You might should read this thread before you try to fire it up. I don't know your bike's history or what you have done so far but this happens more than it should.
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Doug79
XS650 Addict
Good point! It is ready to fire now but perhaps i should take a step back and do a little more prep work. I have put in all new oil and filters and did turn the engine over, with the starter, but am not really sure how much is enough to get oil circulated thru the engine. The carbs have been off, boiled out and new kits installed by the guy I got the bike from. The thought had crossed my mind that a compression test might be a good idea and certainly squirting some oil onto everything I can get to that moves would make sense. My objective is only to see if I need to do anything with the engine while it is out so I really don't want to screw up a good engine by taking short cuts on my original start up.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
Did all the things previously talked about. Hit the button and it fired up surprisingly fast. It didn't run perfectly but I didn't expect it to. The carbs were rebuilt by a guy that had no manual or specs, it has the original spark plugs and wires. Overall I was fairly pleased, I put a box fan on it and ran it for about 15 minutes. since I was getting an occasional mis fire I ran a compression test and found the right cylinder to have 140PSI which I think is about right for a 8.5 to1 engine but the LH cylinder has 110PSI. So it looks like, while it is out of the frame, I will be doing a top end. Really don't mind, that is the kind of stuff I like to do.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
I am finally looking at an almost bare frame. Getting the wire harness out is kinda tough. I am not going to reuse it but would kind of like to have it laying around intact when I try and install the new one. If this was an old car, I would have taken side cutters to the thing and had it out in minutes but as it is I am only up to where it splits at the round thing that looks like a flasher and mounts right under the top frame tube and goes around both sides of the neck and into the headlight bucket. going to pull the headlight out tomorrow and have a look at what I can assume assume will be something that looks like a wiring nightmare. The side cutters may yet come into play. Anyway, the frame and misc parts will be heading to the stripper soon and I would like opinions on paint vs powder coat for those components. I know powder coat add a dimension that can cause trouble with assembly. Has anyone done powder coat and wished they haden't or did it go ok.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
Got the thing completely dissembled. man thats a lot of pieces. Still got it in my head to go single VM36 center mount carb. Tried to get some info from counterbalance cycle on their 2-1 manifold but its been two weeks and nothing back so I am in contact with inxs in Germany and he says while Greensand foundry manifolds are no longer being made, he can get cast manifolds in Germany. I am ready to start modifying the frame but there are some clearance issues that I have to address prior to doing any frame work. I am going to use the stock battery box so i need to know everything will clear and that the carb won't land where the down tube was, which will create problems with throttle cable and slide removal. from the pictures i've seen it looks like the cast manifold gets the carb a lot closer to the head and will place the carb ahead of the down tube. still need to score a junk head casting as well, but so far, no luck.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
inxs. I can't get a pm to go to you and I need some way to contact you directly regarding the intake manifold.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
Got a good start on my home made 2-1 intake manifold. I should get my mock up head casting tomorrow so we can get the flanges mounted and the tubing trimmed to length. I still have to decide which carb. to go with. I had planned to go with a VM38 but I may run into some issues with it being too big dimensionally. I believe an Amal is a bit smaller but from the old days, i'm not a big Amal fan. My concern is where the carb will land in relation to the down tube. I know I have to modify the down tube but don't want the carb to land in the middle of where it used to be. that could give me problems with slide removal. I am also going to use the stock battery box and side covers so we are going at this via the trial and error method with hopefully more trials than errors.
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Doug79
XS650 Addict
The home made intake manifold flange idea didn't quite work out and just didn't feel like taking another shot at them so turned in a gasket to the machine shop this morning to have a couple cut out on the water table. That should fix that problem, just kind of holding my breath until I see what the bill is going to be. I am also beginning to look at this build as ending up with some form of a street tracker appearance. I've been in contact with Omars and have a set of black 1/2 mile exhaust reserved. My stock seat including the pan is in very bad shape so Im guessing I can buy the street tracker seat for about the same money as repairing the old one and save a lot of time. Maybe chrome powder coat the frame, black out the cases,barrel and head, maybe a brushed aluminum look on the side covers and do almost everything else in one color. I don't know, just thinking out loud.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
OK I give! Center mount single carb was a bad idea. There are just not enough inches between the cylinder head and the batterry box to do a proper job of fitting everything in. I am not willing to run the bike without a battery so I will just deal with the dual carbs and get on with this project. Will start gathering all the frame parts and pieces that go to the powder coater tomorrow and hopefully have them done in the next week or two..
