Sort of. A bit further north near lake Lanier.
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New member, new project (Atlanta)
- Thread starter Jessezm
- Start date
Always fun when a box of parts shows up at your door! Just received the '72 replica exhaust and a few other odds and ends form Mike's XS, as well as an Ebay tank. The tank is in remarkably good shape but unfortunately it looks like it's taken a direct blow or squeeze on the gas cap, and the top is cratered slightly all around the cap. Does anybody have a suggestion on how best to approach? I'm guessing any of those paintless dent repair guys could push it out. Has anyone ever fixed this kink of dent themselves?
I've found a shop that's going to do the paint work to return it to its original glory. Looking very much forward to that! In the meantime I'll be cleaning up the frame and all the little odds and ends, installing bronze swingarm bushings and tapered head bearings, and cleaning/polishing the engine. Lots to do during the 8-10 week turnaround time for the body work, but hopefully it will all be ready when the paint is done!
Oh, does anyone have a good solution for cleaning up some rusty spots on chrome rims? The front is great but the rear has a few ugly spots and I'd rather not have to lace up a new one...
I've found a shop that's going to do the paint work to return it to its original glory. Looking very much forward to that! In the meantime I'll be cleaning up the frame and all the little odds and ends, installing bronze swingarm bushings and tapered head bearings, and cleaning/polishing the engine. Lots to do during the 8-10 week turnaround time for the body work, but hopefully it will all be ready when the paint is done!
Oh, does anyone have a good solution for cleaning up some rusty spots on chrome rims? The front is great but the rear has a few ugly spots and I'd rather not have to lace up a new one...
Your local Home Depot may have Metal Rescue in stock. It will remove rust without harming chrome or paint. I think it works by magic.
That metal rescue stuff is great, thanks for the tip!
So I've been a bit all over the place but I've made some good progress. Here's an update of where the project stands, and what I did since last checked in:
1) finished stripping down the frame, and cleaned/checked the wiring harness
2) inspected the swingarm - Someone had already installed bronze bushings, but had failed to update the grease fitting situation and the collar was seized and completely stuck. I soaked it in PB blaster and pounded the daylights out of it but it didn't want to budge, so I made a makeshift press with a threaded rod and some nuts, but my impact gun just stripped the threads clean. Went back to pounding, then finally hit it with a little torch. That was what did it in the end. One bushing came out with the collar, and the other came out with a perfectly sized impact socket used as a punch from the inside. No damage at all to the swingarm, so that was good.
3) dropped the frame and swingarm and battery box and upper triple clamp with my powdercoater
4) Shipped my tank, fork ears, headlight bucket, and side covers to the painter
5) miraculously found a MINT condition tank on ebay in Canada and purchased that (it's probably a scam cause it feels too good to be true!)
6) finished breaking down and bagging all the little odds/ends
7) polished some chrome.
8) broke carbs down completed and giving them a good soak.
Still to do:
--Call my painter tomorrow and tell him not to paint the tank until I see if this other tank is the real deal (I'll still have him do the other tins)
--clean up the engine and decide whether to paint or not
--secure a front fender and left fork (have members here who may come through on that!)
--clean up the rims/hubs/spokes and assess whether they can be restored in place or will need to come apart
--polish, polish, polish
--head bearings
--new bronze bushings
--reassemble!!!
So I've been a bit all over the place but I've made some good progress. Here's an update of where the project stands, and what I did since last checked in:
1) finished stripping down the frame, and cleaned/checked the wiring harness
2) inspected the swingarm - Someone had already installed bronze bushings, but had failed to update the grease fitting situation and the collar was seized and completely stuck. I soaked it in PB blaster and pounded the daylights out of it but it didn't want to budge, so I made a makeshift press with a threaded rod and some nuts, but my impact gun just stripped the threads clean. Went back to pounding, then finally hit it with a little torch. That was what did it in the end. One bushing came out with the collar, and the other came out with a perfectly sized impact socket used as a punch from the inside. No damage at all to the swingarm, so that was good.
