1981 XJ650H Restoration

Hey everyone. I am new to this forum and have owned my '81 XJ650 since '99. This really is a great riding bike but after sitting for about 6 years it needs some serious help. I am in the process of restoring it for my son to ride when he gets his license. Currently, I am in the process of tearing it down and would like to know the safest way to seperate the head from the cyclinder. I am removing the head to check the valves and pistons since the engine would only rotate 3/4 of a turn manually.

Current bikes:
1981 XJ650 Maxim
2006 Shadow Spirit 1100

 

I can't help with that one, but good luck on the restoration

 

Safest was is probably to get the manual for the bike. E-bay has them for around $30, they go over the proper procedure for rebuilding the engine and everything else on the bike.

If your engine won't turn, that would be a lot of things. My friends xs1100 was stored outside with no plugs for 6 years and the pistons are rusted to the cylinder in the head and there was around a gallon of water in the crank. Hopefully this isn't the case with yours.

Good Luck!!

 

A manual ought to help you with pretty much everything you need to know and you can get a hold of it for free, I will PM you with a link from where you may download it without spending anything.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I do have both the Haynes and factory manuals for it but was a little concerned about how to actually seperate the head without causing damage. Well, I did get them to come apart and found cyclinder 3 has rust in it and some major pitting in the cyclinder wall. It looks like this will cost a bit too much to revive.

 

Thats to bad about the cylinders.... I'm sure you can find a replacement on e-bay either a "new" engine or just the top end.

 

The other day I figured that I had nothing to loose with this cyclinder issue so I decided to try to clean it up with a dremel and some 320 grit sandpaper. If all else fails, I still have to replace the cyclinder. It seemed to come out pretty good and not the engine rotates smoothly. Here are a couple of pictures of before and after.

 

I am trying to upload these pics.

How do you get the pics to actually insert into the posting?

 

Try adding them as an attachment.