Memory Lane

[mrtwowheel]

Oh crap! That's not good. Guess I'll stick with my glass fuses. Thanks for sharing -- before I melted something down.

I'm not buying it. Glass fuses, they've been..........you know. Besides, the only fuse I've ever blown on a bike is one of those Honda 30 amp dog bones and that was because of age and corrosion. I buy the quality blade fuses not the cheap soft vinyl ones.

 

[jetmechmarty]

oh, nice! If my wiring harness had plugs I'd be there in a heartbeat.

I've added that plug on two bikes. I may add it to two more. Send me your harness and I'll wire it to yours.

 

[Raymond]

@Shelby, there's no need to be put off blade fuses entirely just because there's millions of cheap ones which don't blow at the advertised amps. The same consideration applies to cheap Chinese glass fuses as well. It seems that for cheapness churning them out, all the fuses share the same high-amp filament? Naughty! The message is to buy good ones, known make, perhaps one the car manufacturers use.

 

[5twins]

Yes, I invested in a bunch of good brand name ones (Littelfuse), not too expensive from eBay .....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166329437338

 

[Shelby]

I've added that plug on two bikes. I may add it to two more. Send me your harness and I'll wire it to yours.

Thanks so much! Right now I'm waiting on a new glass fuse holder I found on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CO7HZU). Got a batch of fuses from Mikes. Since I'm not far along on the cleaning/inspecting to try starting her yet, I'm not really sure if there's any other wiring issues. Brake light was working, and now it's not. Possibly because the front brake cable's disconnected so I could get the fender off. Gave some thought to replacing the wiring harness just to be safe, but I'm discovering a lot of things I could get in the late 90s have gone permanently out of stock, at least on Babbit's, Mike's, and Partzilla.

 

[Shelby]

Yes, I invested in a bunch of good brand name ones (Littelfuse), not too expensive from eBay .....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166329437338

Thanks, I'll look for those. Though the new fuse holder (if I can make it fit) takes full size fuses. Make take some hillbilly engineering.

 

[Shelby]

That wasn’t meant to scare you away from blade fuses. I think they’re a great improvement over the glass ones. I did make sure I bought some good ones and replaced them.

returning the new fuse holder. Too big/bulky and the posts don't stay put. Kinda like the idea of inlines. Less to figure out where to fit. Can wait till after the rear end's reassembled.

 

[Shelby]

And much cleaning was done. Let there be pics.

 

[Jim]

And much cleaning was done. Let there be pics.
View attachment 262372 View attachment 262373 View attachment 262374 View attachment 262377

Nice!! Looks like good bones for a survivor.

 

[Shelby]

Nice!! Looks like good bones for a survivor.

Thanks! Much dirt, but only 14K miles. Far as I can tell she's not run in this century. Last owner had it for ten years and never got to the "project." Last inspection sticker dated 1998. Which, coincidentally, as about the time I sold my last XS 650.

 

[Jim]

At the rate you're going, it'll be ready by spring.

 

[Wingedwheel]

That is looking really good. Nice job cleaning up the chrome bits.

 

[Shelby]

At the rate you're going, it'll be ready by spring.

Agreed. Though WHICH spring might be an appropriate question...

 

[Shelby]

That is looking really good. Nice job cleaning up the chrome bits.

Thanks! I'll pass that along. Bill's an old hand at chrome. Cleaned and painted the undersides as well. No notable rust, but she looked kinda like she ran over wet tar in her younger days. Not true undercoating, just... yuck. The aluminum's a bit more of a problem. Some odd "snowflakes" -- some sort of splatter? -- kinda crazed into the surfaces a few places. May ignore and chalk up to battle scaring.

 

[Raymond]

Patina.

 

[Shelby]

???? (Cleaned up version -- you know that's not what I typed first...)

Doesn't look like a thrown chain (without a chain guard). All I can think is someone took the chain guard off at some point and... put it back wrong? Then... fixed it later... but did nothing to try to clean up the scarring? There's some minor wear on the chrome, but that would likely be because steel's a lot harder than aluminum. Going to try to smooth out the back edge of the crank case a bit. Doesn't really show unless you're looking at the chain guard close, but it's still not right.

 

[jetmechmarty]

???? (Cleaned up version -- you know that's not what I typed first...)
View attachment 262478
Doesn't look like a thrown chain (without a chain guard). All I can think is someone took the chain guard off at some point and... put it back wrong? Then... fixed it later... but did nothing to try to clean up the scarring? There's some minor wear on the chrome, but that would likely be because steel's a lot harder than aluminum. Going to try to smooth out the back edge of the crank case a bit. Doesn't really show unless you're looking at the chain guard close, but it's still not right.

If you can find the chicken lips (lower side covers) that bit will be covered up and virtually invisible. I have the lower frame covers that they slide into and will gladly donate them to the cause.

 

[gggGary]

Found at my local Radio Shack Friday.... $5 LOL

 

[Shelby]

View attachment 262489
Found at my local Radio Shack Friday.... $5 LOL

that would look great! I decided to go with restoring the original cause I got tired of sending back stuff what didn't work. LOL

 

[Shelby]

Patina.

ROFL thanks much!