3) dropped the frame and swingarm and battery box and upper triple clamp with my powdercoater
4) Shipped my tank, fork ears, headlight bucket, and side covers to the painter
5) miraculously found a MINT condition tank on ebay in Canada and purchased that (it's probably a scam cause it feels too good to be true!)
6) finished breaking down and bagging all the little odds/ends
7) polished some chrome.
8) broke carbs down completed and giving them a good soak.
Still to do:
--Call my painter tomorrow and tell him not to paint the tank until I see if this other tank is the real deal (I'll still have him do the other tins)
--clean up the engine and decide whether to paint or not
--secure a front fender and left fork (have members here who may come through on that!)
--clean up the rims/hubs/spokes and assess whether they can be restored in place or will need to come apart
--polish, polish, polish
--head bearings
--new bronze bushings
--reassemble!!!
Bob Kelly III
Ranch Kid from way back,.... that got Old !
All that banging/pounding on the bushings to get them out has me worried.... it may have bent the ends of the swing arm ever so slightly
..... you may discover that the bolt does not want to go in when putting it back together
..... I hope not for your sake ! .... if so perhaps you can Perswade it back the other way ? verry carefully !
.....
Bob.......
..... you may discover that the bolt does not want to go in when putting it back together
..... I hope not for your sake ! .... if so perhaps you can Perswade it back the other way ? verry carefully !
.....
Bob.......
Bob Kelly III
Ranch Kid from way back,.... that got Old !
Good deal ! Keep after it ! I'm sure she'll be a Great one !
.....
Bob.........
.....
Bob.........
A few updates:
By some miracle cast down from motorcycle Valhalla, I happened upon an original gas tank on Ebay in Canada. It was from the original owner of the bike, who took the tank off right after he purchased it. I don't know exactly why, but he said he has another NOS tank that he used and stored this one. It literally looks as if it has never seen gas! It was a bit scary making the purchase, as the seller was a friend of his with zero history on ebay. plus there were a few snafus like they meant the price to be in US dollars but listed in Canadian dollars, and then they didn't want to ship, etc etc.
In the end, it cost me $420 US shipped to my door, and I think it is worth every penny and probably more.
I called my painter and told him to just do the side covers and headlight/fork ears, and ship the other tank back to me. So that will still take about 6-8 weeks, but in the meantime, my frame is ready for pickup from the powder coater, which I'll do this week and start some assembly. I've done a good bit of engine cleaning and polishing, but still have to paint the cases and finish cleaning up the other parts.
Still looking for a front fender, and unfortunately, the rear rim has some corrosion, so I may have to source another. But it's coming along!
By some miracle cast down from motorcycle Valhalla, I happened upon an original gas tank on Ebay in Canada. It was from the original owner of the bike, who took the tank off right after he purchased it. I don't know exactly why, but he said he has another NOS tank that he used and stored this one. It literally looks as if it has never seen gas! It was a bit scary making the purchase, as the seller was a friend of his with zero history on ebay. plus there were a few snafus like they meant the price to be in US dollars but listed in Canadian dollars, and then they didn't want to ship, etc etc.
In the end, it cost me $420 US shipped to my door, and I think it is worth every penny and probably more.
I called my painter and told him to just do the side covers and headlight/fork ears, and ship the other tank back to me. So that will still take about 6-8 weeks, but in the meantime, my frame is ready for pickup from the powder coater, which I'll do this week and start some assembly. I've done a good bit of engine cleaning and polishing, but still have to paint the cases and finish cleaning up the other parts.
Still looking for a front fender, and unfortunately, the rear rim has some corrosion, so I may have to source another. But it's coming along!
Hi Jessezm,
that's way more than this cheap old codger would pay for a gas tank, but OK, it's a really nice one.
