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This is my 1972 XS2 which I painted black in August of ‘72. Don’t ask. It spent the winter of 1973-1974 in the kitchen of the house in the background.

Thank you to all who wrote. When I posed the question I had a small garage with no exposed joists. I bought a beautiful 24x30 ft garage and some of the posted methods are doable. Oh, a house came with it. whynot2 is down to one but looking.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

A bunch of years ago, 25 or more, I read in a 650 Society Newsletter about some one taking the head off an engine with the engine still in the frame. He started by taking the cam bearings out then the cam. Has anyone tried this? How much can you remove? Yes it’s true, I’m lazy and tired of...

Welcome from the Binghamton area. And I do consider Binghamton upstate. One of my Sunday morning rides is to Ithaca for coffee, then over to Cortland, down to Whitney Point and home. During the week I stop at CNY, the bike shop. When the weather is better we could meet for coffee at Gimme Coffee...

Although I have an extra set, I'd like to have another. So put me on the list for one. Whynot2

The short answer is: yes. The long answer is: Is there a market for John's needles? Doesn't Mike's sell a Heiden Kit with a richer needle profile. Mike's also lists a needle for the Canadian model which is richer than ours. I have a set of XSJohn's in my '81, which is my avatar, runs great, no...

Thanks 5twins. Saturday I bought some Super Stripper. Since I have new seals I just submerged the breaker covers in the stripper and let them sit for over an hour. The gaskets fell off when touched with a knife. No scraping. Nasty stuff to dispose of though. Thanks again 5twins

I should have been working on this sooner, but.. I'm reassembling my 1980 SG engine and my breaker covers have gaskets glued on that are 38 years old (DOM 9/79), and I don't know to get them clean. Any suggestions? Some quick soak would be good. Thanks, whynot2

Bub's are gone need new exhaust.

I cut up an old bicycle tire, not a fat one, and use it for very durable rubber bands. Two around my tool kit, and two across the hooks. Been working for 8-10 years now. Whynot2

Thanks for the advise. The fuse box is original and still works, unlike the one I had in the '80 SG. Everything I took apart I sanded or filed or both before putting back together, except for the the bottom motor mount bolt. Everything else is shiny. I could live with "kick only" for a while...

Standing in the dark of my garage I thought, " now is the time to check for spark". And so I did, and they were beautiful. This was after a day of probing and finding nothing. The next morning I rolled it out of the garage, still with no neutral light or electric starter, I kicked it three times...

For several reasons I decide to take my '81 motor out of the frame. I installed a '82 that had been rebuilt and shows evidence that it had run since rebuild. It haas been sitting for 15 + years so I used the '81's stock electrics, rotor, stator, RR, black box, etc. The '81 was running, the '82...

What year bike? What "improvements"? More information please.

Well, have you fixed it yet? If your cam chain and valves are in spec then I suspect the special washer that acts as a cushion in the cam chain assembly is missing. For my 1981 XS650 it is #15, 2HO-12232-00-00. WN2

Thanks. There sure are a lot of them on eBay.

I have a 1981 XS650H. It is mostly stock. I am attempting to replace the fried starter relay with the MikesXS part # 24-6526. It is NOT a direct replacement. The brackets are very different. Has anyone used this part in a stock setup? How did you attach it? If not this part, what did you use...