Lower Engine Success

Assembling the lower half of the engine went well. I used a liquid gasket that sealed the two halves together and using a torque wrench I was able to maintain the factory 14 ft lbs of torque per bolt. Have a peek at the video I explain a little more there:

Moving on up indeed. Next step will be to hone the cylinders, clean the pistons, and continue working up the engine.

Bobber Inspiration

I have decided exactly how my bike will look from my vast knowledge of motorcycle styles and designs (sarcasm). But mostly from perusing the internet for hours upon hours drooling at other project bikes. Here are a few xs650s that I find very well made and rather good looking to boot:

Obviously I'm a fan of all of these bikes, but I'll let you in on my personal tastes. I'm planning on (trying) the 10" mini apes (handle bars). It gives the bike a much straighter stance and leads the eye from the top of the bars down to the rear wheel. I'm also hot to trot on fat white wall tires and a Harley style sportster gas tank. The original tank is simply to elongated and wide. As far as the front end goes I will have to stick with the stock forks as most aftermarket front ends are simply to costly.

My personal favorite:

Lower Engine Case Wrap Up

All of the lower engine case mechanics have been transferred over to the (good) case. I go into a little more detail on what was done in this video:

Here is a completed closeup view of the side of the shifting mechanism:

Exploded view of the shifter shaft assembly:

Next step will be to use liquid gasket to seal both halves of the engine case together. I will be picking up a torque wrench or rent one depending on the price. I need this wrench for torquing all case bolts to 14ft lbs of pressure to ensure a proper seal. Stand by for case assembly. :)

Engine Prep

 Shot of the Geerage. The wife let me buy a harbor freight engine stand w00t


Found out that the original engine was chipped where the two halves of the lower case came together =/
Alas I have a second case that was included in the purchase =D

 You can see the chip here (It was significant enough to cause probable oil leakage from the case)

Here is the new case being preped for paint

Painted up

Transferring  the crank and trans gears and seals to the new case was interesting but not as hard as I had anticipated, only took approx. 1hr. Oil filter/cover, shift shaft, and shifter were transferred.

Old case is pictured on the left, new (silver) on the right.

Shot of the crankshaft.

Rear Wheel Polished and Laced Up!

 The rear hub was cleaned with a steel brush and sanded down with 150 grit all the way to 400 grit wet. On the left is the dirty rear hub on the right is the sanded hub cover.

 Final polish buffing wheel with a ultra fine compound

Final rim/wheel polished and laced. Lacing took about 2 hrs after the third attempt.

Will still need to remove the original bearings and replace with new. Grease and add new rubber bearing seals, and true the rim before mounting.

Basket Case!

Shopped and shopped craigslist for a cheap but popular model motorcycle to restore and chop into a gritty and mean looking bobber. I eventually stumbled upon this 1982 Yamaha xs650 Heritage Special basket case for $500. The bike is all there. Lucky for me the previous owner was diligent about labeling every part and component so I'm hoping re-assembly will go smoothly.

 here's what she'd look like all together: