The Amatuer Build

[xsPete]

G'day all,
I been watching for quite a while and listed a couple of questions previously so reckon I should put my build on as it's getting to the pointy end and I'm gonna need a shitload of help to get through it without setting fire to it or somrthing similar.

I think I've loaded some photo's of when I picked the bike up but I'll have to wait till it's posted to know if they're on or not. I'm not normally into forums or such but need to learn I guess as this is the go to place for info.

The bike is a 73 TX frame, 72 XS2 Motor with 447 rods and a 256 cam, the rest could be off anything, there wasn't 2 matching nuts or bolts on it.

I'll leave this post here for now and start posting where I'm at in bits and pieces, this thing is taking a longgg time to do.

Here's hoping you like where it's going and opinions will be gratefully accepted.

Pete

 

[Classic]

Wow. It appears that your whole engine has found it's way into your oil filter. Best of luck getting her back on the road.

 

[hotdog]

Hi Pete,

Fu*k me I thought I was brave, what's the end game going to be...? chopper/bobber, cafe, please dont tell me you plan to restore it...?? LOL...

Hotdog.

 

[xsPete]

Hi Pete,

Fu*k me I thought I was brave, what's the end game going to be...? chopper/bobber, cafe, please dont tell me you plan to restore it...?? LOL...

Hotdog.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Classic & HotDog

Forks are looking pretty good too!
I think I got the photo's loaded.

I'm going along the style of the Joe Wiseguy Strong Arm bike with streched swingarm. I'm also using the idea from Metasoul Engineering for dropping my seat rails.

So springs on the rear.
Dropped seat rails
750 rephase
pamco electronic with 2 x green monsters
RD350 PMA

Cheers Pete

 

[Downeaster]

You, Sir, are a Brave Man. Best of luck in bringing it back to life!

 

[MegaTitaniumMan]

It looks better than mine, at first glance.
My engine is seized but I think I might have fewer parts in the crank case than yours.
Have fun with that, I know I will with mine

 

[grepper]

I'm guessing that the Cam Chain Guide ground up in that filter.
Looks like a set of aftermarket Mikuni VM Carbs in there, see the carb guide here for those. They are a nice upgrade.

 

[xsPete]

Wow. It appears that your whole engine has found it's way into your oil filter. Best of luck getting her back on the road.

A bit scary classic, luckily I don't know what I got myself into when I started or another bike would probably be parted out.

 

[xsPete]

You, Sir, are a Brave Man. Best of luck in bringing it back to life!

Thanks Doweaster, as I put to classic, not knowing had bad the bike was meant I was way commited before I knew it.

Cheers Pete

 

[xsPete]

It looks better than mine, at first glance.
My engine is seized but I think I might have fewer parts in the crank case than yours.
Have fun with that, I know I will with mine

Tks bloke, just keep at it
Pete

 

[xsPete]

I'm guessing that the Cam Chain Guide ground up in that filter.
Looks like a set of aftermarket Mikuni VM Carbs in there, see the carb guide here for those. They are a nice upgrade.

No Grepper,
When I stripped the engine that's where I found 5th gear

Pete

 

[hotdog]

Pete, I'm sure it will turn out fine, I have just been through rebuilding my engine & know what you are in for thats all. Mikes XS is going to be your friend - your very good friend...

Thanks for the vote of confidence Classic & HotDog

Forks are looking pretty good too!
I think I got the photo's loaded.

I'm going along the style of the Joe Wiseguy Strong Arm bike with streched swingarm. I'm also using the idea from Metasoul Engineering for dropping my seat rails.

So springs on the rear.
Dropped seat rails
750 rephase
pamco electronic with 2 x green monsters
RD350 PMA

Cheers Pete

 

[xsPete]

Pete, I'm sure it will turn out fine, I have just been through rebuilding my engine & know what you are in for thats all. Mikes XS is going to be your friend - your very good friend...

Thanks Hotdog,
In my 1st post on this I said I was getting to the pointy end, well I've had this bike for 2 years know and been following this site to get most of the info I've learned.

Now, when I stripped the engine and saw the state of it I knew if I going to do this I wanted it done right. If it completely rooted may as well give it the full treatment eh!

