I have some questions about my st tracker project

[Mharrington]

Actually I thinks it will be tracker ish. Got myself a 1980 Special 2 with 22,000 miles. It has a 1975 tank and side covers. I have little money to spend! The bike is overall in very good condition. All stock- I bought from a guy who let it sit for 5 years. I got it running in October and the cranking psi was 148 each cylinder- warm with throttle wide open. No smoke from exhaust and no oil in the airbox. Plugs looked kind of lean (will replace throttle shaft seals). My plan is tracker seat which I already purchased from Gopher Glass, new seals as the engine was a leaker, a new head gasket (leaks at head AND engine is already out to clean and paint so Ill do copper washers and a head gasket) Questions:

The oem rear wheel is a sixteen inch. I have an older 650 18 inch that came with the bike but its a shouldered aluminum unit (stock is chrome steel) Is it a big no no to run a 16 rear on such a street tracker? If I run the alum shouldered 18 it will not match the steel chrome front. I do not care about this but want opinions. I plan on white lettered Bridgestone tires as inspired by a member bike here.

The bike displayed no smoke from the exhaust. Should I go ahead and put in new valve seals?

After a new clutch cable, adjusting and lubing the mechanism the clutch pulls nice/easy and works great. Should I replace the bushing?

Looks like the 10 pc seal kit from Mikes XS is the way to go?

I will inspect pickup sump screen. If its bad is the Mikes XS the new one to use? Do the shield mod on a new one?

Buy and entire gasket kit from Mikes instead of the single head gasket piece?

Looks like the 16 inch rear wheels occasionally sell for a good $$ on sleazebay- I could fund my parts by selling the 16 incher.

Thank you gentleman!

Seat resting on bike

Oil leaks

Home made bracket (I do not know how to weld!)

Engine out

Gotta clean the frame spotless to paint.

 

[XSLeo]

With the engine out and the head off, I would do the valve seals, Lap the valves, replace the front cam chain guide, new cam chain.
On the sump filter just repair the old one. Having a spare so at oil changes you can just swap a clean one in, then clean the dirty one anytime is a good idea. Same goes for the side cover filter.
If you want a more tracker look then use the 18 inch rear and get a 19 front to match. They will both bolt right in. Sell the two you have. Come out ahead. Use any profits to fund the build.
Leo

 

[racerdave]

A 19 inch rear wheel is what a tracker "should" have to be "authentic". 18 inch is a better choice though. Much easier to find tires in 18 inch size, than 19 inch, and a 18 looks better for a tracker than a 16 inch.

 

[5twins]

Yes, get the seal kit, yes, get the full engine gasket kit. The engine gasket kit will contain all the o-rings and the valve guide seals. You should replace the valve guide seals while you're in the top end because they're so old.

They say it's not a good idea to run mixed rims (aluminum and steel) because they flex differently. That could lead to some handling problems. They may not show unless you push it really hard though. Of course, that's probably the worst moment to discover you do have a handling problem, lol.

 

[CDNTX650]

the suspension would limit you before wheel flex on these bikes....

 

[Mharrington]

My parts tally is adding up. I definately am not an aggressive rider. Here is what I did today;:

Made this engine stand from the scrap metal rack at my job.

Here is how I am mounting my seat. It will be fully supported at 4 mounting points. I had a 1 inch thick slab of polyethylene plastic that I cut, belt sanded , angle cut and filed on t so they fully fit under the fender at the correct contours and agles. When the fiberglass is screwed down it will not be flexing out of its molded in form and my weight will not be torquing on it . The plastic strips are mounted to frame cross structure, the center strip is mounted to a strip of steel I bolted to the frame. The Omars unit would have been much less work but it costs nearly twice as much. I do like the Omars XRWS the best though.

Seat resting on bike. I ran black duct tape along the edges of the fiberglass to prevent any damage from all the handling.

This bike belongs to a member here. I love it! Mine will be in fabulous gloss black single stage enamel. I will utilize 1975 side covers.

 

[scabber]

Your bikes looking great nice job. The cost do add up. I would replace the bushing behind the clutch push rod seal. I had the same problem oil leak there, after trying the new seal still had a leak. Also went with a 1 piece push rod no leaks the buhing and seal might have fixed it.

 

[gggGary]

I agree the 18 19 shouldered wheels are a good choice. You should be abel to do a swap with someone who is a bobbin' maybe even get a few bucks on the deal. Nice project. I think you have gotten good advice so far.

