What have you done to your XS today?

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Autoroute Special Build
So much simpler to put the frame on the engine, of course easy peasy without any "accessories".
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Tame That Centre Stand Spring!
Centre stand goes on in a jiffy and no bruised knuckles.
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That'll Do For Today
This may be my second last project, but starting with a bare frame I bought this spring and a BBK engine I put together a few winters ago, I hope to use up a lot of good stuff that's in the shed.
I've spent a few afternoons in the past month cleaning a set of wheels, sorting out a decent pair of forks, painting a swing arm and so on.
Onward!
 
Back at it again tonight...
- disassembled and went through the carbs again, no fault found, reassembled, bench-synched and reinstalled. The only change was to raise the needle clip to Position #2, as I found it when I first dissembled the carbs.
- drained the full tank via the petcocks into a clean basin to look for water and/or debris. Gas was clean, but I noticed that the right petcock flowed slowly at first, then only dribbled while the other was still flowing. Aha, maybe not a smoking gun, but definitely not normal. Dissembled both petcocks and found them to be full of swarf (some debris but mostly corrosion of the pot-metal petcock body). The filter screen on the right one was definitely obstructed. Blew out the tank, reinstalled the petcocks and the tank on the bike.
- no fire-up tonight... it was past midnight and pouring rain. Ready for idle adjustment and synch.
- Found the pre-load on the rear springs to be at its lowest setting. Reset it to max preload to see if it will prevent the bottoming-out experienced on the first run.
More to follow...
Tuning and test ride today under sunny skies... Eureka, looks like the petcock issue was the smoking gun!!!
Bike idles smoothly at just over 1000 rpm. Pulls strongly up to 4000 rpm and then gets a little flat, but without drama... it takes it a while to get from 4000 to 6000 rpm, but then takes off very strongly to redline. Feels almost like a two-stroke coming on the pipe. Working on that flat-band next.
 
Well yesterday and today.... Removed the engine, cleaned, sanded the frame around the engine and repainted , replaced all the top end gaskets, freshened up the cyls, cleaned and lapped the valves. Cleaned and re-zinced the engine bolts and loosely bolted the engine back in the frame.
 
Well yesterday and today.... Removed the engine, cleaned, sanded the frame around the engine and repainted , replaced all the top end gaskets, freshened up the cyls, cleaned and lapped the valves. Cleaned and re-zinced the engine bolts and loosely bolted the engine back in the frame.
Very busy, well done 👍
 
Well yesterday and today.... Removed the engine, cleaned, sanded the frame around the engine and repainted , replaced all the top end gaskets, freshened up the cyls, cleaned and lapped the valves. Cleaned and re-zinced the engine bolts and loosely bolted the engine back in the frame.
You must have an air conditioned garage. Nice work.
 
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Autoroute Special Gets Heavier
Added the side stand, the small triangular engine mounts, got it up on the lift table, added swing arm and shocks, put in the battery box, mounted the brake arm and connected the rear brake switch to it, moved the 2 other projects back in and started to prep the rear wheel for install.
Good enough day for an old guy.
 
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Autoroute Special s a Roller
Spent some time cleaning generations of chain lube out of my shiniest of two chain guards, went to put it on and it had the shock cut out for a Standard. Instead of fighting it, I used the other one which just happened to be for a Special but wasn't as pretty.
I suppose at that point, given it was on the centre stand, I should have switched to working up front to add on forks, wheel and so on.
Installed the rear wheel and snugged it then went to the front to lift it up level and of course the centre spring did its magic. Got the thing stabilized without further incident or strain. Fortunately my wife consented to place the scissor jack under the motor mount on a piece of 4x4, plus swing the stand back in place so all was well.
A few more hours and see the result.
Tomorrow: making a tail light from leftovers, finding my roundest head light shell.
 
Ignition question. I recall from long time ago that there were aftermarket ignitions systems available for bikes that, while they originally had battery, were running with no battery. I'm not speaking of a magneto. Obviously this is technically possible. Is anyone aware of such a thing for the XS650's? (yes, battery is legally required, more or less, call me badboy) At one time bikes with no battery were pretty ordinary. The lights dimmed and flickered at idle. My street tracker would be happy with no battery, I assume some sort of capacitor circuit, first rotation charge the cap, second triggers spark. Like a lawnmower.
 
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Autoroute Special s a Roller
Spent some time cleaning generations of chain lube out of my shiniest of two chain guards, went to put it on and it had the shock cut out for a Standard. Instead of fighting it, I used the other one which just happened to be for a Special but wasn't as pretty.
I suppose at that point, given it was on the centre stand, I should have switched to working up front to add on forks, wheel and so on.
Installed the rear wheel and snugged it then went to the front to lift it up level and of course the centre spring did its magic. Got the thing stabilized without further incident or strain. Fortunately my wife consented to place the scissor jack under the motor mount on a piece of 4x4, plus swing the stand back in place so all was well.
A few more hours and see the result.
Tomorrow: making a tail light from leftovers, finding my roundest head light shell.
Impressive assembly speed on display here! Its obviously possible, but always a challenge for me to get that much uninterrupted time; no email. phone calls, domestic duties, parental demands, uninvited visitors, honey-do's, honey dont's, forgotten social obligations and what-nots!
 
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Well, the Lawn Got Cut
Or Plastic Inner Fender Goes on First
The rear fender is from an '80 up - the license plate mount makes a nice bracket fir a proper taillight. Not sure if a trailer light is that, would rather have something a bit more compact.
Headlight and handlebar clamps need a coat of paint.
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