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Well, I finally got a little more time to work on her and she's just about buttoned up. The only thing left is to replace the flasher, set up the speedo sensor, and add some mirrors. I was able to buzz around the block on her yesterday, and I have to say she rides much nicer with the "new" seat...

About ten years ago I scored one of these from a friend of a friend and spent about a week cleaning and tuning on her. It was in remarkably good shape, a lot like yours. I got it going and my dad, brother, and I took it down to the high school and buzzed around for about 3 hours on it. What a...

I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on her lately, but I'm slowly picking away at it. I got the headlight bucket painted and installed, along with the new blinkers and tail light. Now I'm working on getting the controls all painted and polished.

Picked up my seat today, so now you can really see where I'm going with this. The rear fender will be cut off and a tail light will be fitted up tight under the cowl (which will be painted to match the rest of the bodywork). I still haven't decided if I'm going to keep the front fender as is...

Just rattlecan. I've grown to be pretty decent with it over the years, plus it falls within my budget (which has already been expanded). My goal is to have it all done including tires and original purchase price for under $1000, and so far I'm doing well. I'm at about $850 and the only things...

Rear wheel installed with new tire, new oil filter in place, and I'm picking up my seat today. Then more cleaning and painting....

Not much of an update, but I got my filters in today. As you other tx/xs 500 guys know, the oil filter was obsolete long ago, and it's oddball (for a motorcycle) 22mm threads make it very difficult to find replacements. People spend 40-50 bucks on oem filters on ebay. After lots of searching I...

Yeah, one thing that drew me to this bike is the engine and it's "modern" attributes with the dohc and 4 valves per cylinder. I know it has a few drawbacks, but being the later model oval port version helps. Today I got some more painting done. And cleaning. And painting. And cleaning. One...

Thanks for the input! I pulled the plugs yesterday while I was checking the point gap and drooled some seafoam in there. I saw today at the parts store that they actually have an aerosol version now with a spray tube, so I bought that. I'm gonna shoot a little in there every day until I get it...

Re: 1976 Yamaha XS500C cafe/ restomod Thanks! I've looked through your threads and you guys do great work; definetly above and beyond what I'm doing here. My only question for now is what is with the giant snap ring holding the rear sprocket on? Who at yamaha thought that was a great idea? ;D

Re: 1976 Yamaha XS500C cafe/ restomod I will. Thanks!

Re: 1976 Yamaha XS500C cafe/ restomod I've realized that I probably started this thread in the wrong section, because once it's done it's going to look like a pretty much stock bike with a little bit of tracker inspiration, not a cafe. My bad. ::)

Re: 1976 Yamaha XS500C cafe/ restomod Got a lot more painted today, plus a few bits polished. Just working my way back from the front: I used VHT header paint on the pipes after roughing them up with 220 grit, so hopefully the shit will stick. I'm going to try to follow their directions for...

Normally I would have already pulled it apart, but this is one of those $200 investments that I'd really rather not dump too much money into if I don't have to. Hell, if it keeps running good and just smokes a little it will probably get ran like that until who knows when.

Re: Re: Tricks to free up stuck rings ;D I know it's a long shot, but what the hell. I once freed up an xr100 by beating the piston out, and sanded some of the rust out with 80 grit sand paper. Put it back together and let the rings eat out the rest of the rust. I was shocked when it started...

Thanks for the replys guys. I know the cylinder is probably pitted, and I've had enough seized up old project bikes to have a good idea what shape shes in. I just wanted to hear any tricks that I may have never heard of for freeing up the rings. I'm hoping that a few good rides blasting around...

I've got an XS500 that I'm doing a poor mans resto-mod on and it was seized up good from sitting since 1984. After a few weeks of dumping marvel mystery oil down the sparkplug holes I was able to push it off the center stand in gear and break it loose. After carbs/tank/electrical work she runs...

Re: 1976 Yamaha XS500C cafe/ restomod As of today I've got the front end from the steering head down disassembled, painted, and reassembled with a new front tire. Of course I managed to scratch the crap out of my freshly painted wheel, but it's nothing a little touch up won't cure. Tomorrow I'm...

Re: 1976 Yamaha XS500C cafe/ restomod She needs plugs and the left one needs the threads chased anyways (it got a little tight last time I had it out) so I'll check for weeping when I do that and have a good look at it. I know about the obsolete oil filter business too so I'll be addressing...

Re: 1976 Yamaha XS500C cafe/ restomod Hey, I'm always happy to hear blathering when it comes to one of my projects. I appreciate all the info I can get! I've done quite a bit of reading on this thing myself; I'm hoping that I've got one of the better ones without a cracked head. She seems to...