My first XS650

[Rexxis]

This is my first build ever.

I bought my bike from forum member Patches, he's out of Kansas and is a nice guy to deal with. I picked up a roller from him after he picked up like 11 bikes at once, heres the thread: http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8637

I gave $750 for a roller w a set of carbs and a title.

Currently it looks like this

I'll try to keep this pic current.

 

[Maddog Marty]

Good luck, Rexxis...may the force be with you. Keep us posted...lots of photos and progress reports. Love the avatar by the way (if that's what you call your galloping horse thingie..).

 

[azman857]

Looks like your off to a great start. Make it yours. We'll help where we can. Take lot's of pics, please.

 

[Rexxis]

I just got my Elswick tail in a few days ago and finished my engine jig and engine stand up today.

Looks like I'm almost ready to hardtail the thing..

 

[Rexxis]

Lotsa engine parts sittin' here on my desk waiting on me, top end fastener kit, case cover screw kits for both sides, cam chain tensioner, sump filter, carb rebuild kits, starter delete kit, pamco ultimate + advance kit, seals and gaskets, and a bunch of other little stuff.

I started cleaning up my carbs to find that someone had used liquid gasket on the float bowls and overdid it bigtime, most of it seeped to the inside not the outside when they put the bowls back on and they decided to use a homemade cardboard gasket as well.. but only on one side.. wtf. Nasty gummed up fuel in every nook and cranny, they are looking pretty good now though. Im nervous to really tear these things down all the way but I have the rebuild kits w all the new jets and needles and stuff, I'm just worried abt gettin them back in tune, I'm gonna do it though, it will likely be a learn as I go experince w help from http://www.amckayltd.com/carbguide.pdf and my Haynes manual.

Oh, and what I think are the main jets(?), the ones that screw into the bottom of the bowls, umm yeah, they wont budge, like at all. Is there something going on that I'm unaware of? I think someone might have locktite'd them in there bc I gave 'em all I had and they aren't loosening. And I managed to impale my palm w the flathead pretty nicely in the process. Stupid.

 

[Rexxis]

Plans: Keeping the footpeg mounts Fong style, stock hubs, drum rear brake only, 18" rear and 21" front, Coker Firestone rear and Avon Speedmaster front, peanut tank mounted medium frisco style, ribbed rear fender, windowframe-ish bars, footclutch/suicide shift(eventually, probly not right away), internal throttle, Black frame, cases, jugs and head, polished wheels, hardware, valve, ignition and crankcase covers, paint on the tins, hmm, thats the important stuff I guess.

Here's the inspiration for my build, kinda what I'm going for:

This would be my num 1 favorite bike if it had a legit paintjob and a real seat, when I first decided to have a go at a xs I thought I wanted to go with a rust/patina look but after a while I changed my mind.

http://www.xs650chopper.com/2010/01/migbaron-kustoms-120-beers/


And throw these bikes in there too and stir..

Anybody know where I can find a bio on this bike? It belongs to Jasin Phares and I think it's called the Blue Moon Panhead.. All I can find are pictures of it, no info.


If you don't know how to find this one then well..


I want to kick my exhaust up in the rear like Migbaron's bike but want to try to avoid having my pipes run unparallel to each other along the lower frame rail like in this pic.




And I plan on making my fake oilbag to look like the one on this tonouchi bike, I like the way it looks like a stock piece and the way it flows into the frame instead of looking like a big bulky thing bolted there.

[URL="http://www.bikeexif.com/yamaha-xs650-bobber"]http://www.bikeexif.com/yamaha-xs650-bobber

Here's what I'm currently thinking on paint, ol' school but keepin' it simple. I'll probly change my mind before I get to that point though.

http://speedmetalcycles.blogspot.com/

That's it for now

 

[Rexxis]

Thanks Marty and Azman! Lot more pics on the way

 

[Rexxis]

Had some trouble today, the drain plugs on my carbs were seriously boogered up and stuck, I couldn't get 'em out for anything, but after a couple of hours I figured it out. I'm glad I did because there was lots of nasty residue behind them that was blocking the main jets.

Here's a link to the thread I started while looking for advice:

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?p=109847#post109847

 

[508xs650]

good luck mate!
mine will start going under the knife very soon, i can't wait!

 

[jamesgs4]

looks like a good plan so far. you are right, that blue moon pan is beautiful

 

[Rexxis]

Well, this thread will be slow for the next three weeks. Headin' to the lake this weekend through next. Maybe I can hardtail the following weekend. Stay busy guys!

 

[Rexxis]

Hey guys. I got a chance to work on the bike today. I got the rest of what used to hold the seat and tail light hacked off. So I'm going Fong on this bike so I had to chop around the peg/swingarm bracket, which I'm gonna start calling the peg brackets from here on out.

Here's what I did today

Mock up

Cutting the bracket away from the lower rails was kinda tricky, I ended up just cutting through the peg bracket in a straight line with the top of lower rail end chopping straight through the lower rails abt half an inch in front of the brackets. Since I cut straight across in line w the top of the framerails, I now have a gap I'll have to fill between the brackets and the new lower rails.
See imgs below to make some sense of what I just said.

Oh, and the lower rails were bent outward a lil just behind the lower engine mounts. My bike says its a '79 on the headtube but the electronics are '80s according to the TC Bros site. Anyway, I don't know if the lower rails are bent out or not on earlier bikes but I had to move mine inward to mate up w the hardtail. I heated them both and squeezed em in just a little so that the hardtail plugs would slide in.



