My first bike.

Hello, My Name is Joel.

I just bought my 81 Seca 750 this last weekend. 27k Miles, it's a fixer upper, but the motor is good and that's what is important.
A friend introduced me to the site, and from what I seen, there are lots of good vendors and some guru's on here. I hope I can Learn more about the Seca than what I have read online so far, and whip it back into shape and have a bike that would turn heads.

Here are some pictures of what I am starting out with, and I'll be on here to discuss and share information as I go along.

http://s791.photobucket.com/albums/yy199/2DJoel/

Plans so far for this winter, replace the seal for the oil filter, replace the front brake pads, Install 4into1 short exhaust system, Re-tune the carbs. replace grips, Mirrors, install clubman style bars, 7" round headlight with 6000k HID dual beam headlight, with two smaller round 3000k HID yellow aux lights under the headlight. Round speed and tach gauges. Paint Yamaha Team Blue with Checkers down the middle of the bike. 1 person seat, and shortened tail section with LED tails. Smaller turn signals and meatier rear tire.

 

Welcome Joel. You'll find some great advice and support on this site. Your bike looks to be in good shape and I can only get better. I have the same bike in Black and love riding it.

 

hi nice bike. 81 750 seca was my first bike this summer as well paid 500 cdn. you will probely want to put on a bar mounted master brake cylinder as well, works alot better then the cable and the one mounted behind the headlight. Make sure you post pic's of your build. Good luck.

 

I bought a '81 xj750 seca recently and found this site (1st xjbike). LOTS of fun to ride. The amount of info around here (not counting me ) is mind boggling. WELCOME...

skillet

 

Nice find welcome to the site

 

Thanks guys, for the welcome. So far from lurking around the site, I have learned that I do not have the tools or the know how to even attempt to jet my carbs. I finally figured out what to do with the, Ugly Atari system lookin' thing/speedo/tach that is stuck to my otherwise good looking bike. I also saw there are some people that wouldn't approve of me modding my Seca. So, I'm sorry for bastardizing a historical gem, but it's what I do.

I went over the bike some the other day, changed out the oil,(was very dark) and learned that it takes 5 quarts to fill a seca750... not 4. Today, I need to pull the plugs and see if the carbs have been tuned for the missing exhaust. Otherwise the bike is running extremely lean and I won't be able to ride it until I either find a replacement exhaust system for a good price, or take it somewhere and have it tuned in for open headers. I have a feeling it's running too lean, because it doesn't like to idle when its slightly cold still. :| IDK, I'm a child of fuel injection. I'm moving over from tuning and racing cars, to my first bike. All this talks of floats, and needles, and mercury sticks.... My head hurts.

anyways, here is a picture of my "race car" it's not fast in a straight line, but, it wins in its class.

 

Welcome to the site Joel. Just in case you had not yet noticed, there is one FANTASTIC vendor, Chacal, and LOTS of guru's. And plenty of inspiration.

I like the SECA, some day I will get one of my own. (I see we share the exact same taste in helmets)

 

Greetings

You’ll get new O rings with/when you change the oil/filter.
I’m using a Wix filter 24934 available at your favorite auto supply; they may have to order it.
Got mine at O’Reilly ordered it in the am picked it up after 4 pm same day.
You can also use a Fram CH6003

I’m planning on converting to a round headlight speedometer and tach this winter.
But I haven’t found a lot of info. Here are my links SO FAR.
http://www.aztec8.com/id76.html I kind of like the dual 4’ with windscreen.

http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/common/Frontpage.jsp didn’t find mush I like here.

Do you have a link to your headlight speedometer and tach sources?

Thanks
ab

 

Hey ab,

I like that Dual 4" headlight idea you have there... Looks very Buell.
The headlight, I plan on finding a general 7" headlight, that holds an H4 bulb, and either sending it off to a place in Ohio called Unique Coatings and they send me back the headlight modded for the HID kit, or, I do it myself.
As far as the Tach and speedo, Xulf gave me the link to mikesxs.com to what he had used for his seca. They look nice, and are very functional.

