College Budget 79 Special

[Derek]

Well, the name's Derek, but I would wager you figured that out already. I'm originally from the Philadelphia area but I've called Lancaster county home for the past 7 years now. I live not far from the Harley Plant in York but my roommate and I have a collection of Jap bikes including my 1979 XS650 and a recently acquired 1978 GL1000.

I picked up this XS two summers ago on the cheap and spend the first summer trying to get it running properly. Dealt with a charging issue (no surprise there), tuning and a million different little things. I've read this site plenty but never got around to posting much. It stayed really ugly while I got it running right but this past summer I rode it around the entire summer and decided with snow on the ground in October in PA this year it was time to rebuild.

The short list of things I've done, aside from maintained and repairs, as it sat before I tore it apart...

~ H4 Headlight (Maybe a Harley light, bought it used at a local shop)
~ Drag bars and bar ends
~ Fork gaiters
~ Lost the turn signals
~ PAMCO Ignition and dual high output coil
~ Bobbed fender and cheap trailer taillight
~ Pod filters
~ Various painting of little bit and pieces

Ugly as sin...

So then this happened.

But I don't have a garage. Thankfully I have a large bedroom.

I've been slowly working on the bike while being very budget conscience the past couple months. My wonderful girlfriend did buy a fancy new seat, made and mounted by the guys at J&B Moto in Wrightsville, which has been the most expensive (and most needed) part of the rebuild.

Here's what I've got planned.

~ Cleaning, sanding and painting, and lots of it
~ Remove center stand, stock exhaust and passenger foot peg mounts from the frame
~ Cafe seat
~ Clubmans
~ Remount and lower headlight
~ Taillight mounted under the back of the cafe seat.
~ 2-1 exhaust, wrapped, with a shorty muffler
~ Replace the solid state regulator/rectifier I burned out
~ Pretty up the battery box, the side covers are long gone
~ Mount license plate mounted on the top of the left shock
~ Remove and bondo over the stock tank emblems

Wish me luck, this is my first bike I've built. Helped build a friend's hard tail XS over the past two years but this one is much simpler as I don't have the money and want the bike back on the road ASAP.

I'm expecting my taillight and other parts on the mail this week and I've been fabricating a cover for the battery box and an electronics plate for under the cafe seat. I'll update this as I go, you guys can reminisce about how a rookie does it. We were all there once.

~ Derek

 

[CoastsideXS650]

Good luck man. I love that you are using your bedroom. Its like when you get a new bike for christmas as a kid and you just want to bring the bike in bed with you.

 

[Shakey]

Looking promising Derek. Like the drag bars. Are you hoping to get away with doing the sanding and painting in your bedroom too ???! Good luck with the build. Have you considered doing the PMA conversion to sort your charging issue for good?

 

[jay17bmx]

Hey Derek, Good luck on the build. I am also in Lancaster co. I live up in Ephrata and work in Lancaster. If you need a hand with anything or once you get it put back together hit me up to go for a ride.

 

[TampaSVT]

Derek:

Good luck on the build.

And, for the record, it's possible to build a nice bike in the house/apartment. It's just a little harder to get it back outside...


Rich

 

[Derek]

Looking promising Derek. Like the drag bars. Are you hoping to get away with doing the sanding and painting in your bedroom too ???! Good luck with the build. Have you considered doing the PMA conversion to sort your charging issue for good?

No, no, the painting, sanding, grinding, welding, etc is all getting done outside when the weather permits. Of course building a paint booth in my room could be interesting...

I did look into the PMA, however, the charging issue is no more aside from the Regulator/Rectifier I burnt out and need to replace.

Thanks for the responses guys, I was helping my roommate with his new GL1000 this evening, what an animal that thing is compared to these XS650s. I can't wait to get this thing done.

I got my tail light in the mail this evening also. 56 LED unit and the white box is a strobe unit that will flash the tail at 10hz for 2 seconds when braking.

~ Derek

 

[Derek]

I've had a few days off, access to a welder and got some work done.

Electronics plate under the seat.

