Beach cruiser build

[WideAWAKE]

Well I finally got my front end all sorted and together. Discs are spaced evenly, wheel is centered and life is good haha.

built a front fender, picked up a nice set of fork ears and a set of chrome buckets and progressive spring from some nice members here.

I also got some brackets and rubber dampers made up for the tank to mount to. Thought it would be more difficult than it turned out so that’s a plus.

I’ll be pulling the motor this weekend to start the teardown and hope to get it all rebuilt by the following weekend BUT we’ll see what the insides look like. Bike didn’t have too many miles on it so my hopes are high.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Also started casting some lettering to make up some tank badges.

At the moment I’m thinking these will be mounted to some old growth redwood to make up the badges but we’ll see how it all plays out. These may end up in the bin, who knows haha.

 

[timbeck]

Before those ever end up in the bin , I'll send you my address.........lol

tim

 

[WideAWAKE]

Before those ever end up in the bin , I'll send you my address.........lol

tim

You got dibs! - They are just loose letter but if you got an idea to use em, I can pour you a set and stick em in the mail. Can do pretty much any solid color or swirl combo of colors. I just use my resin left overs from glassing surfboards.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Well the motor is out and the top end is off.

lobes on the cam look good, rockers got some slight wear, the valves actually look much better than I though they would.

bike had relatively lower miles and I don’t think the motor had ever been opened up.

cam chain guide looked good, but just fell apart when I touched it haha.

the PO said he had the bike for about 8-10 years and it just sat with the fluids drained and judging by the barrels I’d say that’s an accurate statement. Some decent wear on one cylinder where the piston sat for all those years, but I bet it would have ran pretty well for years even without a rebuild.

And I’m sure most can already tell - I don’t make a living taking pictures haha

 

[WideAWAKE]

I’m not sure why people just spray high temp flat black paint on entire engine, baskets, nuts and bolts...

the downside to what the PO did using garbage paint is that it didn’t stick too well, flakin all over.

the upside, it didn’t stick too well haha. Pretty much wiped off with lacquer thinner on a rag.

still need to do some fine tuning but it’s getting there.

I was planning on tearing it all down BUT... it was pretty much spotless inside the actual motor, it’s got low miles and the crank is solid so I think I may end up skipping the bottom end, gonna think on it tonight and see how I feel in the morning.

 

[Brassneck]

Unless there's a reason to tear down the bottom end, I would leave it, personally.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Unless there's a reason to tear down the bottom end, I would leave it, personally.

Pretty much the conclusion I settled on.

should have it all wrapped up by the end of the week.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Made some progress on the motor.

while pulling it all apart, I came to the conclusion that someone must have recently (in relation to the previous owner acquiring the bike and letting it sit for a handful of years) must have replaced all the seals/oring doing a rebuild because everything inside looked almost new with very very limited use.

Blasted the head and the valves looked as if they were freshly cut, I lightly lapped em and they were pretty much dead on with a great seal. I’ve torn into several motors to know it was very “fresh” inside, but havnt been into enough xs motors to know if that is common. I mean pretty much no carbon build up that was caked on. Soda blasted clean in about 30 seconds a side.

masked it all off, sprayed the big bore kit gloss black and shot the cases and head with Alumiblast- both are Eastwood products and 2k finish. Used em on a dozen or so cases - no chips and it can be soaked in gas or oil with no ill effects. Fantastic stuff.

hopefully get the rest of the motor together this weekend and back in the bike.

 

[Mailman]

I love the look of the black jugs, reminds me of a Triumph.

 

[jetmechmarty]

I love the look of the black jugs, reminds me of a Triumph.

Or a 1981 XS650. I very much like it too.

 

[Team Junk]

Or a 1981 XS650. I very much like it too.

So the black paint on my 81 motor is factory ?

 

[WideAWAKE]

I love the look of the black jugs, reminds me of a Triumph.

I am shooting for a heavy scent of the tr6! A waft of triumph when one walks by it haha.

 

[WideAWAKE]

So the black paint on my 81 motor is factory ?

I believe the special 2 came with black cylinders.

 

[Team Junk]

Good to know. I always figured it was a rattle can job by PO. It does look pretty good much better than I'd expect from a rattle can.

 

[jetmechmarty]

So the black paint on my 81 motor is factory ?

1981 Yamaha XS motorcycles have the cylinder barrels painted black. (bottom end and cylinder head is argent silver) On the XS650, the top of the cylinder head, or cover was black. The 1982/83 XS650 have the whole engine black.

 

[fredintoon]

1981 Yamaha XS motorcycles have the cylinder barrels painted black. (bottom end and cylinder head is argent silver) On the XS650, the top of the cylinder head, or cover was black. The 1982/83 XS650 have the whole engine black.

Hi Marty,
my Canadian '84 XS650 had it's whole engine blacked out with the edges of it's head and barrel fins polished.
Made me smile remembering colouring Britbikes cast iron heads & barrels with aluminum paint, back in the day.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Motor is back in the bike.

started getting the ignition sorted - made new timing marks for my Boyer, got distracted and started making some side covers and a battery tray all of which are just roughed out but headed in the right direction.

Progress is a bit slow - life is fast paced but at least makin a little progress.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Some more very slow progress…

chain is on, front brakes bled, clutch cable routed and hooked up as well as the throttle cable, Speedo and tach.

ignition Boyer is installed and timed, just need to make a bracket to mount the coil.

Rear fender and tail light are mocked up and rubber mounted.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Got quite distracted over the last few months with my business, house construction, surfboard orders and a couple bikes.

The lambretta I was looking for as it’s been about 10 years without one. Tore the top end down and put a 185 kit on it. Good for cruising at 60 all day.

this little CB160 I was not looking for but it was too cheap not to put in the back of the truck. PO bought it from an auction, said it smoked real bad outta the left exhaust. I figured stuck rings or valve seals (come to find out they don’t have those haha). Tore the motor apart and it was a fresh rebuild but the rings were not staggered on the left cylinder causing oil to blow by. Everything else was clean and in spec. Properly aligned the rings… purrs like a kitten and pretty fun to ride. (Toaster tanks always get me too).

sooo now it’s back to the xs. Started tuning my harness and hopefully have this thing semi wired up this week to give it a test fire and dial in my ignition timing.

figured if I made an updated post I’d be motivated to keep working.