XS650 enduro project

I'd been waiting for the weather to get nice to do the paint, and then once the weather did get nice I was doing everything else but work on this bike. Anyway, I'm back on it. For the paint on the '75 XS650 I'm using Dupli-Color self etching primer, Dupli-Color DE1615 aluminum engine paint for the fenders, VHT SP405 black pearl engine metallic for the pinstriping, VHT SP403 titanium silver blue engine metallic for the main color, and Spray Max 2K clear coat.


I start off with sandblasting, and then body filler. Once I get the tank as straight as possible I apply the self etching primer, and then do the picky final body work. I only use 3M wet or dry sandpaper for wet sanding the color coats, but only dry sand the primer, so use the super cheap sandpaper from Harbor Freight since you burn through so much doing that. On a part like the tank that is getting the pinstripe, I paint the entire part with one light coat with that color, and do a couple more coats where the stripe will be. I then wet sand, and mask the stripe with 3M fine line masking tape from motodad24. I then do 2 or 3 coats of the final color, wet sand with 400 grit, do another coat and if it looks good peel the tape and lightly wet sand with 800 grit and then set it aside to cure before the clear coat. The Spray Max 2K works excellent. It is about $20 a can, but being a catalyzed paint is well worth it compared to normal spray can clear coats. It takes two cans to do all of the parts I'm doing on this bike.


The blue is the same color that I used on the '69 DT1. I did white pinstriping on it, but thought the black would look neat, and I really like it.




Both decals are from Speed and Sport. The 'enduro' was actually left over from a RT1 decal set I'd cut up for the '79 XS650. The 'OHC 650' is a XS650 reproduction with some bits trimmed off.


The 2K clear worked great to bring some shine back to my old tank badges.


This is the stock XS650 fender I'd shortened. I also welded on a channel to run the tail light wiring on the top of the fender, the way it was done on the Yamaha enduros.


A Preston Petty Baja front fender was a must have for this bike, but I wasn't able to find a silver NOS one, so bought a used white fender and painted it. I liked how it looked, so decided not to clear coat this part. Not clear coating it will make it easier to refinish if the paint fails, and painting plastic can be a bit hit-or-miss.




The exhaust is VHT SP102 flat black header paint, and the heat shields are Dupli-Color silver caliper paint.


I bought 2 pairs of NOS Sports-Master desert pegs at the Boone County Swap Meet earlier this year. I didn't know what they fit, but for $10 a set I figured I could make them fit. I'm using one set of the XS.


Here is one of them with an stock XS peg with the rubber cover removed.


A bit of 'cut and shut' and then some paint and they'll fit fine.