pckopp
XS650 Addict
My experience 3 years ago was completely different. One trip to the State Patrol inspections station. No note or mention of an engine number anywhere. The VIN number on bike matched that on Bill of Sale. Bill of Sale from my wife to me eliminated sales tax. The 3 years timed out last month and we have a real title in hand.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
Got all of the accessory and motor mount parts sand blasted in a friends cabinet. Made contact with a new, to me, local powder coat company and hope to turn the frame and all other parts that will be powder coated to them by the first of Sept. Still have to figure out the hydraulic clutch conversion and gather all of the parts need for assembly over the winter. That, by the way is a bitt load of parts..
Hi Doug,
You don't have to go symmetrical with a single carb.
When I posted my own doubts that offset single carb mounting manifolds would work OK the list consensus was that the guy who makes and sells them don't get any negative feedback. You could Google to find them &/or use the list's search button.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
Man I just can't get past the single carb conversion. I ordered a boat load of street tracker parts from Omar. nothing got powder coated as I want to mock up all the conversion parts and clean off any frame tabs i dont need prior to powder coating. so I am walking past the frame every day looking at the monster battery box that is making my life miserable. today I decided to have another go at it while i'm waiting for Omar's parts. Going to find the smallest battery that will still support E-Start and go from there. Any hot ideas on batteries would be appreciated.
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hogtyed
Paul
Are you still looking at using an old Amal carb for room purposes? If so, www.amalsleeve.com out of Snohomish does an awesome job. He did the carbs for my Bonnie several years back. Ran like a champ afterwards.
Hi Doug,
alas that Yamaha already fitted the smallest battery that'll support good all-weather cold-engine E-starting.
Your aesthetic sense will just have to suck it up.
Or your knees will have to suck it up as you kick your heart out trying to start the motor on the kicker
after the E-starter has sucked your downsized battery flat.
Note that the XS650 comes with big ol' side panels to hide that allegedly ugly battery,
check the list's classifieds if yours are missing.
A hot battery idea that I did was to replace the bike's stock battery with a full size car battery.
And yeah, you gotta add a sidecar to your bike to put the battery in.
Once you've added that 3rd wheel you can drive on snow if it's not too deep and carry a dozen 12-packs out of sight under the sidecar's tonneau.
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Doug79
XS650 Addict
A friend of mine had two mis matched Amals laying around that he said I was welcome to. I reinstalled my mock up head in the frame, put the manifold on and clamped the Amal to it. the intake end of the Amal barley comes to the back side of the down tube leaving plenty of room for a british type air cleaner. no battery box mods required. Thanks to hogtyed, I have a good contact source for the carb rebuild. I have to remove and change the carb mount to accept the Amal, but thats no big deal as it appears this will work out perfectly.
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hogtyed
Paul
Sweet! I love the old Amal carbs with the pancake filter. Keep us updated on how it works out.
Doug79
XS650 Addict
Got my tank and seat from Omar today. Got them mocked up on the frame so I can determin everything that can be removed from the frame. The rear loop has to go in order for the seat to sit flush on the frame. It seems like I should buy or make something to reconnect the upper side tubes after the rear loop is removed Altho I'm pretty sure I have seen bobbers with nothing between the top rails. Also I picked up a real nice 19" front mag off E-Bay and got the conversion to rear kit from Omar. I'm still fussing around trying to find a Triumph type air cleaner so I can finish the carb mock up and get the frame down tube modified. We have a classic bike show coming up on Sat. with a small swap meet. Hope to be able to do something about an air cleaner there. It's a little frustrating as I am really ready to start hacking on the frame but I know that I have to make sure everything is going to work,as planed, before I cut anything..
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hogtyed
Paul
Looking at CL for some Triumph stuff and I found this ad. It's also on the wet side, but if you're looking for some parts, it looks like this guy has them.
https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mcy/5779991873.html
https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mcy/5779991873.html
Doug79
XS650 Addict
Hogtyed...Thanks for the heads up. sent him a message, we'll see what happens
