I did it again

Britman

XS650 Addict
Messages
237
Reaction score
715
Points
93
Location
Fredericksburg Va.
I will be returning, stealing ideas, posing ridiculous questions, and seeking wisdom from those XS650 gurus who hold all the knowledge of these mystery machines. This came home with me today, owner is being transferred to Germany and the bike has been in storage for years. Rough as a cob and ugly enough if it was parked on the beach the tide wouldn't come in, but it was $400 bucks cash, has a clear title, and some compression so I adopted "Bluebird". Probably looking at a total rewire as the PO failed at installing a new harness, so I will start there. Of course rear caliper is locked up, the carbs are miss matched and frozen, chokes on both Mikuni's and one is one the inside, that should be fun ordering kits. Oh well if it was easy my Sister would turning the wrenches. Let the fun begin, and I am off to the "Search Forums" feature.....
DSC03258.JPG
DSC03255.JPG
DSC03254.JPG
DSC03256.JPG
 
Wow...........about all i can say............

Where to stat.........front forks aren't XS650, nor XS750/850 tripple special, could be my imagination but they don't look 35mm even.............leading fork axle some one will identify...........wheels are rare, especially if they are genuine XS650 ones, (i have reservations though)...........swing arm looks to be real strong.

I'm interested to see what develops...........Good score...........Definitely an acquired taste, but it has been done well and the colours work together.
 
The carbs are Mikuni VM slide type. Nice performance upgrade if they're dialed in right.
 
Someone had a plan when that machine was built. See if you can figure out what it was, or ask the seller and you may have a head start on something good.
I mean nobody would make a bike that noticeable unless it was also reliable or even quick to silence the critics, eh?
 
It's got a fork brace and what is the switch for on the right side cover, front pnl by the carb intake. A good buy.
 
Below the side panel there is the connection for the rear brake line..........at least that's what i took it to be
 
closer to the Rt air filter fits on the carb. On the side cover itself. Looks like a black rocker switch.
 
Might be early GS1100 according to the discs, but the rear brake caliper is newer. That may be a GS1100 aluminum swingarm. If you don't mind the non Yamaha bits, I'd say you have a decent upgrade in suspension and braking there.
 
Thanks all for the input and information. I spent a couple hours on it today, all of the fuses were too long for the block, with some shorter replacements I managed to get headlight, tail light, and power to coil but no spark at the plugs so far. Most all of the loom is there, just a ton of wires disconnected for the signals and other bits. Replaced the started button, but it still won't engage even though it does work, (tested with a solenoid jump.) The black switch on the side cover wasn't connected to a damn thing so I have no idea what that was for. I haven't been into the bucket yet, Lord knows what that will bring. Thanks for the info on the carbs, they are 40mm slides I believe. I am worried about the rear brake setup and sourcing parts since I have no idea what the system was from. The guy I purchased the bike from bought it with most of mods in place, so I have no reference source. Bike came with a ton of OEM parts and manuals, so I am going to be going through all of the paperwork this weekend. Baby steps gentlemen, baby steps..........
 
good score Britman !....great candidate for a proper cafe racer maybe.;)

I must admit I couldn't even face working on the bike with that dayglo colour scheme yuk:eek:
 
Looking at the picture some more and blocking that paint out of my mental picture.......I like the style, except for the aluminum grab bar, seat and rear fender. Those are some nice looking mags, as far as mags go.

Scott
 
I must say you guys are good. I went through the extra parts bin today and found a bunch of brand new front and rear brake lines for a Suzuki SV 650 for years 05 and 06. (The bike currently has custom braided lines.) Upon checking the Zookie parts on Flea Bay, spot on match. Looks like I will be ordering a rear master cylinder and maybe a caliper, at least they are relatively cheap........
 
A good day, coil, secondary pickups, all within spec. Now have dash lights and fewer wires are dangling free. Still have no starter, unless solenoid is jumped, either starter button or solenoid is bad but I do have a horn. I am doing all of the testing with an outside battery and jumper wires, so a new battery will surely improve my odds. Carbs are apart and one the workbench and look really good, very little crud and other than a stuck float and slide which freed up with a little cleaner, should be able to go back on with a good cleaning and bowl gaskets. Going to have to take a couple days and get caught up on "Honey Do's" or I pretty sure the Wife is going to kill me in my sleep. Thanks again all for the input.....
 
