First bike/project!

[bakerman]

Hey y’all, I’ve been a lurker here on the site for a little while and I finally got my hands on a 1980 XS650G Special II this summer! My goal was to find a bike to ride for the summer and then dig into in the winter time when it gets cold and snowy here where I am. Finally made myself a profile on here so I can start posting and discussing.

I’ll share a couple pics of the bike here!

I haven’t done much to it yet aside from replace the lowered suspension in the rear and tighten up the drive chain & honestly it’s been a super fun bike to rip around on out here in the sticks.

HOWEVER—> just today, I was out for a short ride and all of a sudden, the engine lost power. Luckily no traffic and there was a gravel turn out right there so I pulled off and shut everything down and gave it a minute. I noticed some oil leaking from the cylinder head on the lhs and I’m thinking I may have blown the gasket. The ride wasn’t insane, I was riding between 45-70 on the mountain roads out here for like 15-20 mins when this happened. I tried starting it and the bike fired right up for me first try so I rode it back home. Didn’t notice any difference in sound or power but I was also going a little easier on it after that.

Anyways here goes my first foray into this forum. Stoked to be here and it looks like I may be digging into the bike sooner than I expected. Let me know what y’all think!

 

[Mikey]

Welcome to the madhouse

 

[grouchie77]

Willkommen!

 

[Kevin Kruse]

Welcome! I like that rear fender and sissy bar with the seat, has a sportster look.

And I really like this triumph style Yamaha badge!! Could you get a picture of that?

 

[gggGary]

Welcome! I like that rear fender and sissy bar with the seat, has a sportster look.

And I really like this triumph style Yamaha badge!! Could you get a picture of that?

 

[JJames]

Hey, welcome. The head likely just needs a re-torque. You'll find threads on the subject in the Tech section. I like the taller shocks and cool it hasn't been hardtailed. Yeah, definitely sportster vibe. Great look for a special ll.

 

[Kevin Kruse]

I found that thread..
https://www.xs650.com/threads/yamaha-triumph-tank-badges-made-by-resto-wanted.64902/

Those are awesome, very nicely made. Would love to snag a pair.

 

[bakerman]

Hey y'all! It's been a minute. I haven't had a whole lot of time until now because of holidays and work and all that but now I'm in a bit of a lull. That being said, a friend of mine came over last night to give me a hand and we pulled the motor out of the old yammy in about 3 hours! The goal is to rebuild the top end (I got a bunch of parts over the last couple months that have been sitting patiently), go through the bottom end and redo all of the electrical (I ordered a mo.unit from germany! should replace all of the messy fuses and duplicate circuits and clean it all up). You can see from the photos the mess of wiring that was jammed under the seat, one of the previous owner's friends "rewired" it for them....idk man its a lot of spade connectors, electrical tape and shoddy shrinkwrapping.

Going to pull apart the top end this Sunday, really stoked!
Another friend of mine just said that you're not a real biker if you don't tear down a motorcycle that's running just fine HAH.
Anyways, here's the pics so far, she CRUSTY.

 

[OHRider]

Great project bike, more photos

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Welcome and have fun with the rebuild. Follow Jim's thread on top end rebuild. Gospel.

 

[bakerman]

Thanks for the recommendation on the top end guide! About a week ago, we got the top end taken apart and it’s GRIMY. I’ll follow up with a. Couple pictures a but I’ve got a question now too. When we popped the cylinder heads off, a plastic cam chain guide came out from the front end, all battered and in need of replacement. Only I can’t find the part ANYWHERE I look. Anyone have some insight on this?

 

[gggGary]

https://www.mikesxs.net/yamaha-xs650-front-cam-chain-guide-oem-256-12231-01.html

 

[grouchie77]

https://www.dimecitycycles.com/yama...html?fits-motorcycle=Yamaha/XS650/XS650D/1977

99.999⁹% sure this is the same as what Gary posted above. DCC and Mike's are sister companies so it's probably the same exact part in the same exact box from the same exact overseas factory. But that's the one I got for rebuild. Can't review it yet because I'm the same 99.999⁹% done with the rebuild.

 

[Dunc]

Hey y'all! It's been a minute. I haven't had a whole lot of time until now because of holidays and work and all that but now I'm in a bit of a lull. That being said, a friend of mine came over last night to give me a hand and we pulled the motor out of the old yammy in about 3 hours! The goal is to rebuild the top end (I got a bunch of parts over the last couple months that have been sitting patiently), go through the bottom end and redo all of the electrical (I ordered a mo.unit from germany! should replace all of the messy fuses and duplicate circuits and clean it all up). You can see from the photos the mess of wiring that was jammed under the seat, one of the previous owner's friends "rewired" it for them....idk man its a lot of spade connectors, electrical tape and shoddy shrinkwrapping.

Going to pull apart the top end this Sunday, really stoked!
Another friend of mine just said that you're not a real biker if you don't tear down a motorcycle that's running just fine HAH.
Anyways, here's the pics so far, she CRUSTY.

You have a VAPE ignition/charge system on the bike, good score.

 

[5twins]

Just be aware that most of us use MikesXS as our very last resort, lol. Their prices and shipping costs are quite high compared to most other places. This place out of Canada is much better and offers free shipping on a $40 order ........

https://xs650direct.com/products/front-cam-chain-guide

This place is also very good .......

https://yamahaxs650.com/product/front-guide-stopper/

I recommend checking both of these places first. If the motor has 20K miles or more on it, it's a good idea to replace the cam chain as well.

 

[bakerman]

Thanks a lot you guys! Got the guide ordered and should be here in a few days. The engine has about 18k on it so I'm gonna go ahead and order a new chain too I think. Was hoping to avoid having to replace it which is why you see it bungeed up through the engine in that last pic. But while I'm here, why not right? Seems like I'm saying that a lot lately in regards to this bike hah! Definitely not complaining, this has been a blast so far and I'm so stoked to work on it.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

It is worth the time to ensure when you install that new cam chain guide that it is perfectly straight. When I replaced mine the old one was destroyed because it was installed crooked, evidence being the crooked wear. An obvious statement, but can't be overstated.

 

[bakerman]

It is worth the time to ensure when you install that new cam chain guide that it is perfectly straight. When I replaced mine the old one was destroyed because it was installed crooked, evidence being the crooked wear. An obvious statement, but can't be overstated.

Fair, I just got the part in the mail yesterday. The current guide looks good, plastic was gone but the aluminum doesn't have any wear on it really. I'll be sure to keep it straight going in