Paleomechanic
XS650 Addict
Even some of the kits can leak. I work on all kinds of antique engines , I’m finding the Alcohol content in new fuel can play havoc with rubber
I find I have to ask the seller if they are alcohol proof
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What have you done to your XS today?
- Thread starter I am Carbon
- Start date
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- maintenance
I find I have to ask the seller if they are alcohol proof
Well, not on my XS but on my XT. Decided on a late-day ride, brought the bike out and set it on its kick-stand. Kinda loosely straddle the bike, kick it once, twice and it fires and falls over with me under it!!! WTF??? Well, the side-stand broke off at the "clevis" end. Looks like it had been re-welded once before and poorly at that. Had my ride and then did a side-stand rebuild which entailed significant straightening, re-aligning and welding of the clevis and and added 1/4" steel pad under the foot. Touch of spray paint, re-install and its done.
Taffy Gets Looked At:
Following on from the aborted ride, Sunday afternoon I decided to pull Taffy out and fire the bike up.
First I pull the plugs to look at thier condition:
Plugs look a little sooty, maybe a bit rich running.
Plugs back in, Gonzo is installed, and the bike fires up first press with the choke out.
Warmed up and settles to idle @ 1100rpm. Slight and very occasional mis-fire. Exhaust is pushing out a little smoke.
Battery was at 12.4v / 14.2 @ 3500rpm.
No real time to delve in further today; as the landlord has said I can run a cable from the plant room to my unit for mains power.
A 50 metre run of cable through dozens of floor beams took me hours.
Following on from the aborted ride, Sunday afternoon I decided to pull Taffy out and fire the bike up.
First I pull the plugs to look at thier condition:
Plugs look a little sooty, maybe a bit rich running.
Plugs back in, Gonzo is installed, and the bike fires up first press with the choke out.
Warmed up and settles to idle @ 1100rpm. Slight and very occasional mis-fire. Exhaust is pushing out a little smoke.
Battery was at 12.4v / 14.2 @ 3500rpm.
No real time to delve in further today; as the landlord has said I can run a cable from the plant room to my unit for mains power.
A 50 metre run of cable through dozens of floor beams took me hours.
Running OK on the Gonzo suggests the Yamaha igniter has croaked? I wouldn't look at the mixture until the ignition system was sorted out if I were you. Good luck sorting it all. Goldwing, BMW and XS650 all with issues presently?
When Taffy first started the hissy fit over a year ago it was running the Hitachi (Yam) unit. I swapped out to the Gonzo and still had issues. Then found the plugs I had were duff. New plugs seemed to cure things for several rides; so I swapped back to the Hitachi unit for another few unproblematic rides. But on my Three Castles Tour (Just ride thread) it all started again. Im going to change the Reg/Rec as its the only thing that remains from the bikes origonal system.Running OK on the Gonzo suggests the Yamaha igniter has croaked? I wouldn't look at the mixture until the ignition system was sorted out if I were you. Good luck sorting it all. Goldwing, BMW and XS650 all with issues presently?
Good luck with it, there's enough help here to get it finally sorted, as you know.
My 77 650 has a different system to yours, as you know. I got a generic rectifier and a Peugeot/Lada/Lucas regulator. Both off eBay. I made new sub harnesses for them both and for less than ~25 quid all done. So far, it's been the best thing I did on the entire bike.
All the best.
Took my XS to a car/moto show on Sunday and she developed some new squawks that needed addressing.
So I fixed a few, like a broken wire, loose mirror and an incorrectly routed throttle cable.
The biggest problem I found was that the digital speedometer kept intermittently cutting out and eventually reset itself to factory defaults. How, I haven't got the faintest clue.
So off with it, bring it in, hook up to a square wave generator and run it up to proper mileage (and set it to mph).
The intermittent cutting out was caused by an overly stretched power wire that I fixed and now it's all good again.
So I fixed a few, like a broken wire, loose mirror and an incorrectly routed throttle cable.
The biggest problem I found was that the digital speedometer kept intermittently cutting out and eventually reset itself to factory defaults. How, I haven't got the faintest clue.
So off with it, bring it in, hook up to a square wave generator and run it up to proper mileage (and set it to mph).
The intermittent cutting out was caused by an overly stretched power wire that I fixed and now it's all good again.
FrankS
XS650 Addict
While working on finding a short in the wiring, I'm waiting for the mail to deliver a carb float from ebay, and a bare metal gas tank for my 1978 xs650 Special. To match the new tank, I'm stripping the paint off the side covers. I'll clear coat the tank and panels after a mild scrub. I don't want to say polish. Going for a bare metal look. This pic is after 3 applications. Did 3 more and am ready to finish tomorrow after I get some steel wool Side covers were painted black. The bike was originally red.
