pckopp
XS650 Addict
A few vintages ago I bought this bike from a guy in Montana. I lived in Seattle at the time and his sister lived nearby and was getting married soon so he brought it to me.
"Ran when I parked it." So I parked it in my garage for awhile. Finally, I flushed the tank, cleaned the carbs, put new spark plugs and a battery and it fired up. Now it really did run when I parked it.
It had pods on the carbs, no airbox, and a very hacked up wiring harness. It wouldn't charge the battery.
Gradually, I made it run better. My friend vapor blasted the carbs and I rebuilt them.
Battery
Wiring harness
Voltage regulator
Signal blinker
Air boxes and filters
One of the lighting modules failed. ebay solved that
Chain and sprockets
It came with a sissy bar seat and an odd rear turn signal mounting scheme. Found a normal seat, replaced the signal mounting hardware with something closer to stock and it was beginning to be what I wanted.
Still didn't run quite right. I have two sets of carbs and both had issues. Or so I thought. A friend helped me and he soon spotted the badly cracked nipples on the vacuum barbs on the intake manifolds. Carb problems solved! They both balanced nicely and run well.
With plenty of time at home this year, I got it finished. Are they ever really finished? I worked my way through the list.
New sump oil filter, change oil and filter.
Minton Mods ( the corrected ones ), new fork seals and oil, 1/2" spacer.
Steering head bearings
Daytona bars and new grips
Aftermarket front rotor, new pads and new master cylinder
New Bridgestone Spitfire Touring S11 tires
New head bolt washers, torqued the heads, adjusted the valves, adjusted the cam chain
Found the hardware to latch the seat up
Replaced the bent center stand with a straight one
Still to do:
rear shocks
at some point swing arm bushings,
maybe a windscreen if I decide to go touring
Need some mirrors I like
Looking for a seat grab rail
The bottom of the engine and counter shaft sprocket area still look bad. No leaks, tho.
My wife has a blue 78 Special and a lot of the paint is coming off her wheels. These are nearly perfect so I may swap with her then strip the wheels and leave them natural or pick a color.
Anyway, it does feel good to have that project checked off the list! A big thank you to all the generous experts here. Couldn't have done it without you!
(Not my shop. The tire machine lives here.)
"Ran when I parked it." So I parked it in my garage for awhile. Finally, I flushed the tank, cleaned the carbs, put new spark plugs and a battery and it fired up. Now it really did run when I parked it.
It had pods on the carbs, no airbox, and a very hacked up wiring harness. It wouldn't charge the battery.
Gradually, I made it run better. My friend vapor blasted the carbs and I rebuilt them.
Battery
Wiring harness
Voltage regulator
Signal blinker
Air boxes and filters
One of the lighting modules failed. ebay solved that
Chain and sprockets
It came with a sissy bar seat and an odd rear turn signal mounting scheme. Found a normal seat, replaced the signal mounting hardware with something closer to stock and it was beginning to be what I wanted.
Still didn't run quite right. I have two sets of carbs and both had issues. Or so I thought. A friend helped me and he soon spotted the badly cracked nipples on the vacuum barbs on the intake manifolds. Carb problems solved! They both balanced nicely and run well.
With plenty of time at home this year, I got it finished. Are they ever really finished? I worked my way through the list.
New sump oil filter, change oil and filter.
Minton Mods ( the corrected ones ), new fork seals and oil, 1/2" spacer.
Steering head bearings
Daytona bars and new grips
Aftermarket front rotor, new pads and new master cylinder
New Bridgestone Spitfire Touring S11 tires
New head bolt washers, torqued the heads, adjusted the valves, adjusted the cam chain
Found the hardware to latch the seat up
Replaced the bent center stand with a straight one
Still to do:
rear shocks
at some point swing arm bushings,
maybe a windscreen if I decide to go touring
Need some mirrors I like
Looking for a seat grab rail
The bottom of the engine and counter shaft sprocket area still look bad. No leaks, tho.
My wife has a blue 78 Special and a lot of the paint is coming off her wheels. These are nearly perfect so I may swap with her then strip the wheels and leave them natural or pick a color.
Anyway, it does feel good to have that project checked off the list! A big thank you to all the generous experts here. Couldn't have done it without you!
(Not my shop. The tire machine lives here.)
