What have you done to your XS today?

Today was shopping for spark plugs and a flasher unit day. On Monday Napa Auto Parts said it could get me the Champion N7YC, (now #813) but it was special order about $4.+0 a piece and a $12.95 courier fee. I did not ask about Autolite AP 63 at that time.
Today cheaped out and went to Walmart here and was told that it did not stock plugs or flasher units any more. On the way back to Napa passed by AutoZone amd was told that neither of NKG or Champion was in stock at supplier and they did not carry Autolite. Plus the rumour was that Champion was going out of plug business.
Got back to Napa and it had Autolite #63 plugs available by overnight at no extra delivery charge for $4.36 a piece. Plus if you want them in Platinum they are under $7.00 a piece!
As a side note and for the interest of international members, citizens of our fine province will also pay an additional 13% goods and services tax, now called HST, 5% of which goes to the feds and 8% to the province.
 
Did nothing but drive it to and from work!! Took the long way home, of course! Next on the list for things to do, new Shinko 270 tires front and back.
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Second nugget for those who may need to know, went to the locksmith to have a copy made of my key to the '76; she did not have a blank, suggested I go to the dealer and order one. So I did and the owner took a moment to look up the number from the key in a big book, tapped the computer a couple times and said "I'll have it here in a couple days, bring $7.35" (plus HST). Great service!
 
Continuing the saga of the direction light repair on the pretty much stock '76. Bought the HD12 flasher unit, saw it had 2 prongs, researched and saw that XS Leo says use the two that are not grounds. Too bad my harness had the ground terminal in the middle of the socket. I could not get the terminal to release from the socket so I used the side cutters to sever the socket into three individual contacts. Plugged in and the right signal operates just fine! But switch to the left and it blows a fuse.
Disconnected all the wires in the bucket and carefully put them back together and the same thing, So now I am going to just swap out both left side lights with spares I have. Tomorrow.
 
Okay, so I did a little bit today. Doesn't look like much...

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That's the new brake light lead I made to connect the "generic" master cylinder to the XS650's wiring harness. After I took the picture I installed and tested it, and it's perfect. Also hooked up that floating ground wire.

SO now here's my list of must-do's before I can get this beast inspected, licensed, and on the road:

-- Drain, refill, and bleed the front brake;
-- Resolder the turn signal switch and reassemble the left pod; and
-- Retorque the head, installing the new brass washers along the way.

I have everything in hand needed to do the first two jobs, but still do not have the wobble extension needed to retorque the head. I'm hopeful I'll get all of this done next week, after a trip to the store this weekend to get that extension.
 
Direction lights are fixed!! For those keeping score, I found a light brown wire loose in the bucket with the bullet end fallen off; fixed that, no change, but replacing the left rear light was the answer. Very pleased with my efforts and I guess that's what these old bikes are all about.
 
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Direction lights are fixed!! For those keeping score, I found a light brown wire loose in the bucket with the bullet end fallen off; fixed that, no change, but replacing the left rear light was the answer. Very pleased with my efforts and I guess that's what these old bikes are all about.

Congratulations Lakeview - what a great development!

On the other hand, the Lucille :yikes: horror show continues...I’ll post the latest in the “pulls another one” thread.

Dammit.
 
I was amazed by the difference a re-routed clutch cable and a valve adjustment can make, had a beautiful ride and the engine was just perfectly on song, even if the clutch slips a bit up hills...
The gear change is now super-slick, and the engine sounds amazing through the standard exhaust, strangely trumpet-like; definately tuneful, just made me smile.:D
 
Getting acquainted with my 76, I filled up and rode out to a town that calls itself "the sun parlour of Canada" and returned with the odometer showing 104.6 miles. The fill up took 7.472 litres so I calculate that to be 63.78 mpg or 4.43 litres per 100 km. Looks like my standard 3.9 gallon tank will take me 245 miles, or 393 km. That is awesome mileage for a stock machine, but there was no wind, or idling and speeds were from a small bit of town driving to mainly 80k/50 mph secondary roads along the north shore of Lake Erie. Pleased.
 
Yes, I was surprised that the '76-'77 carb set I tried out on my '78 returned better mileage than the original carbs. I wasn't expecting that what with the larger needle jets (Z-8 vs Z-2). But I guess the bigger factor is the way smaller mains (122.5 vs 135).
 
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Ok, lots of good progress today. I changed my oil for the 3rd time since buying the bike. This time at 650 miles. It was MUCH better than last time, with nothing of interest. Oil wasnt metallic, no black plastic chips, VERY minimal metal shavings, like maybe the equivalent of LESS than a pencil eraser, and MUCH less “usual sludge” on the magnet. I bet after my next oil change the oil will look even better. I attempted to change my rear shocks last night. I have read a LOT about shocks over the last month, thus my understanding is that a quality set starts around 200.00. I do NOT have that kind of budget for the bike for the rest of the year. With that being said, I took a chance on some 80.00 EMGO shocks from amazon. The shocks that arrived were branded “Forsa”, NOT EMGO. I am used to bending the shocks out from the top shock mounts to access the rear axle, but when trying to bend the new ones I cracked the weld on the lower shock eye. I am disappointed because I read a few reviews and apparently a lot of honda guys use these, and they would have looked so good on my bike being black. They are dual rate springs, and came with three sizes of rubber grommets, and a step up tool to adjust preload. Anything would be better than my stock shocks with blown seals puking dirty gray oil all over the back half of my bike. (Anyone have any original shocks in good shape for sale?) Not to mention just riding on the springs. I also spent some time cleaning up the engine with simple green and shop rags. It’s amazing how much cleaner it looks. I am hopeful that the oil I thought was a leak was just the coating of oil from all over the engine heating up after a long ride and slowly dripping down to the base gasket. I also tried doing a compression test, but I don’t think I did it right. I hooked the tester up to each cylinder one at a time, key off, and just held the throttle full open and kicked it over 4-5 times. I noticed each time the needle would go up a bit more, and stopped at 150 in each cylinder, so I feel like it was just building up pressure and not giving me an accurate reading. I’m not really sure how to safely do a compression test with the Pamco, and I still get confused about the “full throttle” aspect since the carbs won’t be open with full throttle without the engine running, and you wouldnt want the engine at full throttle idling. Can someone tell me if The way I did this is accurate? It would be too perfect if my engine had 150 psi in each cylinder, but I don’t believe it.
 
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,....and 150 psi in each is a good number.
I know it is! That’s why it seems too good to be true.... did I really buy a one owner, all original ‘77 survivor with 150 psi in each cylinder and no signs of cam guide wear at 22,000 as my first
Bike? My pessimistic mind is on full alert....
 
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