Then I had to start chopping down the top of the tubes that the peg brackets are welded to and start coping them to accept the upper rails of the hardtail. They don't line up exactly centered, the peg bracket tubes are spaced a little wider than the top tubes of the Elswick tail. I might heat em and bend em a lil but there's not much more than a nub to bend so maybe I'll just oval the outside of the tubes in so they are more in line w the top rails of of the hardtail

Also, it seems that the top rails are longer than they should be bc when I started fitting up the tail, the plugs in the lower rails weren't going more than 1/4'' into the lower rails. At first I was like "OH SHIT, I cut off too much of the lowers!" but then I realized the backbone plug wasn't centered on the lower crossbar, it was sitting way forward so I breathed a sigh of relief. I'm gonna hafta shorten the top tubes of the hardtail until the lowers come together and the backbone plug sits more centered on the lower crossbar.

 

[Rexxis]

If you haven't yet, check out http://www.dutchman-photos.com cause the dude takes amazing photos of bike and car culture, surf and skate culture, and all kinds of other amazin' stuff.

 

[Rexxis]

Ran into a serious issue today, tried to kick the motor over and it wouldn't budge. PO told me it kicked over just fine but, stupidly, I never tried to kick it over myself until today. Needless to say, not good things are abt to folllow, see for yourself.

I'm taking the pistons and jugs into the cycle shop on tues to see what they think, hopefully it will just need a hone job and rings.

 

[Rexxis]

Cylinder after some phosphoric acid and a toothbrush

Looking like I'm not gonna get away with just a hone job. I took the cylinder block into a local shop and got a free honing but as you can see, I'm gonna have to have the cylinders bored at least one over plus new pistons and rings.

While the top end is apart I plan on lapping my valves and replacing valve seals, cam chain guide looks brand new so I won't be replacing it. I'd like to flush my engine completely using kerosene but I will have to lug the damn thing back down the stairs and into my car(w the top end off!) and back to my work where I could do something like that, so I just don't think it's gonna happen. I'll have to change the oil several times in the first month or so once the bikes running.

 

[XSJoel]

Interested to see how it turns out. I look forward to getting mine back on the road and making big plans for it.

 

[Rexxis]

Hardtail is tacked on! Still gotta weld it out though.

You can read abt my opinion and others opinions as to the fit up of the Elswick tail here: http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7695&page=7

Not a perfect fit but worth it for the best looking tail out there.. IMO.

Here's how I went abt the process:

1. Basic trimming of the frame as described in previous post.

2. I tacked four short posts made of square tubing to the table around the front loop so that it couldn't spin/turn/move at all while fitting the tail. Next, I set the hardtail in place and snugged it up into the front loop. Then I pulled my tape from the headtube to centered marks I made at the rear of the axle plates (like in the pic below) to get the tail in line with the front loop. Then to hold it in place I tacked two more pieces down beside the lower rails of the tail so that it couldn't spin/turn/move. The pieces of square tubing have to be VERY tight against the frame so that it can't wiggle or move at all for them to serve their purposes. See pic below to make sense of the words above..

3. I then laid my level across the tops of the lower frame rails of the front loop to make sure it was sitting level on the table. Next, I laid the level across the tops of the axle plates to make sure my reading matched the front and that the tail was level.

4. Then I remeasured everything... like a zillion times to be sure!

5. Next I tacked everything together. I put two tacks on each joint, 180* of each other.

That's as far as I got that night. When welding the tail out be sure that you keep it in some kind of jig (in my case, the pieces of square tubing) so that it can't pull to the left or right as the welds cool. Also be sure to jump left to right, back and forth with your welds. Don't make multiple welds on the left side of the frame and then jump to the right side and make several welds, as your frame will inevitably be pulled to one side or other at the rear. Also, as most of us already know, either leave your engine in the frame or use an engine jig so that your motor mounts will line up when you go to put the engine back in.

Whew, the hard part is almost over!

 

[Rexxis]

While I had the head off, I figured I'd clean it up a lil. I've never done any porting before and all my knowledge abt it came directly off the web. That being said, I didn't go very far with the porting, basically cleaned up all the inconsistencies.

I had planned on a 2nd over bore to fix my siezed cylinder issue but I decided to go a different route.
Seven fiddy kit(!) arrived along w a couple other odds and ends.

My spare room has been taken over by an exploded engine

Once I lapped my valves I started trying to reinstall them using my homemade valve spring compressor. My tool is far from perfect and the first valve too me abt 25 mins to get back in but by the time I got to the last one it only took me abt 2 mins. Slight learning curve for the tool, screwdriver required to push the spring around to get the collets in.
Then I started putting everything back together.

I picked up a Wassel peanut tank this weekend for $90, it saved me some money bc I had planned on buying Lowbrow's repop for $160. Plus its authentic

The filler neck is pretty fug so I bought Seven Sin's Keyhole flush mount filler neck and their ball style brass petcock set.

After I get the filler neck welded up I've gotta do something abt the left side of the tank, it looks pretty rough. I've got a couple different ideas on how to get the dents out. I'm gonna try dry ice first but I kinda think it's not gonna work bc the sheet metal is a little too thick. If it doesn't, then I'm gonna tack some rod in the middle of the dents and make a slide hammer to try to pop 'em out. After that, I'll smooth it all out w some body filler and hopefully be ready for paint.

 

[xs650nutt]

nice work dude! started tearing into my engine today, and it seems for once(in my case)the po wasnt bullshitting! so far the cam lobes and rockers are well in spec! ill get down to the pistons tomorrow good luck dude!

 

[Beau]

Hello fellow Polo Player!

Nice job!