So I decided to chase up a reputable bloke to do the full rephase for me, I got onto Daryl Hutcheon who has Professional Motorcycle Tuning in Melbourne, the the XS650 Aussie Club recommend him and he's the real deal. Darryl was great to deal with and gave the motor the full monty.

My big mistake was I ordered a Mikes full 750 kit, the barrels look way big when fitted up, I wish I'd gone a rebore but the old barrels looked like they'd be in the ring with Mohamed Ali.
So I have the engine back, this pick will show how it came up and what I mean about how big the barrels look.

I reckon if you wanted hi pipes with these you'd be in the shit.

I'll adding bits of the build over a couple of weeks to get to where I am.

My job has me away about half the year travelling so times limited.

 

[xsPete]

Thanks Hotdog,
In my 1st post on this I said I was getting to the pointy end, well I've had this bike for 2 years know and been following this site to get most of the info I've learned.

Now, when I stripped the engine and saw the state of it I knew if I going to do this I wanted it done right. If it completely rooted may as well give it the full treatment eh!

So I decided to chase up a reputable bloke to do the full rephase for me, I got onto Daryl Hutcheon who has Professional Motorcycle Tuning in Melbourne, the the XS650 Aussie Club recommend him and he's the real deal. Darryl was great to deal with and gave the motor the full monty.

My big mistake was I ordered a Mikes full 750 kit, the barrels look way big when fitted up, I wish I'd gone a rebore but the old barrels looked like they'd be in the ring with Mohamed Ali.
So I have the engine back, this pick will show how it came up and what I mean about how big the barrels look.

I reckon if you wanted hi pipes with these you'd be in the shit.

I'll adding bits of the build over a couple of weeks to get to where I am.

My job has me away about half the year travelling so times limited.

So, I did some polishing, more buffing I reckon. I'm not going for shiny bling, It'a about 33 to 35 years old depending on what part of the bike.

So the forks got new tubes and seal kit plus I paid out plenty for a rebuild kit for the caliper before deciding on a Pandemonium Bembro conversion.

Dan was great to deal with, any email and a response straight back.

I'm not cutting any bits off yet, 2 reasons
1) I will probably need a fork brace, I tried for one of the Gordon Scott twin rod ones but he's not sure if it'll fit 34mm fork. I need to send him some measurements I guess.
2) If I want to go to 35mm forks down the track thes will be good for someones resto.

The wheels looked as knackered as the rest of the bike and I'm not in a position to respoke etc etc. So I took the wheels to a Soda Blaster, come back pretty ordinary really but I'll live with em for know.

Did my own buffing of the drum etc.

I also got a stretch swingarm from JoeWiseguy, any bloke that's tops to deal with.
I didn't know the later swingarms are longer and wider than a 73 TX so it ended up an 1" longer than what I thought I was ordering and I had to come up with a different spacer and source some chain adjusters plus new rear axle, pivot ube, brass bushings and all the rest of the fruit that goes with it.

So while my engine was in the hands of an expert, I'l continued with the amatuer stuff like an ordinary job on the polishing and getting the frame to the look I was after.

I also got hold of a Cole Foster Tank and managed to get the 1st look at something of a Roller.

 

[xsPete]

Did some fabbing to the frame, welded in the curved seat rails and made up mounts for the coils battery and rear fender. I'm a shit welder and put it off for months looking and thinking I couldn't fill in some of the gaps without blowing holes in the frame, got through it in a day once I bit the bullet.

Couple of welds I got done by a mate of the sons who's shit hot at it. I got him to do the things I consider really structural and he's got a Tig.
> Main rails of the seat where we lowered them.
> Backbone of the frame where I put a 7/8' hole in it to mount a slug for the tank and realised it was too high and looked shit. He welded that in to maintain the strength of the frame and he moved the rear mount on the tank and put a new slug in the right spot on the frame.

I made the seat base out of a stop sign and bent up some ally for a cover on the coils and battery. I reckon they should get heaps of air circulation, no way I was having stuck up front all green and ugly with the Cole Foster Tank.

 

[xsPete]

No real forward progress this weekend, just cut out some of the stuff I'd welded in and didn't sit or look right and had another go, a welder I'm not.

