The 520 Chain Cafe: November 2012

11/25/12

XS650 project

Here is the '73 TX650 brake rotor from the front end I picked up at the swap meet, so looks like I'll be going dual front brakes on the '75 XS 34mm front end. '72 and I believe early '73 TX had a wacky style hub and rotor that don't interchange, but this one is good.

Blasted.

Masked.

...and painted. I used Rust-Oleum 'stainless steel'.

The '75 XS rotor to the left and '73 TX to the right of the picture, the only difference being the little cut out areas between the holes on the '75, but otherwise identical.

The TX and XS calipers are the same, so when I rebuild them I just need to swap the top stud and bolt and one will be a left side caliper. I'll probably get the dual disc master cylinder from MikesXS. These are 2 piston fixed calipers, unlike the '77 and up single piston. These have hard line going to the caliper stock, and don't accept a conventional banjo fitting, so I'll try to find an AN adapter to connect to braided line.

Getting ready to finish up the engine, the clutch cover before doing anything to it. I first gave it a cleaning, and then used paint stripper to remove the old paint on the logo and any remaining clear coat.

Here is a good reason to thoroughly inspect and clean everything as you go, a piece of the front cam chain guide in the oil passage front the sump to the oil pump in the cover. This bike had the typical hole in the sump screen, and this piece made it through.

I wet sanded using dish soap and 600 grit paper.

After wet sanding.

Next a good rubbing with Autosol metal polish. Still a slight haze in a few spots at certain angles, but quite an improvement.

This is the clutch cover with the untouched left side cover, quite a difference.

11/18/12

XS650 project

I've been making some progress on the '75 XS engine refresh, and getting started with reassembly. I'm using a D.I.D. cam chain and Athena gasket set.

I got the clutch spring screw set from MikesXS. These are much easier to work with than the phillips screws.

I cleaned the carbon from the head and valves. The guides were good, and the valves just need a lapping.

The head and rocker box cleaned up, a quick tip when bead blasting, ear plugs work great to seal up small openings.

I really like how black cylinders look on XS650s, so painted mine. Everything was still in spec here, so I'm just honing and re-ringing.

the swap meet

I made out good at the Boone County Swap Meet in Lebanon, Indiana. The March meet was great, and even bigger and better this time, so I see this as eventually becoming one of the best around.

Checking out my score on my shop porch after getting home.

I'm really happy with this, an NOS Preston Petty front fender still in the wrapper. This will eventually go on my DT3. A previous owner installed a black high mount fender, and painted the rear to match, so I'll now be able to go back to the original silver fender color.

I bought a set of thermal flow shocks last time for the DT3, but for $10 I couldn't pass up having a spare set. The Supertrapp should work nice on one of my Yamaha 500 singles, and you can't have too many handlebars.

This is for an RT, the 360cc version of my DT3. It is a bike on my want list, so I'm all set if I find one with a bad tank. This one is just as clean on the inside as it is on the outside.

I'm eventually going to put spoke wheels on the '79 XS650 Special, and got the majority of what I'll need. The rear has a fairly nice shouldered rim, but the front has a drop center style steel wheel(Special II), so I'll get a matching shouldered rim for it.

I got a nice set of Yamaha 35mm forks, and a '73 TX650 fork and wheel. The TX hub will likely go on my SR500 (I got an XT spoke rear wheel for it at the March meet), and I'm going to look into using the caliper and rotor to convert to dual disc on the '75 XS650.