I didn't get the the O-Ring for the oil filter cap when I got my oil filter. All that I got was just the oil filter. It doesn't leak too badly, but, I still need to get a new o-ring for the cap, and probably clean around where the ring goes to help the seal.

On a seperate note, today I was able to figure out my idling issue. The bike takes a while to warm up enough that it needs 0 choke. I just have to put a couple of miles on it, and it runs just fine. I had also pulled the plugs to see how they look. It doesn't look as if it's running lean, so, someone must have tuned the carbs after the exhaust rusted off. So, I should be fine to run untill I put a new exhaust on. Then re-tune the carbs with the new exhaust? Is anyone on here from Michigan that knows about this jetting thing? I would love to chat a minute so I can get my head around this whole carb thing. I look at them, and I see wizardry at work inside there. I get how they mix air and gas, but what pin, does what and what tube holds the magic fairy dust to decide wether or not my motor explodes... :|

The less people I have to pay to work on my bike the better. So, learning to tune the bike would help me out a TON.

 

<rant>
I love how today, I get the bike legal to ride, and the weather changes from okay to extra cold and rain.

</rant>

Oh well, gives me time to work on my brakes. It looks as if someone changed the pads but didn't push the piston back in. Then took a hammer to get it back onto the disc. I love northern rednecks, The Good ol' boys down south would at least know how to change the most simple of brakes.
Maybe it's for the best that I am working on the bike and not riding it around with the pads dragging on the disc.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about changing your bike up. This argument (discussion) has been going on long before xjbikes. I imagine the first gearhead that changed (butchered) his model A caught grief from somebody :lol: ...

skillet

 

Thanks skillet,

Most of the people around here are into the sport bikes. But they get bored really fast. One person gets a GSXR600, so someone has to get an R6 and then someone picks up a 600RR.... and so on, so, everyone wants the same bike but then they want to be unique. I hope that I can flip this bike and make someone happy with something unique and still cater to their sport bike needs. Or, I just keep it, and move to back to Georgia, where I can ride it for more than 3 months out of the year. I think this bike has good lines and can pull off a good look to it. Granted it's not a 170 mph 300lb track monster, but, it's different, and still peppy.

 

Ummm, Joel; no, it doesn't. It takes 2500cc's (2.5 liters) or a little less than 3 quarts. Right above the filler it has a little "2500CM3" cast into the case, that's the capacity. You can go maybe 2800cc.

If you put 5 quarts in your next post is going to be "why is oil coming out of my airbox?"

Did you do it on the SIDEstand? On the sidestand, you should see NO OIL in the window. On the CENTERstand, the oil should come to the top of the sight glass with just a bubble at the top.

Overfilled, it will puke oil out the breather (into the airbox.)

 

Here's the thing, I added oil till it was at the top of the window because the o-ring leaks some. I rode it a minute and the oil level light came on. Looked and no oil in the window. I know it doesn't leak THAT bad. I added about a half quart from there, and it's been fine since.

Thanks for the heads up on that. I have to change the oil again soon anyways, the amount of sludge left by the previous owner was not acceptable to me, so, oil change, ride it about 50-100 miles and change it again, I hope that will clean out most of the gunk that got built up from improper care. It sounds like I am adding to some bad care.

Sadly, I am the only mechanically inclined person at the house. And I don't know that much about bikes yet. My step-dad has a gixxer 600 but i think he would take it to a Suzuki shop before he attempted to touch a wrench. It sounds like I will be pulling out the drain plug and getting the oil level back down some. I don't have oil in my air box, and everything seems to be just fine with the bike. :| ?????????

 

A doubled-up oil change is always a good idea when you first take over a machine with a questionable past.

When I got my '83 550, I got a full gallon out on the first oil change so don't feel bad, it's a common mistake. Most people have no idea what the numbers are cast into the case for. When you first start the bike cold, all the oil WILL appear to vanish, that's OK. Shut it off and wait 10 minutes it'll "come back."

Here's another tidbit: When you have the filter housing off, take a close look at the housing. It has the torque spec (in metric, granted) for the filter bolt cast into it yet everyone in the world overtightens it.

Get a book right away; the Haynes manual is great (although does contain a couple of errors here and there) and readily available.

