My 81' XS650 Chopper & Intro

P

Phill

XS650 Enthusiast
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Location
Silver Springs, NV
Hey guys,

I'm Pha!L from Northern Nevada, 50 miles east of Reno. Computer Programmer, skateboarder, BMX, rock crawler, and now biker.

My father-in-law gave me a Honda CL350 to build up but decided to move on after finding that I could not title it. I did however take a motorcycle course and get my license (Oct 2011). This is my first motorcycle.

I found a XS650 in Vacaville that was already hardtailed and built up pretty well. It still needed a few things finished on it, but I didn't like some of the things that were done. I wanted to make the bike mine. So I got to chopping.

I did the pipes, seat, remounted the fender, new taillight and license plate bracket, swapped the carbs, jetted, re-wired, battery box, electric box, BMX peg kicker, and a whole bunch of other stuff all custom by me in my little garage with no good tools. I swapped the bars, new chain, new sprockets (17/30). I need to finish the seat, sissy bar, and a bit of the wiring. Next I want to do 270° re-phase, PMA, Pamco, and 750 kit.

I can't wait for spring when I'll be riding every day. I'm having a blast already.
 
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Wrapping it up soon. I'm working on getting the internal throttle and the lights setup. Here it is last weekend.

IMG_0501.jpg


I was messing with a carb problem for a while. Ended up not being the carbs at all. Bad spark plugs. But I'm having an issue with the timing now too.

At idle the timing is at the full advance, then goes more advance as the throttle is opened. Messed with it for a few hours but I can't figure out what's wrong. We thought the timing chain was off a tooth. We found TDC, lines up with T on timing marks. Checked the pin hole where the points would be if I had them and it was straight up where it should be.

So I'm going to re-check everything again this weekend. It runs pretty good with the new plugs though, but I don't want to burn up anything with the timing being wonkers.
 
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If your bike has points it could be your advance weights and springs. Here is a post that may help you.


Return ATU (advancer) to correct range

Since I've had the bike, I realized the timing range of the ATU was too large. When set at the F for idle, the timing would go well past the fully advanced mark. This was not safe for engine longevity, so I would compromise by moving the idle timing towards the TDC mark. Not the best solution!

grizld1 had mentioned a few years back that you can adjust the advancer weights to bring it back into range by peening. I thought I need to try that, but never got around to doing it. Well, finally this spring I took the weights out and peened the little tangs on the weights. grizld1 was right as usual.

I found my tangs at 0.156". At first I only peened mine to about 0.161", but the timing range was still too expanded. OK, so I removed the weights again, and I decided that the answer is to keep peening the weights until there was a very tight fit in the slot in the "slotted disk". Yamaha made the slot in the slotted disk a specific size for a reason................it gives the correct timing range of 25 degrees (15 to 40 degrees).

So, I just peened some more and did trial fits until the tang fit in the slot was a very close fit but not too tight that it would bind. It ended up at 0.168". That's a 0.012" increase in width of the tang. Your bike may be different. Just peen and trial fit until you get that "tight" fit in the slot. My timing light now revealed I had correct timing at both idle and at 4000 rpm!!

Thanks grizld1 for a great tip...................a very simple fix.
 
Yeah, read all the threads here on the subject. I don't have points. I haven't seen anything yet for electronic ignition bikes. I had a problem with my electrical a while back where it was over-charging. Maybe I fried something. I don't know yet, and I'll keep working on it.

I'm thinking PMA+Pamco time... ;-)
 
jchrisk1 said:
Did you get your advance problem worked out?
Click to expand...

Yes. I installed the Pamco and now the timing is right on the dot. Super simple. I did have a ground problem at first but figured it out.

Now I just need to Loc-Tite everything and clean it up a bit.

I can't wait to be riding it!
 
Well, got my Pamco in and everything is running good except my battery has gone bad or something. It won't keep a charge for more than a day. Lame.

So, HHB PMA is on it's way! I figured that it's only $250 more than a battery, so I ordered it. ;)
 
Okay, KOOL. There for a minute I had some chills, ya know with the name thing--glad that all got figured out.


Nice bike BTW
 
Good progress on the bike today. Got my new peg mounts done with my BMX pegs mounted. Got my brake light hooked up finally. And the big one, my PMA installed.

Wow, the PMA is awesome. Before PMA I could not keep my battery charged and my tail light was real dim. After install my tail light is super bright and everything runs awesome. Tons more power.

All I need to finish now is my blinkers and rear tail pipe mount.

IMG_0553.jpg
 
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Austblue said:
what throttle is it? looks good
Click to expand...

It's a super cheap $6 eBay throttle that already broke. I'm looking for a replacement. It's cast, not plastic, but it broke where I put the cable end in. It still works but it's lose now. I think I've seen these other places for about $20.
 

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