Gary you are the king of dislodging stuck/stripped jets!!!
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What have you done to your XS today?
- Thread starter I am Carbon
- Start date
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- Tags
- maintenance
The Bitsa Project
Last week I bought a basket case that came with an extra frame (78 Special) so of course started on that first. I have accumulated lots of spare bits so they are going to be used. The first was a bag of ball bearings which looked about right, but after cleaning them found that I could only fit 16 in the bearing.
So off to a bearing outlet to buy 40 quarter inch ones, like the price, 16 cents a piece.
Kevin Kruse
XS650 Addict
Whipped up some seat hinge pins out of stainless because I lost one and couldn't source new ones anywhere.
Nice job...
Hinge pins and their little cotter pins sort of drive me crazy, so last year I made a quick release skewer, an idea that's buried in one of my build threads:
Kevin Kruse
XS650 Addict
Darn it!! I wish I saw that before I made those.. 
I really like that, I agree those pins can be kind of fidgety.
Well I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow.. Thanks!
I really like that, I agree those pins can be kind of fidgety.
Well I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow.. Thanks!
With the leaking head and base gasket I just kinda “picked” at things whenever I had a minute in the garage
she’s sitting on the bench awaiting new engine gaskets
If you’ve never pulled the engine on a 70-73 it’s a little fiddly. It helps to pull the breather and horn.
she’s sitting on the bench awaiting new engine gaskets If you’ve never pulled the engine on a 70-73 it’s a little fiddly. It helps to pull the breather and horn.
the 71 "Great Bear", all the head threads came out with one of the exhaust valve cover studs.
Three hours later....
Mikes valve covers and o-rings? replaced with fat silicone o-rings don't need to over tighten those.
all buttoned up now. Valves were fine, cam chain very loose.
Got 135 both sides, getting closer to firing it up.
Three hours later....
Mikes valve covers and o-rings? replaced with fat silicone o-rings don't need to over tighten those.
all buttoned up now. Valves were fine, cam chain very loose.
Got 135 both sides, getting closer to firing it up.
On the edge of my seat....
Picked at it a little more today. Engine has maybe 1200 mi since I built it 10 years ago. The age of the gaskets was working against me. I probably won’t replace the chain with that low of miles but I do have another chain guide I may throw in there.
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Kevin Kruse
XS650 Addict
New chain and trying out 31t sprocket, and gave some things a good spit shine. Also put some leather conditioner on the new bags.
Starting putting her back together and after installing the pistons pins I reached for…..Crap! My brain didn’t register I needed 256 clips. Might not get done this week…I always use new clips, especially this time. One went flying to the far recesses of the garage when I was removing them. 
Ordered from Partzilla.
Ordered from Partzilla.
Installed a more compliant rubber mount for the flasher unit. Previously, with the engine running, vibration was making the unit flash at wierd intervals. Now it's just fine so definitely a vibration related issue with the CF14 flasher unit.
It starts with a bath. We’ll see how far I get.
Sky King
XS650 Addict
Tracked down an open circuit in the headlight shell, boy they stuff a lot of wires in there! I made and installed baffle plates for my cocktail shaker style mufflers to help with increasing the exhaust gas scavenging and to quiet them down a bit until they get replaced by a different style altogether.
SolidGhost
XS650 Enthusiast
Pulled off my rusty, dented front fender then cleaned up and installed this fork stabilizer from 2%er (Japan).
Pat D
XS650 Addict
Hah! I used 16p nails, and some creatively twisted coat hangar wire to make a loop for the cotter pin to catch.
