xs650 bobber

My journey to build a Yamaha xs650 bobber M/C

lately…

haven’t had any photos worth posting. but have been rewelding the frame. ground out all the old welds and found a couple of broken and barely attached ones. started squirting in new metal from my lincoln buzz box but had a hell of a time getting the welds to look decent. after about half of the welding was done, realized I should turn it up 10 more amps and have been getting better results. grinding the new welds makes them look pretty good even if there will be a few undercuts and small slag pockets. it’s very difficult to make a stick weld look great even at the best of times. i’m getting very close to finishing all the welding and then will have a round of grinding and flap disking and probably touch up a few welds and regrind too.

trying to decide if I’m going to reassemble it and ride it to see if the frame needs any more work, or just get it powdercoated and reassemble. I need to add a few more tabs/pieces to support the battery, the electronics box and probably also a rear fender. don’t know if I’ll run a rear fender or not, but feel like I should plan on one anyways.

will post some photos soon as I can get something worth looking at.

been grinding down cr*p welds on the frame and trying to dial in my welder to reweld it. did some cr*p welds myself and now have to grind out. *banghead*

been grinding down cr*p welds on the frame and trying to dial in my welder to reweld it. did some cr*p welds myself and now have to grind out. *banghead*

F-ing chain

f-in previous owner. f-him. f-in bas*ard. Stupid M’f-er put on the old chain, and just popped in a bit of “other chain” with 2 frikkin master links. One master link w/no clip. So I’m running a timebomb of chain. f-in chain is probably 30 years old. now I gotta buy a new f-in chain. f-you.

Gonna use the old one for a f-in fender mount. f-him.

like this awesome rat from vintage customs:

http://vintagecustoms.tumblr.com/post/9936101173/vintage-customs-at-your-news-stand-also

Yanked the engine this weekend

No big deal, just disconnected everything, put a stepladder over the top of the bike, board on the ladder and used a strap to lift the engine out. Put on the engine stand, and dropped it about 1/2” onto a car ramp and slid it down to the garage floor. It’s sitting in the corner now waiting for parts and I’m staring at a bunch of grinding and welding on the frame.

Pics later.

here’s the new welder. 185 amps of raw buzzbox lincoln electric metal burning power. got a little aftermarket fan on the back to keep the insides cool and bump up the duty cycle.

here’s the new welder. 185 amps of raw buzzbox lincoln electric metal burning power. got a little aftermarket fan on the back to keep the insides cool and bump up the duty cycle.

Inspiration w/1975 ford truck green

Inspiration w/1975 ford truck green

can’t buy the damn cam chain stopper guide thingy (on the left in this schematic). 6 weeks until yamaha makes the damn thing and sends it to the US. gonna tear into the frame and weld that shit up. but yeah, i’m grumpy.

can’t buy the damn cam chain stopper guide thingy (on the left in this schematic). 6 weeks until yamaha makes the damn thing and sends it to the US.

gonna tear into the frame and weld that shit up.

but yeah, i’m grumpy.

Bought a used Lincoln 180 AC buzzbox welder yesterday $100 and have already put it to work welding on the bike. Relocated the forward control mount and placed the muffler supports. Welded up a engine stand for when I pull the engine (tomorrow?).

Realized that I need a lot more practice with the machine, but my welds are already a ton better than the moron who had welded on this bike previously.

It’s tough to get a perfect TIG style weld with a stick machine, but I’m going to do my best to get strong a fairly attractive welds.

Soon I’ll reweld everything I can on the bike, and get to grinding the welds so they look great.

Parts on order

Went ahead and made plans to pull the motor and repair the cam chain guide.

Ordered a new guide, all the gaskets and seals for the top end (and some for the bottom end too). A new cam chain. Valve lapping stuff.

Gonna take VintageCustom’s advice and just do it. Does not look like a difficult job, just have to deal w/the heavy motor and the time it’ll take to do the work.

I also will investigate to see if I have any oil leaks I can deal with at the same time. Probably do, and they are probably at the bottom of the motor =(

I’m also picking up a welding machine tomorrow - $100 for a Lincoln buzz box AC stick welder. It’s not my dream machine (that’d be a TIG with a high frequency unit, square wave (or adjustable wave even better) water cooler, maybe 200 amps) but I’m sure once I get my groove back that I’ll be able to make acceptable welds with the stick machine.

Planning on building a simple engine stand for the XS as a first project to dial in the welder and my welding skills. There’s a simple plan here:

http://www.650motorcycles.com/XSstand.html

which I will use, although I’m going to raise it up slightly so I can get at the bottom of the engine better.

I’m also going to tack on some new exhaust mounts and relocate the rear brake linkage (attaches the brake rod to the forward control). The weld for it is really bad and I’d also like to lower the foot peg at the forward control, I can’t hardly hit it with my toe.