My 82 XJ750 Project

My old man picked it up for me today, it's officially mine I just have to make the 7 hour drive to go pick it up. My plans are to bob it, not sure about hard tailing it yet but initially I'm going to throw some solid struts on it as low as I can go and I've already got a seat on it's way. Anybody have some advice for me in regard to what I should do as soon as I get the bike let me know. this is my first time so....

Here it is:

 

put air in the front tire, lose the sissy bar, engine guard, headlight, blinkers, passenger pegs, gauges, reflectors, humongous taillight, and start spending some $$$

 

interesting exhaust. loud?

 

i'm about in the same boat as you, i got mine not all that long ago! it's gonna be a good winter/rainy day project for me. i'm working on some forward controls right now, which you might want to think about if you like to stretch out a bit.

i've just been looking around at other peoples bikes getting ideas and prices. once you start working, i think you'll start seeing how you want the bike to look.

side note-you wouldn't happen to know anyone named tristan that does tattooing down there, would you?

 

Yeah it's pretty loud, but I like it.

 

Not familiar with that name, I get all my work done by a guy named Rudy down at Ink Pagoda in Fontana.

 

If you trash the sissy bar, I'd like to have it.
Saludos desde Mexico!
macnifico

 

Lose the front fender and new handle bar grips with the new bars. Let me know about the solid rear struts too. Send me some numbers.

You should be able to sell everything on here that you plan to take off.

 

For sure I'll let you know, I just have to get the bike in my garage first. It's at my dad's still and I have to go pick it up (7 hour drive each way)

 

I'm going to pick her up tomorrow, finally! 7 hour drive each way but I'll be spending the night out there.

It's going to be snowing 8O

 

just remember no shocks in the back means your kidneys will take a beating

 

eh, it's not too bad. As long as your roads in CA arent that bad.

 

Just clean and polish, it would be ashamed to ruin such a nice complete bike. That one is not a canidate to get chopped.

 

+ 1.

 

That seat and fenders are coming off for sure, sorry guys. Lights all gotta go, but most likely I won't be chopping the frame so it would be easy to put everything back to stock.

 

Got the bike home Sunday night, the drive was gnarly with all the snow but she's in the garage. I took some crappy pictures with my phone, I'm going to start pulling her apart tonight. She's got some rust because of the salt I assume in the air in Utah. I'll be cleaning all that up, mounting a new seat which I have already and got some Pod filters for it as well. I rode it down the street Sunday night but it was so cold it was hard to enjoy it but it's fast and sounds great. I like the exhaust the guy had on it so I think I'll leave that and just wrap the headers.

Crath I'll be taking measurments tonight for those struts and I'll send payment so you can get working on them.

 

Oh and it's crazy how many lights are on this dam thing. A little overkill but hey don't question the engineers. :lol:

 

just a reminder, im interested in some of the stuff you pull off
-is that homemade wine you're making in your garage? I made some, it was pretty good, but somehow my dad found out i was making it and got my stash..

 

Hahha yeah I remember, I'll be saving the stuff.

No that's not wine it's used oil :lol: :lol:

 

oh yea, tear that thing apart, lol!

 

Well here is what I did tonight, keep in mind that I only had a few hours. And this is my first time doing anything like this.

 

do you already have the seat mounted?, chop off the frame until you hit where the shocks mount, and i think you're going to want to keep the side covers, unless you have something else in mind to cover up the holes

 

I got your rear solid struts done today. I started out with 1" solid round stock, then machined it down on my lathe to your specifications: 1" wide with 1/2" holes for the upper and lower shock mounts.




Next, I used 3/4" solid stock that I cut down and machined to exactly 203mm in length. These were welded to the bar ends to give you exactly 9" from centerline to centerline of the shock mounts, as you specified.





These will be more than strong enough for your application. No way will these bend or break.

 

The seat's not really mounted, I bolted the front to where the gas tank bolts on but the back of it is just sitting on top.

I'm probably going to chop the frame tonight to the shock mounts. I think I'm going to make a different type of cover for the battery and stuff. Not sure yet.

 

Those are Bitchen, thanks man! I'll send payment asap. PM me the total. Thanks again.

 

Did some cutting tonight:






I'm having some issues with the starter I think, when I first picked it up I would have to push the start button quite a few times with just a bunch of clicks and then it would finally turn over. Tonight however it wouldn't even make the clicking sound and wouldn't turn over at all. But the headlight still comes on when the key is turned. Any ideas?

 

How bright is the headlight? If it's really dim, it could still be a weak battery. Test the voltage at the battery. It needs to be around 12.6 V with no load. It should not drop below 10.5V with the starter cranking (if you get it to crank). This is a 'quick and dirty' way to figure out if your battery is weak. Make sure there is enough distilled water in the battery too. If you dont have a volt meter, hook some jumper cables to your car/truck. Make sure you have a solid connection at both ends of the jumper cables. If that solves the problem and it cranks, you know it's the battery.

It could also be:
starter solenoid
bad connections - anywhere in the circuit
bad switch
...just to name a few

 

Prolly the battery - el cheapo LA type at Wally World $34-38.
xj's love new batteries, fully charged, all the time.

