Topic: XS650 project thread - April 2011 - Getting set for 2nd season :)

[Tim.]

Well I've committed on the signal lights and brake light, and the license plate mount.  After over 2 years of thought, I haven't come up with anything particularly original on that front.  Since I removed the rear fender, there isn't any traditional place for the bits.

I may consider a rear fender, but only a functional one like on a Manx which still doesn't give me a spot for brakes etc.



So for now, I'm sticking with the tried and true small alloy-bodied signal lights.  Up front they'll take the place of the bolts holding the headlight bucket on - can't get much more convenient, neat or functional than that.

At the rear, there is a threaded spot behind each upper mount on the rear shocks which will be drilled out and tapped larger to accomodate the thread of the signal light stem.  It will be cut to lenght and spaced (hopefully) so it threads in landing in the right orientation (facing backwards) with no stem sticking out the other end.  The wires will then be run tight to the inside frame rails for the few inches before the dissapear into my wiring compartment.

For the brake and license plate, I'm just tossing on a side mounting bracket which will hold the plate vertically along with a cat-eye taillight.  I may mount it upside down so the light is at the bottom.  This will place the wires right close to my swingarm, so they can be run along the underside of it and then up the backbone with the rear brake light switch wiring.

I've put a lot of effort into hiding all the wires - not going to mess it up now

[tsflstb]

Awesome to see this one rolling again.

For the fender, you might consider a Lucas style tail light.  It tucks right in the rear of that Manx seat.  My license plate and registration sticker holder serve as a rear fender.      I'm sure you could bend something up more elegant than mine, but here's an idea...

[Tim.]

Looks great - any closeups?

[tsflstb]

Here's a pic of just the bracket.



It's just a scrap piece of aluminum that I bent up.  The light sits in that little nook in the rear of the seat nicely.

[Tim.]

I'll have to see how that would fit on mine.  I think my back end might be lower than yours  - didn't look like I'd have enough clearance for anything much below the seatpan.

Will see how things might work out though - might just fit.

[Industrial Rat400f Killer]

The wiring is looking great. Can you tell me:
What battery is that?
What's the Amp/hours?
What's the dimensions?
I think I'm going to utilize some of your seat pan design for my bike.

[Tim.]

It's a YTX5L-BS AGM battery.  Standard battery model - here are some specs:

Volts         12
Amp-Hour   5
CCA          70
Length       4.5
Width        2.8125
Height       4.1875
Terminals   Box Style Top And Front Mount

[Tim.]

I'm not running the electric starter.  However, the original Yamaha XS1b wiring diagram specifies a 5ah battery, so who knows, maybe it could kick it over.

If I get bored one day maybe I'll wire it in, or I'll remove the starter motor.  One of the two things will happen (I have the block off kit to remove the motor and plug the hole).

[Industrial Rat400f Killer]

Thanks for the info. I wish my stock battery spec was 5 A/H. I need 12 A/H. I'm running 2.5 A/H, it works if I don't use the head light and keep the rpms up.

[Tim.]

Have you swapped out any of the other charging system components like the regulator/rectifer or even the rotor and stator?

For a stock system, I think it's tough to run such a small battery.  But if you get more efficient components, you might get away with it.  I'm using an integrated solid-state regulator/rectifier unit on the 650 with the stock rotor and stator.  There are much better rotor/stators I could put on the bike, with a little modification which would significantly increase the generated output from the engine.

[crazypj]

Thanks for the info. I wish my stock battery spec was 5 A/H. I need 12 A/H. I'm running 2.5 A/H, it works if I don't use the head light and keep the rpms up.

 If you can't use the lights and need to keep RPM up you have a charging issue.
You only need 12ah for starter motor which draws around 80 amps, the generator has a break even point where the load and output balance, it will be around 1,500~2,000 rpm
 If you haven't already joined, go here and check out charging systems/electrical section
http://xs650temp.proboards.com/index.cgi?
PJ

[Industrial Rat400f Killer]

I guess I should be more clear.
In Seattle I end up sitting at stop lights a lot. I try to avoid them but sometimes it's impossible. When I spend extended amounts of times sitting at lights the draw is to strong for the generator to keep up, so I turn the headlight off and keep the revs up a little. I don't have a starter motor and the brake light/rear turn signals are LED.
The reason I asked about your battery is because I'm looking for the smallest battery that meets the stock specs for my bike.
I found this one,
http://www.advancedbattery.com/itemdesc~product~12v+12.0ah+f2%3b+power-sonic+ps-12120+f2~ic~12v12t2pc~eq~~tp~.htm

I had a local shop do some mods to the bike and I'm not really happy with the results so I'm changing things around. I made the decision to make those mods based on some bad info.

