My 85' XJ Chop , opinions welcome.

This is my 5k mile 85 XJN I bought not running for $600. Got the carbs working good enough and run it almost everyday. I had some roadking parts and did it up.

Skinnied the front fender about 2" to hug our skinny tire and then tilted the rear fender counterclockwise to get that real low look. The center section is made up from roof metal off my Saturn im chopping. After I welded and beat it to shape I ran 2 layers of fiberglass for more rigidity to the thin gauge metal.

Made a shifter out of the drag bars I ordered that hit my tank...I was able to still use the bars, lol. Droped the neck about 1.5". Solid strut in the rear thats about 7.75" center to center. LED brakelight with LED bolts for the taillights. 55watt halogen cateye lamp, hid the rest of the wiring under the tank, for a clean front.

Did the Horse Smokeout West run in Cottonwood AZ 2 months back, about 1100 miles roundtrip, ran great besides running the outside bowls dry at 115 mph, so I had to behave on the open road. Staff got a good pic of my chop and Im hoping it will be in the show coverage in The Horse. The day before I left for AZ I painted it in a Very original scheme, 80's style drip with candy tangerine and black to go with the blackout engine. Not everyones tea, but I didnt have to buy the paint, had it for years....so I did it with what I had. AT the show Chica was walking around and he actually stopped to take a look, that was good enough for me.

Im selling my toy in favor of a V65 magna Im going to build in the same fashion. I had it on ebay in primer and Im going to sell repainted again to suit the buyers want... what a perk huh?

Just found out about this website and figured I would come in and say Hola and theres another cool Xj out there.

Would anyone be intrested in a fiberglass replica of this body? Im thinking of duplicating, but I dont wanna do it and just hang it from the celing, lol.

 

Here a pic of it in action at the show in AZ as well.

 

Good job, AC. Nice to see some radical mods now and then.

Z

 

Love the seat/rear fender detail. And the suicide shift - hows that working for you, I plan on doing that my self, but I'm nervous of actually driving it like that, HOw do you find it?

 

Even though I'm an "Old-Schooler" and get "The shakes" adding aftermarket anything's that would technically upset the Showroom Stock of my ride ...

Wow! Nice work.

Two enthusiastic Thumbs-Up!

 

Thanks guys!

Ace, its not a problem once you get use to balancing the bike on the throttle hand, it gets tricky when your doing close quarters parking though.

I just made a pivot system for the shifter as well, so it should be less travel, instead of a pull from tank to my ribs, lol. Im going to put it on this spring....I sure as heck aint riding now, lol.

 

Nice ride AC, does it kill the ol rear end sitting on fiberglass? or is there a seat there?
Good Work!! Really creative!

 

Wow very radical mod, looks to be well done! What did you have in mind for exhaust mods? Can you educate us non-chop folks on how to shift with no clutch?

 

look closer, the clutch handle is on the shifter handle.

 

Doh. Me no see that. I thank you and your keen eyes for all your help.

 

On the exhaust, those are roadking straight pipes welded to the 4-2 manifold that comes on our bad boyz. I just set the angle and welded then in place and filled the gaps and poof.... the sound is just amazing, much nicer than when I ran it with just the 4-2. :twisted:

Gotta have some forearm to get the shifting nicely, lil firm at that angle...but no modification to the cable was needed and it grabs just like its supposed to.

 

Awsome mods, however, I am curious, is it just a short travel and show kinda bike, or a daily driver? I only ask because it look kinda uncomfortable to ride...?

 

Hvnbnd, wdenny, the seat isnt as bad as it looks...it is just the body but it is shaped to fit the bootay very comfortably. I was thinking about inserting seat pads from the bottom, because any seat that sticks up would kill the low ride and the body lines.

Do not get it twisted, this is a daily driver....at least when its nice out. It is not nearly as bad as it looks, the ride to AZ was pretty good besides the rigamortis in the knees from the 2 hour straight drives before stops,lol. This is my first bike and it was meant to be ridden, some of the poor souls would be afraid of how uncomfortable it is and would rather look goofy with a big ole saddle seat, which is ugggglly...In my opinion. :lol:

 

awesome.... one word... awesome... my cuz is moving out your way im gonna steal the pics and send them to him... thanks

 

Right on man, thanks.

Heres some other pics of it before I did a lil more body work.
My auction pics

Im planning on going back to the rugged look, black satin with some lime green pinstrip and lime green rims.....figured thats a good change. It had some nice appeal in that satin blue primer look, but I figured I would paint it before going the the Horse SOW. Thats the cool part about being able to do the work, no cost, just pull stuff off the shelf I was given or that was thrown away.

 

So how did the sale go?

 

Got up to $2250, but I called it... wanted a hair more.

 

got em! thanks again... ill hit ya back with his comments