Mikey Hardtail
XS650 New Member
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!!
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!!
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