Another 650???

I couldn't resist myself. A co-worker pointed out this 1975 XS650 in poor shape on craigslist. For two hundred dollars I couldn't say no. Of course it wasn't running when I purchased it. But a little time spent on it over the weekend and she was running in no time. It still needs more attention, but now its got a new lease on life. The instrument cluster will need some work since its a jumble of wires right now. Headlight and turn signals will also have to be checked out as those don't work either.

Anyway here's a shot of ugly betty in the driveway.

Someone was hardcore and put the 10" mini-ape handlebars on lol. I think someone also removed the baffles in the exhaust because she has a rough sound to her.

Here's a vid of me kicking her over:

The Engine is coming along

Have a look at the video. I was able to install the cylinders and the lower half of the top end over the weekend.

Fun With Digital Calipers and a Burned Out Clutch

While I'm waiting for a set of piston rings I decided to examine the clutch and kick starter. Lets just say I had a lot better luck with the kick start assembly than I did with the clutch.

The kick start assembly is fairly basic with the shaft, washer assembly, main gears, and return spring. There are some other parts in there that I wont go into detail about but luckily the previous owner did not disassemble the shaft assembly itself so reassembly was fairly simple.

The return spring sits approx half way on the shaft and needs to be "wound" during assembly. I found some material on an xs forum where someone used a zip tie to rotate the spring around and wind it up. I used the same method but substituted with a piece of rope.Installation was a breeze it took maybe 2 attempts and 20min of my time.

Disassembling the clutch wasn't something I wanted to do, but it was necessary to inspect the clutch plates and check for wear.

Upon inspection with my digital calipers I realized I'm outside the tolerance for operation. Have a look below:

The accepted tolerance for clutch plates are in the range of 3.5mm to 3.1mm only a 0.122 difference
 and my plates are averaging 2.85 (not good). Somebody was riding this clutch hard...

Had some time tonight to work a little on the pistons. From the image you can see the cleaned version on the left and the uncleaned on the right. Why am I doing this?? Would you use a dirty mop to clean your floor? NO of course not, that's why these pistons need to be clean so they can perform at their maximum potential! I will inspect the rings and their gap and clearance in the cylinders after they are cleaned. From my measurements I can determine whether to replace the rings or use the stock set.

I don't have access to a ultrasonic cleaner or a parts cleaner, so I am using Simple Green. Its a great method for cleaning carbon deposits from the head of the piston, have a look: