XS360 Bratstyle Replica- Codenamed: Sheeple II

DeanJ

Been Around the Block
I drug home this hot little mess a couple of years ago. It's a '77 XS360, the basic entry level model with kick start only and drum brakes front and rear. The PO was up front about the fact that what's not missing doesn't work anyway and the exact volume of oil you pour in would be puddled on the ground within 15 minutes . It had a title so I traded him an old DVD player for it.

Other than the seat being torn up, the rotted mis-matched tires, rusty spokes, frayed clutch cable, broken brake cable , missing brake lever, busted switch gear, leaky forks, missing indicators, busted up pilot light console, vandalized ignition switch, shitty bumblebee spray bomb, wonky kickstand , a 30 amp bullet fuse spliced into each and every circuit , cheap ass emgo filter pods, dead battery, rusty jardine 2 into 1 pipe, toasted headlight etc. etc. etc. .... it's in pretty good shape for my next project.

This is a bare bones budget rescue using only the change in my couch and whatever is lying around my mess of a garage. It will make a fine Sheeple inspired Brat replica ;D

Here are some "before" photos:













 
With 19k on the clock, spend some serious time going over that motor so you don't build yourself a pretty grenade.
 
Ease said:
Really digging the original bike/decals.
Get her going!
I wish it was original. It was a red bike from the factory, this yellow paint is poo and the kmart stickers have to go !
VonYinzer said:
With 19k on the clock, spend some serious time going over that motor so you don't build yourself a pretty grenade.

Ha! It will not be pretty, it will be a sheeple brat replica and I won't be using that clock anyway. ;D

In all seriousness, the mileage is totally unknown, the motor had been swapped at some point in it's life and there was no cable in the speedometer housing anyway ! I fixed the oil leaks, did some maintenance, tune and adjustments... I need to upload those photos tonight or in the morning. It's running and I'm pleasantly surprised ! :D

 
Added some oil... and out it came ! I just had to follow the 20 ounces of red rtv to the leaks ;)

The alternator wire grommets where they pass through the case / stator cover were a mess and the neutral switch housing was missing the O-ring.









I had O-ring for the switch in a bin and made up a gasket after I Yamabonned the fook out of the damaged grommet











I filled it with fresh oil... and check the compression, 129/131 ,, acceptable on dry, cold cylinders



It had totally wrong hot iridium plugs that I tossed (on right) , and I spent half my entire project budget on new spark plugs.



I dressed and gapped the points and adjusted the valves after I cleaned the carburetors

ick , more sillycone... this time it was used as electrical tape :eek: I'll clean all this up when I go through the wiring





I had to solder and end on the clutch cable so I could take it out and run through the gears. I went ahead and shortened it for the drag bars that came on it. They are staying



yea, it's an upside down clutch lever... campy !



cuckoo for coco puffs




I need to make up some short runners for the $1 pods that came with it and do a series of proper plug chops


battery ground ;D

 
As both the high and low beams are burnt, I'm going to mount up a cheap 5" head light I have had sitting around. It was a low wattage 6v Italian copy with a gauge socket in the top. I had already converted it to 12v but have not had a need for it until now. Depending on which I run across first, a cheap mini tach or speedo will dictate what goes in there... The factory tach had been apart at some point as sounds like there are "cards in the spokes" starting at 4k but I do have a good cable ;D

The stock bracket for the 7" head lamp was quite a hunk that also accommodated the horn ( not working) and blinkers ( missing ) instead of the usual fork shroud ears.



Typically the headlight ears are scrap on a custom, however I'm keeping the drag bars in the stock clamps and need to mount the very narrow 5" side bolt housing, so I made up a custom set.... and as a bonus, they will hide the horribly pitted fork tubes ( a bit too gone for even the aluminum foil & WD40 treatment ) The functional slide area is good as it was protected with a film of oil from the leaky seals ;D

I had a floor lamp rod in the scrap bin that fits over the 34mm forks perfectly !



Cut that down to a proper length set



cut up some scrap steel and laid down some "fancy boogers" ( my version of welding )







after some metal finishing and a coat of (something), they will look great



I had a set of ear damper rings and have since drilled the mounting holes for the lamp housing. It looks high, however the tach or speedo or whatever I go with in the top of the housing needs to be visible. I might also add pilot lamps for oil and neutral to the top of the housing vs. adding another bracket. The shrouds also make the tubes look a bit beefier and I might add some gaiters I have sitting here

So on with the wiring... it is all quite a mess
 
I'm going to completely rework the wiring on this bike. What is hooked up is working fine, it's just there are so many splices, evidence of burned insulation, frayed connections, old tape over older tape and many components that are currently missing with miles of dead end wires...

