My first bobber project

[Mikey Hardtail]

I recently chased my dream of purchasing a project bike to build into a bobber. I have an old custom frame with a '78 xs650 motor.

The PO told me he installed the kick start shaft wrong and that's why it won't start and left me from there. The frame needs to be blasted and painted so while taking the motor out from the frame I decided to take a peek at some stuff so I started stripping the motor a bit.

There was some play in the valves that I am assuming will just cause ticking when it's running but I'm no professional. I then proceeded to take off the top end exposing the camshaft and chain. It looks better than I thought for a '78 with no love. I then decided that I won't go any further with stripping the motor. I'll just put it back together, fix that kick start, wire it up and see what happens.. Then I looked in the cylinder and noticed light to mild surface rust

Again, I am no professional but I am torn on whether I just strip the motor and do a total rebuild or replacing; or go by the PO word and fix the kick start and wire it to get it running. As he said it will run with the kick start fixed.

On that note, I removed the kick start shaft and it looks fine. I put the spring back in place where I saw a little notch that hold it in place. But when you try to kick start it won't move. The sprocket the shaft connects to in the bike is the one that isn't moving. Again, I'm new to this and don't really know how it works. I apologize for my lack of words and descriptions.

I hope someone can help with this project!!

 

[Curtis P]

Throw a bit of oil down the cylinders, get it running and see what happens, I have had motors with very light rust run fine afterwards. Without honing

 

[Mikey Hardtail]

That's where I am heading. After I found out the kick start situation. However, newer and nicer parts,bolts,seals, etc would be nice. We'll see how far I go! I'll be taking more pictures and updating my build. I hope to get some good advice and knowledge on here.

 

[h3llb3nt1]

Thanks for the positive comment Mike. After being on here for awhile and tearing into my own bike. Never Never Never trust what the PO says. These engines really are not that complicated. My advice, degrease/clean your engine and tear it down. With the resources available here and the readily available parts from Mikes, you should do O.K. This advice is of course budget pending. Good luck man and welcome to the site

 

[Johnt3]

Mikey Hardtail, Welcome to the site man. Good to see another hardtail guy on here.
The resources here are invaluable,but a manual is a must.Good pictures of what your dealing with are helpful. Also I'd like to see what you have.

I just looked at what you have.Looks good.Is that an airbag under the seatpan?

 

[Mikey Hardtail]

Thank you guys for chiming in.

These past few weeks on and off, I have been stripping the motor and frame for bead blasting and powder coating. While that is being done I have been doing tons of research on what exactly I want to do and have finally came to a conclusion. Pictures of the process will be up soon.

Yes! That's an air bag under my seat. I have the spring set up also. I can't decide what I like better. Maybe the looks of the spring set up but feel of the air bag set up..hmmmm