Hi all,
Newbie here to the forum and in regards to XS650's. Been doing a lot of reading on them in the past few weeks and picked up a project bike this morning. It's an '83 XS650 Heritage that has already most of the "main" stuff done to it - hard tail, Sportser tank, etc. Pretty typical XS bobber but I will change it up to give it my own flavor.
I bought it knowing it wasn't running. Guy said it has a starter on it but isn't working so it's kick only. He said if he could get it to start at all it would run for a few seconds and then sputter out. It needed a new battery so I bought one along with some new plugs.
Got it home and gave it a good looking over to check for anything obvious. Got some gas in the tank and gave it some kicks. Never got it to start, seemed to just sputter. Was not getting any spark I am pretty sure. The PO installed an ignition switch under the seat similar to a car where it could be clicked backwards into an "accessory" mode, or forward to "ON" and then crank forward to start the bike. Since the starter isn't working, I couldn't really try it out. I had it in "on" (at least I believe, no labeling on it) the whole time and wasn't getting anything. Tried in all the positions and same thing. It does have the off/run/off main control switches with the throttle on the handlebars, but they are not connected to anything (plug was just down and hanging).
The PO put some generic XS pod filters on it that I took off (they were the pleated type, I will get Uni pods). Had a custom exhaust that kicked up by the rear wheel. He said it was never jetted but did have new jets for it that I can put in. The carbs are clean internally, but are pretty rough on the outside.
Pic of the bike after we got it home and popped the filters off:
The carbs (BS34's I believe) are clean on the inside, the PO said he had them out and cleaned (why he didn't have them jetted, I don't know) and it looks like it. The floats are in good shape and move freely. The outside of the carbs looks like they were sort of abused. The "cylinders" that hold the idle screws were actually broken off at the top to expose the screw it looks like, instead of removing the plug. They still look functional, just sloppy. It also looks like the choke rod was fubar'd. There was no knob on the rod and the PO had actually rigged some sort of metal clip to hold and release the choke it looks like (almost like a beefed up paper clip looking thing). Pretty awful - will definitely have to fix that. Here are some pics of the carbs:
So I have read a lot on carbs and feel pretty confident I can get them back in running order pretty well. My main concern is the electrical. This thing is a mess. We ended up untaping a lot of the wiring to see what ran where. I have a Hayne's manual with the wiring diagram for it but unfortunately wiring is probably my least favorite thing in regards to autos/bikes etc. No problem with mechanical stuff but wiring just makes my head spin. Looking at a diagram is like looking at a pile of spaghetti. I'm sure I will dissect this one and end up tracking everything down but I am not looking foward to it. Like I mentioned previously, the main switch control box on the right handlebar was not connected to anything. The headlight was wired in but had a wire not attached to anything. The ignition that was wired in I feel like is the source of the issues, since it was added by the previous owner. Here are some pictures of various parts on the bike with the wiring:
(front control switch plug was zip tied behind headlight)
Right side of bike, coils were pulled off - black wire is coming from headlight (which also had a blue wire not attached to anything), lots of splicing and dicing here.
Found these wires running under the battery box...
And found this little guy. What is this? Looks like a solenoid?
There is one orange wire coming from the black box attached to the battery box (looks like maybe the ignition unit?) that eventually comes up and heads towards the coils but I think ended up not being connected to anything. I didn't see any place for it to connect either. Unfortunately the bike is being stored in a friend's garage so I can't go take a look right at the moment.
It's looking at this point like I am going to end up yanking out all the wiring in this thing and rewiring it. I want to replace the ignition switch with a basic on/off type without the start function. Planning on eventually eliminating the battery and going with a PMA/Pamco setup with capacitor, but I just want to get it running and ride it this year with the battery and over winter do all that stuff. When the ignition switch is turned to any position there are no lights or anything either. The fake oil can on this bike is empty - I would have thought wiring etc. in it but nothing. I will change that up. I plan on going with a set of drag bars, changing the grips and levers, and getting rid of the main control switch setup. I need to add turn signals to be legal in MA so I will do that and change the tail light setup as well.
If anyone has any thoughts they would be appreciated!
