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In July I was given a 1978 XS100E. The bike was abandoned on a property that my neighbor manages. He's not interested in motorcycles, so he asked me if I wanted it. I couldn't resist when I saw what it was.
With the help of this forum, I have the bike ready for the road, although it isn't titled yet. Getting a title in NJ is a long process.
When I got it, the bike had a fairing and saddlebags. I removed those and bought a headlight, turn signals and miscellaneous parts from ebay.
The mufflers were rusted through, but the sportster muffler tip on this forum worked perfectly. I got the mufflers for $20 plus shipping from ebay. I cut the old pipes where they start to flare out to the muffler section and slipped on sportster mufflers. The mounting tabs even line up (fore/aft), but are an inch too short. A bracket with two holes an inch apart fixes that.
The inside of the gas tank was covered with rust. Fortunately, it wasn't rusted through anywhere. I used kreem to clean and coat it (before I read about kreem flaking off on the forum). By the way, Home Depot sells "Prep N Etch" which is phosphoric acid. I needed more rust removal than Kreem's Part A would provide.
Other than that, a fuse block fix, plenty of cleaning and getting intimate with the carbs for a few days was all it took to get it running pretty well.
Thanks to all of you on this forum who helped this former "lurker".
With the help of this forum, I have the bike ready for the road, although it isn't titled yet. Getting a title in NJ is a long process.
When I got it, the bike had a fairing and saddlebags. I removed those and bought a headlight, turn signals and miscellaneous parts from ebay.
The mufflers were rusted through, but the sportster muffler tip on this forum worked perfectly. I got the mufflers for $20 plus shipping from ebay. I cut the old pipes where they start to flare out to the muffler section and slipped on sportster mufflers. The mounting tabs even line up (fore/aft), but are an inch too short. A bracket with two holes an inch apart fixes that.
The inside of the gas tank was covered with rust. Fortunately, it wasn't rusted through anywhere. I used kreem to clean and coat it (before I read about kreem flaking off on the forum). By the way, Home Depot sells "Prep N Etch" which is phosphoric acid. I needed more rust removal than Kreem's Part A would provide.
Other than that, a fuse block fix, plenty of cleaning and getting intimate with the carbs for a few days was all it took to get it running pretty well.
Thanks to all of you on this forum who helped this former "lurker".
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