Article And Photos By: Daniel Donley
www.pandemoniumcustomchoppers.com
T
he Yamaha XS650 has been gaining popularity over the years as an affordable, customizable motorcycle. There are many different styles that can be made from this platform including Café’ Racer, street tracker, resto-mod, or even a hardtail chopper. One of the problem areas with the Yamaha XS650 is the electric start. It is cumbersome by design and typically does not work well. Even when rebuilt, the performance from the electric start system is typically lackluster. At which point a popular modification is to delete the starter and do a kickstart only engine. So, for this month’s tech, I am going to run you through the procedure on how to delete the electric starter motor from the XS650 engine.
18 June ‘18
- CYCLE SOURCE MAGAZINE
The starter delete can be installed with the engine in the frame. You will want to disconnect the battery positive and negative. Put a drain pan underneath the engine. When you remove the starter, this will drain the engine oil. (Good time for an oil change anyway) Next, you will be able to remove the four bolts that retain the starter to the engine block.
Now you can remove the starter from the engine block. Make sure that your oil pan is catching the draining oil.
