New to XS650’s (and Yamaha) Build

Got some more bits and pieces painted today and sanded and clear coated the chrome fender and trim ring to give it more of a brushed stainless look. Tomorrow I will be painting the frame and then I can work on getting the motor cleaned up while the paint cures.
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HOSER59,

I am curious, what grit sand paper did you use to sand your chrome? I have some that isn't bad, but not good enough to save as chrome. Great idea.
 
HOSER59,

I am curious, what grit sand paper did you use to sand your chrome? I have some that isn't bad, but not good enough to save as chrome. Great idea.

I used 180 on a rotary to start, then hand sanded all in one direction with 320 and then 400. I found anything higher than that wouldn’t have as nice of a brushed look. I’m doing something similar to the tank so I’ll grab some pics of that as I get it done.
 
I’ve been working on the tank for the last week and a bit. Came up with a plan of how I wanted it to look, sort of an old school chopper, rat rod look where I’ll keep some of the imperfections and create a patina.
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started by getting the tank sanded down to a brushed finish and pulling as much of the dents as I could, then I laid down the black paint along the body lines.
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Taped and primed the sides before body filler and base coat, but I wasn’t happy with how it turned out so I ended up wet sanding and filling it again.
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Second round of paint went much better and I took a first crack at the vinyl stripe as well.
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Still have a bit of work to get the vinyl flat around the curves, I have lots left over if I need to try again. Then I’ve got some more prep work to do sanding the black paint to feather it into the bare metal more and then it’ll get a bunch of coats of 2K clear and the emblems. The gas cap is the same black as well. It’s a very different look than what I started off with in my head but I like it, fits with the other bare metal and the scrambler style.
 
Cleaned up the greasy engine, it was a big job and it’s not perfect but it looks much better.
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Got the battery box installed
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I’m ready to get the motor back in the frame after I clean up the hardware and swap the steering neck races. Any tricks I should be aware of other than laying the engine on its left side and placing the frame over?
 
You lay the engine over on it's right side. The frame fits over the left side of the engine easier than the right side because it's narrower .....

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I don't know why the factory did it this way, or if it matters at all, but they stuck the long bottom engine bolt in from the right side. All the parts diagrams I've seen and all the stock bikes I've looked at that I know never had their motors pulled are like this. But, obviously you can't do that with the engine laying on it's right side. So, you'll need to stick it in from the left side then once the bike is upright and the rest of the motor mounts are installed, you can change it around. Like I said, I don't know if it matters, but that's the way the factory did it so that's the way I like to do it too.
 
Thanks Ron!

Instead of the round emblems I decided to go way outside the box and had some vinyl decals made up
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I think the tank has got a bit of a 60’s BSA scrambler vibe to it now. The blue tape is just to make sure the stripes don’t lift at all while I finish prepping the tank for clearcoat, which should hopefully be sometime this week. Not everyone’s style I’m sure, but I dig it
 
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