V star 650 hardtail

[dowood1]

Ok that’s great , thanks for the info .
Will have to get measuring up now !

[Skjoll]

I also seem to be considering a single carb conversion as I have already bought an SU carburettor to fit , in the near future whenever that may be !

The SU is a great carburetor but getting the right sized jets and needles can be a bear depending on the model SU you have. This may be a good resource: https://sucarb.co.uk/technical-carburetters

I usually see the side draft single carb conversions but I'm looking to do a single down draft on my 650 using one of the original CVs and rejetting it to use a pod filter tucked away under the tank. That should clean up the right side of the bike quite a bit. I'm also welding up a final 2-1 exhaust for it... the quick and ugly protoype I made is hooked to an Akrapovic can (model C in the link) and the motor sounds like an SV650 with an Akro exhaust... IMO so much nicer than the usual 2-2 cruiser or drag pipes.

The XVS650 is such an awesome bike... stone reliable, comfortable for all day cruising and fires up in less than a second even when the temps get down to 0°F.

[dowood1]

Interesting post Skjoll , never considered a single down draft , great idea
My main plan is to make my bike simpler, lighter and easier to work on .
Would be interested to hear how you get on with the single downdraught idea .
Have a two into one on my bike too , using an old HD silencer , they seem to sound better on a 2 into 1 .
Thanks for the reading on the SU’s should keep occupied for a while
I’m 6’5” so getting the air filter out the way is good for me . Was considering a forward facing single SU .
But your path is a good option too.
Someting to think on !

[dowood1]

‘‘Twas mot time again on thurs . But it passed with no problems .
Now it’s the cars mot time next week , hey ho !

[dowood1]

Got a piece of suitable billet to replace the rear shock, just trying to work out how to drill the holes square with only a battery hand drill

[dowood1]

Have got a h4 1 1/2 “ SU carburettor for the xvs650 as I had read a 40mm carb was the best bet , for a single carb conversion
But have now read that it could be a 40 mm outside dia spigot and should be a 30mm carb which would be the h2
Have I got the right carb size please.
My confusion comes from looking at a website called vtc motors ( sorry cannot do a link st the mo )
Who at the mo seem to list two single carb manifolds . With to my mind two confusing size descriptions for each .
I have asked them for clarification ! . But has any one any more information

[dowood1]

Very helpful company and quick responses ( vtc motors ) good prices for the manifolds to .
Looks like I can use the h4 carb as it is a 38mm ID and the rubber mounting pipe on the manifold takes 40 to 43 mm (with jetting and setting up of course) , and making or getting an adaptor made to mount it on the manifold which has a 38mm ID

[dowood1]

Managed to get a clearance pillar drill from a local , builders merchants . For £30 not exactly great but it did the job !

Oh yeah car failed the test , so gonna scrap it, not replace it and concentrate on the bike

[dowood1]

Putting a strut in the rear made the hard seat difficult to use as the 2” seat springs were only for decoration and had a bolt thru the middle of them .
Redesigned the mounts to use the springs , but they were rubbish & bottomed out while stationary . Have upgraded them with some better quality 3” chrome ones which are much better . Now I just want to get rid of the rubbish standard frame bridge they’re mounted on . Have got a bit of 30mm tubing to make a cross rail about 3-4” further back, which will line up with the springs better & also be appx 2” lower and look and feel a lot better and can also act as a mounting point for the rear mudguard tidying things up a bit more

[Luky]

Putting a strut in the rear made the hard seat difficult to use as the 2” seat springs were only for decoration and had a bolt thru the middle of them .
Redesigned the mounts to use the springs , but they were rubbish & bottomed out while stationary . Have upgraded them with some better quality 3” chrome ones which are much better . Now I just want to get rid of the rubbish standard frame bridge they’re mounted on . Have got a bit of 30mm tubing to make a cross rail about 3-4” further back, which will line up with the springs better & also be appx 2” lower and look and feel a lot better and can also act as a mounting point for the rear mudguard tidying things up a bit more

The behive springs work much better than the weak cylindrical springs.

[dowood1]

Ok thanks for that luky will , will keep that in mind ,
Looking at e bay I think the original ones were cheap ones from China , they came with the 2nd hand seat I bought . From that very site .

[dowood1]

Decided as I’ll need a few welding jobs done , to get myself an 160 amp inverter arc welder . I know it’s not everybody’s choice , but cost and size were priorities , and I’ve a few 2nd hand older welders , but they are just that old !
I know a good arc weld is as strong as any other type ( but not as pretty ) when done properly
Will see how it goes when I get a chance

[dowood1]

After much deliberating and delaying I have just purchased a scruffy Honda ca125 tank off eBay to fit
Scruffy cos it was cheap but it looks solid and clean inside it’s a bit smaller than I wanted @ 2.2 UK / 2.6 us gallons , but as I’m gonna get rid of the air filter arrangement soon . I will be able to get some more capacity by getting rid of most of the tunnel which looks like it should give me the best part of a gallons capacity . Which would be plenty for me . Think it should be a nicely shaped little tank

[dowood1]

Thinking aloud here ! Re hard tailing it .
I think that as the s/arm tubes line up with the frame tubes vertically I could put a brace across the frame tubes horizontally top and bottom where the curved vertical side braces are , which I’m retaining .
Then just chop the swinging arm off and but it up against the braces and weld in place .
Maybe using 60 by 30mm 3mm rectangular tube
Or perhaps two 30mm tubes top and bottom with 2 tubes between them where the swinging arm buts up against them ,
Perhaps not the tidyist arrangement but simple cheap and easy to do with out too much dismantling or work and I can get rid of all the excess s/arm gubbins / weight and fit a simple electrics box
Any one got any thoughts on that please

[TriNortchopz]

how about some pics of the frame so we can see the tubes you are talking about, and a hand drawn sketch (or CAD) of your plan. That'll help with thinkin' thoughts...

Is it anything like this Shadow?

Thread: Thread of the day: My Road to 'Bob'
http://www.chopcult.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32083

[dowood1]

Thanks TriNortchopz will do that , but fear it was a late night “plan” to save time and money and didnt really stand up in the daylight .
But will have a rethink on it and see if I can come up with something that works in daylight too .
Will be happy to post some ideas then !
Cheers for the offer tho

[dowood1]

The idea is to be somewhere near one of these frame wise . preferably the lower of the two pics . Guess I’m gonna need to find a tube bender to get the bits to connect frame and s/ arm like that . At least I’ve found one that’s done, what I want to aim for with an xvs650 frame

[dowood1]

Already have the manifold which will need an adaptor for the carb , and the air filter which I hope to have before the end of the month .
It’s all going to be good fun I’m sure

[dowood1]

Tank turned up today with damage to it / a split in it , seller has agreed to refund all charges .
Think it could be cool when fitted properly , repaired and those front mountings changed , but not convinced as yet . Think I would need to move the seat back a bit and the tank forwards a Bit , and a bit of paint ! . BUT Maybe too much trouble / cost with the repairs as well ?
Any opinions out there

[dowood1]

Gonna have to scrap the tank , took the rest of the filler off and there’s too much damage for it to be viable