My 79 Special project

[DiverRay]

Fred,
The '78 and '79 Standard has the mount for the iggy box on the STEEL part of the rear fender, behind the actual seat. The '80 up it's on the PLASTIC inner fender, UNDER the main part of the seat.

[fredintoon]

Fred,
The '78 and '79 Standard has the mount for the iggy box on the STEEL part of the rear fender, behind the actual seat. The '80 up it's on the PLASTIC inner fender, UNDER the main part of the seat.

Hi Ray,
OK but Tim's photo array shows his iggybox on the fender's front plastic half.
I have to admit the only XS11 I have ever been that close to is my own XS11SG so I dunno where the '79's stock iggybox is supposed to be.
It seems Tim's mystery bike continues to reveal it's secrets.

[Kezrith]

Here you go Fred, as requested... SWMBO took the photos so if some of them aren't what you wanted I will go out and take some more.

Current state,


Left lower fork


Right lower fork


Rear fender


fender underside


Rear frame


Checking the vin# against the model breakdown last year and checking against the title this is a 1979 special, just had some odd ball stuff done to it from the PO, I am hoping to bring it back close to it's former glory, with small modifications here and there (all subject to parts availability and cost).

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Kezrith,

Welcome back! Yeah, that fender is OEM for 79SF...Fred, the 79 Specials did move the TCI up forward onto the plastic front half of the rear fender. When he gets the frame fender supports straightened, then the fender will sit down close to the rear wheel like it should. Fred is right in that the seat is missing it's rubber fittings, but due to the style of side covers, that 80 seat won't work without some modifications to something...like the sidecover holders, and using the later style sidecovers, or even making your own, because the 80 style seat has a more prominent angled tip going down just behind the position of the side covers! And you could get an 80/81 special rear fender and tail light assembly that would fit in behind that 80 seat, along with the larger thicker grab rail...again if you want to keep and use the 80 seat. Otherwise you may want to try to find a 79SF seat instead!?

Removing the oil filter cover will help in sliding the engine across the frame. Some folks have also removed the middle drive assembly, will allow more room, less things sticking out to hang up, and also removes more weight! Folks have used some wooden boards across the frame with some milk crates or such to slide the engine out onto. You have a nice floor jack, and so once you have the frame stable, you can jack up the engine to put it onto the wooden boards, and then you are mostly sliding the engine and not lifting it, but it's still damn heavy! Good Luck!
T.C.

T.C.

[fredintoon]

Here you go Fred, as requested... SWMBO took the photos so if some of them aren't what you wanted I will go out and take some more.

Rear fender


fender underside


Rear frame


Checking the vin# against the model breakdown last year and checking against the title this is a 1979 special, just had some odd ball stuff done to it from the PO, I am hoping to bring it back close to it's former glory, with small modifications here and there (all subject to parts availability and cost).

Hi Tim,
yeah, she's been PO'd alright. The rear frame modification is plain to see and I just checked out the rear fenders on the 3 specials (XS650, XS750 & XS11)
in my garage and none of them have those V-shaped kinks in them, which I suppose were done to kick the fender down at the rear. While the rear frame mod will kick it up? WTF was the PO thinking?
Well, all that can be fixed if you want to expend the effort.

[Kezrith]

Well I was having a difficult time figuring out how I should stabilize the frame for the engine removal... decided to try the removal as it sat. Jacked up the motor, placed a couple pieces of wood underneath the front and the back so it wouldn't settle back down on the motor mounts, rotated the rear of the engine to the left, dropped the back down to bring the oil filter cover up above the lower frame and just picked up the front end and wiggled it out onto a cart

All done, engine removed, now all that's left is to pull the brake system, wheels and tear the forks down, frame should be getting the weld work done this weekend/early next week.

Thanks to everyone for the tips and advice, I am sure I will be asking more questions as I progress through this restoration.

[Kezrith]

well the rear of the frame weld work should be getting done tomorrow, I have everything off the frame except for the swing arm (found a local company that will sandblast and powder coat the entire frame for around $200.00) but I ran into one issue... I can't seem to get the driveshaft to "slide out through the rear" of the shaft housing like the clymer manual says to pull it.

Is there a trick to getting the u-joint assembly off of the shaft end? 'cuz for some reason I can't get the 2 parts separated and I am not quite sure if I should be prying on anything back there

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Tim,

Just posted this to CoutryDave's thread:

The driveshaft is held into the other end of the U-joint with just a spring clip, and so some prying on the driveshaft at the final drive end will allow it to pop loose and then slide out.

T.C.

[Kezrith]

Many thanks TC!

[Kezrith]

Well the rewelding of the rear portion of the frame is done, the guy who is doing the welding wants to make sure it's sitting right and asked me to get some measurements for him if possible...

Would someone happen to have or be so kind as to measure the distance from the ground to the bottom of the frame under the motor and from the ground to the bottom of the rear fender tip (non-modified rear fender)? This would enable us to make sure the rear fender is sitting correctly or if we need to make some minor adjustments.


Thanks