A Good Night in the Garage

musicman

XS650 Member
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Points
1
It was a good night last night in the workshop. I have an original XS2 that I have been working on, and last night many things were accomplished. When I got the bike last summer, the front brakes were a mess. The caliper was frozen and the master cylinder all gummed up. I did a nice thorough clean and repaint only to find out that kits are not available for the early master cylinders. Bought a replacement from Mike's, rebuilt the caliper (I had to use a large socket to hammer the pucks loose, and used compressed air to move them back and forth until they popped ) and bled the system last night...and....best of all, it works! Also, the previous owner had dropped something on the headlight and dented the ring. The shell was funky too, but I was able to bend it back to round again. I replaced the headlight which was out with a H4 unit that I had in the garage and re-installed it after hooking up the front brake light wires from the new master cylinder, and again....success. I work on old bikes all the time, but am not a trained mechanic, so I was happy that everything worked last night (except the White Sox lost) As you all probably know, it doesn't always go that way.

After the work was done, I took her for a midnight ride, staying close to home. I haven't had enough shakedown cruises to know whether to trust her or not ....yet. She ran great, and everything worked. Pretty good for a 38 year old bike.

One question...when the bike is running, the right cylinder sometimes drops out. It always comes back and isn't out for long, but that is not right. Any ideas? I have two new petcocks and new fuel lines. I have dropped the float bowls and they are clean. Is this a points issue?
The main jet in the right float bowl has been stripped, but the metering hole does not seem to be afftected. Any help would be tremendously appreciated.

I plan to post some pictures of the old girl soon.
 
Last edited:
I ran points for a year and didn't mind fidling with them, but I was never really happy with the random misfires. One of pamcopetes ignitions cleared all that up.

38 years, yeah that's well into antique territory...for a bike at least. Always good to hear them run again.
 
Recently got an old points bike going and noticed the same thing, with the points cover off you can often see a corresponding flash on the points. It would seem the good old days are best viewed through rose colored glasses.
 
you can run a file or sandpaper between the points and clean the hell out of em after with solvent. replace the condenser. clean, gapped points work pretty well, just a bit of a pain in the ass..
 
Back
Top