Ugly Duckling

[Czekus21]

Well here we go. Another bordum buster to keep me busy. SWMBO's got honey do's for me but I'd rather be ridin or wrenchin. Here's a couple of before pics of my newest project called the Ugly Duckling. ( going to turn into a swan )

Kinda old school chopper style. To bad the seat has got to go. The forks are stayin. The gentleman that's letting me work on this bike said it's a 1972 and he's had it since 1973. The clock say around 9900 miles. I'd say a few more but not much. Been sitting for a good number of years so the things got to come apart and totally gone through.
Here's a pic of the duckling on the gurney fixin to get operated on.

I will continue to update this thread as I progress through this job.
( MIYAMI's got to get her tail into everything, Darn her anyway )

[Czekus21]

Ugly duckling update

Got a little busy today after a long hard day at work. I don't know if I'll get any more done this evening but I just wanted to share this with everyone. If you neglect your carbs, This is what you've got to look foward to.


I wish you all could be here to smell this stuff. Oh.. Just go open that old can of varnish thats been in the garage for a few years.
Anyway. Looks like I may be able to save her. The wiring will be the fun part. Also got to fab a battery box.
Question? does anyone know if air filters are still available for a 72 XS650? or will I have to go with after market?
Also gonna need brakes, Tires will be the last thing. Bad thing is with this bike is drum brakes. Good thing with this bike, Drum brakes, No master cylinder or fluid to mess with. YIPIE SKIPPIE YEE HAA!!!!!

[rneal55555]

Mike's XS should have just about everything uou need at a decent price too

[Czekus21]

Got back from run to the Black Hills, Got the XS850 running, Now it's time to get back to work on the XS650. Put new fork seals in and they fit fine. The extention tubes inside the forks were not cut to equal legnths, They are now, Went to install the updated stearing head bearings and races I got from Mikes XS and there is no way that they will fit. The races I can seat by hand, the upper bearing sticks out about 3mm above the top of the stearing head, the bottom bearings will not fit over the lower triple tree. Looks like I'll have to stick with the original design and stay with the ball bearing set up. That's all for now. I'll update as I progress.

[Czekus21]

Here we go. Another update. A buddy came over with a bunch of beer and said," let's see if it runs". O.K. He kinda pushed me along cauz all I wanted to do was drink beer. Well to make a long story short, I installed the new "high-bar" throttle cables. Installed the carbs, Fabricated some new spark plug wires, Flushed out the fuel tank and petcocks, Cleaned and adjusted the points, Robbed a battery from the Honda 650 and strapped it in, Threw a couple of quarts of oil in it, Jumped on the kick starter and voila, She fired right up. Didn't sound to bad but she got a ways to go yet. Got alot of cleaning to do and a few more parts to get like front brake shoes. More updates later. Kinda hyped about how it sounds. Definetlly a good motivator.

[Czekus21]

Looks like I'll not have to many more updates on the duckling. She's off of the gurney and standing on her own two wheels. I'll be posting some pics on the next update as the tank is still in the O.R. getting shaved and repainted. I primed it today. Got some more sanding and priming to do, then I'll give her a good shot of black paint. Still don't know yet what I'm going to do with the seat.

[Czekus21]

Stay tuned

Stay tuned in ladies and gentlemen for an update on the Ugly Ducking. She's not so ugly any more and has been painted, fitted, repaired and new parts installed. She's no O.C.C. chopper but she is deffinetly old school nostalgic.. Got a few more things to do to her then the pics will come. The bike won't come to life until the head lights are installed and working but they have been bought and are ready to fit. it's been a long journey and a real eye opener working on this bike. Things that I thought I new and forgot over time not turnin wrenches. As long as the weather holds out ( over 20 degrees ) she'll be comming along and should be ready for her maiden voyage be the end of Feb.
I hope that the guy who owns this bike is happy with all the work that has been done to it. Until next time, I'll be wrenchin, cussin, workin and ridin.

[Czekus21]

Tomorrow,( If SWMBO dosn't take off with the camera agian ) I'll post some pics of the almost done bike.

[Czekus21]

Some pics

This bike is just about done. Just got to fab a seat bracket and do a little bit of fine tuning. I'm kinda worried about the #1 cyl. Gotta little bit of smoke and a fouled plug. Gonna try and readjust the carb diaphram needle and see if that make a difference. I don't think it will but I gotta try.


The mirrors look pretty stupid so they gotta go. They will be replaced with something a little more 70ish appealing.

[trukleon]

pic

Loookkiiinnnggg GGGGGOOOOOOODDDDDDDDD!!!!!!

[Materi]

Nice Work

Czekus,

You've done some great work on that bike. I think I could see myself hanging out in your garage

What did you end up doing with the seat, it looks great.

Keith

[Czekus21]

I pulled the off the cover and padding, and cleaned up the rust. The seat support for the padding had a broken weld so I rewelded it. I took some 3/8 Id steel tubing and cut off 4 peices in 1" lengths. I welded 2 to the inside part of the frame just infront of the battery box. The other 2 are used as spacers on the seat pan part of the mount. I then drilled a hole though the tail end if the frame and flatened it out just a bit. Took 2 M8 bolts and welded them to the seat pan to match the tubes in front of the battery. Took some 1" square tube and cut it to the width of the rear of the seat pan and drilled a hole through it in the center to the diameter of an M8 bolt. On one side of the square tubeing, I oversized the hole to 1/2". I then rounded the head of the bolt to fit in this oversized hole. Then I welder it together, ground it smooth and test fitted it. Fit pretty good. I then got about 100 rivets from my nieghbor and put the seat padding and cover bake on. The seat fits pretty good but there's about a 7/8" gap between the seat ant the frame.( had to claer the top of the battery ) I think some fringe should take care of that.