New Bestest Friend! My first xs650

[Johnt3]

Today my new favorite person came into the shop and gave me a 1978 xs650 special.
We've done work for this customer before and he had a tank from his 1965 Suzuki he wanted repainted. We started talking about bikes and I asked him if he knew of any xs650's around and to my surprise,he said he had one he would give me. He's got three different bikes he's working on and said he didn't have time or space to work on it. He told me the guy he got it from had installed a new set of points and couldn't get it running after.
Got the bike to the shop,have no keys as of yet.Just washed it off and made vroom vroom
noises so far.It cleaned up good, Gas tank is beat up,but the engine is pretty clean.Hot wired it and it turn over,battery died but can't get to it because I Have No Keys. I'll try and get some pic's tomorrow. Like I said My New Bestest friend.

 

[Ghetto]

Free 650's are the best 650's.

 

[Johnt3]

Dang Skippy.Blew my mind.I even asked if he was sure he didn't want some money,....
I was thinkin' dumbass he said free!

 

[XSJoel]

Congratulations to you man. It sounds like the guy took a liking to you, ain't nothing wrong with that.

 

[Johnt3]

Thanks.Going back tomorrow to see if he found the keys.Real talkative guy.
His '65 Suzuki is nice. Gonna have to see if I can find a paint code for it or have to match
up something for his tank.

 

[Johnt3]

Alright,I just tried to set my points and no luck.I must be a dumbass cause I'm really lost on how to set them. I tried the guide I found on the forum and no luck. Any help would be much appreciated. By the way the points are new.

 

[burns]

Free 650's are the best 650's.

RUNNING free 650's!!!

here's a useful link for you http://www.biker.net/650parts_index.html

BTW I once had a heck of a time getting my points igntion '75 to fire. turned out the wire coming off the backing plate had a break in it that was hidden by the insulation.

That experience led to my first PAMCO purchase,

 

[Johnt3]

Ha ha.Yeah I'm gonna try to get to the shop today to work on it. The shop is 30 miles from my house. Not whining or anything.Downloaded some good instructions yesterday so I'll just sit down and try again.Patience is not one of my virtues,must be from all the paint fums I inhaled in the old days. As soon as I get a chance I'll get the bike home. Yeah,was looking at the Pamco kit already.I've seen them on Mikesxs.Would you suggest the basic or full kit?

 

[burns]

Ha ha.Yeah I'm gonna try to get to the shop today to work on it. The shop is 30 miles from my house. Not whining or anything.Downloaded some good instructions yesterday so I'll just sit down and try again.Patience is not one of my virtues,must be from all the paint fums I inhaled in the old days. As soon as I get a chance I'll get the bike home. Yeah,was looking at the Pamco kit already.I've seen them on Mikesxs.Would you suggest the basic or full kit?

you have a points bike so you have the spark advance hardware and should need only the hall affect module, coil/wires, and caps if your stock stuff is in good shape.

 

[Johnt3]

Thanks. Thought the full kit was probably the way to go.Well I'm off to the shop to test my patience.

 

[Johnt3]

Nope didn't go to the shop today.Wife had a hissy. I'll try tomorrow during lunch hour.

 

[Unfocused]

My wife is the same as yours. Shop time is getting slimmer and slimmer these days.

 

[Johnt3]

Man! I just want to get the bike running.Hope to get it home soon.

 

[Johnt3]

Well I got the initial timing set I think.Took the tank off to drain it and remove the petcocks so I can clean the screens so no fuel yet.The lower set of points was tweaked and were not closing.Had me thinking twice before I found the problem.

Here are some pictures of the bike when I picked it up.

 

[XSJoel]

Dude that thing looks AWESOME! For free I was expecting a bucket. You lucked out, good on you.

 

[Johnt3]

Yeah me too,The guy told me he had a 650 he'd give me and I expected a pile.Can't wait to get her running.

 

[XSJoel]

Yeah, if a guy told me that, I would be expecting an XJ.

 

[Johnt3]

Huh Huh!

 

[Johnt3]

Well today I got the tank and screens cleaned.The screens looked pretty clean already.Pulled the carbs to drain them and installed new hoses and filters.Put some fresh gas in and tried firing the bike,it still backfires out of the left side. I'm stumped.
Like I said the lower set of points were tweaked and were not closing until way after
the timing mark.The top, Right side points are setting perfectly so what the hell is going on with the Left?
As the setup instructions say to start with the Right side first do you rotate the engine once counter clockwise to do the left side points? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Johnt3]

It LIVES!!! After some searching on the forum, I figured I'd try switching the wires to
the points and she fired right up. Ran for a little while to warm up. Now for some parts,

Carb rebuild kits
Pamco setup
Repair manual,What should I get a Haynes Service Manual or Clymer Manual?
Oh, and a front tire. It's pretty scary lookin'.
I want to say without this Forum I would've been screwed. Thank you for the Help.