Original wiring harness

[Bobthebobber]

Hello, I have a 1976 Yamaha XS650 that I had just bought for a pretty good deal. This is my first bike, and it seems as if the owner before me tried to make a cafe racer and modified the stock wiring but never finished it. It was just left cut open, I tried to correct the wiring based on what it looked like, but I'm not getting any spark? Where should I begin?

 

[cycleranger]

Howdy!
Do you have a wiring diagram? Look here for one: http://www.xs650.com/pages/tech/
If it's chopped up too badly you can get a new harness.
Either original
https://www.mikesxs.net/electrical/wire-terminals-couplers-wire-harnesses.html
Or a custom on like this
http://www.tcbroschoppers.com/1970-79-yamaha-xs650-chopper-wiring-harness-points-ignition.html

I guess it depends on what your ultimate goal is for the bike.

 

[gggGary]

Everything on the right is all you need for spark. Note the condensers are cleverly hidden on the back of the left top motor mount. Trust nothing about 40 year old ignition parts, each component and wire needs to be tested for proper function. If you get only backfires, switch sides on the points.

 

[Bobthebobber]

Thank you for all the help! I plan to build a brat style.

 

[fredintoon]

Hello, I have a 1976 Yamaha XS650 that I had just bought for a pretty good deal. This is my first bike, and it seems as if the owner before me tried to make a cafe racer and modified the stock wiring but never finished it. It was just left cut open, I tried to correct the wiring based on what it looked like, but I'm not getting any spark? Where should I begin?

Hi Bob and welcome,
just maybe the dreaded PO's wiring hack job was not part of his cafe racer build but part of his search for the bike's lost spark?
Which he then gave up on and offloaded the problem onto the next owner?
Whatever; like they all posted:-
First, find the lost spark and get the bike running.
Then, my advice; never mind going BratStyle on it right away. Ride the thing for a while "as is".
You might like it that way and not modify it after all.
Or you might find you want to sell it on and an unmodified bike sells more easily and commands a higher price.

 

[gggGary]

I'll add a heads up, while it's easy to "hot wire" a points set up it's even easier to burn up a coil or points set by leaving the ignition hot with the motor not running.
The points, condensers, coils, wires are outside the main harness so all you usually need to do is; feed +12 to one side of the coils and confirm the other wires are plugged together.