This is an engine removal, tilting, lifting, extraction thingie I made. The XS650 motor is a very tight fit in the frame, In their wisdom, the Japanese decided if you need to work on anything but the alternator or clutch the engine should be removed from the frame. But removing the engine from the frame is not an easy job as there’s only mms to spare between frame and engine parts., so, a fair bit of wiggling, twisting, manoeuvring and lifting is required. It can be done by hand, but as the... Read more ..read more

Previously I made a clutch slave with a 25mm piston. I bought a 9.5mm master cylinder and hooked it up. No go, the master only moved the slave piston a little under 1mm, not enough to separate the plates, so, back on the lathe. I had a couple of 20mm hydraulic ram seals so turned up a slave from 6061, recessed the top to take the seal and turned up a 20mm stainless piston. The slave sits inside the cover near the sprocket and chain, so, its a rather dirty environment. There was imsuficient... Read more ..read more

Like most bikes of the era the TX650 had a basic engine breather breathing into the airbox. I've done quite a few mods to this bike, including VM barbs and pancake filters. The pancake filters don't lend themselves well to engine blowby being fed into them, plus I don't like the idea of feeding the blowby gasses into the inlet tract, so I made this reed valve engine breather and catch can. Reed valve breathers allow air in the crankcase to be expelled on the pistons downstroke and... Read more ..read more

This took a lot of work, I had to modify the right side engine cover, machine up a new cover for the now gone strainer, machine a spin on filter mount, fabricate some new engine mounts to hold the mount, fabricate a mount for the cooler, machine up a few stainless fittings for the mod, plus a few other bits and pieces. I mounted the right side cover on the pedestal, lined up the oil gallery, not easy as the gallery is at a different angle to the cover on three axis', drilled out the gallery... Read more ..read more

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To go with the new carbs and manifolds I made these pancake filters. I did have pods on originally but I noticed the hole in the rubber mounting grommet was smaller than the bellmouth partially blocking the three holes in the bellmouths. Not ideal, so, I decided to make a couple of pancake filters. I cut a 15mm slice off the 101.6mm lump of ally and turned down one end to 97.4mm, then cut a piece of 1.7mm sheet to around 111-mm in diameter, stuck them together and bashed the overhang until... Read more ..read more

The TX650 came stock with an electro magnet alternator, a popular mod is a PMA using second hand parts from various bikes and bodging up a Banshee mount to fit. Otherwise you can buy a new conversion kit from many of the XS specialists. I baulked at the price of the kit, around $400/$500. I also didn't fancy using 40 odd years old parts and a bodged up mount. I found new parts on ebay: a stator ($50) and reg/rec ($25) for an XV, and rotor for a Banshee ($60) for an all up cost of $135... Read more ..read more

Some bits I polished up off the TX650. Fork legs had caliper mounts on both legs, As I was only using one disk I removed the caliper mounts,on the left leg before polishing. Rims were scarred from hammers, screwdrivers and whatever else the PO could lay his hands on, I cleaned them up as best I could, then polished them ..read more

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Alon, I'm 18 years old and I live in Israel. I got into bikes about a year ago, then my dad bought a 99' tj wrangler and the guy who sold us the jeep showed me a picture of his upcoming project, a harley sportster that he was planing to turn into a cafe racer. I immedeatly fell in love with the concept and decided that I was gonna build one myself. I've always loved anything that has 2 (or more) wheels and anything to do with that but my mechanical... Read more ..read more

Twin to single points conversion. The TX650 came stock with a two point ignition system, same as the Brit twins. If there is a reason for two sets, it escapes, me, after all there are plenty of bikes with one set of points, and cars with one set of points feeding 4,6 and 8 cylinder engines. The only benefit I can see for the TX is if a single carb conversion has been done. The manifolds for these conversions have different length plenums, so adjusting the timing differently for each... Read more ..read more