An Adventure in Firsts: '83 XS650 Heritage Special Build/Rebuild

Well in our current environment, I'm just glad to see you're still alive and kickin'.
There's no need to put out a novel every update, just a short paragraph that you're still here and pluggin' away at it. ;)
In other words... just keep this thread going as best you can.... when you can.
 
Hey guys. I'm so sorry for the absence. I've just been very busy and overwhelmed; I'm at work or on writing projects 6 days/week. I'm still here and so is the bike! I kept waiting to post till I had more info to give and then kept waiting around for the best time and until I delved into the next thing, but as many of us know rationally, there is no such thing as the best or perfect time. So, real quick before I have to go to work: valves are done, cam chain is adjusted, new choke cabe in (and working), pushrod seal leak fixed (again), gasket on side oil cover swapped; bearings are okay.
That's a good amount of things and I'd love to take credit for all of it, but alas, I can't. I'm bummed to say it, but I had to pay someone to do the above because on top of the weird cut out it gave me, I didn't have time to do and keep up with it all and I only have the street to work on now etc etc.
That said, pushrod seal or something else may be leaking again becuase, while it was fine for a bit, oil is running down the side stand again. Also seeing oil run down oil filter cover on side case again so maybe that gasket wasn't swapped--or wasn't done well. I want to take another look at the bearings too cuz I felt something the other day. Oh and oil drain plug washers swapped.

I'm out of time right now, but the next step is to see if I need to change my tires considering the roads out here. I want to see if the wobble I got on the highway out here was the loose bearings plus the tire tread, or just the tire tread. Now that bearings are okay I'm gonna risk another shot. After that, it's back to making sure those leaks are actually solved.

As for the life of this thread: while I am absolutely not giving up on this bike, there will be long pauses because I just don't have time to work on this every week and I'm currently wrestling with the fact that I may have to hire someone to do some of the modifications I want becuase otherwise they may not happen--if I could even afford it. So, if the pauses mean you guys would rather me wrap up or delete this thread and just start a new one when I have an issue, let me know and I'll do it. Otherwise, I'd love to keep it alive so I can pop in when I can. I just don't want to oversell my availability. (Clearly I was hoping I could magically do this all before certain life demands came back but didn't quite make it)

Wrote this out fast as hell but hopefully it makes sense

Welcome back Marie!
if you'd ever owned an old Britbike you'd be really happy at how comparatively oil tight your XS650 is.
Back when I rode a 1937 KSS Velocette and watched it's exhaust trail taper down to nothing from a giant start-up smoke ball
as it's return oil pump moved it's overnight* crankcase-full of oil back into the oil tank I'd have been delighted to only have
some overnight oil drops to contend with.
* There was an available after-market non-return valve to stop the crankcase oil-filling problem.
Alas, as the Velo didn't have an oil filter the NRV would sometimes plug up and cut off the oil flow.
 
Hi everyone!
Finally, an update!
The chain I put on has lived its last breaths. Rusted and had sag spots according to the guy who did my valves a while back (I kept riding it but at this point I'm pressing my luck as it's also rusting. I bought a new one (this one) and was about to throw it on when I realized that I didn't change the sprockets last time and maybe that's why this one wore out so quickly and strangely. So right now the plan is to get some sprockets as well. And then figure out how to do that swap. If anyone has any tips on sprocket brands/materials/etc or doing this job overall, let me know. Super not looking forward to having to take off that bitch of a muffler to do the job; I'd rather just leave it off. It's going to be a job done in the street. I'll look back to earlier parts of this thread to make some choices about whether I'm going to swap teeth or not. I do a lot of street riding so I would like some more oomph at lower speeds.

In other news, the pushrod seal (I think) is leaking again 😤. and so is the right oil cover; l'll have to check the gasket on that one. If I can I'll try to squeeze this in with the other job.

Aside from those notes, I've been debating whether I can realistically do the modifications I want considering how little time I have even for basic maintenance. If I can, it won't be for some months. I've even considered snagging a 650 that's already a good way to the mods I want and then selling this one. But I'm not certain how I feel about the idea of getting rid of this one--and it'd be some months before I could $ wise anyway.
So first, it's on to getting this guy back on the road since the chain state has had me immobile!
 
Good right side gasket and the shipping is free
https://www.partsgiant.com/p325148-cometic-clutch-cover-gasket
Post a picture of the sprockets and the pushrod seal please
Others will chime in soon
Edit Let me back track a bit
According to the parts giants website that gasket only fits up to the 81 650 which doesn't make sense
I don't believe it ever changed between years but let others chime in on that
 
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Welcome back. :laugh2:
Lookin' through your old pics... the front sprocket was starting to "cup" on the back side. It wasn't bad, but it's prolly worse now. I'd replace the sprockets if it were me.
Edit: Just reread you post and see you've already decided to change 'em. Oops... my bad.


Untitled.png
 
Chains have two styles of links on them, inners and outers. Both are counted when determining total link length but you can't remove just one at a time, you must remove two. So, you couldn't make a 105 link length, you'd have to go 106. The master link is an outer link style. Both ends of the chain must end with an inner link so the master link (outer style) can join them together. When shortening a chain, you start with an inner. To get to the next inner, you have to remove that 1st inner plus an outer, or two links.

