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Mailman’s XS2 a full on restoration
- Thread starter Mailman
- Start date
Carburetors...
Yes....dammit.
WELL......AFTER 72 ENTRIES ABOUT WIRING, ARE YOU READY FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT?
Drive chain,
I bought a basic DID motorcycle chain for my XS2. It’s the same chain I’m running on my ‘77 and that one seems to be holding up just fine.
For some reason the longer chains seem to be less expensive. I bought a 110 link chain and cut it to length.
The chain is on, slack is set, and the rear brake adjusted. Tightened everything up and installed a new cotter key in the castle nut.
UP NEXT....THE HEADPIPES
New exhaust port gaskets going in.
Which brings me to a question. Just how tight should I tighten these headpipe clamps? I did a quick search , but couldn’t seem to find a definitive answer. I didn’t want to overtighten them, I just snugged them up good.
They fit like this,
Compared to my ‘77, here is what they look like.
Also I’m curious if any of you have used and can recommend a good exhaust pipe blue remover? My left head pipe has quite a bit of blue to it. I speculated that it must’ve been running too lean on that cylinder, it’s surprising being that it is double walled and heavy as hell.
That’s all for today. Later!
Bob
Drive chain,
I bought a basic DID motorcycle chain for my XS2. It’s the same chain I’m running on my ‘77 and that one seems to be holding up just fine.
For some reason the longer chains seem to be less expensive. I bought a 110 link chain and cut it to length.
The chain is on, slack is set, and the rear brake adjusted. Tightened everything up and installed a new cotter key in the castle nut.
UP NEXT....THE HEADPIPES
New exhaust port gaskets going in.
Which brings me to a question. Just how tight should I tighten these headpipe clamps? I did a quick search , but couldn’t seem to find a definitive answer. I didn’t want to overtighten them, I just snugged them up good.
They fit like this,
Compared to my ‘77, here is what they look like.
Also I’m curious if any of you have used and can recommend a good exhaust pipe blue remover? My left head pipe has quite a bit of blue to it. I speculated that it must’ve been running too lean on that cylinder, it’s surprising being that it is double walled and heavy as hell.
That’s all for today. Later!
Bob
Just leave lightly snugged until you get the muffies installed. Adjust the alignment and all that.... After that, I think the book has a torque spec on em.
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I’m not sure that I recall an actual torque spec on the nuts. I know I looked for one....
Eventually I just tightened the acorn nuts down till the gasket was crushed evenly top & bottom, but not so much that the big chrome ring clamp bottomed on the exhaust port. The photo of your XS2 above looks right but the ‘77 looks about as tight as it could go, without bottoming.
EDIT: as Jim pointed out, be sure to tighten down the exhaust stud nuts FIRST - while leaving all of the other exhaust header mounting bolts loose. Once you’re happy with the clamp / gasket crush end of things, THEN tighten down everything else.
Eventually I just tightened the acorn nuts down till the gasket was crushed evenly top & bottom, but not so much that the big chrome ring clamp bottomed on the exhaust port. The photo of your XS2 above looks right but the ‘77 looks about as tight as it could go, without bottoming.
EDIT: as Jim pointed out, be sure to tighten down the exhaust stud nuts FIRST - while leaving all of the other exhaust header mounting bolts loose. Once you’re happy with the clamp / gasket crush end of things, THEN tighten down everything else.
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Bob, here's some close ups of my XS1B left exhaust clamp, showing the amount of crush.
Taken from:
http://www.xs650.com/threads/an-electronic-tdc-finder-and-conrod-checker.52012/
Taken from:
http://www.xs650.com/threads/an-electronic-tdc-finder-and-conrod-checker.52012/
Ha! So we’re very similar then. Thanks!
Meddy
XS650 Addict
Don't know if this is of any help Bob, before I fitted the new single wall header pipes to my bike I gave the insides a liberal coating of exhaust paint 3 or 4 coats.
No sign of blueing on the pipes yet, and close to 1000k on it know.
Huh...I’ve never heard of exhaust paint. The insides of these headers are pretty sooty.
Yeah, what I’m thinking of is some sort of polish that will remove bluing. I’ve never used any , but I’ll see what I can do.
Yeah, what I’m thinking of is some sort of polish that will remove bluing. I’ve never used any , but I’ll see what I can do.
I've been curious about internal exhaust coating as well, to protect the chrome on single wall pipes.
Google: "Eastwood internal exhaust coating".
Gets good reviews from the Harley guys.
