Headlight help appreciated

[MrElectric03]

I have searched on and off for months and have not been able to come up with anything. If any of you can lend some knowledge I would sure appreciate the lesson.

I have a 79 XS650 special that I am putting together. I got the frame in a package deal and found another 79 special basket case and am basically building one bike from the two. There were some parts that were not on either bike. Most have not been an issue to find but I am having a terrible time with the headlight.

I have included the pictures. From what I can tell these are the correct brackets, I picked up a headlight from a 77 and was told it should be the same. But the ears of the brackets would have to sit at an angle and are not flat against the side of the headlight bucket so it doesn't seem right. I can't blame the seller for that and have 6 frames so I will use this light eventually anyway, but would like the correct headlight. I can't find anywhere that describes the newer bikes having a smaller headlight, so maybe it's the bucket that is different? Or there is always the possibility that these bracket are off a different bike.

 

[5twins]

Your headlight and brackets look correct. I think the issue is your brackets are bent, or rather not bent in enough. The end of each one should angle in. Here's some pics .....

You can re-shape them, bend them in to where they need to be, by first measuring the width of your headlight, then fitting a length of all-thread between the ears, double nutted at each ear. Set the inner distance to a bit more than the headlight width, say 1/4" to 3/8" .....

 

[MrElectric03]

Thanks 5twins, I had considered that but seemed like a strange thing to get bent in such a way. Seeing your fix Maybe it's more common than I thought haha. I will give that a try, I was just afraid to try something like that with the wrong headlight and have it look like hell.

 

[Jim]

Fwiw, the ears on my '80 were the same way. I used the allthread method to straighten (bend) them into the correct shape. As a guide... if you run a straight edge along the ears, it should just touch the outside of it's tube on the forks.... if that makes sense?

 

[Jim]

 

[MrElectric03]

Awesome, I appreciate the info guys

 

[5twins]

Yes, it's very common for the ears to get bent like that. If the bike falls over, the turn signal takes a hit and bends back, taking the ear with it, lol.

 

[650Skull]

Lot of info on different models in this link

https://www.xs650.com/threads/xs650...workshop-manuals-and-other-information.30569/

 

[MrElectric03]

Thanks 650skull, looking forward to this fix. Will probably be the cheapest one on the bike so far.