XS2 Survivor resurection.

[GLJ]

Made a trip to Chicagoland today. Picked up a XS2. It looked very nice in the couple of pics in his add. Well i made a deal with him. The bike didn't really disappoint me. Some things were not as good as I hoped, some were better.
The good: Title numbers match the frame and motor. The chrome is in good to very good condition. It starts and runs with the E-start. It's hitting on both cylinders even.Sounds like the carbs just need gone through.The butt ugly seat is a reupholstered stock seat. Looks like it has had decent care. No rust on the chain, looks like it's been lubed a lot. Brakes seem to work OK. MC cylinder for the fronts wasn't froze. It had oil in it, not going to check trans until I change it. Compression feels good. Gas tank inside is not great but not horrible. Good cleaning and keep it full of fuel, it should be fine. Exhaust looks stock, not a 100% sure as I am not real familiar with stock exhaust. Left mirror is Yamaha, right mirror is Yamaha but may not be correct. Overall it's 96.5% there.
The bad: Not a lot. All things considered I think it was a good buy.
The ugly: Nothing really. But it does cause a problem. What to do with it?
My grand plan has been to have 3 XS2s. My original that I bought in 1976, a nice survivor and a little bit of a custom XS2, and maybe a 4th XS, later model frame performance type. I've been collecting parts for the survivor and custom for a few years. I have enough parts to almost build both right now. So what do I do with this? I occurred to me driving back, this is a perfect survivor bike. Left side cover got it. Seat no problem have several choices there. Missing damper parts got them too. I'm going to make this the survivor and daily driver. My original will still be my favorite but save it for trips. Plus build the custom. Win Win.

I'll update this post when I start on it. Remember spare parts are good to have. Never know what you might need or when you might want to do another project. Going next week to get more.
I need to add Thanks @gggGary. Not sure why you didn't jump on it, but I'm glad you didn't.

 

[Mikey]

Made a trip to Chicagoland today. Picked up a XS2. It looked very nice in the couple of pics in his add. Well i made a deal with him. The bike didn't really disappoint me. Some things were not as good as I hoped, some were better.
The good: Title numbers match the frame and motor. The chrome is in good to very good condition. It starts and runs with the E-start. It's hitting on both cylinders even.Sounds like the carbs just need gone through.The butt ugly seat is a reupholstered stock seat. Looks like it has had decent care. No rust on the chain, looks like it's been lubed a lot. Brakes seem to work OK. MC cylinder for the fronts wasn't froze. It had oil in it, not going to check trans until I change it. Compression feels good. Gas tank inside is not great but not horrible. Good cleaning and keep it full of fuel, it should be fine. Exhaust looks stock, not a 100% sure as I am not real familiar with stock exhaust. Left mirror is Yamaha, right mirror is Yamaha but may not be correct. Overall it's 96.5% there.
The bad: Not a lot. All things considered I think it was a good buy.
The ugly: Nothing really. But it does cause a problem. What to do with it?
My grand plan has been to have 3 XS2s. My original that I bought in 1976, a nice survivor and a little bit of a custom XS2, and maybe a 4th XS, later model frame performance type. I've been collecting parts for the survivor and custom for a few years. I have enough parts to almost build both right now. So what do I do with this? I occurred to me driving back, this is a perfect survivor bike. Left side cover got it. Seat no problem have several choices there. Missing damper parts got them too. I'm going to make this the survivor and daily driver. My original will still be my favorite but save it for trips. Plus build the custom. Win Win.

View attachment 197257
View attachment 197258
View attachment 197259View attachment 197260
I'll update this post when I start on it. Remember spare parts are good to have. Never know what you might need or when you might want to do another project. Going next week to get more.
I need to add Thanks @gggGary. Not sure why you didn't jump on it, but I'm glad you didn't.

Nice bike ! Lucky you

 

[GLJ]

You probably didn't notice it in the pics above but there is some subtle pin-stripping on the tank. I didn't notice it till I got the bike home. It's not painted on but whoever did it did a better job than I could have ever done. I actually think it's cool looking.

 

[gggGary]

I wanted you to have it, cuz you were kinda miffed I let mine go to Bowling..........

