
 
Raymond said:
And consider one of these:

View attachment 253397

Vessel Impacta, works as a normal JIS 'driver plus you can also hit it with a hammer and an internal cam rotates the tip 12°.

I do not work for or have shares in Vessel, just a useful addition to the tool box.
Click to expand...
:agree:
 
Melnic said:
Front and rear calipers and Master cylinders are all disassembled and the castings are all cleaned up and awaiting the rebuild kits.
Pulled the Nut off of the shaft of the Rotor. I don't have an impact driver but borrowed the one from work. Came off in about 2 seconds. For all the work I do with equipment at home (did 3 brake jobs last year on my vehicles) and this is my 2nd vintage bike restoration, I don't know how I survived w/o an impact driver. I need to get one for myself :)
Click to expand...
I picked up a cheapie Harbor Frieght 1/2" Impact 4 or 5 years ago. It has been the best tool I ever had that gets used only 3 or 4 ties a year.
 
Raymond said:
And consider one of these:

View attachment 253397

Vessel Impacta, works as a normal JIS 'driver plus you can also hit it with a hammer and an internal cam rotates the tip 12°.

I do not work for or have shares in Vessel, just a useful addition to the tool box.
Click to expand...
I do have an impact driver that you use with a hammer. Forgot I had it too :). Posting this from you reminded me I have one that uses a hammer. Yes, I have JIS bits that I use as well.
Thx

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NPUJYE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
So, Rotor comes in this week.
Question I have is, what steps/tests should I take initially to make sure I don't burn it up?
From what I read, a bad regulator or a bad battery can burn it up over time?
I have a new battery right now. What should I do once bike is running w/ the new rotor?
look at battery voltage at idle, then rev to 3000rpm and look at battery voltage again, in both cases making sure it does not go over what voltage? 14.7?
 
Yes, you don't want to see any more than mid 14's max. My '78 Standard puts out about 14.3 or 14.4 volts max with an automotive VR115 regulator. Once the battery charge is replenished (after electric starting), that drops down a bit to around 14, sometimes even the high 13's. I like the fact that it does this. That regulator is really regulating, lol. On the other hand, my '83 with a factory reg/rec combo puts out about the same but never diminishes.
 
Jim's Rotor came in today and I was at home for lunch.
Popped off the old one with the tool he loaned me (really easy)
Then installed new one.
Resistance good (of course)
I put the brushes back in. Don't know why I read posts where people said it was hard, brushes were a piece of cake.
I did order new brushes but the old ones were well beyond min spec. So I'll test with those.
Brushes were getting voltage and I did the Shim magnetic pull test and it worked. I could not start it up cause the Aux gas tank was not hooked up at the time I had to head back to work.
IMG_7330.jpg


Gotta pack up my old rotor now and ship back to Jim.
Thx Jim!
 
So, still charging woes.
Fixed Aux gas tank and loaded up some gas.
Started with battery at 12.7V
Started it and while idle, its dropping down to 12.5,12.4, 12.3V
Turn signal to right works, but not left (stays on)
Rev a little and the voltage goes up to above 14V and both turn signals work.
Rev up to 3000rpm plus and then the battery voltage sky rockets up past 15V.

Regulator? (I never did the resistance test from the video I found) How do I test and what if It is just bad?
 
Yeah, sounds like the regulator. Unfortunately, there's no way to test it without a test bench. Only way to know is replace it and see what happens. But yeah, that would be my next move.
If you want, look in Tech. There's a thread there on making an inexpensive auto regulator work for these bikes.
 

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