Hey there!
My name is Tadas and I'm from Lithuania. I got my XT 600 last spring and I fell in love with it.
The frame and all other parts had rust, scrapes, etc., engine had some corrosion too. So for the whole year I wanted to make it nice again.
I was hoping for all the work on it to go quicker, but as always, it takes more than you expect.
First things I did to it were usual maintenance: changed air/oil filters and oil. Then I got this sweet carbon fiber exhaust. The difference in power compared to stock was huge. And, if I remember correctly, the carbon fiber exhaust weighs 0.5kg, and stock 5.5kg (or 7.5kg?).
Yamaha XT 600 3TB with Carbon Fiber Yoshimura Exhaust - YouTube
Then, after driving for a few times at night I got disappointed about the lighting of a regular halogen bulb (Philips) and I decided to get a Bi-Xenon kit for it. Improvement was immense!
Yamaha XT 600 3TB Bi Xenon Conversion 55W 6000K - YouTube
September last year I got Acerbis gas tank. My original gas tank had it's left fairing missing, and the tank itself was pretty small. Acerbis tank was pretty sun-faded and spray painted black, to this spring I had to scrape all the paint and brittle plastic (~1mm thick) off and sand it to perfection.
As I was disassembling the bike I found a power limiter: a thin sheet metal plate with smaller hole on the right side between cylinder and carburetor's rubber fitting. So that went to trash! The rubbers themselves were in very poor condition so I ordered new ones.
I've done the exhaust header modification as one guy on Youtube did:
YAMAHA 600 XT modif - YouTube
New brake pads also will be fitted.
As will new wiring harness, because old one was so bad that I threw it away. Some wires were too tight, some were too loose, some were connected by a person who doesn't know who is he doing. It was a total mess, looked like a spiderweb.
As the bike itself is 1993, the engine is newer, 1997, and in 1993 bike there's no connections for the starter motor and switches. I was preparing for that: bought another throttle housing that is separate from ignition switch, and bought a 2009 Yamaha R6 ignition switch/starter switch assembly. Looks awesome, not outdated like original XT600E switch. Also bought a clutch switch for that.
After disassembly I sandblasted almost all metal parts, sprayed on epoxy primer, following by black paint.
The engine (not including the cylinder and header) got also sandblasted, coat of epoxy primer, silver metallic paint and clear-coat.
Plastics were covered in primer for plastics, now awaiting good weather to cover in primer them again after filler/sanding, and paint it in dark metallic green. Dark metallic green will go on all plastic parts + front forks.
I'm anxious to see how it looks at the end. Hope that will be in next two weeks.