What have you done to your XS today?

It's been a long cold winter here, but I'm back at it. Cases rejoined yesterday morning.
 

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Test fitting a different set of 78 wheels , (extremely straight) Brakes, (SR500 rotors) , Rear brake cam adjustments ,530 chain, etc.
View attachment 140374 unfortunately a left shoulder injury has me slowed to a crawl on projects lately.
-RT

I’m just catching up after a day of grass cutting and icing my knee.

Looks really good Randy....but I think your rear tire is a bit low and I’d say, the front could likely use a squirt too.

Lakeview - it was a really nice ride to Kingsville and afterward, but agreed - it was pretty “fresh” out there.

SuperJet - good for you! We've had a tough spring here in the Banana-Belt and I can only imagine how you folks in LobsterLand have been doing with the snow, rain and cold weather.

Pete
 
Test fitting a different set of 78 wheels , (extremely straight) Brakes, (SR500 rotors) , Rear brake cam adjustments ,530 chain, etc.
View attachment 140374 unfortunately a left shoulder injury has me slowed to a crawl on projects lately.
-RT

Oooh a dual disc front brake set up, yeah! Go for it! :thumbsup:
Sorry to hear about your shoulder injury, those can be a real bear. Good luck with it.
 
Yes, this attempt has SR500 (5mm) rotors.
Rt. side caliper hanger is apparently an XS360/400 caliper hanger. It is slightly narrower overall and has a narrow gap for the 5mm rotor. It is visually otherwise the same as a XS650 hanger.
Lft. side caliper hanger is a XS750 caliper and hanger. Essentially a mirror image match to a stock XS650 brake.
I'm now looking for a lft. SR500 caliper hanger to compare.
Rotors are centering up well in any hanger so far. But the new to me Rt side XS360 hanger with the SR500 rotor looks Sweet !
In the rear drum, I correctly positioned the brake cam to the "dot to the axle side" and the very meaty original shoes have almost immediate nice hold on the drum .
:thumbsup:
 
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Had a perfect day yesterday. It was 73 and sunny most of the day. In the morning after donuts with my daughter, I hand polished the square exhaust tappet cover while she played with friends outside. I did the RH cover last week; two to go. Perhaps on the next oil change I will attempt the RH case. Later I took the bike to accompany my daughter and my dad while he went car shopping, then to the park, and finally for some ice cream. I had my daughter take some video of me riding on the way home. I’ve never seen what I look like on my bike! Not too shabby, if I don’t say so myself. Also, I can’t stop admiring these new turn signals; they really cleaned it up and just add to the vintage look of the bike! I LOVE them!
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Finally warm enough to work in the Garage again.
Fired up my oxy-acetylene torch to re-shape the sidecar brake's backwards-mounted ex-XS650 rear brake pedal so it lines up next to the
Heritage Special's rear brake pedal. Discovered that although the sidecar's parking brake works OK the brake's hydraulics had locked solid over the winter.
And I thought Honda car parts were reliable
Will sort out that little glitch tomorrow if it stays warm.
 
Not much, swapped out the stock front wheel axle nut with a TI one, purchased on Ebay from PRC.....The TI nut looked good, threads had little slop, but it is ONLY 3 GRAMS LIGHTER than the oem Yamaha nut.!
This must be due to the integrated flange and a bit more height. The hex is 1 mm smaller, 21 vs 22 mm.
Well, at least it won't rust....
And, I managed to injure my right shoulder pretty badly at work. Was just lashing down some towed equipment on deck, using a large ratchet strap, when something seemed to tear in my shoulder. So here I am, on long term sick leave, but limited to "light duty" .....
 
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Just got finished polishing and reinstalling the intake tappet covers. God, I need to start remembering to take before and after shots BEFORE finishing these things. How much for one of your rewound rotors Jim? I Iike to be prepared for things instead of waiting for them to go wrong. The one thing I Havent had to contend with yet is the charging system...
 
Also fitted a new chain and sprockets, DID520 VX, alloy rear sprocket and 18 t front sprocket. The 18t front may not be ideal with 33t rear, but my custom rear wheel with a Talon disc brake hub can only take 36t or larger sprockets. So 18 t front will make sense whenever I start using that rear wheel. Just need to make a couple of axle spacers, and have a brake hose made for it. And maybe have a new front wheel built with the same type flangeless alloy rim, on a Virago 535 front hub.
 
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Also, I can’t stop admiring these new turn signals; they really cleaned it up and just add to the vintage look of the bike!
Nice bike! And those older turn signals do look good on it! Your pictures made me realize I need to get a pair of those rear turn signal brackets. On mine, there was just two pieces of flat bar, painted black, which does not look good at all. .
Yesterday, I ordered the rubber mounts and teardrop shaped washers from Heiden tuning, so now I need to search wide and far for these chromed brackets!
 
Replacing Tank Mounting Cups
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A '78 Standard freshly acquired has had the factory tank mounts ground off. I want to use a nice 650 tank I have rather than one of the two XS750 tanks it came with mainly because I do not want to pay $200 or $300 to upholster a chopped seat pan at this point.
A search on this site says a frost plug properly modified will substitute nicely so I will give it a shot.
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My plan is to cut the edge off the base and spread the arms out like the stock ramp and fasten them on the neck either with flush rivets or through bolts.
More to come.
 
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