Name this Thread! 1972 XS2 project

[DogBunny]

The time has finally come to announce this project. Back in April of last year I was whining about the sad state of my "win some, lose some XS1B project." As a consolation, Forum member Vincenthdfan graciously offered up this 1972 XS2. Mostly complete, fairly good-looking, and engine has 105 psi Left and 125 psi Right. Work on it begins now.

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[Jim]

Name this thread?
If it's what I think it is, how 'bout "The Obstinate XS."

 

[Mailman]

Tell us a little about your plans for it?

 

[DogBunny]

Name this thread?
If it's what I think it is, how 'bout "The Obstinate XS."

It is what you think it is, and I'll reveal the meaning of your thread title suggestion when the time comes. But no rush! This will be a another slow project to pair with my two XS1B projects.

Tell us a little about your plans for it?

It looks nice as is, but that's a little deceptive. It has some cosmetic flaws that disqualify a full-on restoration. I'll explain in another post.
So, my goal is a very nice-looking, stock-looking XS2 that anybody except the picky would be proud to be seen on.

 

[BowlingSS]

Looks a lot better than most of the XS2’s I have rebuilt.

 

[Team Junk]

Judy likes the color

 

[DogBunny]

Looks a lot better than most of the XS2’s I have rebuilt.

Looks can be deceiving, but it's true that I am not going to have to spend a lot of time cleaning this one up.

Judy likes the color

Too late. The side covers are long gone -- I have better donors, and those are all Bondoed-up. Will end up your basic normal XS2 red and white.


Here it is loaded up in Olympia WA, ready to begin the trip to Austin.
Shipping was booked through uShip. In my responses to the first couple of high shipping offers that I got, I explained that open transport was fine, and that what I was really looking for was someone who was hauling a trailer or something to Texas on a hitch, who'd have an empty pick-up bed. That's exactly what I got. My low-ball offer was $450, and I very quickly got a bid for $500, which I accepted. Just good timing. Both the shipper and I were happy. With taxes and uShip fees, my final shipping cost was about $600. Pretty good for starting in a remote location and traveling half-way across the country.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Looks can be deceiving, but it's true that I am not going to have to spend a lot of time cleaning this one up.

Too late. The side covers are long gone -- I have better donors, and those are all Bondoed-up. Will end up your basic normal XS2 red and white.

View attachment 342998View attachment 342999
Here it is loaded up in Olympia WA, ready to begin the trip to Austin.
Shipping was booked through uShip. In my responses to the first couple of high shipping offers that I got, I explained that open transport was fine, and that what I was really looking for was someone who was hauling a trailer or something to Texas on a hitch, who'd have an empty pick-up bed. That's exactly what I got. My low-ball offer was $450, and I very quickly got a bid for $500, which I accepted. Just good timing. Both the shipper and I were happy. With taxes and uShip fees, my final shipping cost was about $600. Pretty good for starting in a remote location and traveling half-way across the country.

I’ve shipped a dozen or so bikes through Uship and always have been happy with the delivery (and price).

 

[Mailman]

Name this thread….

DogBunny’s XS2, All my XS live in Texas

 

[Vincenthdfan]

Yeah, I had big plans to make that bike all original for a while, then one that was already complete popped up locally and put this one on the back burner for far too long. I'm glad to pass it along so someone will finally resurrect it.

 

[DogBunny]

I’ve shipped a dozen or so bikes through Uship and always have been happy with the delivery (and price).

A half dozen for me, and I've always been happy too.

Name this thread….

DogBunny’s XS2, All my XS live in Texas

View attachment 343020

You are winning.
Actually, what I'm really looking for is someone to buy the naming rights to this thread. For example, "The Bank of America XS2 Resurrection." Or "The Home Depot XS2 Build." Maybe even "The George Strait 1972 Exes XS2." You, or your business' name at the top of the thread for a very reasonable recurring fee.


Here are some of the aesthetic issue that preclude this becoming a full-on restoration. The forks have been chromed. I've never seen that before (except, of course, for 1970-1971 which are factory chromed). The chrome on the forks is a little bit tarnished and pitted -- I tried hand-polishing, no change -- but still, doesn't look too bad.
The engine case covers have also been chromed. I've seen this twice before -- both were pretty badly tarnished. These aren't too bad, but you can see on the left side cover (above) that there is a big splotch in the center where the chrome didn't take, or got polished off, or something, exposing the underlying layer of nickel plate (?). Looks fine from a couple of feet away.


The engine has been painted. Was painted in place, with a brush, somewhat sloppily. This can be cleaned up, improved, and fixed. Based on compression test, the engine should run. My hope is that it doesn't smoke. The goal is to get it running right, make it look very good, and all without ever removing the engine from the frame.


The top of the cases have also been painted. Painted silver, again, with a brush, somewhat sloppily. With eye-catching Paint by Jim, no-one's going to even notice this.


Exposed areas of the frame have been sloppily brush painted too.

Yeah, I had big plans to make that bike all original for a while, then one that was already complete popped up locally and put this one on the back burner for far too long. I'm glad to pass it along so someone will finally resurrect it.

Having said all that, I am NOT complaining. Thank you Vincent, I am very glad to have this bike!

 

[DogBunny]

This may seem like a case of putting the cart before the horse, or a trivial matter, but since 10 months ago, I walk past this bike dozens of times a day, and each time I am greeted by these two offensive holes that a previous owner put in an otherwise nice-condition rear fender.


Much better. This is a self-adhesive 3-D emblem that I bought years ago on AliExpress for no particular reason other than they were incredibly cheap at the time. They are quite a bit more expensive now, but still cheap.

 

[DogBunny]

Putting the cart before the horse, continued.
Rear fender stay after refurbishing.

The problem was these holes. Normally I'd just cover this with silver-colored tape and move on. However, the whole early rear fender/stay is janky and prone to cracking in various places, and needs all the help it can get, so I decided to fix this the right way.

Filled in with stainless steel MIG wire by a friend.

After belt-sanding the weld smooth and polishing. There was a small low spot in the weld, now revealed in the finished repair.

Same thing on the other side.

Welded, sanded, polished.
The stay is chrome, and the weld is stainless steel, so not sure if I need to clear coat over it. I'm going to let it be and see what happens.

Both of the mounting eyes were cracked. Given time, these eyes will always have cracks, and eventually they will completely break off. This is after repairing the cracks -- the stainless steel MIG repair was made on the rear of the lug.