1978 XS650 Special Project

[Melnic]

Clutch Cable.
Take a look at how the PO had the clutch cable routed. This does not look right. When I switch the bars, I will want this to be routed properly. Anyone can tell me how it should be routed? I was thinking I'd be routing it from the left on the handlebars, to the right side of the bike then around the carbs or something between the airbox? Ignore the rabbid fuel filter in the pic, that was to plug up one of the fuel lines when I was testing on one functioning petcock. that is long gone.

 

[Raymond]

What you have in mind sounds good to me. From l/h bar, across front of bike, down along the right of the head steady, down between the carbs or to left of carbs. There's a little trick 5T suggests of straightening the ferrule that passes into the crankcase - put it in a vice and squeeze, not completely straight, just reduce the curve a bit.

 

[Adamc]

What you have in mind sounds good to me. From l/h bar, across front of bike, down along the right of the head steady, down between the carbs or to left of carbs. There's a little trick 5T suggests of straightening the ferrule that passes into the crankcase - put it in a vice and squeeze, not completely straight, just reduce the curve a bit.

Sound advice Raymond; and the 5T trick on the crankcase entry ferrule works a treat. I'll photo mine tomorrow.

 

[noodlenoggin]

I went out in the garage and took dark pics of what I'll call the factory routing, since I got this bike from the original owner and I've never changed it. It's basically what @Raymond says.

From the clutch handle cross the front of the bike and down.

route down under the reflector mount and disappear under the tank. "Into the black box" in other words because I don't have my tank off. Why doesn't it go through the obvious cable management loop? I dunno. Lol

Then it shows up from the right side into the ferrule. From this angle the bend in the thing is perfect.

I'm not sure if the cable is actually secured to the frame backbone or just routed by the carbs. Now I'm curious. And my tank has to come off anyway. It's just 39 degrees out in my garage...

 

[Kevin Werner]

I route my clutch cable along the right side of the frame, then up and over the top near the back of the tank, then to the left of the left carb. It is a little untidy but it seems to be the bigger radius bends in the cable this way and my clutch pull is "almost" feathery light. The trick is to try several routings as you compress that cable into a shape that the tank will force. I found the "between the carbs did some unnatural things to bends somewhere. Make certain you have a clean and lubed with motoroil cable If in doubt at all, Motion Pro cables work really well and are $10-12 or so.

 

[Jim]

Bends in the cable are "cumulative." In other words, every slight bend adds to the total amount of bending. Obviously, the less "total" bend, the better. On my SG with the buckhorns, the routing was as open as I could get it. You can actually remove the cable without removing the tank or any other parts other than the left engine side cover.
The radius of the bend is also important. The tighter the radius on any given bend, the harder the pull at the lever.

So... large swooping curves, and as few of 'em as possible.... and you'll get a lever that almost feels "modern."
Last time I checked the "pull" at the lever, it was well under 10lbs.... vey light for an XS.

 

[Melnic]

thx for all the great pictures of the clutch cable. I"ll see how I can route when I get the time.

Tonight, I tried to set the points.
First off the cam chain adjuster was out of adjustment a tad. The center pin was sticking out and needed about 1/2 a turn to get it flush.

Now to the Points. I started off looking at where it was at. Noticed the points were fiddled with before and a screw was replaced with a flat head.
I referenced this Post and the setting points video
https://www.xs650.com/threads/dwell-setting-for-points.28343/#post-283548

My dwell meter was set to 4cyl so I was targeting 22-24.5.

I checked how it was set and it was 18.5 on Left and 22.5 on right with the timing pretty much spot on.
I adjusted the Left to 22.5 and wham, the timing was way off on the Left (retarded). Right was spot on. Left was running like crap.
So since dwell was set and Right was timed, I moved on to set the LEft timing. however, the adjustment was all the way at the end of adjustment.
I could not manage to move it to get the timing right. Only way to get timing was to return the Dwell on the Left to 18.5

Are my points worn? Would moving the Right to 24 on the dwell and resetting timing on right help adjust the left?

I tried to use the kick started when I was done and almost sprained my ankle as it kicked back up on me about 6in into the kick. Last time I had a kick start bike was a single cyl Honda SL 70 when I was in High school. I need to read up on proper method for kick starting this bird.

One more question. Should the points spark a little? I noticed Right was sparking some. Did not see the left spark.

