What have you done to your XS today?

[Catweazle]

Fixed a leaking petcock, had to sand down a fibre sealing washer so the barb would end facing inwards, emery paper wrapped around a piece of flat in the vice then rubbing with my finger. Then went shopping for NGK BP7ES brought 4 for spares

 

[Oldfartaussie]

Fixed a leaking petcock, had to sand down a fibre sealing washer so the barb would end facing inwards, emery paper wrapped around a piece of flat in the vice then rubbing with my finger. Then went shopping for NGK BP7ES brought 4 for spares

Yeah they always tighten up pointing in wrong direction.

 

[Catweazle]

Now honestly who could not love a simple parallel twin combustion engine, finally got her running Ok

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Rode the TX about 150 miles today round trip to the vintage bike show and swap meet in Abbotsford. My two riding buddies had their late '70s Kawis. I didn't see any other XS650s but lots of other interesting bikes, including several side car rigs, Laverda, and too many Harleys to count. First pic is of part of the parking lot, next in the ferry lineup and on the ferry to get home, and a few bikes. We skirted the rain, which was nice. Lots of 40 to 65 mph riding.

 

[Mailman]

Rode the TX about 150 miles today round trip to the vintage bike show and swap meet in Abbotsford.

That looks like a great gathering and a fun day!

 

[kiwi]

Yeah, was a good day, rain held off, and a decent turn out. As usual the best part of a swap meet is the show of bikes outside. My son said they a a lot of bikes on the ferry he was working tsawwassen to Swartz bay, Sunday.

 

[Dom]

Today I tried fitting Magmum+ balancing beads, a cheaper option than dynabeads....for a reason, they don't fit through valve stems! There's a lesson learned.

 

[xs707]

Try as I might I can't get the front wheel balanced without using over 60g of lead, that's with moving the tyre on the rim

I've never bothered with balancing on my XS. Never had a problem. It's not like it's going to do 120!

 

[Dom]

I've never bothered with balancing on my XS. Never had a problem. It's not like it's going to do 120!

True but mine are well out, I'm trying to avoid ugly weights

 

[JAX71224]

Ya know that the better street tires usually are not so far out of balance anyway doncha........

 

[Grimly]

I've never bothered with balancing on my XS. Never had a problem. It's not like it's going to do 120!

The out-of-balance forces start making themselves felt at 60-ish mph. Below that, all they're doing is slowly wrecking your wheel bearings, loosening spokes (if you have them) and wearing out fork bushes and stanchions.
So, nothing to worry about, really.

 

[Dom]

Well I'm not sure where Dunlop K81s rank but they are definitely out of balance but as much as 50g on the front

 

[Dunc]

Well I'm not sure where Dunlop K81s rank but they are definitely out of balance but as much as 50g on the front

Have you tried rotating the tyre on the rim to match up the heavy & light spots?

 

[Dom]

Have you tried rotating the tyre on the rim to match up the heavy & light spots?

Done that, to get from 60g to 50g. On a ride I could feel a slight bobble at 60mph but not much - that was unbalanced.

 

[Adamc]

Nowt, still dry lining the under staircase area……..Sod it.

 

[Toro]

Brought in my cylinders to the machine shop for a second opinion on what size pistons to go up to. Next mission.. buy new pistons.

 

[Oldfartaussie]

I made up my own polish from a couple of small polishing bars I bought at HF, mixed it with paint thinner and put a nut in the bottle of the bottle to agitate it and get the solids back in suspension after it has set for a while. When I started I had about a half bottle of the mix shown attached. I got the idea of the web when I was looking into aluminum polishing tips. Apply with a small soft cotton cloth and wipe off with cotton or microfiber.

Don't use steel wool. It may look good immediately but your scratching the chrome up and embedding carbon bits from the wool into the chrome so sure to rust again quickly.

Maybe half a bar of this green:

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-lb-green-polish-compound-96778.html

and the same of white:

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-4-quarter-lb-white-polish-compound-96780.html Next time I'm going to mix up green and blue.



Some before and after Pictures below and it didn't take much time at all to do it! Does it color again, yes but easy to clean. Subsequent times aren't bad at all to keep it looking good.

After installing the swingarm and with the pipes still off I thought I'd try and clean up the exhaust headers, after years of riding in all weather the chrome was badly heat stained and showing some rust and I wasn't expecting too much.
I was surprised how well they cleaned up by using glennpm's recipe though I did use an old worn down green scouring pad to apply the mixture first, then a few more applications using a soft cloth to apply and polish. I found it dries quickly and took some elbow grease to clean up so I didn't give it time to dry just applied and polished.
To make the mixture I ground the compound on a course rasp to get fine granules, poured into a bottle, added about half a cup of thinner and two 10mm ball bearings and give it a shake. I figured by grinding up the compound I wouldn't need to wait overnight for it to dissolve as glennpm noted in his 2015 post.
Followed it up by using Autosol on a cotton cloth to reduce the scratches from the scouring pad and then Silvo on a microfiber cloth to polish.
I tried using just Autosol and Silvo on the second header but ended up using the mixture on a cloth then the two polish's.

 

[MrBultaco]

Very impressive considering what you started with.

 

[bosco659]

After installing the swingarm and with the pipes still off I thought I'd try and clean up the exhaust headers, after years of riding in all weather the chrome was badly heat stained and showing some rust and I wasn't expecting too much.
I was surprised how well they cleaned up by using glennpm's recipe though I did use an old worn down green scouring pad to apply the mixture first, then a few more applications using a soft cloth to apply and polish. I found it dries quickly and took some elbow grease to clean up so I didn't give it time to dry just applied and polished.
To make the mixture I ground the compound on a course rasp to get fine granules, poured into a bottle, added about half a cup of thinner and two 10mm ball bearings and give it a shake. I figured by grinding up the compound I wouldn't need to wait overnight for it to dissolve as glennpm noted in his 2015 post.
Followed it up by using Autosol on a cotton cloth to reduce the scratches from the scouring pad and then Silvo on a microfiber cloth to polish.
I tried using just Autosol and Silvo on the second header but ended up using the mixture on a cloth then the two polish's.

Looks great. Can you post a link to @glennpm ’s recipe?

 

[Oldfartaussie]

Looks great. Can you post a link to @glennpm ’s recipe?

G'day bosco, sorry I don't know how to post a link, it took me a lot of searching before I found it after googling xs650 exhaust header cleaning.
Found it in the garage titled, How have you cleaned your original headers . Posted by SinisterMatti, June 23/ 2015.
Post 14 is by glennpm.
Recipe is easy, he used half each of the green and white 1/4 lb bars and a small amount of thinner, recommending it be a liquid and not a paste.
I used half the bars and 1/2 cup thinner and it wasn't in the least bit thick, probably could have used less thinner, just be aware it takes some elbow grease to remove any residue .
Glennpm said he did it with light rubbing, mine were in a bad state and I did multiple applications with lots of rubbing but well worth the effort.
Yet to see how it goes after some engine running as I've been too busy to put it back together but I'll post an update once I've had it running.