The new life of a 72' XS II - Build thread

[Ketchup Pusher]

I have had that happen also where there are heavy part just throne into a box and everything is damaged by the time you get it. Im kinda surprised you will not keep it stock after you restore it. It would suspect an XS2 is very rare in Denmark. Just stand back and look at the stock bike. If you do change things hopefully you will keep the original parts and not cut the frame so it can be changed back to stock easily later. Good luch with you build.
XS2 a thing of beauty
View attachment 112097

I just think the stock seat is too large for the bike, it takes all the focus from the gorgeous engine, but I am going to keep all the stock parts and I won't cut the frame.
You are probably right about the rarity of the bike, I haven't seen a single XS2 or XS1 in Denmark, but there must be few around I guess.
You are ever so right, the XS2 is just simply astonishing, which is there very reason I was particularly happy when I found out and sourced an original tank.
Tanks a lot Cra-z1!

 

[650Skull]

That seat looks to be more like the 74-76 standard. All the brochures and pics of XS2's have a different shape and the pattern on the seat goes across rather and lengthwise like yours.

 

[Ketchup Pusher]

I am aware that my seat pan has been reupholstered, it has glue all over the slightly rusted and dented seat pan. It may be that the seat pan is from a different bike as well, I still believe the seat to be too large, however. But it is definitely comfortable, which is one of the reasons I will start out using it instead of creating a new right away.

That seat looks to be more like the 74-76 standard. All the brochures and pics of XS2's have a different shape and the pattern on the seat goes across rather and lengthwise like yours.

View attachment 112114 View attachment 112115 View attachment 112116 View attachment 112117 View attachment 112118 View attachment 112119

 

[Ketchup Pusher]

Update:
I went to vapor blast my engine today...
as earlier mentioned the previous owner sandblasted the engine, which left a rough surface, apparently to rough for the vapor blaster to smoothen the surface. Instead, I borrowed the welder's glass blaster (I love how they are all called blaster something, makes it sound cooler than it is ) to clean the parts preparing to paint it instead.

I'm currently looking into getting some aluminum colored powder coat, as my garage will soon receive our new powder coat oven .
If it turns out to be too complicated getting the color I want, I might just buy my way out getting a pro to do it, but I prefer to do the work myself.

As the plan has changed, and I can't leave the engine with a beautiful bare surface, I want to paint the engine block aluminum silver, the cylinders black and the cylinder head either the same aluminum silver or leave it as you can see now and spray some ACF50 on top.

I figured some of you might enjoy seeing the other xs 650 in the garage, mounted with usd forks and lots of other nifty bits.

 

[cra-z1]

Update:
I went to vapor blast my engine today...
as earlier mentioned the previous owner sandblasted the engine, which left a rough surface, apparently to rough for the vapor blaster to smoothen the surface. Instead, I borrowed the welder's glass blaster (I love how they are all called blaster something, makes it sound cooler than it is ) to clean the parts preparing to paint it instead.
View attachment 112179 View attachment 112180 View attachment 112181
I'm currently looking into getting some aluminum colored powder coat, as my garage will soon receive our new powder coat oven .
If it turns out to be too complicated getting the color I want, I might just buy my way out getting a pro to do it, but I prefer to do the work myself.

As the plan has changed, and I can't leave the engine with a beautiful bare surface, I want to paint the engine block aluminum silver, the cylinders black and the cylinder head either the same aluminum silver or leave it as you can see now and spray some ACF50 on top.

I figured some of you might enjoy seeing the other xs 650 in the garage, mounted with usd forks and lots of other nifty bits.
View attachment 112182 View attachment 112183

I was going to mention the seat you show is not from an XS2. At least not the cover. If you have the correct pan you would be lucky. Those pans are extremely hard to find in any condition. Who in their right mind woud actually use sand to blast the cases. You are going to need to clean those cases very well to release any embedded sand. I have been experimenting with stainless steel media and the results have been impressive. Close to vapor blasting. I sent my last set of cases (Z1900) out for vapor blasting and of course the results are great. I wanted to find a method I could do in my blast cabinet. Glass beads dry are a pain because of the dust involved so I have been useing the stainless steel cut wire media and the conditioned media. A little expensive to start but it last a long time. I only use a cup at the bottom of the cabinet. The cut wire leaves a good surface for painting. The conditiond media peens the surface smoother which I will be using for the cases, head , and cylinders for my 75 Z1B. Also there is little to no dust with the SS media. The conditioned media has rounded edges so you get more of a peened surface. I run pressure at 50-60psi. I cut MDF patterns out to block the inside of the motor from any blast media and make sure oil passages are blocked and only blast the outside surfaces.

