New (to me) XS1B

[blackknightwhosaysni]

The seat is in surprisingly good shape. There are no tears; just a little rust and dirt.

The side covers look okay. It seems to just be some surface rust other than a crack in one of the brackets, which should be salvageable. I think that there is some of the original paint color on the underside of the covers.

 

[jpdevol]

It looks pretty bad; a lot of rust and the remnants of what looks like a liner of some sort.

I hope the vinegar works for you - it would if it was just the rust. I agree that looks to be an old failed liner coating - along with rust - and it may take more extreme measures to remove: acetone first, if no success a paint stripper containing methylene chloride. The failed liner must be removed completely first, then you can move on to normal de-rusting and cleaning. Hopefully, no pinholes appear during the process.

 

[gggGary]

"I have no mechanical experience beyond oil and brake pad changes"
Cough, cough.
This bike will be a money pit.
Are you prepared for that?
If not, the time to stop is now.
If it needs to be sold, together and complete, even in rough shape, will bring best value. Once it's boxes of parts few will be interested other than those looking to part it out.
I'll admit it; I can't figure out what the heck I'm looking at here.
But looks like something? got thrashed...........

 

[Adamc]

I agree with gggGary, this is a full on ground up resto even to get a riding bike. I'm competent but no full time restorer; I'd sell on as a complete unit and look for something better to start with. It will cost buckets in time and money. If your enthusiasm falters after any difficult patches it may never be completed. Total commitment for this one, me thinks.

 

[Raymond]

I also agree with Gary - can't figure out what I'm seeing but it almost looks like somebody has dropped a spoonful of loose hex nuts into the gearbox.

You would need a bucket load of work, patience, money and resilience to complete the journey this bike looks like it wants to take you on. My feeling is move this one on and look for an easier project.

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

That is my experience as well. As someone who has spent a lot of loot on reconstructing/"restoring" cars and now an old Yamaha, it can be an endless money pit. You appear to be starting with a very hurt old bike. I appreciate it is quite cool, but there are others just as cool which are running today and you can buy them running today.
I'm certain everyone making these comments is doing so with the best intentions for you.

 

[Wingedwheel]

If it’s getting scary, I’ll swap you a ‘77 that needs work but nothing on that scale….

 

[Grewth]

Here are some pictures of the inside of the tank. It looks pretty bad; a lot of rust and the remnants of what looks like a liner of some sort.

View attachment 226583View attachment 226584

Here's a picture of some of the old gas and debris that poured out.

View attachment 226585

I have the tank filled with vinegar. I plan to agitate the inside surface of the tank with a drain cleaning brush and then some shaking with a chain. I'll post some after images. I'm guessing I'll need a lot of iterations of the process.

I'm not sure what is best for removing the loose gunge in the tank, but vinegar or other acids probably won't strip out that failed tank liner.
MEK is the stuff you want apparently, Methyl Ethyl Keytone ?
Eats old tank liner for breakfast.
The trouble is it will also eat that quite respectable paint job you have, unless you can find away of sealing the MEK inside the tank.
Once you've got the troublesome liner out of the way, you can start killing the rust, and find out if there are any pin holes right through the metal.
As for your engine needing some serious work, well yes, that's quite a serious setback, which could cost loads to fix.
Or you could simply chuck a later engine in there as a tempory measure.
Not something that would impress the purists, but it would get you rolling until a genuine XS1 type engine (or bits) turn up at the right price.
Even in rip-off Britain, a dealers price for a used late engine is around £500 if you haggle, less if you find one privately.
I'm sure there must be plenty about in the US.

 

[txxs]

The early bikes are worth a lot when in original condition and they are my favourites.
This one has a lot missing (instruments, shocks , pipes, chain guard etc). I tend to think it would take a lot of money to restore / fix and is probably not an economic proposition. If you want an early XS, it may possibly be better to buy a running early bike that is original or near original even if it costs $5000 or even $7000 or whatever, it would be cheaper than fixing this bike. I'm not sure if you are aware of the cost of early parts, or the difficulty of finding them. Having said that, I'm not trying to discourage or offer advice, just hoping to alert you to the costs involved, and potentially avoid a money pit.

