1982 XJ650RJ Seca Build

Well it's that time of year again here in Michigan, so might as well do a few things to the Seca. I'll be going over quite a bit this winter, so I'll update the thread when I get some progress made.

For now:

As it sat the first day of bringing her home.



That's also the way it looked most of the summer. Didn't do too much to it cosmetically, just went through the necessary maintenance items to make it reliable and safe for the season.

As it sits now, after valve clearances checked, and lots of parts getting cleaned. Good news is that all of the engine-to-carb boot screws came loose without too much fuss. Sprayed them with PB Blaster, went out the next day, and it was like they were just snugged down a week earlier.



The tins are getting repainted. The blue that the PO had put on looked awesome, but he didn't pay for good clear coat. So after a fill up and slopping a little gas on the tank that didn't get wiped off for the 5 minute ride home, (note to self, add a towel to the pack) the tank is in need of a new spraying. I'd show you a picture but they get deleted when you leave the camera where the 6-year-old can get ahold of it.
So a picture of the sidecovers will have to do for now.



Since the gas cap had to come off for the new color, might as well rebuild that since the old seal was pretty dry. Almost as hard as plastic, not even sure how it sealed the gas into the tank going around the corners.



And The petcock worked perfectly, but it was dirty, so why not clean it up and pull all the rubber out of that and put new seals and diaphragms in. That way I know it won't fail on me in the near future. Might as well, right?



And this is the final few steps of rebuilding the MC.



Still to come are:
New shims
Carbs
Refinish the carb holders
Tires
All new bearings, just because I don't know when these ones were replaced.
All new brake pads, shoes, and hoses. Hoses are only about 6 years old, but they aren’t stainless, so might as well do ‘em up the way I want.
Finish the bodywork and repainting of the tins.
New gauges
Lots of polishing and small misc parts like grips, new allen screws all around, all new cables, etc.

Will give y’all an update whenever I get another step done.
Oh, and my March 15th deadline should be no problem to achieve, needs to be done by April for the motorcycle school at Grattan Raceway.

 

I do like that p****.

 

Nice job on the MC cover. What's your address, I'll send you two more to do. :twisted:

 

devo, only one problem with that, I'm outta caliper paint after doing the MC and calipers, but got plenty of enamel for the letters LOL

 

Thanks to Wiz, I had to go back thru the thread. Wasn't quite what I was looking for. :lol: Nice job on that cover, of course we'll expect the same work on the whole bike now and everybody else's for that matter dang it.

 

Actually decided to go a little bit of a different way with the cover.



I think it will go better with the overall look I have in mind....if not, oh well, it was only about 2 hours worth of work.


EDIT: (sorry about the blurry picture)

 

Yeah Wizard..... nothing like a nekkid bike and a little pu.......

 

Well, Christmas time means Dad has to wait on his motorcycle parts. I did get a new carb bowl for the rack though, so I just need to get four new non-chewed up drain screws.

Pulled the clutch pack out yesterday while I was making room in the shed for Santa's presents. Good news, looks just about brand new, not even a memory print on the plain plates. Bad news, I don't know that for sure, so I'm adding friction plates and springs to the list I'm building for Len.

So without too much to do 'till I get some parts for re-assembly, I decided to start cleaning things up getting it ready to refinish.

Soda blasting won't do much for the badly pitted carb hats, which are going to get sprayed anyway, so starting with the sanding/polishing process:



Why not polish the idle screw while I'm at it



And I finally found my buffing compound for the Dremel




Larger parts will wait a few days, I think Santa's bringing the old man one of these.
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/cata ... _18107.jpg

 

yeah wiz I like it too!
I wish my MC cover looked so good man, dang I almost wanna quite riding it and do some of that..........nah another time.

 

skw, I don't blame ya, if I lived in FL I'd ride every day but Hurricane Day! LOL

I'm about to fire that cat, btw, the damn thing isn't catching the mice.