Almost finished
Side covers and tank, bare metal. (oiled)
Almost finished
Side covers and tank, bare metal. (oiled)
Last edited:
New for 2024
The headlight switch was getting sticky on the XS1, and the associated high beam switch was also iffy (in high beam position the head light would occasionally go out). Figured it was time to take the assembly apart and clean/relube it. Having worked on something like this before, I disassembled it in a plastic tub, lest one of the small springs, clips, detent balls, etc. got a notion to fly off. It was full of 50 plus years of old grease and dirt, which was all removed and replaced with new grease. All the contacts also needed cleaning. I also took the time to replace the gray plastic sheathing that covers both sets of wire bundles. The old sheathing was dry and cracked, and someone at some point had taped them up and painted the tape gray - they looked pretty dodgy. Switches work perfectly now and the new sheathing looks great.
FrankS
XS650 Addict
Where do you get this sheathing?
Vintage Connectors has it in various diameters:
https://www.vintageconnections.com/products/copy-of-black-pvc-sleeving
Great folks to deal with, I've purchased several sizes of vintage connectors and sheathing from them in the past...pretty quality stuff.
FrankS
XS650 Addict
I've disconnected the turn signal cancel box. Where do I find the stop light monitor thingie?And a few ounces of unwanted weight and 47 year old electronics removed. That's the turn signal cancellation and the stop light monitoring nonsense
View attachment 323157
From memory, at the back of the battery box. Remove the plastic upper section of the rear mudguard (fender) and look at the upper back of the battery box. Just take a look to check, it's a few weeks since I did it and my memory isn't always perfect. Looks like the unit on the right of the picture in this post of mine -
https://www.xs650.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-xs-today.32082/post-835359
Not much time recently for XS650 stuff. This morning I investigated why it felt like the back brake was dragging slightly. Turns out it's not the brake dragging. When I loosen the rear wheel spindle nut, the dragging feeling goes away. When you tighten it, it comes back. There's a number of spacers in the assembly that could lead to preload on the wheel bearings as you tighten the spindle nut. It doesn't drag more as the nut is tightened. So I suspect spacer item number 7 is a little short due to past over tightening. But I think it could be any of the various spacers. I think the drag is enough to lead to premature bearing failure. I think I am going to have to remove the entire rear wheel assembly and rig up a jig where I can tighten the assembly like when it's in the swing arm. Then go through each spacer until I find the culprit. Doesn't sound like an easy fix to me. Bummer. I thought I was getting to the point I could ride this bike
From what you say about the symptoms and your investigations so far, it sounds like your gloomy assessment might be correct.
But hopefully you will land on the culprit early on. I wonder if it might be worth taking a good look at the various components in that area, see if any look damaged, marked, forced, see how they sit next to each other. Do you need a special jig or can you use the swing arm? Plank under the centre stand gives more room, thin planks and wedges can help hold the wheel at needed height? Loosen off slowly, try and feel for probs? Might not take as much time as you think?
Thanks for the comments. Actually, now I think about it, I just need to remove the wheel and brake plate. Leave the chain tensioners off, push the spindle through and fit washers under the spindle nut sufficient to let me tighten the assembly up. If my thinking is correct, tightening the spindle is the same like that as when it is when in the swing arm. I am pretty sure that's going to cause a drag/preload on the bearings like I'm seeing now. Since the drag doesn't increase with nut tightening, I am pretty confident in the diagnosis. What's a bit more difficult then is identifying the culprit component. My money is on spacer piece shown as number 7 on the exploded diagram. I have seen it before where overtightened spindle nut crushes the spacer and causes bearing preload, then early bearing failure.
At the moment, I think the best way to sort this out will be to strip the whole thing right down, refit new bearings and check it all as I go rebuilding it. That's a shame because the bearings in there look new and I just cleaned and greased them then fitted new seals which will now most likely need replacing again.
I said a while ago and it seems true. On this bike nothing is fixed at the first attempt. It always seems to take more than one attempt at anything to get it right.
Looking on the bright side, there's not much left on the entire bike that I haven't already gone through at least twice. I guess that's the risk I took buying a bike with no history and quite obviously been off the road for maybe 15 years.
What would be useful to hear is if anyone else has seen this on an XS650.
FrankS
XS650 Addict
If you think part #7 is slightly squished/shortened, could you add a shim washer to make up for that?
