MikeyDeepXS
Livin’ in XS
I was thinking I ought to start a thread about my xs650 because it’s a work in progress and I seem to be running into one problem after the next, but also solving one problem after the next largely thanks to the discussions/information here at xs650.com
So a bit of back story,
The xs650 was probably the 5th or 6th bike I bought in a year’s time(if you’re reading this and THINKING of buying your first old yamaha, BEWARE; motorcycles are like magnets, or drugs, there’s a certain attraction or addiction that can take hold!).
First were the xs750 triples, then a couple viragos, depending on how you count it, at least one partsbike triple, then the XS650.
I bought this bike from a guy who jumped the title(of course, is that not to be expected with old motorcycles??) as he never had it running, but I foolishly thought it was a good deal because for $500 a complete XS650 with a title might be a great deal. Then again, it may or may not be, considering the amount of problems that might need to be resolved on a bike that’s sat for a very long period of time.
So best I can figure, it sat for about 20 years because the tag on the plate said 05.
The patina was heavy duty on it, and the filth, omg the filth!
The good news was, it seemed pretty complete, showed low milage on the odometer(less than 6k), good compression(150psi), factory airboxes, a decent seat and had some “upgrades”:
Spoke rims
Accel harley dual coil
Steering stabilizer
Front fork brace
Chain oiler
The bad news was:
The tank had been left full of fuel for 20 years as well as the carb bowls and I’m gonna guess the petcock didn’t exactly hold a perfect seal all that time.
Additionally, the chain oiler worked a little TOO well, and the rear of the bike was covered in thick coagulated oil and dust
Also it had sat outside(or not well sheltered)for a good portion of the time it hadn’t been running and the elements took their toll on the aesthetic of the engine(heavy patina) and rusted/oxidized some things(not that badly in the grand scheme of things, but enough to keep this bike from ever being a showpiece again) including the steel parts of the rotor, stator and slip rings.
Finally, I wouldn’t find this out until a while later, but I think the straw that broke camel’s back so to speak, and left the bike not running to begin with, was the ignitor unit had been fried from some bad caps and possibly a resistor as well.
So I started cleaning and working on it over some time. I removed the carbs after a while and changed oil, checked compression, and eventually I got around to checking for spark.
Let me tell you, I had some really erratic sparking, and I knew something must be wrong, so i went down the rabbit hole of learning about the 81’s ignition system. I tested the pickup coil using an oscilloscope and got some nice clean periodic waveforms, so I kinda figured at that point that I had an ignitor issue.
That lead me to researching and finding the gonzo box solution, which I am very grateful for this forum having lead me to that.
After buying the gn250 box and doing the wiring mods(and cleaning/rebuilding the carbs) I was able to fire the bike up from a gas can set on a shop table with fuel siphoning to the carbs.
That gave me enough hope and motivation to clean the fuel tank, and start investigating the electric system in depth. Eventually I just kinda said screw it, and decided to rewire basically everything in my own way, which wasn’t without it’s problems.
I still need to make up a schematic for what I did, because it’s definitely custom, but incorporates elements from the factory wiring(like the safety and headlight relay) with my own twist on things from suggestions I had read on a XS750/850 group I was part of on “the book”(it’s better without the face)
So I have a relay that feeds the ignition system with battery power through shorter wiring and doesn’t rely on going through the connections of the keyswitch and kill switch and the resulting potential for voltage drop.
I think I also used that relay to feed the regulator so that the charging system gets a bit more juice directly from the battery to power the rotor coil.
But also, being a bit paranoid about that relay failing out on the road somewhere, I did add a “hotwire” option in my fuse block that would bypass the relay and the ignition switch and killswitch to give the ignition and regulator power directly from the fuse block, if the relay were to fail out on the road somewhere far from service.
So anyway, here was my to do list before my first ride, and I have since done a few little test rides, but I keep running into issues/problems, and this forum keeps helping me solve them through the knowledge of various members…
So I want to say a big THANK YOU to all the contributors. I really appreciate all that you have done to help out and create the amazing spirit of this community!