The blinkers, flasher and auto cancel unit are all completely missing anyway so I'm going to eliminate the wires etc. left behind. The entire binnacle was trashed, so I will pair that back to just the pilot lights for N and Oil, plus an illumination wire for whatever gauge I end up with in the head lamp . The replacement headlight is a single beam, so no H/Lo switch. The original ignition switch was chiseled so only a screw driver was necessary to turn it on. I'm going to use a simple DP/DT keyed ignition switch I have here in a drawer-, so no "park" light position. The front brake switch was busted, so I will just have the rear ( It's also nice to be able to use front only when a cops going by so you don't illuminate the stop light ;) ) I already threw out that rat's nest of multiple 30amp bullet fuses, so I do need to spend the other half of my budget on a few blade fuse holders with pig tails.

Here is what I sketched out. I will use stock Yamaha wire colors that future owners will appreciate :)

 
I made an ignition bracket for the new location on the down tube:

It will go here:



ready to cut out:



I will prep/ paint to match whatever I do with the frame finish:




I'm taking my time with the wiring... here are some examples of the random po's bodged repairs and what I believe was insulator damage from possibly a fuse block "fire" :eek:





I am soldering in replacements/repairs and heat-shrinking everything





When I re-wired, I also extended the alternator and field coil electricals, so I can hide the connectors under the seat :



Modified rectifier junction :



The original brake switch bracket was broken, I fabbed up a new one :

 
I started to peel the cheap decals off the fuel tank and a bit of that yellow paint lifted off ;D



 
I set aside the nice stock fender and bobbed this 500 fender



I don't have a tubing bender to make a loop, so I hammered some threaded bungs I made up into the frame tubes to use as a fender mounting point



fender brackets fabbed up-



rough fitment and I also added a mounting point at the cross member-





I need an inner fender to keep crap from flying into the crappy $1 pods, so I first made a cardboard template for fitment and then cut a aluminum plate fender





With this fender width and position, I've added vertical clearance so there is plenty of suspension travel to fit whatever clown shoe set of ridiculous tires I come up with-




... and it has that bs sheeple "open triangle look" !!!!

 
With the giant stock bracketry gone and the smaller headlight in the new position, there is a "visual inbalance" below the lamp housing.



I fabbed up what is little more that a "washer" to tie the lower triples together, to create a bit of visual balance. It also serves as a stay for the wires, cables etc.

I will color match with whatever the general frame and bracket color will be so it does not "look " like a trim piece as below:

 
I blew the zero dollar budget out of the water by buying LEDs for the oil pressure warning and neutral indicator to install in the headlamp bucket.





I enlarged the gauge hole in the bucket so I could mount the tach in rubber. ( these cheap tachs won't last if hard mounted. I also need to dilly up some dampers to mount the bucket to the brackets I made.)



Easy peasy..



All buttoned up, wiring complete other than I still need a tail light



Here is an obligatory sheeple build pic ( I will also need a pic of cut off tabs in a dust pan ;D )

 
So... onto the seat portion of the bratty project. As I allowed for proper suspension travel and oversized tire clearance in the rear fender position, the seat will not be totally flat ( like the art and fashion builds on the fanboy sites), it will have a flip up at the back. I do want to mount the seat on top of the frame rails for a simple, ( yet extremely uncomfortable) thin look. The issue with the rails, is someone at Yamaha design included an unsightly "dip". Shown here with a straight edge placed along the top :



To mask this issue with steel and illusion, I cut and welded a length of 1x1 angle to follow the frame seen here:



This will end where the seat begins it's angle up to the top edge of the rear fender:



I initially patterned and cut some scrap wood as a mock up for the seat... but it became the actual home made "skateboard" I will use. For the back, I stitched it together with glass & resin:







To get a better idea of how my fabbed up side rails will look , I temporarily spritz them and the end of the frame black. I think they will mount to the underside of the seat pan once upulstered vs. directly to the frame... not sure yet.



Cut out my memory foam pad ( a luxurious 1" of plushiness ;) )



 
These 34mm forks are pretty wonky without a front fender ( or a fork brace) . I bobbed this fender off of a 500. As it was from a bike with a 19" front wheel, it looks silly with the little 18" stock tire, however my new tires that I will fit will need the room. .... based on my measurements anyway.



Since this is sheeple brat replica , I originally wanted some sort of diamond tread or vintage reproduction style in a huge balloon clown shoe size- however with my zero budget, I had to go with Shinko 241 dual sports. So I guess it might be more of a "brat-tracker" replica then :thumbsup:





Next up is some upholstery fun..

 
I did end up going with the brown "pleather" ...



To make pleats, I sandwiched 1/2" batting between the vinyl and a piece of cotton muslin with spray glue.



I measured up some lines and drew them on the muslin side with a sharpie and sewed them together.





Because of the flip up at the back of the seat, I made the side boxing from three pieces with the angle integrated . ( it looks like a lot of extra material, however you need something to hang onto when stretching in around the pan for final assembly . Excess will be trimmed off then)





Here is a loose fit onto the foam and pan. I will button it all up after I install the seat mounting hardware and take care of the pan's underside finish before I staple ( or glue or whatever ) the cover to the pan. I will stitch close the front around the pan then.



 
Back
Top Bottom