Howdy wmarsh4 - and welcome, from Canada's sunny southern coast near Harrow, Ontario!
Somebody somewhere on this forum knows the answer to every single question you could ask - but the key thing is...pictures (which may have been mentioned in earlier posts).
Ahhhh - I see that you have already posted some photos of your bike - well good then!
Now - a couple of guidelines/rules:
1) ALWAYS post lots of pictures (
pictures are good - we like pictures).
2) ALWAYS state the year of your bike when asking a specific technical question.
There are subtle but very important differences among the 1970-1984 model XS650s - and nobody wants to give you a bum-steer by providing info that does not apply to your bike. Your bike is generally considered a somewhat early bike - but even within the "early" classification, there are very important differences from one year to the next.
For example, the earliest XS650s had a different number of teeth on the timing chain drive gears from those used on slightly later "early" bikes - and that difference will wreck your engine if you use an "earliest" camshaft with a slightly later crankshaft.
3)
DO NOT use Philips screwdrivers on your bike. Everything on a Japanese bike that looks like a Philips screw -
is not a Philips screw. It is a
Japan Industrial Standard (JIS) screw and a Philips screwdriver will chowder the head. Use a proper JIS screwdriver (
easily found on Amazon for not much money - see attached photo - and Vessel or GoFastInnovations.com are both great brands of JIS drivers).
4) Never ask about oil. Questions about oil are an open invitation to a dreaded
"Oil Thread" - which will make most older forum members want to drive roofing nails into their eyes.
The only things you need to know about oil for your XS650 are:
i) the correct viscosity which is
SAE 20W50 (unless you are in the Arctic in which case
10W40 might be OK);
ii)
DO NOT ever use an oil that has an API label on the back of the can/bottle that says anything resembling:
"Energy Conserving" or
"Resource Conserving" (see example in the attached photo). Oils that carry that label have a special additive package to reduce friction and wear (
which is generally good) but they will make your wet clutch slip (
which is always bad).
iii) pay no attention to people who say that synthetic oils cannot be used in motorcycles (synthetics or "regular" oils are fine as long as rules i) and ii) are observed). In fact, no less a credible source than
Harley-Davidson actually sells a synthetic oil for their motorcycles.
Anyhow - again, welcome and from the photos of your bike, it looks like you've got yourself a ball game!
Now - about oils - see the photo below - and do NOT use any oil that has that label on the bottle/can - regardless of the viscosity or anything else.
Pete