[Tim.]

That's a pretty compact little battery.

But again, I'm not sure the Ah rating of the battery will solve your problem.  When the bike is running it should be generating all the necessary power to run your lights etc.  If it isn't, I think a larger battery is only going to extend the time between you needing to charge it.

[MJL]

Here's a thread where a feller built a chopper out of a sx650, and re-phased his motor to give it a bit of the v-twin sound.

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=719041

If you go to the second to last page there are some videos, before and after.

[Tim.]

Got the rear signals sorted.

I used the little threaded tabs that are part of the rear upper shock.  Just behind the shock bolt.  I can't recall what it was used for - maybe a grab rail or something.  They were too close to the shocks for me to dig in there and try to grind out, and I figured they might come in handy.

I drilled them out with great effort, patience and lots of lubricant on the drill bit to 11/32, and then tapped to the M10x1.25 thread of the signal light stalks.

Then I cut the stalks short so they don't protrude past the threaded part in the frame.  Test fit three wires shrink wrapped to make sure they would slide through, then shrink wrapped the wires all the way up to the inside of the lights.  Put them on and actually had to remove the shocks one side at a time to rotate into position and tighten the clamping screw.

They're on solid and the wiring is as neat as it could be.  Crappy pics taken with my Blackberry.

[cben750f0]

they're good loking signals those

peace

[DarkRider]

The signals look good man. If they were 3 wire signals you could always replace the lenses with clears and red bulbs then wire them to act as signal/tail/brake lights

[Tim.]

In fact they are three wire lights.  Hadn't considered that - I'm pretty sure I need amber signals and red brake however, plus my license plate needs to be illuminated, and I still need to put it somewhere.

Easiest just to put a side-mounted plate with a brake light on it.  I have a couple of cat-eye lights already - just need to make the bracket.

[Tim.]

So today I got the Boyer installed and wired up.  Happy that's out of the way.

Only a few things left:

1. Brake light/license plate bracket - going on the right side
2. Wire up brake light and plug into wiring harness
3. Front brake cable customization and plug into wiring harness
4. Clutch connection and adjustment
5. Torque down engine mounts
6. Install exhaust
7. Install rearsets
8. Put the gas tank on
9. Connect fuel lines
10. Fire it up!

Latest pics:  The zip ties will be replaced with something nicer and that won't wear on the frame (Adel clamps or Velcro maybe).  The horn will likely go behind the Boyer blue-box and coil - in the triangle of open area below the backbone of the frame.

The zip ties holding the Boyer box down are threaded through some adhesive cable organizer do-dads I got when I got my sleeving and heatshrink.  They just stick to whatever you want and you can thread zip ties through them.  I'll be putting a few in under the seating area once I get those plates powdercoated black (which is what I think I'm going to do to them).

And that bracket with the hole in it under the seat is indeed for the ignition switch.  Will hold it just out of sight but still easy to get at with the keys.

[fuzzybutt]

i had those same signals on my 750k4, theyre really nice, just be real careful you dont bump them too hard as the stems are real fragile and they break with little force.

[Tim.]

Really?  The stems on these seem pretty robust.  No matter as they just thread onto the bike, so replacing them is no biggie.

I had to make sure the tank cleared all the bits I bolted on   And sure enough it does - barely!  Will be just fine.  Can't wait till I can leave the tank on once and for all.

[cben750f0]

in the famous words of a song i cant remember who sang


' ...is this love that im feelin... this must be love........."

lol

sweet as man

peace

[Tim.]

Well, I was fiddling a bit more this morning (8AM start and...

Tappets are all adjusted
Front brake cable is on and adjusted (who needs a brake light anyhow?)
Headlight bucket buttoned up
Starter removed - gotta weigh 5 pounds!

Then I drained the little oil that was left out and took off the right engine cover.  Very very very clean in there - looks like new which is nice.  I had to transfer the tach drive to my polished engine cover, and while doing that noticed the oil pump in the new cover was very difficult to turn whereas the pump in the old cover was perfectly smooth.  So I swapped them out and am very glad I did!  These are pics of the old pump.

I'll get a pic of the polished cover on the bike later - needless to say it looks purty!  Need some more stainless socket cap bolts though.

Few more small things and I can fire it up.

More crack than on Hastings in Vancouver.

[mrbreeze]

Good catch Tin......that coulda killed your whole launch party.

[crazypj]

Is that a chunk of metal in top pic, 2 o'clock position?
 Guess the sump strainer had the usual holes in it?
 PJ