EarthHeavy
XS650 Enthusiast
Hey guys, the weather is pretty crappy here today and I was going through some photos and decided to share what I have done over the last 18 months for my 79 bobber build.
I bought the bike with 5 engines for $1200 from Maryland. It was a basket case but here’s a couple of pics from the previous owner.
As you can see it was pretty dirty. So I got it to my dad’s shop and stripped everything down. I had no clear plan, just began with cleaning the frame up with a wire wheel and seeing where my intuition took me. One thing I knew was I wanted a very stripped down bike, super simple - so the first thing to go was the battery box.
There was lots of gouging in the frame towards the rear. Someone stripped the paint off the frame but used what looks like a grinding wheel instead of a wire wheel. Flat stripes and nicks all over the place…
Next thing to go was the gussets. I wanted to make my own bc I didn’t like the monster cutout design and I wanted to tuck as much wiring behind there as I could…
And done!
Next step after getting it all cleaned up was getting the rust out of the headstock. At first I thought I’d use a small sand blaster but knew sand would be lodged in there forever so instead I submerged the business end in a tub of evaporust. This stuff melts rust without damaging the parent metal and worked like a charm.
Now onto grinding out the old gusset welds and weld in a backing to hold the new wiring covers. Also added a small cross member to mount the Hugh’s rectifier.
Now I wanted to get creative so I made a small front plate to keep the road crud off the back side of the rectifier and cover the wiring from the front. Just drew up a quick design and went to cutting and filing and fitting until it looked cherry…
I also welded in all the gouges and flat spots along the frame, then filed and sculpted them back down to round with a 120 grist wheel and different grits of sandpaper. Took a few days but you can’t tell there was any of that damage there now tho I didn’t get photos of that process. Next was paint. I used Duplicolor engine paint, brushed aluminum color, and then five coats of 2K clear.
I wanted to run the rear brake line through the inside of the frame along the bottom rail, so I cut and welded small pieces of steel tubing long the inside of the frame rail as well as drilled out the two cross tubes and welded in tubing there to reduce any stress fracture that could happen, so it’s a solid tunnel through each cross tube. I also tucked the wiring for the rear into the frame and had them come into a small piece of brake line I welded in to protect the wiring. Also welded tabs that I made to mount the turn signal - they’re small but VERY bright..
Then I fabbed up the forward controls, turned the pegs on the lathe out of aluminum and mounted the rear master cylinder. It’s all very tucked but that’s how I like it and everything has enough room to work without any hang ups. I used an old tractor wrench that was curved as the lever to operate the brake cylinder. The collar is a chuck of steel DOM tubing that I machined tom slip fit around the peg. A bit crude without bearings but with grease it rides very smoothly and I doubt it will gall for a least a couple of years. By then I’ll have a better solution figured out…
Pics of the tucked wiring. The left switch is lights, the right switch is ignition. No key. Turn signal relays are tiny ones I got from the web, same with the fuses, mini fuses for each circuit. I’m not running a starter, just a small battery for lights which will charge off the PMA…you can also see the coil mount zi made a welded on. Forgive the welds, the machine was running a little bit chunky…
Next was getting the tank and fender painted and mounted along with the wheels and rear brake line. I mounted the batter under the seat and made a new mount for the little airbag for the seat shock. It has about 2-1/2” of travel and I think will work fine for take the bite out of the hard tail. The batter tray is actually attached to the underside of the seat, I’ll post more photos of that later but you can just see it poking out front under the front of the seat in the first photo. It’s a 4 cell and I love it. Plenty to run the lights and turn signals as the engine is kick only and I deleted the starter, and it sit perfectly under the seat and out of view. More on that later…
Don’t have pics of the process but here’s a couple of the first mock up with every on it for the first time. I made the rabbit ears and like them to keep the tucked throttle cable with as few bends as possible…I drilled a hole through each of the handlebar bolts to run the throttle cable on one side and turn signal wiring through the other side. Very clean looking and functional….you get the idea…
In the second pic you can see how the brake line is routed through the frame if you look close.
I decided to use an old pair of my jeans and cut the inseam out of them - then wrapped the pegs with that and then epoxied over it to keep it from wearing through. Will add photos of that process later but you can see the left one already done in the second two pics…
Tank and fender are bare steel with my OK stripe job, matching the color of the frame, then cleared with KBS direct to metal clear, then 2K clear over that the. A rundown with 000 steel wool to give it a matte but smooth sheen. I’m happy with the results…
That’s it for now, I’ll update the thread later this week with the engine build and some other details that I did. I hope y’all enjoy the show and tell!