On your starter, at the starter relay, solenoid to car folks, you have a red/white wire and a blue/white wire. Power comes to the relay on the R/W wire. With key on you should get Full battery power, or at most a few tenths less. Any more and you need to clean connections. The B/W wire runs up to the stt button, when you push the button it grounds the circuit, tripping the relay. The ground path for the button is critical.
Your bike appears to be an 80 something. This late a model the ground path is from button to switch housing, to bars, across the bars to the left side housing where a black wire carries the ground down into the headlight bucket and plugs into the harness ground.
If you have power on the R/W wire unplug the B/W wire and run a jumper from the B/W wire to ground. This should spin the starter. If not the relay may be bad.
If it does spin the starter, trace along the B/W wire looking for broken of unhooked wire. At the right side switch housing you can take the housing off the bars and take the insides out. Clean the Button and the place the button contacts. Clean the other end of the metal strip the button touches, this is where the ground path connects to the bars, clean the bars at this point too.
If the Horn works your ground path from the bars to the harness are ok, The horn works the same as the starter relay, power to horn, pink wire to button, button grounds to bars.
On the color of your beast, it not bad, not a color scheme I might choose but it's eye catching.
On the no spark, If it's an 80 and later bike it came with an electronic ignition from the factory. A Transistor Controlled Ignition, TCI for short.
This system uses a magnet in the stock charging system rotor, a pick up on the stator. The TCI uses the signal from this sensor to determine crank position. IT needs full battery power at the coil as well as at the TCI box mounted under the battery bow, R/W wires. Power goes to the coil same as points, from the coil to the TCI box that grounds and ungrounds the circuit the same as points but uses transistors.
In your manual it should have a section on testing the ignition components. Test the coil as described if out of spec you may need a replacement. There are tests for the pickups too.
The TCI box has no tests listed other than try a known working one. There are some things that go wrong and can be fixed. A search for TCI box fixes should find links to that.
If it does turn out to have a bad box the easy thing is an after market ignition. A bit of searching will lead you to those options as well.
Good luck with your project.
Leo
 
I just came in, sat down with a cold beer to lick my wounds. Blue Bird the project from hell and TCI ignition system on a 1981 model have won another round. With the numerous fixes, adjustments, kits needing to be installed, brake modifications, and other little tid bits this machine needs to hopefully at least get a test ride in, I elected to try and get spark first of all. I read numerous posts and threads on this site about the electronic system and did my due diligence testing. I finally got the starter to turn with the solenoid wires by bypassing the headlight cut out relay with a jump wire. The clutch switch was completely frozen and that too is history. The good is I finally got 12 volts to the coil and other goodies by setting up a proper grounds between the motor and frame, with a an extra lead to the coil bracket just for good measure. Testing produced good results from the pick up coils, 735 to 760 ohms, still no fire. I retested the coil and bingo, failed both primary and secondary testing, so I thought the issue was done. (To be completely honest, I may have spun it over a time or two with plugs wires disconnected so I have to take credit for that one.) New used coil off of Flea Bay ordered and it arrived today. It tested perfect and I was ready to see some nice blue spark, but no such luck. I am assuming it is the igniter box and I did open it up and take a peek today, there didn't appear to be any loose soldering points or burn spots, but with that amazing piece of 80's technology who knows. We have sure come along way in the transistor field. If anyone can think of anything I may have overlooked, please throw some comments my way. I am going to walk away from the project for a few days and take the Moto Guzzi out for a long run this weekend, that old Italian girl will fire every time even though it does sound a lot like my riding mower...............
 
Suzuki GS rims?

Yup - they simply must be late-70's Suzuki GS rims - double-disc on the front no less. I think it must be a GS750 wheel (I don't think the GS550 could be had with twin front discs).

Wow - somebody spent big on glow in the dark blue paint and a "unique" white seat - and then didn't even wire it up? The PO had a plan...but then bailed on one of the easiest and cheapest parts of the job. Very odd.

Nonetheless, for $400 - you've got yourself a ball game, I'd say!
 
Back
Top