The battery that was in the 650 was shot. It was competely dry, not one drop of acid remained. I needed a new battery. I recently got an AGM battery for the xs1100 and have been happy with it so far. Its maintenanc free which is always a nice bonus. I decided to get the same style battery for the 650.
Way back when, the bike first failed due to a melted pickup coil in the ignition system. I got a Boyer Ignition system to replace the entire ignition system. I was never able to bike to start up with the Boyer system installed. At the time I thought it somehow might be related to my stator being out of spec and not charging the system at all. I picked up a donor engine, with a good stator, and proceeded to take the best parts of both engines. Upon reassembly I introduced a clutch problem that kept the bike from turning over period. That is how the bike stayed for 5 years in my garage.
I finally got my clutch problem sorted out which only left my ignition problem. It is funny how different things look when you have 5 more years of experience behind you. I noted that my original installation of the boyer system into the cam shaft was faulted. I was missing some bushings. I purchased those and fitted them. Now the Boyer system rotated like it should. I also noted that my new ignition coil was not ground correctly according to the boyer installation instructions. Once all that was sorted out the bike started right up!
Finally signs of life. It is still running a little rough and I still have plenty of things to work on before I take it for a spin but it is good to hear it running. Pictures
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| | old battery was shot, picked up a maintenance free battery | | | | boyer stuff, my bike had TCI ignition, no points, so I was missing the required camshaft bushings | | | 4 new bushings shown, without bushings the shaft pulled what was a flat washer into a concave mess | | | bushing #1 installed, thanks to liberal amounts of wd-40 | | | | | right hand side of engine, shaft slide through camshaft, ready to be tightened | | | DONT SET BOYER TIMING AS SHOWN ABOVE, that is full retard, it needs to be set at full advance | | | white dot on rotating plate is visible through hole when crank at full advance | | | | | | what a mess, all wires were opened up when troubleshooting initial ignition melting | | | all wires put in wire looms and wrapped, much better | | | new coil grounded on each mounting post, and connected to control unit ground (white wire) | | | | line up mark on stator with left part of cutout on cover for correct boyer timing (full advance) | | |