Sparky
XS650 Addict
Hi all. Ive been very slowly making progress on my bike. Today was a good day though, so I decided I had to share. I dont even know when my last update was, so first a quick recap of my journey. About 3 years ago I got an 81 special from a barn. Is was dented, rusted, and kinda ran. barely. But, it was free. I decided for a bratstyle bobber, and set to work. Here's how it looked a a few weeks ago.
The tailight is model A with a custom bracket I fabbed up.
Since this picture was taken I've replaced the pipes and reconfigured the forward controls, so dont pay attention to those parts. The wheels were bought from a guy here, I laced em and trued them myself. The forward controls are off a Suzuki 250, heavily modified to work. The pipes are Hoos Racing, as the stock ones dont have enough clearance. The linkage isnt perfected yet, but shouldnt be too difficult.
Since then i've pulled the engine, and it is at a local guy's shop getting rebuilt. It only had 7000 miles on it, but it spewed oil and just didnt seem to have the power it should. Also the transmission liked to skip out of gear.
Yesterday I cleaned the frame of all the tabs and brackets that I dont need anymore(Center stand, tach cable loops,reflector mounts, stock peg bolts, passenger peg mounts, etc). Today I de gunked all the built up oil and sludge off the bottom of the frame from that leaky engine and then painted the frame. The process was two cans of Gunk engine degreaser, a scrubby brush, half a bottle of simple green, then a wash with blue Dawn. The paint is Rustoleum gloss enamel. IVe had good luck with that on other projects. Enjoy the shiny.
Lastly, I had to share my amazing small parts painting system. (rear and upper engine mount brackets)
The tailight is model A with a custom bracket I fabbed up.
Since this picture was taken I've replaced the pipes and reconfigured the forward controls, so dont pay attention to those parts. The wheels were bought from a guy here, I laced em and trued them myself. The forward controls are off a Suzuki 250, heavily modified to work. The pipes are Hoos Racing, as the stock ones dont have enough clearance. The linkage isnt perfected yet, but shouldnt be too difficult.
Since then i've pulled the engine, and it is at a local guy's shop getting rebuilt. It only had 7000 miles on it, but it spewed oil and just didnt seem to have the power it should. Also the transmission liked to skip out of gear.
Yesterday I cleaned the frame of all the tabs and brackets that I dont need anymore(Center stand, tach cable loops,reflector mounts, stock peg bolts, passenger peg mounts, etc). Today I de gunked all the built up oil and sludge off the bottom of the frame from that leaky engine and then painted the frame. The process was two cans of Gunk engine degreaser, a scrubby brush, half a bottle of simple green, then a wash with blue Dawn. The paint is Rustoleum gloss enamel. IVe had good luck with that on other projects. Enjoy the shiny.
Lastly, I had to share my amazing small parts painting system. (rear and upper engine mount brackets)
