Re: 1976 Yamaha XS500 Cafe project...On to paint!
well today was different, instead of build stuff i shifted the shop space around and went picking at a salvage yard! maine cycle warehouse is huge, its in an old building complex. covered with parts of course. scored HUGE on some stuff too. here is my day in order:
First off, i woke the fuck up.
Second off, i went to the maine cycle warehouse and scored some gnarly stuff. Got a set of pipes, a tail light/plate light combo light, a service manual, parts manual, and original owners manual for my exact year bike!!! (nixing the service manual, its for a tx500, but screw it same thing!) now for the picture-fest:
found these pipes that are a little rusted, and the inlets a little large, but fuckit! just cut the flange thingy a little bit and jam it on the doodle thingy at the end of the exhaust and BOOM! exhaust!
a parts list with full schematics and shit! so great!!!!
service manual for a tx500/a, same bike pretty much, it will help me get the basics down if i run into any issues at least!
and this...the gold of my finds...an original 1976 xs500c owners manual!!! BOOYAA!!! i found this at the bottom of a box. couldnt believe it. the cover was missing when i found it, so i flipped through it and saw shit i recognized, and at the top of the page..."1976 XS500C Owners Manual" i was like...INSTABONER!!!! (but it was said in that unreal tournament video game epic voice, that is real low and dark sounding)
which led me to this:
mufflers!!! WOOT!!! the inlet is a little big, but im cutting the flange thingy a little more so i can force clamp it on to fit...shit'll work perfectly!!! hope they sound good! it will definitely tone down the loudness!!!
than the checkout counter (if you even want to call it that ha..half broken bar table is more like it!) i found this:
Brand New too!!! emgo taillight/plate light combo! 15 bucks! had to have it!
thats the blinker setup im going to run, on all 4 points. it looks kinda cheesy, but it gets the job done until i wish to change it!
i had fun doing a little shopping for things, i got just what i needed, and more than what i really wanted with those manuals to be honest, but it was worth the 80 bucks. at least if i get caught in a rut with something, i wont have a problem fixing it! i know for a fact that i have some stuff i can make some money on with the stuff that i took off the bike. i know i dont want to really keep it, so i think ill bring it in if i need something else and maybe do a little trading for some shit.
when i got back i test fit some things and the tail light will work mint, i scoped out blinker locations and have them figured out. ill drill holes on my headlight mount and mount the front ones on either side, and ill cut some diamond plate brackets out for the rear blinkers so i can attach them to the rear suspension area.
another idea that i had for a seat:
an old license plate. but definitely not a maine one, thats just one my girlfriends father has on the wall in his garage. from 1933 to, he insisted i use it for my project. its from his grandfathers old ford. to be honest, i wouldnt want to use it. and heres why. a legit 1933 old maine license plate, has to be worth a little bit of money. and for some slimeball kid to come and steal it off my bike, would be pretty gay. and because i live in the portland area of maine, and scumbags all over the place dont give a charlies-dick about anybody elses stuff, im going to go another route:
an old 1970's era japanese license plate as the seat. ill try to find one with 1976 tags, as thats the year of my bike, and it would be KILLER! screw it, when i get tired of riding on solid steel, ill find myself a seat. fuckit. i love the idea. haters gonna hate anyways, but i love it!
next week, im plating the bike up, and riding the fuggin thing to work. its plated from the kid i got it from until next year, so ill ride like a cute school kid and sit pretty on a snazzy, rear brake only bike, and enjoy it even though it will be cold as fuck out.
here is what i did at the end of my "Garage" session:
thats where my old work area was, all my shit was scattered right in that 15x7 spot.
thats where it is now. my girlfriends mom threw a piss fit i guess due to me not asking her specifically if it was ok to use one side of the garage to work on this steel mule art piece. well before i even did this i asked her dad and he was all for it, shit, he was excited for me. so today i moved it all to the OTHER side of the garage, and now i bet shes going to be all miss happy pants about it. my girlfriend was pissed at me too because i didnt ask her mom. i got kinda pissed. i asked her dad, so he made the call, and he said it was cool. sure, i had stuff scattered everywhere, but it was neatly scattered. so, i now shifted it in front of her dads work bench, which is fine with me. keeps me a little more organized, and hey, i still have a space to work on this thing, so im thankfull for that!
thats all i have for this update. my
next session will be:
- zip tie license plate to frame as a seat (until jap one is ordered from flee-bay)
- mount blinkers and make brackets and shit.
- Make new plate bracket with room for rear tail light
secondary objective:
- Bring fuel line from my house to replace worn out lines on carbs
- get fucking fuel filters. whoever lined the fuel shit didnt put filters in...dickheads i tell ya'!
any tips or anything, shoot em at me! and as always, keep following along!!!!
bitch i want one! 