Tip; Learn to weld, get a little wirefeed welder. Trust me it's faster, better, stronger than the screw together stuff you are doing. It's the perfect time of year to look into an evening welding class at your local tech school. Many of those classes are full of guys doing their own projects on the school's equipment. Even the cheapest little flux core wire welder will do the kind of stuff you are fabbing. Hint: unplug your TCI box before ANY welding on the motorcycle.

 

[Mharrington]

I appreciate the help and comments gentlemen. I saw the drill procedure on Mikes XS to remove the clutch bushing- Will an easy out work also?
I will order the oil seal kit and clutch bushing soon and replace them first. Then Ill do the head gasket and cleanup of the head. I have been carrying the engine around my garage by myself. Im a beefy guy but Im not carrying it myself anymore as a spine is not rebuildable. Id like to take the engine into work and work on it there after hours. Nice warm shop with unlimited air, tools and space. After I remove the head maybe the short block will be easy for one guy to lug around.

 

[Mharrington]

Gary I may run the shouldered 18" rear with the steel chrome front. Id like to not have to do a whole lot of additional purchasing/money spending but selling the 16 will fund many of the necessities.. I was originally just gonna clean up this bike but it turned into what I am doing now.

My landlord has a Lincoln arc welder that I have access to. I have and do weld non structural things but I cant get the hang of it. It will look good but have no penetration. In 1985 I was in 10th grade metal shop and really was lousy at welding back then too.

 

[gggGary]

Yeah keep that engine lifting to a minimum. Trust me don't do as i have done...........
I haven't done a bushing yet but will for sure I have a new one or two from mikes. I am thinking an easy out is not going to be the hot tip I would be more inclined to try threading in a tap and pull the bushing with that. I think the easy out will expand the bushing into the bore and make it harder to remove. If I try the tap method I'll let'cha know how it works.

 

[racerdave]

Welding is like anything skill related, the more you do it, the better you get. I can weld with a mig, but I do it very little, and am not consistent. One bead looks great, the next one is popcorn

 

[gggGary]

Stick welder? yeah that's harder. I think most welding how-to's over do the frying bacon sound thing. I have always prefered the lighter buzz of a hot arc IE get some heat in your welds. Wire feed is easier than stick by a long shot. I have been struggling with getting good results from TIG but can make stuff stick together real good with MIG.

 

[Cornish Pixie]

Nice looking ride. Can't really add anything to the good advice you have already received other than the advice re welding is spot on. Its actually quite suprising how much progress can be made learning to mig weld simply by sitting in the workshop and welding odd bits of metal together for a few hours.

 

[gggGary]

I'd throw up a Craigslist ad; XS650 front wheel trade, see what happens. It has worked for me a bunch.

 

[Mharrington]

Here is my low budget exhaust. Sand blasted and painted headpipes (Krylon BBQ spray paint) and some Harley Davidson mufflers.

 

[racerdave]

If those muff's are angled up in the rear they will look pretty sharp

 

[1974jh5]

Looking good! There is no law that says everything has to match at every step of the project, so I'd say use the shouldered 18" aluminum rim with the chrome steelie front until you can come up with the $ to swap whichever you prefer.

As long as you will have the engine down and apart it's sorta false economy not to replace all the seals etc. On that subject, if you are pulling the cylinders it might be a good idea to replace the rings and the cam chain guides as well. I realize that's extra $, but there are few things more aggravating than getting something all back together only to discover a leak or whatever which could have easily been fixed while it was apart. Now you are looking at a complete second removal and teardown.

BTW, I can't stick weld worth a darn either. MIG is where it's at.

 

[Mharrington]

I mocked up the Harley mufflers on the bike before I removed the engine. Making mounting brackets was very easy. The mufflers looked factory (sorry no pics). I had to shim out the headpipe mount under the engine out about a 1/16" and with the brackets bent slightly the exhaust looks like it was meant to be there- symetrical from the rear and looking down from the top. The Harley band clamps are pretty beefy requiring clearance and thats why the headpipes need to be kicked out away slightly from the frame.

 

[Mharrington]

Well I ordered a complete gasket set. Buying parts a set at a time. 10 pc seal kit is next with a clutch bushing, copper head nut washers and other things. Even though the engine did not leak at the barrel to base I will replace that gasket. Dont want to do rings though- I was pleased with the 148psi cranking psi both cylinders. Later will come a cam chain tensioner and guide. Was hoping to retain the cam chain. The bike was well taken care of and put way in 09 and sat there until I bought it in sept 2011. Gonna disassemble the valves and inspect tips of valves and rocker arm stud contact. De carbon everything and lap valves. New valve seals are in arriving gasket kit.