I wanted to run a mini battery under the seat put a piece of aluminum I had already was much cheaper. So I decided to built a cover for the battery box. I think it looks kind of racy in aluminum and I was going to paint it but I think I'll leave it.

Roughly what it will look like. For the price, I'm happy with it. Might slap a small sticker on either side if I can find some that suit the bike.

I stole my roommates unused yoga mat, made an aluminum seat pan and put this together. I have some black marine vinyl to cover it with, but I've never upholstered before so we'll see how it turns out.

~ Derek

 

[pregrid]

Go Derek. The more you do yourself the better the build is.

 

[Derek]

Made some progress...

One area I compromised on was getting the taillight noticeable. It's not the most aesthetically pleasing but here's the set-up.

I painted the swingarm to see how it would turn out in green.

I'm headed home to Philly this weekend where I will have access to a garage and I will be painting the rest of the frame.

I can't wait to get this thing back together and get riding, especially with the warm days we've had this week!

~ Derek

 

[TeeCat]

This thread is the business! Huge respect to you for getting so much done with limited resources!

TC

 

[CoastsideXS650]

+ 1 for the budget build. I keep wanting new shit on my bike and I keep watching money fly out of my wallet.

 

[Derek]

Thanks guys. It is my first motorcycle, first build of my own and I'm figuring it out as I go...

I used my parent's house this weekend to go from this...

to this...

The list of things I have to get done is getting shorter and shorter.

~ Derek

 

[pregrid]

The list of things I have to get done is getting shorter and shorter.

~ Derek

That's because you haven't lifted the list to see the OTHER lists!

 

[SINKING78]

This thread is the business! Huge respect to you for getting so much done with limited resources!

TC

Subscribed

 

[Hoperator]

respeck. heres a sucription.

 

[Derek]

Everyone on the East Coast is enjoying some of this... (I heard Dime City Cycles is building a bike at the swap meet in Baltimore and I feel like those poor boys from Florida weren't ready for this )

BUT... I helped my Girlfriend's parents move some furniture and her Step-dad let me use his garage to clear coat the frame. He's not such a bad guy, even if he rides a 700+ pound bagger Harley.

I think it came out quite nice for the amateur job that it is. I only got one run, on the inside of one of the bars under the battery box area so I don't think I'm even going to bother with it. It shouldn't be visible with everything else on the bike. The clear coat deepened the color quit nicely.

I also snapped a shot of my upholstered seat. Two layers of yoga mat wrapped in marine vinyl that will hopefully prove to be water proof enough.

I'm still on the fence about what I'm going to do with the exhaust. I dismantled the 2-1 I had and I would like to keep those headpipes. Initially I thought about keeping the 2-1 and running a shorty muffler with a slight kick-up, which is why I left the right side passenger peg mount on the bike. My roommate and I were brainstorming and the one I've warmed up to would be as follows (I'll do my best to allow you to paint a mental picture).

2-1 headpipes, which end up running side-by-side alongside the right bottom frame rail. From there I would extend closely sized pipes side by side to just after where the frame turns back up. Right about there I would slash cut both pipes outward and line up the cuts. Think the following but facing outward, not down. I plan on wrapping the pipes the entire length.

I would shove some baffles in them at equal points but it would result in slightly different length pipes, however post-baffles I don't think it would make a big difference. They would probably be loud but no louder than a lot of V-Twin aftermarket pipes.

I would love to just give Gordon Scott a call and have him fab me an exhaust but I would spend more just on that than I have so far. Let me know what you guys think, I'm open to suggestions and constructive criticism.

~ Derek

 

[andyracing]

respect....

 

[Downeaster]

Ya gonna go with yellow tank and side covers to accent that John Deere Green frame?

I like the exhaust you describe, looking forward to seeing the real thing.

 

[I am Carbon]

keep up the good work Bro.
I like it so far
CV Carbs - one of the best how-to manuals ive found for the original carbs

http://www.amckayltd.com/carbguide.pdf

 

[Derek]

Ya gonna go with yellow tank and side covers to accent that John Deere Green frame?

I thought about it but that would just be way too hillbilly. I need to remain somewhat in disguise.

~ Derek