(saw a beaten-up Buell one time with a plywood seat and two 2-liter Cola bottles for a gas tank; compared to that guy, I'm a spendthrift)
When you rebuild your swingarm pivot, consider that it's frozen-in-place pivot sleeve shouldn't be blamed on the dreaded PO's bronze bushing mod
because the failure was caused by Yamaha's sub-optimal design.
The sleeve is supposed to be locked in place by tightening the throughbolt.
The throughbolt's grip usually relaxes over time to let the bearing sleeve turn with the swingarm.
Your (and many another's) de-facto swingarm bearing became the sloppy steel-on-steel fit between the sleeve bore and the throughbolt.
Which is why your bike seemed to corner funny.
Here's a fix.
Replace the bearing sleeve with a solid rod of the same diameter and length.
Be sure the rod's length is enough to let the swingarm move freely when it's installed.
Tap the rod M16 x 30+ mm deep each side. Use M16 gr 8.8 bolts each side to assemble.
Grind off the frame's throughbolt stop block so the leftside bolt will tighten properly.
Tap the swingarm crosstube M6 for a grease fitting.
Do the bolts up real tight. Try turning now, eh?
that's way more than this cheap old codger would pay for a gas tank, but OK, it's a really nice one.
(saw a beaten-up Buell one time with a plywood seat and two 2-liter Cola bottles for a gas tank; compared to that guy, I'm a spendthrift)
When you rebuild your swingarm pivot, consider that it's frozen-in-place pivot sleeve shouldn't be blamed on the dreaded PO's bronze bushing mod
because the failure was caused by Yamaha's sub-optimal design.
The sleeve is supposed to be locked in place by tightening the throughbolt.
The throughbolt's grip usually relaxes over time to let the bearing sleeve turn with the swingarm.
Your (and many another's) de-facto swingarm bearing became the sloppy steel-on-steel fit between the sleeve bore and the throughbolt.
Which is why your bike seemed to corner funny.
Here's a fix.
Replace the bearing sleeve with a solid rod of the same diameter and length.
Be sure the rod's length is enough to let the swingarm move freely when it's installed.
Tap the rod M16 x 30+ mm deep each side. Use M16 gr 8.8 bolts each side to assemble.
Grind off the frame's throughbolt stop block so the leftside bolt will tighten properly.
Tap the swingarm crosstube M6 for a grease fitting.
Do the bolts up real tight. Try turning now, eh?
Wow, that is indeed an interesting fix! I think for this bike, as I'm doing an original restoration, I'm not going to do any grinding on the frame, though... (it's already at the powdercoater). I am just going with the 1-piece collar and bronze bushings as opposed to the 3-pc that the XS-2 used. I'm going to add an extra grease fitting to the center of the arm, but otherwise leave it as is. I don't plan on racing the thing, so hopefully it will be adequate!
Hi Jessezm,
OK then, if you don't want to grind parts off your powder-coated frame use a fat D-shaped spacer and a longer bolt that side?
If you don't see your way clear to the solid pivot fix at least replace the stock M14 ended throughbolt with a full M16-ended aftermarket one.
The stocker's necked down M14 end has been known to snap off.
Rarely? Maybe for some but it happened to me, twice. First was with my son riding. His dirt-riding skills let him bring the bike from 60mph to stopped with a locked back wheel when the snapped off pivot bolt fell out in the street. I noticed the second stocker broken and 2" out while wheeling the bike out of the garage.
Back then the fix was an M16-ended Suzuki pivot bolt that happened to fit but these days MikesXS stocks them.
Update!
Got the frame and swing arm back from the powder coater yesterday, and got my first look at the new tank and fresh frame. Unfortunately I'm still in the process of painting the cases this weekend so I won't get the motor back in the frame, but this is starting to feel close!