 

[gggGary]

PS it's likely those aluminum bits in the cylinder are the remains of a stripped out spark plug thread.
Round numbers add $2K and 200 hours of labor to a get a bike that RUNS and can be ridden with some reliablility. it'll still be ugly.
Add ANOTHER $3-4K and LOTS of labor to get to a good looking, "restored" early bike.

 

[jpdevol]

PS it's likely those aluminum bits in the cylinder are the remains of a stripped out spark plug thread.
Round numbers add $2K and 200 hours of labor to a get a bike that RUNS and can be ridden with some reliablility. it'll still be ugly.
Add ANOTHER $3-4K and LOTS of labor to get to a good looking, "restored" early bike.

That doesn't scare me, but I've got the addiction bad and a full arsenal of equipment to do it all in-house. Everything from couple thousand $ in Neway & Goodson valve tools to a Vapor Blaster Cabinet (all required here)

 

[Wingedwheel]

PS it's likely those aluminum bits in the cylinder are the remains of a stripped out spark plug thread.
Round numbers add $2K and 200 hours of labor to a get a bike that RUNS and can be ridden with some reliablility. it'll still be ugly.
Add ANOTHER $3-4K and LOTS of labor to get to a good looking, "restored" early bike.

Says the man who knows……

 

[Adamc]

That doesn't scare me, but I've got the addiction bad and a full arsenal of equipment to do it all in-house. Everything from couple thousand $ in Neway & Goodson valve tools to a Vapor Blaster Cabinet (all required here)

Spot on JP, the tools cost as much as the bits you want to remove / replace. Expensive if you only restore one bike........

 

[blackknightwhosaysni]

Thanks for all of the feedback and advice. I'm going to push forward with the goal to rebuild the engine. I have the engine off the bike and have (mostly) disassembled the top end.

 

[46th Georgia]

Hello all, I just picked up this XS1B. It's my first project bike. I have no mechanical experience beyond oil and brake pad changes, so I'm hoping to learn a lot. My goal is to restore it to something close to its original condition. It's in a bit rougher condition than I had hoped, but the engine turns. I'm working on pulling off the turn signals (since they are mostly dangling by wires) and then I figured I should do a detailed assessment of exactly what I got myself into. Any recommendation on where to start? The tank has a fair bit of rust, so I figured that would be a good thing to tackle first.

View attachment 225965View attachment 225966

We will only help you if.....you cut down the tallest tree in the forest with.......a herring!

 

[blackknightwhosaysni]

I found something that I'd like to get input on. It looks like there is some damage due to the cam chain rubbing on the GUIDE, STOPPER 2 (256-12241-00-00).

It also looks like the chain ate some into the crankcase. If you look at the top bolt hole in the image it looks like there's some metal missing near where the damage is on the mounting plate for the part in the first picture.

 

[blackknightwhosaysni]

We will only help you if.....you cut down the tallest tree in the forest with.......a herring!

How about...

 

[Jim]

Looks to me like most of that damage (rubbing) is because the previous owner(s) were pretty slack (pun intended) in their cam chain adjustments. I don't see anything I wouldn't put back in and run with it.

 

[Grewth]

I don't think I'd want to reuse that guide again.
But are any new ones available ?
Or does it mean hunting around for a better used one ?
50 year old heat hardened rubber.
Minute particles of aluminium in your oil are less damaging than bits of steel/cast iron, but the latter tends to get captured by the magnets in the filters and sump plugs.
Microscopic aluminum will go through those two gauze filters and circulate until you drain the oil.

 

[Jim]

I don't think I'd want to reuse that guide again.
But are any new ones available ?
Or does it mean hunting around for a better used one ?
50 year old heat hardened rubber.
Minute particles of aluminium in your oil are less damaging than bits of steel/cast iron, but the latter tends to get captured by the magnets in the filters and sump plugs.
Microscopic aluminum will go through those two gauze filters and circulate until you drain the oil.

Well, my saying has always been if you have to remove the engine to replace it, replace it while the engine's removed.

Having said that, there's not really a good option here. Far as I know, no one makes a replacement. NOS sometime show up on Ebay, but then they still have the 50yr old rubber bit on 'em. Not sure you'd be gaining much, even if it's not an old, oil soaked part. Quiet the dilemma.
The rub marks he's pictured are on the front side, opposite the rubber guide piece. So that's evidence the chain was loose and slapping against it. Correct and timely adjustments would minimize that.
To say for certain we'd have to see the rubber side, but again, options are limited.