 

[Ketchup Pusher]

I was going to mention the seat you show is not from an XS2. At least not the cover. If you have the correct pan you would be lucky. Those pans are extremely hard to find in any condition. Who in their right mind woud actually use sand to blast the cases. You are going to need to clean those cases very well to release any embedded sand. I have been experimenting with stainless steel media and the results have been impressive. Close to vapor blasting. I sent my last set of cases (Z1900) out for vapor blasting and of course the results are great. I wanted to find a method I could do in my blast cabinet. Glass beads dry are a pain because of the dust involved so I have been useing the stainless steel cut wire media and the conditioned media. A little expensive to start but it last a long time. I only use a cup at the bottom of the cabinet. The cut wire leaves a good surface for painting. The conditiond media peens the surface smoother which I will be using for the cases, head , and cylinders for my 75 Z1B. Also there is little to no dust with the SS media. The conditioned media has rounded edges so you get more of a peened surface. I run pressure at 50-60psi. I cut MDF patterns out to block the inside of the motor from any blast media and make sure oil passages are blocked and only blast the outside surfaces.

Sound very interesting! I haven't heard about SS blasting before, do you have some pictures of before/after tests?

The cases have been both soda blasted and glass bead blasted since, so the sand is definitely gone now, now I just need to deal with the glass bead.

 

[Jim]

The cases have been both soda blasted and glass bead blasted since, so the sand is definitely gone now, now I just need to deal with the glass bead.

Unless you plugged all the oil passageways, it's gonna be more work than you think. Take a look here. The glass bead cleanup starts at comment #88.
Don't get me wrong, I bead my cases too. I use heavy duty aluminum tape to block all passageways.

 

[cra-z1]

Here is my 75 Z1900 I have been working on. You can see the ss media. the wire size is .014 and the conditioned media is more round. I use this media to peen over the rougher surface after cleaning with the std cut wire. Blow it up and you can see the difference.

Here are parts painted

Here is the two finishes. The caliper with the rough finish which paint holdson to nicely,and the cover which has beed blasted with the cut wire then with the conditioned wire. I also lightly burnished it further with 0000 steel wool useing hot water and Dawn dish soap.

Here is the cover by itself

And my head without any burnishing with steel wool. With any blasting it would be wise to cover any portion of the internal engine. I use plummers putty to seal large oil passages and then cover with aluminum tape. As mention before I also use MDF covers cut to fit.

 

[MaxPete]

Very pretty!

 

[Ketchup Pusher]

View attachment 112225 Here is my 75 Z1900 I have been working on. You can see the ss media. the wire size is .014 and the conditioned media is more round. I use this media to peen over the rougher surface after cleaning with the std cut wire. Blow it up and you can see the difference.View attachment 112226
Here are parts paintedView attachment 112227
Here is the two finishes. The caliper with the rough finish which paint holdson to nicely,and the cover which has beed blasted with the cut wire then with the conditioned wire. I also lightly burnished it further with 0000 steel wool useing hot water and Dawn dish soap.View attachment 112228
Here is the cover by itselfView attachment 112229
And my head without any burnishing with steel wool. With any blasting it would be wise to cover any portion of the internal engine. I use plummers putty to seal large oil passages and then cover with aluminum tape. As mention before I also use MDF covers cut to fit.

It looks great! Might be a very good alternative, if someone in Denmark gets a hold of one.
We are planning to build a vapor blaster in our garage, as we are deeply impressed by the smooth results our neighbor is achieving.
But I'm definitely impressed by your results.

