I bought a 1976 sight unseen

Jfl0528

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Hey everyone, im James and im new here and new to the xs650 community. I finally got my hands on one after years of looking. The plus side is that I have one that’s mostly complete, the bad side is that I bought it with it being pretty beat up. I’m big into the chopper lifestyle and, apologies to the restoration community, I plan on stripping it down and welding on a hard tail. My question to the community is: has anybody had any experience rebuilding the engine and gearbox? It felt like it had good compression when I gave it a few kicks, but it has no gear lever so I’m not sure how the internals of the gearbox are. I’ll attach a pic of what I’m working with. I’m an auto mechanic by career so I can rebuild it. I’m not sure how accessible parts are tho. Let me know what you think!
 

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Welcome James. It's a 77D, Nat that it matters much if your going to hardtail it. Front forks are a bit bigger, 35mm where the 76C was/is 34mm.

Unusual to find a tranny busted up so should b good. Some gears have been known to bust the dogs but generally not a common prob.

Enjoy the build
 
Have a dig through the tech section there's just about everything there for information that you might need
And the folks here are generous with help
And before you buy parts ask here as there are good suppliers and BAD suppliers
Anyway here's the link
https://www.xs650.com/pages/tech/
 
Welcome James. It's a 77D, Nat that it matters much if your going to hardtail it. Front forks are a bit bigger, 35mm where the 76C was/is 34mm.

Unusual to find a tranny busted up so should b good. Some gears have been known to bust the dogs but generally not a common prob.

Enjoy the build
I appreciate the reply. Pretty cool how you can tell me that just by looking at a picture of it. So 77D, that means it’s a 1977? And what would the fork size differential mean as far as hardtailing it? I’m not trying to be a smart ass, I just don’t know. It’s all new to me
 
Nice catch James, and welcome.
Good bag of bones to start your build.
Keep us informed and ask for any help.
Lots of piccies on the way.
I appreciate that, and will do. I may GoPro the process. I will definitely document it one way or another.
 
We are XS650, not restored, bobbed, chopped, cafe'd XS650. The 77,78,79 Standards, D,E andF models were the best Standard bikes and are becoming rarer. Plenty of Specials out there. Welcome to the madness and remember to add pics to your posts.
As an example.

I took my dog for a walk...View attachment 333134
That's a handsome little thing for a new bike. Never heard of Genuine as a brand. One of the many Chinese brands we are seeing appear all the time? Just needs a carburettor fitting in place of the fuel injection system and it's perfect :)
 
If it was me I would try to get it running and if possible drive some miles
Normal startup routines for bike not started for some time.
I can se you being a professional and can be good on evaluating the bike once in parts.
But if it starts one can listen if there are noise and where the noise is coming from
Looking at the smoke
Then reevaluate .. With better information available
 
. . . My question to the community is: has anybody had any experience rebuilding the engine and gearbox? . . .
Uhm, that would be a Yes. Welcome to the forum, there is more information on rebuilding, restoring, modifying, re-styling, improving and generally making whatever you want out of XS650s here than anywhere else and as others have said the folks here are generous with help.

Parts are accessible, but if you need to go inside the top end, it's always going to mean engine out - not difficult, just heavy. And parts are mostly easy to find. Keep this as your build thread, show us what you do with the bike, ask questions, put plenty pictures. Cheers, Raymond
 
Thank you all for the replies, between yesterday and today I knocked the carbs off and brought them to work to see what I’m working with. From what I’m gathering they’re bs38’s. I have an ultrasonic cleaner at my job so I let them cook in there for a while and they cleaned up pretty nicely although I think I may have had the heat a bit too high. Oops. Anyway I now need to get a new gasket set. I plan on leaving whatever jets it has in it. Of course I will get it running properly before I start chopping the frame and buying parts.

My two concerns are, for one I don’t have a key. If anybody has any experience with that please let me know what you did.

And 2, the points are filthy. There was no cover on it. Can I spray brake clean in there and clean it out or will it screw it all up?

Who do you all recommend for a gasket kit? Allballsracing had one for $100 I don’t want to spend all that if im only using 2 pieces of the kit.

I also think I will need a new diaphragm, looks like it was pinched. And my choke lever is getting hung up internally. Does anybody have any recommendations on how to lube that. Thanks.
 

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The most important thing with the carb diaphragms is no holes. There was a tiny tear in the diaphragm on one of my bike's carbs and it led me a merry dance until I found that was the problem. Held up to the light and gently stretching could just see a tiny hole.
 
Recommend a drop test on diaphragms. If I've had the carb top off, I always do a drop test on that carburettor when I have put the top back on. Takes five seconds to do and you know 99% whether you have a good diaphragm on that carburettor or not.
Before I took it all apart I did that and they were both getting stuck and were having a hard time returning. Not sure if it was just bc it was filthy. Once I get the gaskets and put it all back together I’ll try it again.
 
Before I took it all apart I did that and they were both getting stuck and were having a hard time returning. Not sure if it was just bc it was filthy. Once I get the gaskets and put it all back together I’ll try it again.
Yes, no point to a slide drop test unless everything is clean and ready for reassembly.
 
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