XS650 Barebones Bike

[mrbatavus]

Recently acquired a 81 xs650 for free

I stripped the wiring down to whats need to run for now, as well as all other bike parts.

When i got it the kickstart lever did funny things, so i took it apart and reassembled it correctly. The seal looked good enough so I didn't change it. Went to Walmart and got some 15w40 diesel oil and filled it up.

I noticed the clutch lever wasn't doing anything with the bike in gear so I took off the side cover only to find a shiny ball bearing, i put it aside and left the cover off and put the bike in neutral.

I needed to see if the bike had spark so I took the spark plug out and placed in in such a way that i could see if i had spark when i kicked it over.

It didn't have spark, so after a quick peak at the wiring diagram i needed to hook the coil up to constant power as well as the other wires, and that hooking the coil up to the "accessory power" wire wasn't cutting it.

Hooked it up, had spark, shot some gum cutter down the carbs and after spinning the spark plug in it fired up and started idling.

The tank on this thing is pretty rusted inside, i filled it with rocks and gas and shook it with ok results but im still going to need an inline filter as well as a petcock rebuild, the seals were so bad i couldn't change the lever from where it was.

I ordered a set of ex500 ninja carbs offline and they literally pushed right on after removing one of the support brackets. I filled the floats with gas and it started right up and was idiling fine. I do need to remove them for a rebuild tho because they started overflowing with gas, either the floats are stuck or something, plus i read that you need to change the needles and jets to get the best ride out of them.

Il be keeping updates hopefully about the bike, id like to see it driving in a few weeks.

 

[nj1639]

Welcome aboard! Don't lose that ball bearing 'cause you're going to need it, if ya haven't figured that out.

 

[TwoManyXS1Bs]

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like this isn't your first rodeo...

 

[itsatoy]

My '81 had a bad vacuum petcock as well and would have been draining into the carbs constantly if the PO hadn't added a cut off valve inline. I purchased the petcock rebuild kit only to find that mine did not have a replaceable diaphragm. You might want to just go ahead and replace it with a manual petcock.

 

[mrbatavus]

Yes i found out where that bearing goes it could only go in 1 place really once i took a peek at it.
I think the ex500 carbs I got are also vacuum fed, haven't looked into it much lately tho.
Ordered the carb rebuild kits and petcock rebuild kits today. That should get the bike running, after i finish up the wiring , its just all twisted and taped for now.

Found the headlight i'm going to use, tho i need to find a place i like to mount it

I need to look into the 19" rear wheel swap and whats involved, as well as id like to run a disc rear brake setup.

I need to get my tools and "materials" from my dads house so I can really start putting in some work here. Good paycheck this week so good news to follow hopefully.......

 

[mrbatavus]

Long time since an update, my car broke, i got a kid on the way, and im starting a new job in 2 weeks

Good news is il be making more than double my current paycheck

I figured out why the gas was pouring out the carbs, i was feeding the gas in the VENT!!

Oh well, I set the floats (which were way out) and rebuilt the carbs for good measure anyway

I freed up the sticky throttle plates on the carbs and got them springing back nicely

Hopefully il have some more updates soon!

 

[mrbatavus]

Got the ninja carbs jetted correctly, I hope, finally
Started her up and let her run for a bit today, ran ok

Just need to finalize the wiring and get a small 12v lithium ion battery in there so i can actually ride it around then get to making a seat for it.