 

[5twins]

Originally on the Special, the clutch cable was routed down along the left side of the steering neck, throttle cable down along the right side. When you install lower bars, to help "absorb" the extra cable length you now have, you want to flip-flop them, run the clutch cable over to the right side of the steering neck, throttle cable over to the left side .....

After running along the frame backbone tube .....

..... the clutch cable is routed down between the carbs .....

..... and finally over to and into the case ......

 

[noodlenoggin]

Originally on the Special, the clutch cable was routed down along the left side of the steering neck, throttle cable down along the right side. When you install lower bars, to help "absorb" the extra cable length you now have, you want to flip-flop them, run the clutch cable over to the right side of the steering neck, throttle cable over to the left side .....
[cut]

That make sense. I have a Standard and the clutch cable runs down the right side. I wasn't thinking about the Special bars.

 

[boogerblaser]

I route my clutch cable along the right side of the frame, then up and over the top near the back of the tank, then to the left of the left carb. It is a little untidy but it seems to be the bigger radius bends in the cable this way and my clutch pull is "almost" feathery light. The trick is to try several routings as you compress that cable into a shape that the tank will force. I found the "between the carbs did some unnatural things to bends somewhere. Make certain you have a clean and lubed with motoroil cable If in doubt at all, Motion Pro cables work really well and are $10-12 or so.View attachment 254428View attachment 254429

Kevin Werner, number81 is beautiful. I especially like the black pipes.

 

[5twins]

While you have the tank off and are messing with the cable routing, I recommend installing one of my handy dandy harness slings .....

https://www.xs650.com/threads/harness-sling.62804/

 

[Melnic]

I got in the bars and grab rail last night!
Replaced the grab rail last night.
Took a pic before replacing bars just to show it in stock config

Clutch cable is cracking so any suggestions on a replacement clutch cable ready to go, let me know.

Here are some pics of the progression

 

[Jim]

Clutch cable is cracking so any suggestions on a replacement clutch cable ready to go, let me know.

Motion Pro makes about the best clutch cable. Reasonable cost too.

 

[5twins]

Yes, the Motion Pro replacement clutch cable (#05-0013) is our usual choice. You can usually find them on Amazon for $15 or less. Be sure to oil it before using it, they come practically dry.

 

[AUTOMAN]

Teflon lined and ZERO lube.

cliff

 

[Kevin Werner]

Teflon lined and ZERO lube.

cliff

I tried to PM @AUTOMAN before I posted this. They do not need lube but lube will make them last longer. The problem is that it is easy to lube them properly before installation and and difficult to do properly after the cable is installed. Futhermore, saying "teflon lined" is a misnomer. Teflon is an additive to a polyester, nylon or poly anything else, It is also likely the most expensive component in the resin mix. That being said, I worked in Fire Retardants for wire insulation and most of our product failures were when a manufacture used less than the design mix of our expensive product. Buying a $12 or $15 cable with little or no recourse if you find the "teflon lining" failed because it didn;t have enough PTFE five years down the road seems silly if you could have put 6 to 8 eyedrops of 30 weight motor oil in it before you installed it.

 

[XSTime]

Stylish! , Proper Lkin Special you have there!
Custom paint on that smoothed tank looks very era appropriate.

 

[Melnic]

Ahh road yesterday and the infamous “won’t shift into neutral when warmed up” happened. Will mess with that next week when I come back into town. Also seemed to run lean and misfiring at constant speed of 50 and accelerating 7miles into trip. Will have to also look into that but my new points will be in when I get back so will tackle that first. I put red uni filter wrapping my old filters but did not coat in oil and gas.

 

[Melnic]

so,
Adjusted gap on the valves, installed new points and set the dwell and timing.
Also got in new plugs and then did a 20 mile ride averaging 35mph.
I noticed with the old plugs Right cylinder was running leaner than the left. Here are the plugs from today.
Right side still leaner than the left
I'd like to be on the rich side. I did not look at the needle setting when rebuilding carbs and I feel I set the idle mixture screw for the rich side of running well, but maybe not rich enough?
I also recently received in some various main jets that I can try if needed.

 

[5twins]

Have you checked the float levels? Fuel level may be high on the left, or low on the right, or a combination of both. Setting for your carb set is 24mm ± 1mm and when checking, you'll want to measure from both sides. The floats are often twisted on their mount so one side sits higher or lower than the other. You won't catch this if you only measure from one side. After setting by measuring, the best way to check the actual fuel levels is using the clear tube method .....