 

what kind of dirbike is that in the back, a cobra? that looks like one wicked kid's racer

 

Thanks for the tips guys, I do have a volt meter at home so I'll test it tonight.

schooter yeah that's a cobra, both of those are my son's bikes. He races a little bit but mostly just rides for fun.

 

I'm also a little intimidated about all the electrical, like how I'm going to make some tail lights and all that so I'll be on here asking tons of questions. I had no idea of all the crap that was underneath that seat. I thought it would be a couple of wires for the lights and some for the instrument cluster but geez.

 

oh and any pointers on mounting that seat would be nice. I'm thinking I'll have to weld a plate across to mount the springs. I'm assuming the bolt and washers go on the inside of the srping and hold the spring to the seat and the other end to the mounting point.

This is all new to me

 

I have a thread on here for my bobber. I used the same seat. You will have to weld some tabs to the frame.

I would just find which two wires are used for the running and brake lights in the rear harness. Are you running turn signals in the rear? Have any idea what you are going to use for lights? I would get the lights you want first, mount them, then worry about the wiring part last.

 

I don't think I'm gonna run turn signals but I did mark them so that I knew which wires they are if I decided to. And I know which wires are for the tail light so I'm sure I'll figure it out.

What is the cheapes type of welder I would be able to get that would work for what I'm doing here like welding a bracket and these types of things for the seat? I saw some pretty cheap mig welders on Ebay and I was thinking of hitting up the local pawn shops.

 

errr.. I dunno. I never really bargain shopped for welders. I picked up my Millermatic 135 for around $600 for doing small stuff. But you can definitly find something used for half that, but not a Miller. You can get a flux core welder for cheap. It would do the trick for small stuff. But I wouldnt recommend using it on frames.

 

I know I don't want to skimp on quality when it comes to a welder, I just have to be realistic in the fact that I don't have a whole lot of money. But it is Christmas next week and my parents usually kick down some cash so we'll see what happens. I think eventually I'm going to want to hardtail the bike like yours.

 

If you get a good 110V welder that uses gas, you'll be find to hard tail it. Just make sure you have lots of practice or find someone else that does.

I'm going to the UPS store after work to drop your handlebars and struts in the mail. I'm curious to see how your bike sits with these on it. So get 'em on fast and snap some pictures.

 

Beleive me, as soon as I get them they will be on there. haha

 

According to UPS, they should get there on the 29th.

If you have any problems with the handlebar controls not tightening down on the bars completely, just wrap some masking tape a few times around the bars where the controls will sit. Because it is pipe, it doesnt hold a very tight tolerance for a .875" O.D. That's what I end up having to do one some of the handlebars I make.

 

Over the weekend I did some more work, pulling extra crap off and cleaning some rusted spots. I'll say that airbox was a huge pain in the ass to get out of there. Cleaned the carbs and fitted the pod filters on there.

I tried hooking up the jumper cables because I wasn't getting a reading on my voltage meter (it's really old) but it still wouldnt turn over. The battery appears fairly new so I'm thinking it may be a connection between the battery and the starter motor. Or possibly the solonoid. (sp?)

Also I think I've decided to go real old school chopper/bobber style and eliminate all the excess electrical and just go with a head and a tail light and ignition setup no other instruments. I can't wait to see how it looks with the struts and bars mounted on there.

I think I will start with the tank tonight.

 

check the water level on the battery. Put it on a trickle charger too. But you best best is to spend $40 on a new battery, that way you know you are good there. Even though the battery looks new, there is not telling for sure how old it could be or how it may have been abused by the previous owner.

 

Yeah I'll probably pick up a new battery and there are some cheap solonoids on ebay. I know the starter motor was working last week so it shouldn't be an issue. I hope.

 

Check your starter. Take some heavy jumper cables and hook them directly to the starter motor's positive cable connection.

 

Man the electrical is just insane on this thing. I'm thinking about ripping it all out and starting over from scratch. All I want is Key, ignition switch, Headlight, Tail Light. Anybody have an electrical for dummies schematic? :lol: :lol:

 

type XS650 chopper wiring on google...same as XJ for the most part...just a couple extra coils on an XJ. Go on thechopperunderground too...they can wire anything to run over there.

 

Did a bunch of work over the last 3 days or so, painted the tank and front fender. Here are some pics



I'm going to use this ammo can to hide some of the electrical

 

good job, if i get a project bike, im contemplating either a john deere bike or a flat/gloss black with candy red accents like cheeseys bike

 

If you notice in one of the pictures I got a red crankcase breather filter. I bought some red grips for it too, I think I'm going to add some more red. Possibly the rims red as well.

 

Well I received a package in the mail today, it was my bars and struts (thanks Crath)

I threw the bars on first just to see what they looked like with the tank. but I ran into an issue with the struts. I must not have measured right because the eyelets were not large enough in diameter to fit over the shock mounts. They are a tiny bit too small.

I'm going to try and find machine shop that I can go by on my lunch break and get them hollowed out a bit more.

Here's a couple of pics with the bars on and the gas tank

 

I used a 1/2" drill bit on the struts. Remeasure your studs with a set of calipers if you have them. You dont want to oversize the holes in the struts, or they will rattle around and make noise. You want a snug fit!!