On the engine, I'm starting to lean toward a refresh of the top end as an excuse to vapor blast the cylinders and heads as opposed to paining. Thus far, all my efforts of degreasing, sanding, wire brushing, scotch brighting, etc, are not yielding the brand new look I'm wanting, and the last thing I want is for the motor to stick out like a sore thumb from it's dullness... Anyways, open to opinions on that. I'm still open to painting the top end aluminum, but don't want it to look bad and then have to strip it all down again... Thoughts? Here are some pics of the the engine and frame/tank/seat combo:
Got the frame and swing arm back from the powder coater yesterday, and got my first look at the new tank and fresh frame. Unfortunately I'm still in the process of painting the cases this weekend so I won't get the motor back in the frame, but this is starting to feel close!
On the engine, I'm starting to lean toward a refresh of the top end as an excuse to vapor blast the cylinders and heads as opposed to paining. Thus far, all my efforts of degreasing, sanding, wire brushing, scotch brighting, etc, are not yielding the brand new look I'm wanting, and the last thing I want is for the motor to stick out like a sore thumb from it's dullness... Anyways, open to opinions on that. I'm still open to painting the top end aluminum, but don't want it to look bad and then have to strip it all down again... Thoughts? Here are some pics of the the engine and frame/tank/seat combo:
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BigJimmyW13
XS650 Guru
Hey brother, do what you wanna do. I originally built my XS in the kitchen of my house because I didn't have a garage. Plus, it makes it wayyyy easier to eat, drink, watch TV and read sarcastic replies on XS650.com when it's in the house!
On the brand new look for the engine - have you looked into vapor honing it?
I'm FOR vapor honing (seen some great pics in here), and AGAINST painting over oxidized aluminum. Not just for aethetics and adhesion, but for heat emissions...
I am leaning toward vapor honing as well now, I just kind of wanted to avoid rebuilding the top end since that means taking apart the head and getting a valve job probably, since they won't do it with the engine together in one piece. However, it will probably be worth it in the end!
So I ended up deciding to go ahead and rebuild the top end since I wanted to have it vapor honed. This was after painting the cases and just feeling like I wasn't going to be able to get the top end as clean as I wanted it without painting or vapor blasting. I already have a full gasket kit anyways, and when I took it apart, the condition was pretty exquisite, so I'm thinking just a quick cylinder hone, new rings, a new cam chain, and a valve job or just lapping is all it will need. There was hardly any carbon build up on the pistons and in the chamber. And in the end I'll get a nice clean motor. Can't wait to button her back up and put her back in the frame!
Update since I'm bored at work and it's friday afternoon!
Since painting the cases last week, I broke down the top end and took it to a local shop for vapor honing, inspection, and valve lapping (or more if necessary). Had them vapor blast my carbs as well, since I wasn't happy with not being able to reach all the crevices with with my polishing tools. Everything came back looking great, and they only had to lap in the valves and said the head was in great shape. They just put a cross hatch in the cylinders for me and vapor blasted the pistons, and I'm installing new rings.
Oh yeah I also polished the clutch cover. Man that was a bear! Went from 320 grit to 1200, then polishing compound and LOTS of elbow grease. I don't want a mirror finish, just nice and shiny.
Here are some shots of the cleaned up motor coming together:
Since painting the cases last week, I broke down the top end and took it to a local shop for vapor honing, inspection, and valve lapping (or more if necessary). Had them vapor blast my carbs as well, since I wasn't happy with not being able to reach all the crevices with with my polishing tools. Everything came back looking great, and they only had to lap in the valves and said the head was in great shape. They just put a cross hatch in the cylinders for me and vapor blasted the pistons, and I'm installing new rings.
Oh yeah I also polished the clutch cover. Man that was a bear! Went from 320 grit to 1200, then polishing compound and LOTS of elbow grease. I don't want a mirror finish, just nice and shiny.
Here are some shots of the cleaned up motor coming together:
Attachments
Last edited:
After all of that fun, catastrophe (idiocy) struck and I managed to split the front camchain guide at the top bolt. So.... off came the head cover, heads, and cylinders, and I await new OEM parts in the mail. I'm going to do some flyfishing in the NC mountains and try to forget about it till next week 
9226356
XS650 Enthusiast
Beauty of a bike mate!