 

So, say I add the correct amount of oil during the next oil change, and the oil light always stays on. Idk, I have a fair amount of work to do on the bike again tomorrow. It's going to be parked till I get some new paint on it. I decided to keep it red since that was original. The PO decided to just slap some cheap spray paint on the tank because the sun faded the original paint.
Did I ever mention I don't like the "red-necks" in this state? The good ol boys down south wouldn't flub a disc brake job, it's just too easy not to mess up. That's what I get for moving back up north I guess.

 

If you add the correct amount +200CCs to keep the sensor happy the light should stay off.
A slight overfill is OK for exactly the above reason; two quarts too much is a problem.
Ideal oil level will get you above the marks by the window, but with just a bubble still showing at the top. (Bike on centerstand on level ground.)
You have to wait a good 10 minutes after adding oil/moving the bike for all the oil to drain back down and get an accurate reading.

 

Now, I'm starting to second guess what I wanted to do with the bike. I thought the Idea of a Cafe racer would make it look cool. But this bike is not fast, it's not lightweight(not even close), I would only be putting a fat guy in a Speedo and pushing him into the pool expecting to beat Michael Phelps if I tried to do that.
What this bike is good at, as I've ridden it a little bit now, is a super comfy, reliable as all hell, touring bike. With open headers, it only sounds like a sport bike. It's all growl, and no bite at this point. I am instead going to build on what makes this bike great.
The FIRST thing it needs is better lights. Trying to see at night on this bike is an epic fail. Hella makes some great bulbs in H4, and for the aux light, I need to figure something out with the dot it puts down on the road. I need something like a fog light. Not a mini spotlight. New paint is for certain. I'll be starting on that asap, now that its going to be parked for the winter mostly. IDK what I am going to do about the exhaust still. I PM'ed the vendor on here, and he replied with stuff for new headers and bolts. Not even close to what I asked for when I said I needed the collector and muffler. The headers are still on here, and work just fine.
Maybe I can work with a local bike and muffler shop to build something to collect from the headers and do a 2-1 on each side with something good looking and something that sounds mean still. This bike makes a great sound when you get on it, but without some sort of baffle it's just a hair too much.
I believe I am still going to change the bars up a little bit, the stock bars on here remind me of a girls bike with streamers on the ends. Something to give the rider a slight lean into the wind, since you have to lean into the wind when going above 60 mph anyways.
Any other ideas or, just thoughts about what could help this bike out are greatly appreciated.
Thanks y'all.

 

if you do all that around the headlight your going to want to get rid of that master cylinder in there too
be careful with the lights, there's not a lot of extra amps on these things
take a look at the alternator brushes, don't overlook simple things that might not have had any love for 30 years

 

A suggestion for more light.

If you have a fixture that will accept an H4 lamp then consider converting it to xenon. A 35W xenon lamp will draw SLIGHTLY more current when the igniter is lighting the lamp but will draw LESS current once lit. You will have WAY more light than wit a quartz lamp and they also run cooler.

I put a set on my touring bike and holy light source Batman. What a difference. I got mine from http://www.ddmtuning.com . They are of excellent quality and very reasonably priced.

Loren

 

Lucky, my bike takes the same headlight as my car. I'm digging around the car forums at the moment, for someone who has a burned out HID ballast, and wants to sell me the other one with a bulb. As soon as I can dig one up it's going in the bike. The Aux light is giving me the biggest issue. It puts a spot down on the road. Like I need a bright spot to tell me what way my wheel is pointing. I figure I can bend the shield some to scatter the light around better and put a field of light in front of me and not a spot of light.
Thinking about kicking it over to a 2500k bulb, they help more in poor visibility and look good doing it.

 

About to list the bike up for sale. Probably not the best time to try to sell, but, worth a shot.
New paint looks great, Starts right up, runs really strong. Shifts nice quick and smooth. Soon as I get my camera back i'll have pics up. The new grips feel way better than crap ones that were on there, the new headlight is good and bright. I'm pleased with the flip.

 

http://lansing.craigslist.org/mcy/1461439952.html

Up for sale localy. Let me know if I am asking too much for it.