Alex
Newbie here to the forum and in regards to XS650's. Been doing a lot of reading on them in the past few weeks and picked up a project bike this morning. It's an '83 XS650 Heritage that has already most of the "main" stuff done to it - hard tail, Sportser tank, etc. Pretty typical XS bobber but I will change it up to give it my own flavor.
I bought it knowing it wasn't running. Guy said it has a starter on it but isn't working so it's kick only. He said if he could get it to start at all it would run for a few seconds and then sputter out. It needed a new battery so I bought one along with some new plugs.
Got it home and gave it a good looking over to check for anything obvious. Got some gas in the tank and gave it some kicks. Never got it to start, seemed to just sputter. Was not getting any spark I am pretty sure. The PO installed an ignition switch under the seat similar to a car where it could be clicked backwards into an "accessory" mode, or forward to "ON" and then crank forward to start the bike. Since the starter isn't working, I couldn't really try it out. I had it in "on" (at least I believe, no labeling on it) the whole time and wasn't getting anything. Tried in all the positions and same thing. It does have the off/run/off main control switches with the throttle on the handlebars, but they are not connected to anything (plug was just down and hanging).
The PO put some generic XS pod filters on it that I took off (they were the pleated type, I will get Uni pods). Had a custom exhaust that kicked up by the rear wheel. He said it was never jetted but did have new jets for it that I can put in. The carbs are clean internally, but are pretty rough on the outside.
Pic of the bike after we got it home and popped the filters off:
The carbs (BS34's I believe) are clean on the inside, the PO said he had them out and cleaned (why he didn't have them jetted, I don't know) and it looks like it. The floats are in good shape and move freely. The outside of the carbs looks like they were sort of abused. The "cylinders" that hold the idle screws were actually broken off at the top to expose the screw it looks like, instead of removing the plug. They still look functional, just sloppy. It also looks like the choke rod was fubar'd. There was no knob on the rod and the PO had actually rigged some sort of metal clip to hold and release the choke it looks like (almost like a beefed up paper clip looking thing). Pretty awful - will definitely have to fix that. Here are some pics of the carbs:
So I have read a lot on carbs and feel pretty confident I can get them back in running order pretty well. My main concern is the electrical. This thing is a mess. We ended up untaping a lot of the wiring to see what ran where. I have a Hayne's manual with the wiring diagram for it but unfortunately wiring is probably my least favorite thing in regards to autos/bikes etc. No problem with mechanical stuff but wiring just makes my head spin. Looking at a diagram is like looking at a pile of spaghetti. I'm sure I will dissect this one and end up tracking everything down but I am not looking foward to it. Like I mentioned previously, the main switch control box on the right handlebar was not connected to anything. The headlight was wired in but had a wire not attached to anything. The ignition that was wired in I feel like is the source of the issues, since it was added by the previous owner. Here are some pictures of various parts on the bike with the wiring:
(front control switch plug was zip tied behind headlight)
Right side of bike, coils were pulled off - black wire is coming from headlight (which also had a blue wire not attached to anything), lots of splicing and dicing here.
Found these wires running under the battery box...
And found this little guy. What is this? Looks like a solenoid?
There is one orange wire coming from the black box attached to the battery box (looks like maybe the ignition unit?) that eventually comes up and heads towards the coils but I think ended up not being connected to anything. I didn't see any place for it to connect either. Unfortunately the bike is being stored in a friend's garage so I can't go take a look right at the moment.
It's looking at this point like I am going to end up yanking out all the wiring in this thing and rewiring it. I want to replace the ignition switch with a basic on/off type without the start function. Planning on eventually eliminating the battery and going with a PMA/Pamco setup with capacitor, but I just want to get it running and ride it this year with the battery and over winter do all that stuff. When the ignition switch is turned to any position there are no lights or anything either. The fake oil can on this bike is empty - I would have thought wiring etc. in it but nothing. I will change that up. I plan on going with a set of drag bars, changing the grips and levers, and getting rid of the main control switch setup. I need to add turn signals to be legal in MA so I will do that and change the tail light setup as well.
If anyone has any thoughts they would be appreciated!
Alex
