Back on an XS, few quirks to fix up.

[Nolan_B]

Couldn't give up on these twins. Picked up a nearly all stock '75 with low miles. Very proud of this find.

Today the left spark plug wire shocked me in the damn leg, any easy remedy for this? Also, is a leak common from this spot in the third picture? Dripping a little more than I'd like. Hoping that it's this simple gasket and not something from above.

 

[rahndo]

That looks like a bike I looked at in Redding.

 

[Nolan_B]

Indeed. Did you see it in the flesh?

 

[rahndo]

Yes. Drove three hours with a trailer. Let's just say that the flesh did not live up to the hype.

 

[Nolan_B]

Did you see the 1980 Duc 900SS that was there?

 

[rahndo]

Dont remember a Duc, but coulda been there. He had a newer Triumph and a Norton, maybe 850 and was restoring a couple of 350 Hondas. Been about a year ago. His bottom $ was 2,750.

 

[Nolan_B]

The Duc was inside the house.
He moved down a bit in price, right now it was definitely reasonable. Especially considering the number of guys in CA lately trying to get rid of Specials with spray cans, torn seats, and whathaveyou for over $3000

 

[rahndo]

At the time, I had looked a comparable bikes for half that price. He presented it as an 8 out of 10. Tank near perfect, except for a small dent that you would not notice unless he showed it to you....and all the other stuff he failed to mention. Did he fix the front brake? You could hardly move the front wheel.

 

[irvan]

It's a cool bike, I think you're gonna have a lot of fun with it.

 

[angus67]

Simple gasket

 

[Nolan_B]

Innit this one?
https://www.mikesxs.net/product/18-0859.html

 

[5twins]

Just because the oil drip is hanging off that cover doesn't mean it's the leak source. Yes, that cover can leak, but there are several other more common leak spots under the left cover. The top two are the clutch pushrod seal and the countershaft sprocket seal. The countershaft seal is many times just caused by the sprocket nut being loose. The nut holding the sprocket on needs to be very tight, like 90 ft/lbs tight. In your 3rd pic, there also seems to be quite a bit of oil grime and build-up around where the starter motor enters the engine case. There's a large seal there that could be bad as well.