Welcome! What a great bike to restore. I’ve de-rusted several tanks using nothing more than household vinegar. There is every tidbit of info you need on here if you look. Keep feeding us pics!
Buy a shrubbery!I'm honestly astonished by the speed and number of responses that I've gotten. I wasn't specifically looking for an XS when I was searching for a first project bike. But, I think I'm lucky to have ended up with one and found this community. Thanks!
NOTE: Post a pic from the other side of the bike. The engine tappet cover should have a 3 stud cover like the other 3. If it is a 4 stud cover then before you do anything else check your engine #. That engine side-cover is from an 81-83, The arrow points to an oil glass this is the tell its from an 81-83
The oil filter cap bolts are at 9 and 3 o'clock when they should be at 10.30 and 4.30 as i have drawn them in green on the pic. The arrow points to an oil glass this is the tell its from an 81-83.
Yellow arrow is where the throttle cable should be hooked up to.
Do a series of pics a bit closer. As close as the cropped pic i have re-posted. Go over the whole bike and under the seat.
View attachment 226107
Thank you for the sage advice. Following @willis's advice, I've bookmarked and started reading through your thread on the restoration. That is an amazing looking bike!Congratulations on your new bike!
If I could make a few suggestions, I don’t know how deep you’re planning on getting into this, but you made the comment that you don’t have a lot of experience. It’s easy to get enthusiastic about removing parts and I have seen a lot of people that are great about tearing bikes apart, but then get overwhelmed and then the project dies.
I restored an XS2 a while back and some tips I would make is, before you pull any parts off, take photos of everything from every angle, seriously you can’t take too many. Use your phone and store them on your computer for future reference. I’ve got over 1500 photos from before, during and after my build. I referred to my photos constantly during my rebuild. Mundane things you don’t think of , like cable routing, wiring harness routing and wiring connections, the order that mounting hardware goes back together, what the carburetor looks like before you take it apart, and during disassembly , and store your parts carefully, keep things that go together , together! Go to the dollar store and buy zip lock sandwich bags, and gallon size bags, and cheap food storage containers. Label your parts and keep all the little screws and hardware together.
Some examples of my reference photos,
View attachment 226058View attachment 226059View attachment 226060View attachment 226061View attachment 226062
Be meticulous in your approach, read everything you can, and you can turn this ,
View attachment 226063
Into this,
View attachment 226065
Best of luck to you!
Bob
I appreciate the sobering thoughts. I'll definitely keep them in mind.More thoughts from the gallery…
If you are not 100% serious about that bike don’t touch it. It’s a very early bike, and not many of them are still around. Correct parts are expensive and quite often hard to find.
I don’t know what you paid for it, but I’ll say without even knowing, you can sell it as is to a collector, double your money and buy a bike in a much friendlier state to learn on and enjoy.
Getting that bike to a reliable, presentable state could take years depending on your time, finances and dedication to see it through.
Just something to think about.
If you do start to tackle it, read mailman’s restoration thread. All of it! See how much work it was, how many set backs he had to push through and use it as a blueprint. I can personally say, the end product he build is about as good as it gets. Stay organized.
Top advice about taking photo's Bob. Saved my ass a few times over the past year rebuild.Congratulations on your new bike!
If I could make a few suggestions, I don’t know how deep you’re planning on getting into this, but you made the comment that you don’t have a lot of experience. It’s easy to get enthusiastic about removing parts and I have seen a lot of people that are great about tearing bikes apart, but then get overwhelmed and then the project dies.
I restored an XS2 a while back and some tips I would make is, before you pull any parts off, take photos of everything from every angle, seriously you can’t take too many. Use your phone and store them on your computer for future reference. I’ve got over 1500 photos from before, during and after my build. I referred to my photos constantly during my rebuild. Mundane things you don’t think of , like cable routing, wiring harness routing and wiring connections, the order that mounting hardware goes back together, what the carburetor looks like before you take it apart, and during disassembly , and store your parts carefully, keep things that go together , together! Go to the dollar store and buy zip lock sandwich bags, and gallon size bags, and cheap food storage containers. Label your parts and keep all the little screws and hardware together.
Some examples of my reference photos,
View attachment 226058View attachment 226059View attachment 226060View attachment 226061View attachment 226062
Be meticulous in your approach, read everything you can, and you can turn this ,
View attachment 226063
Into this,
View attachment 226065
Best of luck to you!
Bob