Hey guys,

Some of you may have seen that I picked up an old 81' Yamaha XS850 last weekend. It has 28k miles on it. Doesn't run at the moment, but hopefully will get it going with the next couple weeks.

Bought this thing for $150 with a clean title. Carbs are NEW and look GREAT. Tank inside looks great. Manifolds looked great. Took a lot apart today, and surprisingly looks to be in decent shape, especially for what I paid. Can't wait to get some parts for it! I'm trying to order some manual Petcocks from MikesXS but it seems to be EXTREMELY difficult to get this damn guy to respond to me. GRR!

This is my first project EVER. I'm not much of a mechanic by any means, so I'm pretty much learning as I go. So I may very well be needing a heck of a lot of help from you all!

Anyway, got the tank off, fender, tail light, rear end crap that's being thrown out, ect ect. Carbs came off to clean, but they were actually in PERFECT shape. All gas was drained from the whole system, so there was no sludge or anything. Kind of a relief! Exhaust came off, front end controls/bars, ect ect..

Anyway, pictures!

This is where it started:



And this is what its looking like at the moment.



Also, I ordered the two Petcocks from MikesXS today! I paid extra for shipping to get them here before the weekend. Ordered part #20-0019 with 3 blind plugs for the vacuum ports.

Hopefully, with some gas/oil, new petcocks and battery, it may be running!

Cheers,
Adrian

 

Cool, you plan on bobbing it out or trying to get it back into stock condition? When I looked at the pic with the bike stripped out I could hear my angle grinder running to cut those strut looking things off after the shocks...looks like it has some potential. Good luck. I have been keeping an eye on craigslist for a while looking for a deal.I figure prices will come down when it gets a little colder outside.

 

I have been exploring the market for an XS650 to turn in to a bobber.
Wish I could find a deal like yours Adrian.
Good luck and have fun!

 

Thanks fella's. I'm going to be making a mild cafe racer out of it for now. I'm not going to strip the motor, or get any powder coating done just yet. I'm trying to finish paying off my car at the moment, so that should take another 2-3 months. But once that is done, I will strip this thing down again and go crazy with it. It will be fun. For now though, it'll just be new bars, cafe fiberglass seat, and basic parts to get it running and rideable.

 

sweet. Cafe it out, it could look amazing.

Good luck. I'm working on my first rebuild too, an 80 cb750. ONly runs sometimes.

 

Thanks. I originally wanted a CB 750, and had been looking for one for quite some time.. but this happen to come up, and I couldn't pass on the deal.. so I scooped it up quick.

 

A little bit of an update today. Just a lot of scotchbrite and cleaning was done today. I stripped the gas tank, and got it painted. I rattle canned it. Its Rustoleums Metallic Carbon Mist. Looks real nice!

Also got my manual Petcocks from Mikes XS this week. Those are going on next weekend. With some fresh oil, gas, new battery and petcocks installed, it could very well be running.. assuming nothing is wrong with the motor. I'll probably try cranking her up tomorrow and see what happens. PICS!





I WAS going to keep the tank bare metal with clear coat over it.. but it was a LOT of work to get it to that point, and still needed a lot more done.. so I said F it and painted it. Here's the end result.

 

I had a 1972 XS650. Rode it back and forth across the country. Very reliable but it vibrated like . . . a . . . 360 degree vertical twin! Put 24K miles on it and sold it. One of the best motorcycle memories I've ever had.

 

Man I rattle canned many a budget bike in the 70's , did one BSA hardtail all wrinkle black and I mean EVERYTHING frame , tank , fender, engine the works LOL .

 

Looks good. I hope it starts and runs easy for you.