This was my main checklist before a test ride, although some of it got a bit mixed in order and some things got added after I got to ride for the first time on this bike.
Xs650 work to do:
- [x] Change oil filters & sump plate gasket
- [x] Clean interior fuel tank
- [x] clean carbs
- [x] Install petcock
- [x] Install fuel line
- [x] Install crank breather line
- [x] Clean and oil air filters
- [x] change oil
- [x] Clean exterior tank
- [x] Troubleshoot headlight
- [x] Fix blinkers
- [x] Clean contacts on handlebar electronic controls
- [x] Clean/lube ignition switch
- [x] Swap front handlebars
- [x] Install new front brake master
- [x] Install new handgrips
- [x] Install mirrors
- [x] Install rear wheel
- [x] Install(mount) starter solenoid
- [x] Install ground wire
- [x] Install fuel tank
- [x] Install new carb boots
- [x] Lube clutch cable
- [x] Install ignitor module
- [x] Check oil drain plugs for leaks
- [x] Install new fuse panel
- [x] Install battery & cover
- [x] Clean/rebuild front brake calipers and T
- [x] Install front brake lines
- [x] Test blinkers and headlight
- [x] Adjust shifter
- [x] Test drive and wash
- [x] Replace stator brushes
- [x] Finish rewire
- [ ] Tighten rear brake arm(shit! I still need to do that!!!)
- [x] Install new rubbers front brake pistons
- [ ] Swap front fender if possible(not gonna happen, not the same fender as the parts/project triples)
- [x] Lube speedo cable
- [x] Bleed brakes
- [x] troubleshoot rectifier
- [x] Re-ground & hot rectifier
- [x] Bundle/ziptie wiring
- [x] Ziptie fuse panel
- [x] Test charging system
- [ ] Wash again(still needs more cleaning)
Xs650 problems:
Finding neutral(resolved thru clutch adjustment)
Starter engagement(not gonna worry about this)
Battery draining(resolved)
Fuel cap vent clogged(resolved)
Lean condition/hesitation on full throttle(next on the chopping block)
Pictures to follow…
So a bit of back story,
The xs650 was probably the 5th or 6th bike I bought in a year’s time(if you’re reading this and THINKING of buying your first old yamaha, BEWARE; motorcycles are like magnets, or drugs, there’s a certain attraction or addiction that can take hold!).
First were the xs750 triples, then a couple viragos, depending on how you count it, at least one partsbike triple, then the XS650.
I bought this bike from a guy who jumped the title(of course, is that not to be expected with old motorcycles??) as he never had it running, but I foolishly thought it was a good deal because for $500 a complete XS650 with a title might be a great deal. Then again, it may or may not be, considering the amount of problems that might need to be resolved on a bike that’s sat for a very long period of time.
So best I can figure, it sat for about 20 years because the tag on the plate said 05.
The patina was heavy duty on it, and the filth, omg the filth!
The good news was, it seemed pretty complete, showed low milage on the odometer(less than 6k), good compression(150psi), factory airboxes, a decent seat and had some “upgrades”:
Spoke rims
Accel harley dual coil
Steering stabilizer
Front fork brace
Chain oiler
The bad news was:
The tank had been left full of fuel for 20 years as well as the carb bowls and I’m gonna guess the petcock didn’t exactly hold a perfect seal all that time.
Additionally, the chain oiler worked a little TOO well, and the rear of the bike was covered in thick coagulated oil and dust
Also it had sat outside(or not well sheltered)for a good portion of the time it hadn’t been running and the elements took their toll on the aesthetic of the engine(heavy patina) and rusted/oxidized some things(not that badly in the grand scheme of things, but enough to keep this bike from ever being a showpiece again) including the steel parts of the rotor, stator and slip rings.
Finally, I wouldn’t find this out until a while later, but I think the straw that broke camel’s back so to speak, and left the bike not running to begin with, was the ignitor unit had been fried from some bad caps and possibly a resistor as well.
So I started cleaning and working on it over some time. I removed the carbs after a while and changed oil, checked compression, and eventually I got around to checking for spark.
