Wednesday 17 May 2017

The other XS Triple Sidecar - how to convert to points and...

... it's running.

The difference between genius and stupid ideas is often just a point of view thing. Most people I know wouldn't want to fit a sidecar to a motorcycle, I think it's absolutely grand. Same goes for XS750/850 riders and points ignitions. Generally everybody wants to convert to electronic ignition for the apparent benefits, as such there's quite a few explanations out there on how to convert to electronic ignition on a 750 loom, but not a single one on how to go the other way. Well, now there is.

That's what I started with at 8:30 in the morning in my dad's garage. 



 The 4-pin-connector of the points-ignition on the engine.


 And its 6-pin counterpart on the 850 loom.



Pinned out the 4-pin-connector on an old loom.


And did the same with the 6-pin-connector on the 850 loom. As the looms strictly speaking work the same, it's no big deal, as you just have extra switched +12V and ground wires and the other four (3 coils and neutral) are the same.


Insulate the two open terminals and that's the conversion done. As easy as that.


Getting the old r/r-unit off, without removing the battery tray is next to impossible so Markus fitted the new one inside the battery tray, because the space was empty anyway as he used a car-battery in the sidecar.



While we were at it, made some new ground wires, because you can never have too good ground on a bike. 


The old BOSCH-headlight I used is a tad smaller, so fitting everything inside was going to be a bit of a challenge, especially as it came off my XS750 and that mostly used bullet-connectors, where as the 850 loom has got a lot more multi-connectors, which are super for wiring up, but a bit of a pain space-wise.


Carbs are in.

Quick oilchange, before startup as I had to take off the filter housing anyway, because of the oilcooler still missing on the bike.


That's the level of clean I want to see in a filter housing (and an oilpan), but you know that already.


Looking pretty good with all the lights and stuff installed. Ready to roll.


That was quite literally the second startup of the 750, just cranked it over once before to make sure I have oilpressure etc and it fired right up.


And that's my hairy arse on the first testride right out of the gates at my dad's humble domicile ...


... aaaaand coming back. (I've repeated that process a few times - it's pretty awesome!)


What you can't see in the videos: a 25kg (50 pound) bag of sand on the seat as the sidecar is really light and just loves to climb.

So what's left to do: Get a new 16" sidecar tyre, dial in the carbs, tighten up the exhaust and then find someone who's after a nice learner sidecar. It's all in the (German) papers, so if sidecars are your thing, drop me a line and we'll work something out.

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