My project "Run whatcha' brung" 79 XS

Bolo57

Hmmm...bought it off of Ebay in the middle of someone else's project (Think day 3 on biker build off...LOL)
The first thing I did was to see if it ran and after reading some of the posts around here I feel REALLY lucky that it fired on the first try with the randomly picked set of carbs from a box I just slapped on, a wiring job that included numerous sets of alligator clips and a lawn mower battery Rolling Eyes

I've added the Harley riser's (truely bolt on BTW) and the Z bars plus the cheapest (if there is such a thing) harley hand controls I could find Razz

The headlight is a harley swapmeet special that I mounted using a piece of 1/8 plate bolted to the lower tree, right where the brakeline thingy use to go.
The forward controls are 1/4 plate and some pipe with a coupe of old wrenches brazed on for actuators for the brakes and shifter. The shifter linkage is made from a 3/8 brake nipple, the old masterlink from the chain and part of the original brake linkage.

The eletrical system was giving me fits until I found the basic wiring diagram for the charging system posted here and then did the rest from scratch. (it's alot easier when you just do it, rather than trying to figure out what some degreed EE thinks a bike needs) Wink

All the electric stuff actually needed to make the bike run now resides in an old lasagna sheet I swiped from the spousal unit (hope she never figure that one out Shocked

) that's going to be mounted behind the engine between the frame rails, fits perfect after I shortened it up a bit but the lip holds it right on the rails.

Fabbed up a bracket to mount my tach using the stock holes on the top tree and made a bracket to mount the speedo on the left side of the tank.
I also believe I have solved my kickstand dilemma after I spotted my crowbar hanging from my tool box. I let you all know how that works out when I get time to tinker with it.

The big hole behind the engine is going to be filled by a round brass chinese teapot I scored at antique shop (you ought to see the looks you get in a place like that when you tell them your looking for motorcycle parts Very Happy

)

FYI the little el cheapo MAP/OXY brazing units will do wonders on a job like this, I wouldn't trust for any frame welds (I'm blonde not stupid Rolling Eyes

) but for little sh!t like this, it works great.....

I plan to paint it with WD-40 and I might, MIGHT even clean a teansy bit of the rust/crud/icky stuff off of the wheels.
Hope ya'll now understand why I call it "run whatcha brung" ...NO billet bomb for me thank you very much... Evil or Very Mad

Bolo57

oops, I'll have to remember to scale the pic size down a bit in the future
and this AFTER I made my "I'm a blonde not stupid" comment... Embarassed

Xumi

Nice job - get some less pretty handle bars and you've got a good rat bike there.

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650