Besides that, I have a better looking kitty in the house, AND, she makes me coffee while I'm freezing my butt off out in the shed.

 

I ride in the cold too but thats what I call cold. You guys get a form of winter that i cant begin to imagine. anything lower than 30 shuold be against the law. I can deal with 100 plus no problem.
"they say" being closer to the water makes the temps feel different and I can tell you this, last night as I approached Escambia Bay on I-10 east my leather was almost too much, once I got over open water 3 stoies in the air the temp dropped AT LEAST 15 degrees instantly.
I couldn't make it up there man

 

Last night when I was pulling that clutch pack it was about 30*...I actually had to put a sweatshirt on over my tshirt when I went out there. Only took me about an hour.

When you're use to the cold it's not that bad.

But when you're use to the cold, even that "dry heat" out west is still too damn hot.

 

Ok guys, had a couple people PM me about the MC cover and the paint used.

So I thought I would include the response to the last PM here so you guys know all my little secrets.

Here ya go:

 

dude I was just looking at your bike ( likey by the way) did those crash bars come with it and the pegs? I want some

 

The crash bars did come on it. I ditched the highway pegs shortly after I picked her up. They were cheap POS. Haven't actually decided yet if I want to put the crash bars back on.

I didn't like the feel of the highway pegs, but that's probably because I grew up racing motocross, so the rear-set footpegs feel natural to me.

Due to the good paint job, but crappy paint, that the PO had sprayed on there (didn't hold up to gasoline), and the fact that I now have to repaint, I decided to go with Chevy Flame Red. The same red used on factory Corvettes. And I WILL be using some gasoline-safe clear.

Still looking for the factory rear fender for the Seca, but I can add that later as I'll be keeping that black.

And, of course, there's the never ending search for the original headlight.....will be a "work in progress" next summer I guess.

 

dude I've got the fender from mine, I modified mine to "carry stuff" and Im running a maxim fender. You can have that too.
was gonna ebay it but figured no body would want it.
If you can use it I'll send that too.
I'm not ever gonna do a thing with it and I dont care about "all original" I care about what counts, mine aint ever gonna be a "re-seller"

 

ha-- I got the same spitfire too.---modified the mounting hardware to get the position I wanted though, the curves of the bars didn't want to allow me to get what I wanted.

 

Dude, I'm gonna have to send you one hell of a Christmas card. I've been looking for that damn fender for 3 months.

I like the looks of the shorter fender, but it's a real PITA when you ride in the rain for 6 weeks a year and you get a brown streak up the back of your coat from the dirt-turned-to-mud.

I'll have that card in the mail Monday or Tuesday.

 

it aint no thang bro. its been on my back porch for 5 months now, that and the plastic rear piece. you'll need to clean it up and paint it.
I dont have any current pics of my bike but you can see the fender in my gallery, on the bike when I brought it home (it was red then)

 

I wonder exactly how many people ended up regretting sawing that fender off short. That mod was so popular back in the day the dealer I got my SR from was doing it for customers on request.

The 550 Seca has a "fashionably shorter" rear fender; and although road spray doesn't quite make it to my back, it does get past the fender and "stripe" the taillight and tail section.

 

They JUST opened a harbor freight about 5 minutes away from me, closest one before was about 45 minutes away. I was there opening day picking up a couple little things. Saw the buffer, had to get it. Can't forget about the fact that i finally know a place that has cheap soda blast media too.

I about shit myself when i saw the "Harbor freight coming soon" sign when i was on a lunch break at work. I had no idea they were putting one up down here, and i find out 1 day before the grand opening.

 

Rudie, any feedback on the buffer yet?

 

Havent even taken it outta the box yet, I'm still on a soda blasting kick at the moment, lol.

 

Nice to see a proper Seca (a US registered one) on here.

Most of these were UK/Europe, as you guys tended to be given the laid-back version.

The Seca got rave reviews in the US for its fine handling and balance - very true.