 

[Mailman]

I really like the idea of your collective garage. It sounds like you guys do some creative work there.
I have always liked the looks of the old Nimbus bikes, do you see many around these days?

 

[MaxPete]

One of the guys in my Vintage MC Club has a Nimbus (I think it’s 1939 - ex-Danish Army) and it works really well. He tells me that there is a very active Nimbus community in Denmark and most parts are pretty easy to obtain.

The bike certainly isn’t fast, but it keeps up ok and has been reliable plus it sure looks cool - an in-line 750cc twin shaft drive with open air valve gear and a frame made of long steel straps joined with hot-headed rivets. He oils the valve gear every hour or so and avoids dusty roads.

 

[Mailman]

Yeah I have always thought they were pretty cool. I too like the exposed valve train it looks very early Industrial Age in design.

 

[Ketchup Pusher]

I do enjoy the garage community, we often have meetups and trips.
We do have a few nimbus around, you can get a cheap one for around £3600 all the way up to £12000.
Some guys got hold of a license to make new original parts a few years ago, it's, therefore, possible to get almost everything for them.
Ohh and I believe they made a small production of around 50 or so brand new Nimbus' from the original blueprints, a couple of years ago.

 

[MaxPete]

Indeed - I think my friend actually bought a newly made cylinder head for his bike.

 

[Ketchup Pusher]

Change of direction:
I just found out that the 1972 XS II is worth quite a few bucks, so I might restore this bike, sell it and buy another xs 650 which will be customized instead.
I didn't realize how much the earlier models were worth until I looked through online ads.
There's a restored XS II up for sale for 10500£ and a tx 650 for 17500£ here in Denmark.
Since I'm moving to a new apartment with my mate, I could definitely use the extra cash, plus I would still have the money to buy a cheap xs 650 for a 1000£-2000£, restore the engine and customize the bike with an original XS II tank (I just love the old tank and paint scheme) and custom seat.
Are the ads I have looked at completely wrong, or are they really worth that much?

 

[MaxPete]

Yup - a nice one could be.

 

[Ketchup Pusher]

Update:
Today I tried an engine paint, or well.. It's a paint by Dupli-Color which is resistant to high heat, 600 Celsius I believe.
Tomorrow I will see how resistant it is to gas, oil, and different greases.
Here are a few pictures from today's attempt:


I heard a lot of good things about VHT and Dupli-Color engine enamel, so I might try the Dupli-Color engine enamel in silver DE1615 if the Aluminum paint doesn't work (99,5% pure aluminum, durable up to 600 Celsius)

 

[cra-z1]

Change of direction:
I just found out that the 1972 XS II is worth quite a few bucks, so I might restore this bike, sell it and buy another xs 650 which will be customized instead.
I didn't realize how much the earlier models were worth until I looked through online ads.
There's a restored XS II up for sale for 10500£ and a tx 650 for 17500£ here in Denmark.
Since I'm moving to a new apartment with my mate, I could definitely use the extra cash, plus I would still have the money to buy a cheap xs 650 for a 1000£-2000£, restore the engine and customize the bike with an original XS II tank (I just love the old tank and paint scheme) and custom seat.
Are the ads I have looked at completely wrong, or are they really worth that much?

Thats what we have trying to tell you. The early ones are getting very hard to find in any condition. Go back and take a good look at mine. If you restore it you will be proud to ride and display it. When I ride mine all sorts of people come up and talk. Probably would not get the same reaction with a bobber. Im more into Z1900's but I love my XS2.

 

[Ketchup Pusher]

Thats what we have trying to tell you. The early ones are getting very hard to find in any condition. Go back and take a good look at mine. If you restore it you will be proud to ride and display it. When I ride mine all sorts of people come up and talk. Probably would not get the same reaction with a bobber. Im more into Z1900's but I love my XS2.

You are right, I guess I don’t realize just how much they are worth.
Just to set record straight, I never had a plan of doing a bobber, my only changes would be a shorter seat and fenders (not cut the original) and then remove the blinkers.