What is going on with my bike???

[WestCoastCafe]

Hey guys,
So my build has come to its end, or so i thought. Everything is together, just waiting for the seat to come back form the upholsterer. (picture of the bike so far below) Its a 78 xs650, with the front end from a 01 yamaha r6. Engine ran awesome when I got it, but looked terrible so I took it out to clean it all up. I didn't touch anything internally in the engine, just took the cam cover off to get sandblasted and painted. Now that its all back together I am having a serious issue starting the thing, well two issues.
1) when I go to kickstart it (no electric start wired yet) sometimes it starts no problem first or second kick, then will idle and rev beautifully. But most of the time, it either doesnt start or gives me wicked compression and kicks back really hard.
2) the battery does not seem to hold charge. It will start with a battery charger connected, and the charger will read 100%. Without the charger connected i can get it started once or twice but then the battery seems to run out of juice.

Originally it started great everytime, so what did I screw up??
Thanks in advance
*i also wrapped the exhaust if that will have affected anything

 

[rockcitycafe]

battery's dead. get a new one.

 

[work9to5]

Check your kill switch wiring. Had what sounds like the same issue. Couldn't figure it out for a straight month. turns out my kill was contacting randomly. Hope it's as easy a fix for you. If it's your battery go to a decent autoparts store and most will multi-meter your bat for free. will rule out/in if it's that (this is advice that was given to me when had similar problem).

 

[WestCoastCafe]

Could a weak/dead battery be causing the kickback??
thats my main problem. It puts the fear of god into me every time I want to start the thing. I know that kickback is usually caused by timing, but all that I did to the engine was removed the cam cover to sandblast and paint. Could I have screwed something with the timing or cam doing that?

 

[speedfourjoe]

Could a weak/dead battery be causing the kickback??
thats my main problem. It puts the fear of god into me every time I want to start the thing. I know that kickback is usually caused by timing, but all that I did to the engine was removed the cam cover to sandblast and paint. Could I have screwed something with the timing or cam doing that?

I think the points/ignition housings would have had to come off to remove the cam cover? Have you done a static timing check?