When shortening a chain, grind the riveted heads off the pins on the outer plate you plan on removing, then just pry the plate off and/or tap the ground off pins through it .....

nRdWnsc.jpg


Even if you have a chain breaker tool, it's still best to grind the riveted ends off the pins you plan on removing. It puts far less strain on the chain breaking tool. To determine the length needed, you could count the links but I never do that. I just string the chain on and pull it as tight as it will go. There's no chance of miscounting and getting the length wrong that way.

Since you must remove 2 links at a time, the couple tooth changes we usually make aren't enough to make shortening possible. A 32, 33, and 34T sprocket will all use the same 104 link length.

If I may summarise the above discussion - best stick with standard chain length. 104 links. Going for a longer chain and larger sprocket is really only for stunt bikes. Chain breaker/riveter is best for splitting a chain. You can split a chain by grinding the heads of the pins down as 5T has illustrated but obviously don't do it on the bike.

I swapped from 34 to 33 tooth rear sprocket and I think that gives better gearing - there is no noticeable loss of get-up-and-go away from the lights but the engine feels much happier in all gears with slightly lower revs.

Keep going - the fun stuff is still to come.
 
Nice to hear from you again, Marie. The front sprocket nut can be very tight. There should be a tab washer in there, need to bend it flat before tackling the nut. You'll need a well fitting socket, a breaker bar and possibly extra leverage like a pipe slipped over the breaker bar. But then again, other times it's actually loose - probably due to vibration. Might be best to have an assistant to hold the rear brake on if a lot of force is needed on that nut but you can alternatively hold the wheel from turning by putting a piece of timber through the wheel and laid across the swing arm. On reassembly, ideally use a new tab washer. Make the nut really tight or you'll end up with an oil leak from behind the sprocket. Let us know how it goes.
 
That sprocket nut torque value is one Yamaha changed several times over the years, not sure why. It ranged from a low of around 36 ft/lbs all the way up to near 95. For many years, I used around 72 ft/lbs, one of the values listed over the years. The nut stayed tight but didn't quite seal the oil in 100%. Every time I'd pull that cover off, I could see oil streaks emanating out from the nut .....

InsideLeftCoverDirty.jpg


It wasn't a bad leak, the bike didn't "mark it's spot" everywhere I parked it, but it wasn't 100% sealed either. I'd get an occasional drip or two now and then is all. So, the last time I was in there, I torqued the nut up to 95 and this seems to have sealed it up. No more occasional drips. So, it seems the tighter you make that nut, the better.
 
That value comes from the early model manual ('70-'73). '74-'77 speced 72 - 87 ft/lbs. From '78 on, most years speced 47 but a couple had that low 36 ft/lb value. Honestly, I really don't think that would be enough. I'll bet it would leak pretty good.
 
Hi everyone!
Finally, an update!
The chain I put on has lived its last breaths. Rusted and had sag spots according to the guy who did my valves a while back (I kept riding it but at this point I'm pressing my luck as it's also rusting. I bought a new one (this one) and was about to throw it on when I realized that I didn't change the sprockets last time and maybe that's why this one wore out so quickly and strangely. So right now the plan is to get some sprockets as well. And then figure out how to do that swap. If anyone has any tips on sprocket brands/materials/etc or doing this job overall, let me know. Super not looking forward to having to take off that bitch of a muffler to do the job; I'd rather just leave it off. It's going to be a job done in the street. I'll look back to earlier parts of this thread to make some choices about whether I'm going to swap teeth or not. I do a lot of street riding so I would like some more oomph at lower speeds.

In other news, the pushrod seal (I think) is leaking again 😤. and so is the right oil cover; l'll have to check the gasket on that one. If I can I'll try to squeeze this in with the other job.

Aside from those notes, I've been debating whether I can realistically do the modifications I want considering how little time I have even for basic maintenance. If I can, it won't be for some months. I've even considered snagging a 650 that's already a good way to the mods I want and then selling this one. But I'm not certain how I feel about the idea of getting rid of this one--and it'd be some months before I could $ wise anyway.
So first, it's on to getting this guy back on the road since the chain state has had me immobile!
Hi Marie,
best you replace both sprockets and the chain together so they'll wear in together like an old married couple.
Take the opportunity to decide if a different sprocket tooth ratio (17/33 is stock Euro) vs your 17/34 would suit you better.
A Heavy Duty or an O-ring chain is a good upgrade but you'll need to remove the inner chain guard so an O-ring or H-D chain's bigger side-plates will fit around the front sprocket. I'd also advise that you install a rear chain oiler.
 
My o’ring chain required no modifications to the motorcycle. It’s a 530 chain.
Hi marty,
OK, my chain upgrade was perhaps 20+ years ago and the 530 O-ring chain I could get at that time had the same effin' 'uge sideplates as a 530 heavy-duty chain.
Presumably progress has passed me by. Again.
 
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