Let me tell you, I had some really erratic sparking, and I knew something must be wrong, so i went down the rabbit hole of learning about the 81’s ignition system. I tested the pickup coil using an oscilloscope and got some nice clean periodic waveforms, so I kinda figured at that point that I had an ignitor issue.
That lead me to researching and finding the gonzo box solution, which I am very grateful for this forum having lead me to that.
After buying the gn250 box and doing the wiring mods(and cleaning/rebuilding the carbs) I was able to fire the bike up from a gas can set on a shop table with fuel siphoning to the carbs.
That gave me enough hope and motivation to clean the fuel tank, and start investigating the electric system in depth. Eventually I just kinda said screw it, and decided to rewire basically everything in my own way, which wasn’t without it’s problems.
I still need to make up a schematic for what I did, because it’s definitely custom, but incorporates elements from the factory wiring(like the safety and headlight relay) with my own twist on things from suggestions I had read on a XS750/850 group I was part of on “the book”(it’s better without the face)
So I have a relay that feeds the ignition system with battery power through shorter wiring and doesn’t rely on going through the connections of the keyswitch and kill switch and the resulting potential for voltage drop.
I think I also used that relay to feed the regulator so that the charging system gets a bit more juice directly from the battery to power the rotor coil.
But also, being a bit paranoid about that relay failing out on the road somewhere, I did add a “hotwire” option in my fuse block that would bypass the relay and the ignition switch and killswitch to give the ignition and regulator power directly from the fuse block, if the relay were to fail out on the road somewhere far from service.
So anyway, here was my to do list before my first ride, and I have since done a few little test rides, but I keep running into issues/problems, and this forum keeps helping me solve them through the knowledge of various members…
So I want to say a big THANK YOU to all the contributors. I really appreciate all that you have done to help out and create the amazing spirit of this community!
This was my main checklist before a test ride, although some of it got a bit mixed in order and some things got added after I got to ride for the first time on this bike.
Xs650 work to do:
- [x] Change oil filters & sump plate gasket
- [x] Clean interior fuel tank
- [x] clean carbs
- [x] Install petcock
- [x] Install fuel line
- [x] Install crank breather line
- [x] Clean and oil air filters
- [x] change oil
- [x] Clean exterior tank
- [x] Troubleshoot headlight
- [x] Fix blinkers
- [x] Clean contacts on handlebar electronic controls
- [x] Clean/lube ignition switch
- [x] Swap front handlebars
- [x] Install new front brake master
- [x] Install new handgrips
- [x] Install mirrors
- [x] Install rear wheel
- [x] Install(mount) starter solenoid
- [x] Install ground wire
- [x] Install fuel tank
- [x] Install new carb boots
- [x] Lube clutch cable
- [x] Install ignitor module
- [x] Check oil drain plugs for leaks
- [x] Install new fuse panel
- [x] Install battery & cover
- [x] Clean/rebuild front brake calipers and T
- [x] Install front brake lines
- [x] Test blinkers and headlight
- [x] Adjust shifter
- [x] Test drive and wash
- [x] Replace stator brushes
- [x] Finish rewire
- [ ] Tighten rear brake arm(shit! I still need to do that!!!)
- [x] Install new rubbers front brake pistons
- [ ] Swap front fender if possible(not gonna happen, not the same fender as the parts/project triples)
- [x] Lube speedo cable
- [x] Bleed brakes
- [x] troubleshoot rectifier
- [x] Re-ground & hot rectifier
- [x] Bundle/ziptie wiring
- [x] Ziptie fuse panel
- [x] Test charging system
- [ ] Wash again(still needs more cleaning)
Xs650 problems:
Finding neutral(resolved thru clutch adjustment)
Starter engagement(not gonna worry about this)
Battery draining(resolved)
Fuel cap vent clogged(resolved)
Lean condition/hesitation on full throttle(next on the chopping block)
Pictures to follow…
by doing the dishes, vacuuming and dusting.
like they came from the factory with that many metal shavings or something 
️ uh oh 