 

[Jan_P]

Always a chance buying. Part of the adventure
Price and Plans and Time and Parts .. Is that 40000 miles on the odometer
if so it can need work in the not so distant future.
Looks fine.

 

[GLJ]

Always a chance buying. Part of the adventure
Price and Plans and Time and Parts .. Is that 40000 miles on the odometer
if so it can need work in the not so distant future.
Looks fine.

31,847. Not worried about that. I like rebuilding these engines. I will check how far the cam chain has stretched when I service it. Also compression and a few other things. Since I have a set of 2nd over pistons and matching cylinders with 3,000 smiles on them left over from making my original XS2 a 750 they now have a future home if needed.

 

[willis]

Nice score! That one had been popping up on my FB marketplace radar. I recognize it from that magnificent seat!!!! Looks like you got a good deal. It’s weird how these bikes are valued. You either see roached out pieces which should be parts bikes for 6-800 or some pretty nice complete bikes for 1200-1600. It’s frustrating trying to find a reasonable donor bike. Like you, I have parts to makeup 75% of a bike, but I don’t have funds to go deep enough to get what I need. I guess it’s a waiting man’s game. Sorry to sidetrack. Will be looking forward to follow along with this.

 

[GLJ]

Interesting thing is the guy I bought it from was at a friends of his house and saw it. He asked his friend what he was going to do with it. The guy said make a brat out of of it. He didn't want that to happen to a classic. So he worked out some kind of a trade. Now the seller I got it from normally makes HD and Honda brats or bobbers, he's in Chicago hot market for that stuff. He knew that the bike was too good to chop up. Was going to get it in shape and keep it. Except he has run out out of storage room recently. Somethings have to go. Since stock is not his thing the XS2 had to go. He was very happy to know it would not be hacked up.

 

[WideAWAKE]

You probably didn't notice it in the pics above but there is some subtle pin-stripping on the tank. I didn't notice it till I got the bike home. It's not painted on but whoever did it did a better job than I could have ever done. I actually think it's cool looking.
View attachment 197263

Bike looks great!! - nice score!

Added pin lines look like crap haha. Weeble wobble weeble wobble… (maybe it’s just the pic)

 

[GLJ]

Bike looks great!! - nice score!

Added pin lines look like crap haha. Weeble wobble weeble wobble…

Thanks. As far as the pin lines they look good to my eye. Plus it's going to be a survivor. It needs a few warts.For a 70's bike I thought it was subtle and done tastefully. Could have been worse.

 

[WideAWAKE]

Thanks. As far as the pin lines they look good to my eye. Plus it's going to be a survivor. It needs a few warts.For a 70's bike I thought it was subtle and done tastefully. Could have been worse.
View attachment 197269

Hahah definitely worse!!!

 

[GLJ]

I wanted you to have it, cuz you were kinda miffed I let mine go to Bowling..........

Was not all miffed! Just would have liked a chance at it! I just hope he does a full blown restoration with it. I've seen the tins. They deserve nothing less.

 

[Jim]

Interesting thing is the guy I bought it from was at a friends of his house and saw it. He asked his friend what he was going to do with it. The guy said make a brat out of of it. He didn't want that to happen to a classic. So he worked out some kind of a trade. Now the seller I got it from normally makes HD and Honda brats or bobbers, he's in Chicago hot market for that stuff. He knew that the bike was to good to chop up. Was going to get it in shape and keep it. Except he has run out out of storage room recently. Somethings have to go. Since stock is not his thing the XS2 had to go. He was very happy to know it would not be hacked up.

Sounds like a classy guy.

 

[GLJ]

Update on the bike.
Things just don't always go as planned. Wanted to warm it up, change oil in it, pull the rear wheel off to check the brake shoes and just kind of check it over before riding it to check the clutch and trans. Started it up it ran for a minuet and died. Sounded like it ran out of gas also would only hit on both cylinders with chock on. No luck restarting, added some gas in case it was out. No lucks! OK time to start trouble shooting. Took out the drain plug on left carb. Drip, drip with tank on reserve. OK I said to myself warm as your going to get. I'll change oil and check other things out.
On with the oil change. Drain plugs came out with no drama. Plugs had no rounded corners on them. Just covered with typical road grime. Oil looked excellent. Like what you would expect if you changed the oil before putting in storage.Went to remove sump cover, socket doesn't fit right. Get the light and look at them. They are safety wired! Cleaned drain drain plugs and there's holes in them for safety wire. Cut the wire off of the sump bolts and dropped it. 1 tap with a brass drift and it was off. Cool. The bolts holding the sump filter on were also safety wired. @Jim did you own this bike at one time. I doubt you had it Jim as it was wired incorrectly.

