new header options?

[chunts]

so I've been restoring an old '81 650 for a couple of months and finally got it started last weekend. I've rebuilt the carbs and added pod filters. re-jetted the pilot and main up one size as a start and it seems to be running pretty rich. idles ok but stumbles all over with any throttle, and starts fine cold with no choke.

I also noticed when you gun it there's significant exhaust leaking from both sides near the manifold, which I figure I should address before trying to tune the carbs anymore. these are the original double-wall headers and it looks like the smoke is probably coming from the vents at the top, which means the inside pipes are probably ruptured somewhere. is it possible it's just the gaskets? any other reason to see exhaust leaks there?

so what are my options? I'm wary of ebay cause they might be just as bad. are the headers from Mike's decent?

it came with what I'm told are Harley mufflers on it, which sound great but they are so bulky they get in the way of the brake pedal and the kick stand. I'd be happy to ditch them, but if I could get them back and out of the way it might be allright and save me some money.

I'm a passable mechanic and welder, but pretty new to bikes and motors in general, for what that's worth.

 

[XSLeo]

Welcome to the forum. On the later exhaust the head pipes and the mufflers were welded together. The only way to put other muflers on is to cut the old off.
This leaves a gap between the inner and out headpipes. The Harley mufflers are 1 3/4 inlet, thats the same od as the outer head pipe.
With the Harley mufflers clamped to the outer pipe the exhaust flows back up between the inner and outer pipe, leaking out the vent hole at the top.
What you need is an adapter that hooks to the inner head pipe that the muffler can hook to. Or get the inner and outer headpipe welded together. Then just add enough 1 3/4 inch pipe to move the mufflers back. If you take them to a muffler shop the can expand the inner pipe to a snug fit in the outer pipe so it will be a neater weld. Just a 1/2 inch or so. Maybe squeeze the last 1/2 inch of the outer pipe a bit.
Getting more of the HD muffler clamps to clamp the extention pipe tp the head pipes, then use a set to clamp the mufflers to the extention pipes. That will seal the joints well.
The Mike's headpipes are ok. They are a single wall pipe so the 1.5 inch pipes are ideal size for the xs650. The 1.75 inch are a bit to big. need Torque cones up by the heads and EPO's at the muffler ends.
Leo

 

[XSLeo]

On your pods, Some have a lip around the inside that is to keep the pods from sliding too far on the carbs. This lip can cover over the ports in the carb where the pods go on. Some of these ports are vents to the float bowl, the main jet, the pilot jet. Trim the lip off or get different pods. One more thing, the CV carbs used on the XS650 don't really like tapered pods. Straight sided pods work better.
If you don't have a manual that should be at the top of your need to get list. Biker.net has them to down load.
Also read this. www.amckayltd.com/carbguide.pdf
Reading through the XS650 TECH up top of the page. Scroll down to the listing for Buyers Guide, Getting to Know Your Bike. Lots of good info there. Reading that may answer most of your first questions.
Leo

 

[chunts]

cool thanks. this helps a lot, though the fix may be more trouble than it's worth vs. getting new headers. the pods are from Mikes but are the tapered kind, I'll check out the lip on them. I probably wouldn't have put them on right off the bat but the bike was missing the stock airbox completely.

I've read a lot of the tech section here already, and the carb guide a couple of times. I've already had to do a bunch of work on the bike just to get it to the point where it can start up, but i'm picking this stuff up pretty fast.

 

[XSLeo]

Very good for you. Reading up on these things can and will save you lots of frustration.
On mine when I had the Harley mufflers on, they seemed about the same as the stock mufflers. You might want to try the stock jets, then test as the carb guide talks about and go from there.
Leo

 

[gordonscott]

Make sure you don't have old crushed gaskets in the ports. Sometimes they are hard to see when flat and covered with soot, then someone puts new gaskets on top of those and it leaks.

 

[chunts]

thanks, I've already noticed one of the gaskets didn't come out when I pulled the headers and looks to be stuck in there. I'll check and see if they are doubled up.

I've gone the cheap route for now and tried to salvage the old pipes/mufflers though they are a mess. the PO stick welded the harley mufflers right to the headers and generally the install was pretty fubar.

I chopped off the harley pipes and welded the inner and outer header pipes together at the end. then I welded on about a 4" piece of tubing to the headers, to bring the mufflers back to clear the brake pedal and side stand. I then had to weld a new 1 7/8th - 1 3/4 reducing collar to the Harley pipes so I can clamp them on. It's sure not gonna look pretty, but I'm gonna wrap the pipes anyway. I just wanna get this thing going and figure out how much more work it needs before I spend lots of money on a new exhaust system.

 

[DirtyErnie]

Just go to Gordon Scott, I should have and it would have saved a lot of worry.
although my set-up is 'unique', to be sure.

 

[chunts]

if the bike ends up being in good enough shape to put more money into, I'll probably go with a Gordon Scott exhaust. in the meantime this is a basically a functional hack-job to get it tuned and rideable.

 

[chunts]

here's the finished product. the welds and such aren't that pretty, but neither were the headers to begin with which is why I wrapped them. it'll do the job for now.

 

[timbeck]

Perfect fix---tim