benkd53
XS650 Member
hello, I'm new to the forum and this is the first bike I've attempted to restore. Here is my new 1975 xs650b with 7,718 original miles that hasn't been registered/inspected since 1987 and according to the p.o. it was parked since then. it's almost completely stock and does not appear to be missing any parts. the exhaust is the only major thing that has been changed as far as i can tell.
it's in decent shape considering, mostly surface rust, the worst of the rust is inside the tank but i plan to attempt to remove it with A.H. super washing soda and a battery charger.
so far i have ordered a good amount of reading material and a LOT of tools. My goal for phase one of this project is to get this thing running. I am hoping not to have to rebuild the motor. if i have to replace some gaskets no big deal but if i can leave it alone for now i will. I have ordered the first batch of parts from MikesXS including petcock rebuild kits, fuel lines, carb rebuild kits, contact points, oil filters, fuel filter, condenser pack, and 2 ignition coils.
In preparation of the arrival of my new parts i have removed the battery, air filters, carbs, and drained the oil. it was pretty nasty looking. while doing all this i discovered that just about every rubber part on the bike is hard/cracked and in need of replacement. I expected this but this bike needs a LOT of love. everything was going pretty smoothly, i removed the oil filter and it had a little bit of gunk and some very small shiny bits of metal. not good but probably nothing major.
i checked the magnetic drain plugs and they both had some gunk built up. to be expected after sitting for so long, probably nothing major.
then i looked at the oil i just drained from the engine. thats when i saw some shiny things floating in the oil.
so i pulled them out and sure enough... pretty large flakes of metal.
that is a 6mm wrench for scale, and the 27mm drain plug. there was also a leaf in there but that may have been in the oil drain pan before i drained the oil. so here is the big question. is this normal/acceptable? or is this a sign that bad things are going on inside there? I was already planning on flushing out whatever oil and goo was left in there, but now i am concerned. i have heard that older air cooled engines have a tendency to have a little metal in the oil/filter but this seems like a lot for a bike that hasn't run in a long time.
so anyone who has experience with this please comment. as of now i plan to flush out whatever oil is left, clean/replace all the parts i mentioned and see what happens. unless of course you guys advise me otherwise. thanks in advance!
it's in decent shape considering, mostly surface rust, the worst of the rust is inside the tank but i plan to attempt to remove it with A.H. super washing soda and a battery charger.
so far i have ordered a good amount of reading material and a LOT of tools. My goal for phase one of this project is to get this thing running. I am hoping not to have to rebuild the motor. if i have to replace some gaskets no big deal but if i can leave it alone for now i will. I have ordered the first batch of parts from MikesXS including petcock rebuild kits, fuel lines, carb rebuild kits, contact points, oil filters, fuel filter, condenser pack, and 2 ignition coils.
In preparation of the arrival of my new parts i have removed the battery, air filters, carbs, and drained the oil. it was pretty nasty looking. while doing all this i discovered that just about every rubber part on the bike is hard/cracked and in need of replacement. I expected this but this bike needs a LOT of love. everything was going pretty smoothly, i removed the oil filter and it had a little bit of gunk and some very small shiny bits of metal. not good but probably nothing major.
i checked the magnetic drain plugs and they both had some gunk built up. to be expected after sitting for so long, probably nothing major.
then i looked at the oil i just drained from the engine. thats when i saw some shiny things floating in the oil.
so i pulled them out and sure enough... pretty large flakes of metal.
that is a 6mm wrench for scale, and the 27mm drain plug. there was also a leaf in there but that may have been in the oil drain pan before i drained the oil. so here is the big question. is this normal/acceptable? or is this a sign that bad things are going on inside there? I was already planning on flushing out whatever oil and goo was left in there, but now i am concerned. i have heard that older air cooled engines have a tendency to have a little metal in the oil/filter but this seems like a lot for a bike that hasn't run in a long time.
so anyone who has experience with this please comment. as of now i plan to flush out whatever oil is left, clean/replace all the parts i mentioned and see what happens. unless of course you guys advise me otherwise. thanks in advance!
