Just a few tweaks to get it running :-) ........got a bit carried away !!! XS650 Makeover

[lchris21]

I never thought of laying a battery down like that, I assume it must be a gel / glass mat type?

yeah most are these days

 

[lchris21]

Back to the Blue Peter cardboard stuff for some top engine mounts....

Excuse the extra holes....its the only bit of plate I had left

 

[dobbslc]

Following this one again
Can't wait for each installment!
Yam's are the best

 

[lchris21]

Next up the exhaust........................

Decided on using a silencer I had lying around from a previous project. First job was to trim a bit off then split a bit of tube to sleeve it to the correct size.

Rigged up my cordless drill and small rotary table and just melted the bits together.

 

[lchris21]

Speedo and headlight next for mounting......both would fall by the wayside later on. Wasn't really happy with the position of the bracket holding it all on

Good thing about these project.....chop and change..........as long as the bank balance allows

 

[lchris21]

Front brake next........

the original caliper was a bit tired so decided a little upgrade was in order. Brake disc of a Ducati 916, and the front caliper off a Honda VFR somat???..............Just needed to fabricate a spacer to marry them all together..

Bit of jiggery pokery with the X and Y axis of the mill at the same time, or as I like to call it......manual CNC and a bit of filing...... sorted.

 

[lchris21]

Next up was the tank...................or as I renamed it due to its colour and shape............ "the banana"

The banana had unfortunately had a hard life and was full of dents and creases. I spoke to my painter who assured me that he could sort it, as long as I removed some of the damage!!! These tanks were fitted to 70's off road bikes and its rare to find one, let alone one without any dents

Rather than cut off the bottom completely, after a I could reach what I could through the various openings I decide to seal it up, pressurise it and apply some local heat with my blow torch. A nice localised oxy/acetylene would have been nice but I only got a Rothernberger plumbing lamp, so that had to do...

After a bit of heating, banging and prodding, plus welding up a few pinholes I got most of it out.............even though cosmetically it looked worse

 

[lchris21]

 

[lchris21]

Before removing the engine and trying to plan ahead I set about marking up which brackets and misc ironwork would not make the final cut. If it ended up with orange marker......it was time to say goodbye

 

[lchris21]

The bike was getting lighter and lighter but the scrap bin was getting heavier and heavier......next up was the particularly nasty swing arm with its "add on" brace.

The welding was pretty poor on the home made brace and the design meant the chain was rubbing on it at certain parts of the suspension movement.

A rethink was required....

 

[minimutly]

Dreadfully unsafe welding there - reminds me of my trike before I cut it up.
I'm impressed with your welding " rotater", I'll have to try that.

 

[lchris21]

Back to the tail/seat/rear hoop......

Decided to relocate the ignition module and starter solenoid, and also provide a bit of under seat protection from spray etc. Out with the cardboard for a bit of Blue Peter stuff.

Also knocked up a bracket to hold the M-unit box of tricks for the wiring..

 

[lchris21]

Apologies for the disjointed thread order, but I'm going through my pics as and when I worked on the various bits....

id left the rear swing arm for a few weeks, before deciding on its fate.....

First job was to remove that nasty brace and see what I was up against.

 

[lchris21]

Out with the bender, and a slightly wider version should eliminate the rubbing problems. few bits of extra tubes welded in for aesthetics and I was much happier.

Its mostly cosmetic on this bike as it ain't no BHP frame twisting monster

 

[lchris21]

 

[lchris21]

Next up, the seat pan.....

had to make a seat base, ready for when the shaping of the foam takes place. Strips of masking tape to get the shape then transferred this to some 1mm alloy sheet. Knocked up a couple of bobbins to secure it to the frame and fixed in place. Also layered in some more GRP to give it a bit more rigidity

 

[lchris21]

After all that fiberglass and seat stuff, it was time to get back some good cutting and welding....

The side stand was a joy of pigeon crap welds and washers stacked up, along with a bent piece of re-bar!!

Needed to tidy that up, so cut off all the crap and started a fresh with some bits of steel I had lying around...

 

[lchris21]

70's Japanese bikes were still a little rough around the edges....a bit like the chinese stuff of today. So I set about tidying up some of the welds and brackets, filling in here and there, ready for the powder coating stage.

Early

 

[jordan1]

I wish you luck with tuning the twin Mikuni carbs, notorious.

 

[dobbslc]

^ you want to try tuning the Hitachi ones on an XV750......