"CHAINS",
F~@#k, how many choices are there?
Advice needed.
I'm running a streched swingarm with a measurement of app: 26 1/2 " from Centre to Centre on the sprockets. I've got 2 new sprockets 17/35-530.

Can someone advise on the best option for the chain, whether I need 110 or 120 link or what ?
Also when I look at the different types of chains it's off it's head, heavy duty/ x ring/ o ring rah rah rah.

The bike is going 750 with free flowing exhaust so there'll be a fair bit of bottom end riding but also where I live the nearest decent size town is 65 klm's with no traffic lights between so ther'll be a fair bit of cruiing at 100/ 110 Klm's/Hr

All advice appreciated.
Tks Pete

 

[xsPete]

Well no feedback on chain type.

I'm trying to work ot where the fuses will go, I've made a cardboard template of where I might put some sheetmetal and fit them.

Any opinions on whether this looks practical before I dive in.

Also I'm thinking there shouldn't be any heat problems with the coils in if position under ther seat, fully open at the bottom and back with holes in the front of the cover.

Any advice appreciated if it looks like it won't work.

Last I'd thought I'd include another photo of how bad a flogging this bike had, never with something this far gone again.

 

[xsPete]

Chalk up another day of stuffups for the amatuer!

I decided to make a Fuse Block like Manonthehill in his simple fuse block thread so I ordered some water proof inline blade holders.
They turned up and look like they belong in a Mack Truck or Saracen Tank, they're huge. So I've ordered the mini blade ones this time and see how I go. I'm pretty limited on space and the all in one units I've seen look too big.

Also my seat foam arrived, I thought I'd play it smart and order both 15 & 20 mm thick so I'd have a choice on finished height. This is the top foam, I've got 10mm Gym mat foam on the base.
Well the stuff I ended up ordering is like sitting on fairy floss,it rates at 26Kg/M3. Where I live there's no suppliers of a denser foam, I have to get it posted and it costs more for the post than the material. I'll wait to I get to a bigger city to try for some firmer stuff. Looks like I've got some nice foam to line the bottom of my tool trays with.

Based on that I wasn't game to try welding in the 1.6mm tray I made for the fuses.

It's getting there,but I reckon I've spent as much on balls up as successes,but that's what doing as much as you can in the garage is all about.

 

[xsPete]

G'day all,
Had some good bits and not so good bits since last post.

GOOD:- I decided to painted the frame etc with VHT Gloss Black Epoxy (Aerosol Can). I tried this on the top of head engine mounts as a trial and I'm pretty happy with result so I'll be doing the rest of the frame that way.

BAD:- I'm doing the tank with aerosol made locally in OZ called Hichem. This is going to be Gold Hammer Tone. My son has taken over the paint duties for the tank. Sanded it back and went with 3 coats of Super Etch Primer. Left it 7 days and scuffed it with scotchbrite, then cleaned it with some stuff he had in his workshop. The tank came up looking good and we left it another 7 days to put another set of coats on it. "Disaster" I scothbrited it and cleaned it with Pre Wash I had and wiprd it off etc. When he layed the 1st tack coat it started to crinckle and blister, I can only think I didn't clean the prep wash off properly or picked up a contaminated rag in his workshop. Sooo, next week rub it back and start again.

GOOD:- I think I've got the fuse and electrics mounting sorted. Made a tray for the front area of the seat and mounted a home made fuse block there (Blatant copy of a post from "themanonthehill" thanks for the idea.
I've set it up for 4 switched fuses and 1 20amp unswithed to go to the Rec/Reg. Also mounted the rec/reg under the monster coils.

BAD:- I'm using Mikes 1 3/4 pipes with a 73 frame, they are at the exact height of the engine mounts and on the left the kick stand bracket holds the pipe out about an inch from the frame, not tucked in like I want, I went to re-adjust the stand, not so easy so, Im thinking of cutting it off and fitting a new one from Trojan Classics, just checking the length of there stands.

GOOD:- Got my seat covered and I'm pretty happy with it, thicker than I 1st wanted by my 56 year old are needs so comfort.

GOOD:- got to roller stage in Jan and than pulled it down again to fix the stand situation.

This is a big learing curve for me and keeps the brain cells active, the biggest challenge is the wiring I think, I'm shitting myself about burning it to the ground when we go to start it.

 

[tonyc]

Great progress Pete.