I bought the bike with 5 engines for $1200 from Maryland. It was a basket case but here’s a couple of pics from the previous owner.
As you can see it was pretty dirty. So I got it to my dad’s shop and stripped everything down. I had no clear plan, just began with cleaning the frame up with a wire wheel and seeing where my intuition took me. One thing I knew was I wanted a very stripped down bike, super simple - so the first thing to go was the battery box.
There was lots of gouging in the frame towards the rear. Someone stripped the paint off the frame but used what looks like a grinding wheel instead of a wire wheel. Flat stripes and nicks all over the place…
Next thing to go was the gussets. I wanted to make my own bc I didn’t like the monster cutout design and I wanted to tuck as much wiring behind there as I could…
And done!
Next step after getting it all cleaned up was getting the rust out of the headstock. At first I thought I’d use a small sand blaster but knew sand would be lodged in there forever so instead I submerged the business end in a tub of evaporust. This stuff melts rust without damaging the parent metal and worked like a charm.
Now onto grinding out the old gusset welds and weld in a backing to hold the new wiring covers. Also added a small cross member to mount the Hugh’s rectifier.
Now I wanted to get creative so I made a small front plate to keep the road crud off the back side of the rectifier and cover the wiring from the front. Just drew up a quick design and went to cutting and filing and fitting until it looked cherry…
I also welded in all the gouges and flat spots along the frame, then filed and sculpted them back down to round with a 120 grist wheel and different grits of sandpaper. Took a few days but you can’t tell there was any of that damage there now tho I didn’t get photos of that process. Next was paint. I used Duplicolor engine paint, brushed aluminum color, and then five coats of 2K clear.
I wanted to run the rear brake line through the inside of the frame along the bottom rail, so I cut and welded small pieces of steel tubing long the inside of the frame rail as well as drilled out the two cross tubes and welded in tubing there to reduce any stress fracture that could happen, so it’s a solid tunnel through each cross tube. I also tucked the wiring for the rear into the frame and had them come into a small piece of brake line I welded in to protect the wiring. Also welded tabs that I made to mount the turn signal - they’re small but VERY bright..
Then I fabbed up the forward controls, turned the pegs on the lathe out of aluminum and mounted the rear master cylinder. It’s all very tucked but that’s how I like it and everything has enough room to work without any hang ups. I used an old tractor wrench that was curved as the lever to operate the brake cylinder. The collar is a chuck of steel DOM tubing that I machined tom slip fit around the peg. A bit crude without bearings but with grease it rides very smoothly and I doubt it will gall for a least a couple of years. By then I’ll have a better solution figured out…
Pics of the tucked wiring. The left switch is lights, the right switch is ignition. No key. Turn signal relays are tiny ones I got from the web, same with the fuses, mini fuses for each circuit. I’m not running a starter, just a small battery for lights which will charge off the PMA…you can also see the coil mount zi made a welded on. Forgive the welds, the machine was running a little bit chunky…
Next was getting the tank and fender painted and mounted along with the wheels and rear brake line. I mounted the batter under the seat and made a new mount for the little airbag for the seat shock. It has about 2-1/2” of travel and I think will work fine for take the bite out of the hard tail. The batter tray is actually attached to the underside of the seat, I’ll post more photos of that later but you can just see it poking out front under the front of the seat in the first photo. It’s a 4 cell and I love it. Plenty to run the lights and turn signals as the engine is kick only and I deleted the starter, and it sit perfectly under the seat and out of view. More on that later…
Don’t have pics of the process but here’s a couple of the first mock up with every on it for the first time. I made the rabbit ears and like them to keep the tucked throttle cable with as few bends as possible…I drilled a hole through each of the handlebar bolts to run the throttle cable on one side and turn signal wiring through the other side. Very clean looking and functional….you get the idea…
In the second pic you can see how the brake line is routed through the frame if you look close.
I decided to use an old pair of my jeans and cut the inseam out of them - then wrapped the pegs with that and then epoxied over it to keep it from wearing through. Will add photos of that process later but you can see the left one already done in the second two pics…
Tank and fender are bare steel with my OK stripe job, matching the color of the frame, then cleared with KBS direct to metal clear, then 2K clear over that the. A rundown with 000 steel wool to give it a matte but smooth sheen. I’m happy with the results…
That’s it for now, I’ll update the thread later this week with the engine build and some other details that I did. I hope y’all enjoy the show and tell!