Pat D
XS650 Addict
So. All I wanted to do was get some repop rear turn signals, I wanted fresh and shiny and don't need NOS for this application. Anyway, all the red lens versions are/were sold out. No prob, I've got at least 4 red lenses on hand, so I get the repops with orange lenses intending to simply swap the lenses. Oh no. The screws will not come out. Snapped the first one, so I took my time with the second, working it back and forth slowly, getting a little further each time, til it snapped. So now if I want to save these repops, I gotta get the remains of the screw out, or at least turn it into a hole for a new screw. Ended up cutting off a bit of the boss with a Dremel wheel to create a flat surface to drill into. Took a few hours, but I was able to create new holes and run fresh screws in. (All the time taking great pains not to scratch up my shiny new bits!) Great! But wait, there's more! I wanted to re-use my mounting studs, the hollow all-thread, as the new ones would need to be cut, too long. But- the bullet connector on the repop lights won't fit through the original stud. So, having brand new set of bits handy, I reamed out the studs rather than replace the bullet. "Sometimes I just feel like doin' stuff like that!" Anyway, all's well that ends well. I got shiny new red signals. Just took too long! Next up-install my new stainless cam shaft plugs.
Attachments
Great Bear the 71 got a test tank on, then fired and ran first kick! ( I haven't done thing to the carbs beyond a visual throttle cable sync.
I needed to get it off the lift so..
I could do a round of maint on Old Paint; valves cam chain carb sync check idle mix setting etc.
Then got (un) screwed.
Stuck screws just flock here to be relieved. 7 screws undone for Chuck.
Finally, out for a sunset ride.
for testing purposes only, and make a mental list of Paint's todo's that still need to doing.
and pfft the weekend is over.
I needed to get it off the lift so..
I could do a round of maint on Old Paint; valves cam chain carb sync check idle mix setting etc.
Then got (un) screwed.
Stuck screws just flock here to be relieved. 7 screws undone for Chuck.
Finally, out for a sunset ride.
for testing purposes only, and make a mental list of Paint's todo's that still need to doing.
and pfft the weekend is over.
Cool Nash!
I fitted a cheap voltage meter to the handlebars a couple of weeks ago and noticed that it started at 13.5v but would sink below 12.5v, especially after a 30 minute ride. It was only cable tied as a temporary mounting point, I may look into a more permanent location and thinking about replacing it with a dial one that is more in keeping with the looks of the round clocks. If you look carefully you will see that they misspelt Voltmeter, it says VolFmeter which really doesn't fill me with confidence LOL. I used the feed and earth from a coil so that I'd know what voltage the coils were getting.
Today I modernised the charging system with a new rectifier & regulator.
My run of bad luck with ebay sellers continues, after a lot of searching I saw an adjustable regulator and ordered it, only when it arrived it was a none adjustable type that was available (same price) from a dozen other sellers. When I contacted them they said that the adjustable one was no longer available and offered to refund if I sent it back. Didn't see the point sending it back as I would have bought the non-adjustable one if I hadn't seen this one anyway. I see today they have changed the advert to the non-adjustable one, so no point in me giving a link.
The rectifier took a while longer to be delivered and finally arrived yesterday. I needed to grind down the male connectors to fit the female spade connectors and I used some heat sink compound when mounting it to a plate of aluminium (cut from a scrap piece). I used 14 AWG cable which is probably overkill, the original cables look to be about 18/20 AWG.
Now getting 13.5v at tickover and 14.3v at anything above 2,000rpm so they are doing a good job so far. The regulator just fits in its current location with about 1-2mm gap in the bottom corner from the side cover.
Today I modernised the charging system with a new rectifier & regulator.
My run of bad luck with ebay sellers continues, after a lot of searching I saw an adjustable regulator and ordered it, only when it arrived it was a none adjustable type that was available (same price) from a dozen other sellers. When I contacted them they said that the adjustable one was no longer available and offered to refund if I sent it back. Didn't see the point sending it back as I would have bought the non-adjustable one if I hadn't seen this one anyway. I see today they have changed the advert to the non-adjustable one, so no point in me giving a link.
The rectifier took a while longer to be delivered and finally arrived yesterday. I needed to grind down the male connectors to fit the female spade connectors and I used some heat sink compound when mounting it to a plate of aluminium (cut from a scrap piece). I used 14 AWG cable which is probably overkill, the original cables look to be about 18/20 AWG.
Now getting 13.5v at tickover and 14.3v at anything above 2,000rpm so they are doing a good job so far. The regulator just fits in its current location with about 1-2mm gap in the bottom corner from the side cover.