Back in the daze, Simichrome polish was supposed to remove chrome bluing. Some of our customers said it worked, others not so. I never had luck with it. Supposedly removes the bluing, which means also removes some of the chrome. Many advised against that, I followed suit. After 45 years, maybe a modern solution?
Google: "Eastwood internal exhaust coating".
Gets good reviews from the Harley guys.
Back in the daze, Simichrome polish was supposed to remove chrome bluing. Some of our customers said it worked, others not so. I never had luck with it. Supposedly removes the bluing, which means also removes some of the chrome. Many advised against that, I followed suit. After 45 years, maybe a modern solution?
I've used Simichrome since the late 60's. Works great on chrome and aluminum. It does not remove bluing though... at least I never had any luck removing it.
I just Googled "chrome bluing remover".
Yup, it's a bold new world...
Yup, it's a bold new world...
Meddy
XS650 Addict
This is the stuff I used, not sure how it would go on used pipes though.
How do you even coat on inside?
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I came accross this polish for getting the blue off the header pipe. It works great. Will not scratch like the old stuff we used (Blue Away) in the old days. takes a bit of hand work so be prepared to spend some time with it. Some guys have used an orbital sander to speed thing up I guess. This product is not to be confused with blow job.
Terrific! I was looking at that product. All I wanted to hear was an endorsement!
Thanks!
Today I finished up the exhaust, by installing the mufflers and passenger foot rests. This exhaust looks good, if you’re not really looking up close. Everything is original, the chrome is in really good shape, but IT IS 47 years old!!!
And it’s been banging around in someone’s garage for all those years!
This bike was not lovingly stored. It was pushed into the corner of a garage and forgotten for decades. The mufflers bear the scars of lawn mowers , or bicycles, or God knows what, being shoved in next to it.
I don’t know if I ever shared this bit of history or not, but the original registration was still under the seat when I got the bike. It was purchased new in 1972, by ( I believe ) a man who was already an older fellow. I had his name and address from the registration, it was here in Phoenix. So I started searching for him, I thought it might be cool if I could find him. Well I found his obituary from the early 1980’s. That would explain why the bike only had 5,000 miles on it, probably the old guys last hurrah. The family must’ve just shoved it in a garage. They even moved to another small town in rural Arizona and took the bike with them. Where they again shoved it in a dusty old garage and forgot about it. At some point his widow or son or whoever kept it in the family, passed away and it wound up in an estate sale auction where the guy I bought it from picked it up.
Anyhoo......back to the mufflers.
A new rubber baby buggy bumper, for the kickstand.
Ahhh.....THATS THE LOOK I WANTED!!!
I absolutely love the early “ baseball bat “ mufflers.
Did I mention, this exhaust is surprisingly heavy?
Ok next up, cables, cables, cables and then....some more cables.
From left to right, decompression, speedo, tach, clutch, throttle and another throttle.
I see lots of adjusting and fiddling and maybe some cussing in my future.
Stay tuned.
BOB OUT !!
And it’s been banging around in someone’s garage for all those years!
This bike was not lovingly stored. It was pushed into the corner of a garage and forgotten for decades. The mufflers bear the scars of lawn mowers , or bicycles, or God knows what, being shoved in next to it.
I don’t know if I ever shared this bit of history or not, but the original registration was still under the seat when I got the bike. It was purchased new in 1972, by ( I believe ) a man who was already an older fellow. I had his name and address from the registration, it was here in Phoenix. So I started searching for him, I thought it might be cool if I could find him. Well I found his obituary from the early 1980’s. That would explain why the bike only had 5,000 miles on it, probably the old guys last hurrah. The family must’ve just shoved it in a garage. They even moved to another small town in rural Arizona and took the bike with them. Where they again shoved it in a dusty old garage and forgot about it. At some point his widow or son or whoever kept it in the family, passed away and it wound up in an estate sale auction where the guy I bought it from picked it up.
Anyhoo......back to the mufflers.
A new rubber baby buggy bumper, for the kickstand.
Ahhh.....THATS THE LOOK I WANTED!!!
I absolutely love the early “ baseball bat “ mufflers.
Did I mention, this exhaust is surprisingly heavy?
Ok next up, cables, cables, cables and then....some more cables.
From left to right, decompression, speedo, tach, clutch, throttle and another throttle.
I see lots of adjusting and fiddling and maybe some cussing in my future.
Stay tuned.
BOB OUT !!
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She's gonna be a looker Bob...