Finished oil change and did a compression check. 145+ both sides, Cool with a capital C. Cam chain adjusted correctly, can tell by looking at adjuster it's stretched. Didn't check valves as they sounded ok enough to test run. Removed rear wheel to check brake shoes. Wanted to make sure the linings were not de-laminating from the shoes. They looked fine. Back together with the rear wheel. Called it a day. No hurries no worries.
Next day hook up the nurse bottle of gas and run the motor. Got it to run but would only hit on both cylinders with chock on. Hmm. Carbs need cleaned. Was hoping to run it to check trans and clutch and save other stuff for later. Bike had a different agenda. Air boxes and carbs off. Didn't strip carbs down all the way to replace throttle shaft seals. Did pull the jets. Trip through the ultrasonic, time to inspect and reassemble. Diaphragms good, floats good no leaks. Left carb had 2 problems. Pilot jet plugged and float pin bent. No problem. Had a spare new pilot jet and a float pin from a spare carb. Reassembled and installed carbs. Hot damn, started and ran on both cylinders.
Noticed it cranked over like the timing was too far advanced also looked at de-compressor. De-compressor was still being used. Backed off cable to neuter it. Started better but still seemed to be too far advanced. Put a timing light on it and I was right too far advanced. Also noticed the didn't change at all with RPMs. Another Hmm. Popped the point and advance covers off and got a surprise. No points. It's got a PAMCO. Early one no advance. Checked the advance side, weights look funny, not copper looking. Everything locked solid there. Figured advance shaft had never been lubed and was stuck. Removed it and it looked brand new. Lubed it reinstalled. Same thing. Remember something about Mikes replacement shaft not being right. Removed one from a spare motor and compared. Sure enough shaft was shorter. Put in spare shaft and all is good with the advance. restarted bike set timing and it sounded great. Almost ready to ride.
Since I had the tank in my no hurry 7 to 10 day cleaning process I thought I would look it over better. More on that in next post.

 

[GLJ]

Pic of the PAMCO. It will get replaced with a Boyer down the road.

 

[Jan_P]

Locking washers for the weights missing ???

 

[GLJ]

Locking washers for the weights missing ???

The e-clips were missing. The weights are not Yamaha. Probable were changed with the shaft. I didn't worry about the clip as I only wanted to take a short test ride. If you think about it where are the weights going to go?

 

[GLJ]

While going through the steps I looked the bike over. I think the first owner took good care of it. Along with the pin striping it has some subtle mods. The front fender has a tail. Never seen one on a XS2 before. Notice the 4 plastic rivets. Nice job of installing it. I like it.

He had some kind of tape on the tank to keep the seat from rubbing the paint off of the seat. Common thing on them. It worked!

Also when I looked at the carbs I saw something strange. The red arrow points to a hose going to the left carb that is tapped like the right carb like the fitting a little lower and left in the pic. I'm thinking for balancing the carbs as the earlys had no taps in the boots.

The spark plugs in it are interesting. Heat range and size HHB, brand on the base "spark plug". Kind of a surprise as everything thing else on the bike seems to be good stuff. No pics but it has a DID riveted O-ring chain. Whoever had it early in it's life seemed like they took decent care of it.

 

[GLJ]

Fast forward to today. Finished tank, installed and went for a 1/4 smile ride on my street (no tail light or plates). Runs good, clutch and trans work just fine. Over the winter tear it down and rebuild for a daily rider!
I'm sure I'll run into a few unexpected challenges. What fun would it be if you didn't! It will be a survivor. Seat has to go!!!

 

[gggGary]

Good work! Where'd you find a nice bike like that?