What have you done to your XS today?

Those scrambler pipes are awesome! Been thinkin' about it myself...

I pulled a dent outta the tank using the cheap-o kit from harborfreight. Worked. Nice!

Gunna change the LO...

Best to all!

Plate
 
My fork seals have been needing to be replaced for quite a while. Well I buckled down and did the Minton mod at the same time. Got the forks off and disassembled. Drilled the holes bigger with the #1 and #45 drills as needed. Replaced seals and cleaned and deburred everything. Reassembled to a point and filled collasped and no springs, filled the forks to 6" from top with 15wt oil. Installed springs and installed the top covers.
reinstalled legs and wheels. Cleaned the calipers and disc brake pads. The RT side was the worst of the two leaking seals and it coated the caliper and pads with fork oil. Lot of brake cleaner used.
Biggest change with the Minton mod is no more dive with the application of brakes. I might change to 10wt for oil down the line. The 15wt gives a rough ride. I'm going to back off the adjusters first. Will keep you all informed as I makes other changes. Likeing it so far.
 
trying to figure out how to mount a rear fender with the counterbalance seat. Then im off to dial in the carbs, running a little rich, but i haven't ridden it much.
 
Finally got the center stand on. As mrtwowheel postulated, the aftermarket exhaust interfered with the stand bolts, but I managed to make it work.
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Not entirely easy to see, but the exhaust sits right against the stand bracket.
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So I loosened up the exhaust and managed to get the stand bolted on. Took a bit of fiddling to get all the exhaust bolts back in, but I managed it. I wonder if the OP had taken the stand off to install the exhaust and then just didn't want to mess with trying to get it back on. It wasn't really all that hard. Or maybe he just didn't see the value in a center stand.
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And here's the bike, sitting on the center stand. I put plenty of grease on the bolts. The spring was the hardest part. Thanks to Spockwerks for the suggestion of putting quarters in the spring to space it out, and to my big, strong son for providing the hand power.

Once I got that done, it was time for the spark plugs. 5Twins was right, the old ones were B8ES.
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I replacee them with BP7ES, gapped at 0.28"
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Tomorrow, it's on to the sump filter and bleeding the front master cylinder. Thanks so much to all my new friends at XS650.com. You've been way more than helpful.
 
Another teaser pic...
 

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What kind of mill do you have 2M? I seen in another post of your you have a Atlas lathe also.
I got an old Bridgeport and atlas in the pole barn. Both work but both need work on them also.
 
Well, it's not really a mill. Dear ol' dad reworked his ol' Atlas drill press to do light milling, with an ol' Atlas x-y table.

The lathe is an ol' Atlas/Craftsman 618, heavily modified, older than me.
Interest level and parts availability for those have been skyrocketing.

Been wanting a decent mill for like, forever. Problem is, whenever I shop for a mill, I start small, then start thinking about what I want to do, and end up looking at 10 ton Bridgeports.

Another teaser pic of the fixture, from the bottom.
 

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Got another hub done with new bearings, now just lace r up to that 2.5 18 flange rim.
 

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Bolted the wide rims and 110/80/18's on the resto mod and rode it a bit yesterday and about 60 miles today, all fairly curvy back roads. So far so good. Dick kept bugging me about my sloppy fork with mikesXS cart emulators but stock springs. I had 55mm of sag with me sitting on the bike so I changed the caps from the 77 non adjust to the 79 adjustable caps. with the adjuster in the highest position it adds 1.5" of preload and cut sag to 40mm. I also ordered a set of sportster springs so will run it like this, try another notch of preload, then put in the sporty springs when they come. Dang I hate getting those fork caps started against the spring pressure. Rural roads are clean but a wisconsin winter is pretty hard on em. Took a black 82 HS fender and dropped it an inch and bent it a bit to better fit the 18" tire. I bought some rattle can to match the 77 paint color and will spray it to see if I like it in color.

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Kind of a long story but pulled an early set of headers and small mouth mikes Commandos off and put on a set of late standard headers and big mouth commando's with 2 spacers and F&F stainless ag clamps. This tucked the pipes in much better specially on the left, moved them in at least an 1 1/2" it also shortened the overall length by about 4-5" and it improved how they mount. Sound and seat dyno performance unchanged.

w new pipes
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previous pipe.

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Got my front caliper mount sorta finished. Still need to finish the polish because I ran out of light for the day and I need to get the correct fasteners. Also need to glass bead and rebuild the caliper (already have the parts) and machine the back spacer for the rotor (already have the blank) but that stuff is easy to do. Sorry for the potato pics, camera phone.

3/8" thick x minimum 1.00" beam, 7075T6, weighs about 3.5 ounces.

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Tagged the '78 today.
Insurance increase to the stable is three bucks, to be billed lol!
Registration $44.75 with a historical plate.
The total cost passed the wife's 'smell test' with flying colors, I'm a cheap date still.
Inspection? Non existent in this neck of the woods, but the $hit better be working if'n ya get pulled over.
 
Not bad at all! Here with the tax and spend A-Holes in washington State to get a state inspection, apply for a 3 year wait ownership in Doubt title, sales tax on $200.00 And all the fees they can think of I paid the state $119.00. Oh ya, and since it won't be on the road for at least a year, I didn't get a license plate. So when it is done, I will have to get a plate, another fee and in three years I can apply for a clear title in my name, another fee.
We, not me, keep electing the bastards soooo......
 
Rattle canned my tank. It wasn't original paint and i spilled some brake fluid on it. So I sanded it back, bogged some imperfections and rattle canned it. I left a window of old paint remaining and my housemate drew a little picture on it.

The goal eventually is to find a nice original 73 tank but for now, I like it.
 

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Chopped the Rear end and set up for 10" shocks. The "Rat Bastard" is coming along nicely :)

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If you don't mind my asking, what mufflers are you using. I have been looking at exhaust options until I'm sick of them. You have the look I'm after.
 
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