1978 xs650 upgrades

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Barkingmad

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I just picked up a 1978xs650 and I want to upgrade the electrical. I am bobbing it and want to retain the electric start as well as the kick start along with signals and tail and headlight. I will also be using a battery so whats the best recipe to do this?
Thanks
 
The digital voltage display seems to be the popular mod today.
Swapping the old glass fuses for the modern blade type is a recommendation.
Swapping to a hotter coil.
Replacing the points with a Pamco unit.
Replacing the turn and stop/brake light with LED's.
Then you have the group that says you HAVE to have a pma for reliable electric generating.
I don't have problems with stock arrangement other than parts do wear out and have to be replaced but this happens with every vehicle I own be it 4 wheel, 2 wheel, diesel or gas.
 
I would like to upgrade the ignition and charging. I can rewire the lights with no problem, the fuze box will be upgraded to blade fuzes. I am just stuck on what the best way to go is concerning the ignition and charging given the many options that are around.
 
Excellent advice from weekendrider!

For charging.................look on E-bay for the VR-115 regulator (NOS automotive). It was used on the 1970's era american motors and jeeps products. I've been using it for the last 5 years, and it works perfect, charging the battery at 14.1 volts. You also want to throw out the old stock rectifier. Buy 2 bridge rectifiers or 1 three phase rectifier. If you can do some wiring, you can add some connectors to plug into the harness.

New blade type fuse holders are a must do.

Replace tail/brake with LED is a real benefit to the electrical system. I still use the stock #1156 bulbs for my turn signals, even though they draw a lot of current, they are not on for any amount of time.

Points ignition and mechanical advance work OK but lots of fiddling needed to keep them in good order. Spend a few dollars and go high tech with the Pamco and its E-advancer. Makes the engine run smoother and no maintenance required.

I have no experience with the ignition coils sold by Mikexs, but what I can say, is the Accel 140403S ignition coil works extremely well. Set the spark plug gap at 0.035", and you get a nice fat blue spark. Excellent acceleration and about 56 mpg (american), 23.7 km/liter.
 
Thanks for all of the reply's. Currently I am working/managing a motorcycle wrecking yard as well as working at a motorcycle retail shop. I have been doing a lot of reading on upgrades to the xs charging systems and ignitions. I have decided to go with the pamco products given that they have a proven record. I like the plug and play route of the products. I do however find the website www.xs650direct.com full of information and I am not sure what product will work best for me:
1978 xs650
Pamco High Output Electronic Ignition Kit
Pamco Ultimate High Output Ignition System
Pamco High Output Electronic Ignition Kit
Thanks retiredgentleman and weekendrider for your advice and I will be doing the blade fuse and LED upgrades as well as the charging system.
 
I'm not sure which one has the coil with the spades that come out/apart, but that is the one I wouldn't buy.
 
Barkingmad said:
Thanks for all of the reply's. Currently I am working/managing a motorcycle wrecking yard as well as working at a motorcycle retail shop. I have been doing a lot of reading on upgrades to the xs charging systems and ignitions. I have decided to go with the pamco products given that they have a proven record. I like the plug and play route of the products. I do however find the website www.xs650direct.com full of information and I am not sure what product will work best for me:
1978 xs650
Pamco High Output Electronic Ignition Kit
Pamco Ultimate High Output Ignition System
Pamco High Output Electronic Ignition Kit
Thanks retiredgentleman and weekendrider for your advice and I will be doing the blade fuse and LED upgrades as well as the charging system.
Click to expand...

The Pamco products are excellent quality and excellent technical advice is available from Pamcopete (member on this site). You should be aware that there has been some trouble with the ignition coils that Mikesxs (or its canadian branch) sells.

Terminals breaking off, may only be specific to the one coil. Perhaps others will give a good recommend for the other coils in the various kits.

Have a read of this link:
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28076
 
Thanks for that. It would seem that Mikesxs has some splaining to do. Well my weld on hard tail is at the post office waiting to be picked up. If anyone else has some good recommend for the other coils in the various kits pleas lets hear from ya

Have a read of this link:
 
Barkingmad said:
Well that blows Just put together an order with Mikes XSDirect to find out what I want is out of stock. Well what now lol
Click to expand...

You could buy the Pamco portion from Pamcopete's web site, and then buy a dual output coil from other suppliers:

http://www.yamahaxs650.com/

If you are thinking about buying the XS Performance Keihin PWK carbs, you should do some research on this site. They are not genuine Keihin carbs with Japanese high quality. They are a made in Taiwan imposter and the quality is quite low. Many lads have reported a lot of difficulty to get them to work properly, and some have just given up on them because they are so poorly made. Stock Mikuni BS38 or BS34 carbs work very well on these bikes.

If you don't want to use the stock type Mikuni carbs, its been reported that Kawisaki Ninja 500 carbs are a good fit to the XS650 and also reported that they work very well.

Do a search in the "Google custom search" in the upper left corner.
 
Last edited:

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