I'll be interested to see how nicely it turns out with all the hard work/detailing you have planned.

Please keep posting pics of progress.

Nige w

 

PS - if you haven't already, lose those highway pegs (especially those highway pegs!) and crash bars!

 

PPS...

I got a NOS rear mudguard (fender) section with my first project bike, but thought it too long.

Ultimately - and with a little judicious cutting about - it made a really good under-seat mudguard for my Bonnie!

Sorry guys.

 

Yeah, me too LOL

Nige, lost those highway pegs after the first ride back in March.

And I've decided that the crash bars just don't go with my vision of the bike, so since skw was so kind as to lend a fender to my cause, he'll be getting a Christmas present in the mail.

And thanks for the kind words, means a lot to me to know that people like my work.

 

Well, if Rudie still hasn't used his Harbour Freight buffer, I can comment on mine... sort of. I actually got the grinder/buffer. I've used it for a couple years, and it's held up fine. But the first thing I would do is throw out the buffing wheel and get one of better quality. Standing behind it would be like getting hit with Silly String.

Same goes for the grinding wheel, if so equipped. Mine was out-of-balance to the point of being dangerous. Replace it with a good-quality, recognized brand wheel.

My two cents.

 

hey man I just saw the recent posts to your thread after the pm. Cool man, thanks for real, I was looking at some on ebay and was gonna get some after christmas.
I love the "Real Seca" look but it wasnt gonna work for me.
mine is all Seca where it matters but I gotta carry stuff and the look was great but not really me, so I fabbed what I wanted to fit the platform.
she's all stock otherwise though.
Hey dont you love it when the newer bigger bikes catch up at red lights wanting to know what the hell that thing is? Haha I DO!!!
Long live the Seca's!!
very cool bro (tskaz) I was glad a brother to the cause could use it

 

I've got some badly pitted carb hats too. Can you still buy new ones?
For you cold weather bikers, my XJ gets a little fussy below 0 but, if you take out the ICS screw, which is kinda like a manifold, and squirt a little ether is there (starting fluid) she fires right up!!

 

XJ4Ever has the carb hats for both Hitachi and Mikkuni carbs

 

There isn't much of an update as of yet, I did, however, receive a present in the mail Friday! (thanks Shane)

It came with this



and a pair of these



The stems and lights were black when I got them. Cleaned the paint off and transplanted them to the chrome signals

And then I started to do something about this



This is after step 2



Still not where I want them, that'll take 3 or 4 more steps, but looking better.

 

cool bro Im glad I could help, looks like its going pretty good. Can't wait to see the final product!

 

Well Santa was a little slow, but I finally got the buffer and compound I needed.



So while I was waiting



And after breaking in the wheels

 

wow! now I AM jealous. Good job man, looks wonderful.

 

You can see Santa in his little red PJ's in the last picture' reflection. Looks like shaved his beard right after Christmas and is getting started on next year's beard.

Dave F

 

Nah, just shaved off the winter deer hunting portion of it lol

 

Santa goes deer hunting? :lol:

 

Of course he does!

He also rides an XJ

 

Let's have a competition, you seem to have polishing fever like me. May the shiniest xj win! lol

 

Yes, I'm anal enough that I buffed the lenses too.


And got these when the mail was delivered today




EDIT: I forgot to mention, if you decide to buff plastics on a bench buffer, use ONLY a loose cotton buff with BLUE compound, and a soft touch.

Anything else with heat the plastic and ruin the lens.

 

OOH. Where'd you find the badges with the tuning fork incorporated?

 

Found them on the bay:

CLICK RIGHT HERE

They have sizes from 5" to 24" with and without the tuning fork, multiple colors.

Thinking about going with the 5" for the rear cowl.

Had a hard time deciding between white and reflective white. Decided on the standard white.

Ohio seller, ordered at 5am Thursday and they were in the mailbox at noon on Saturday.

Good quality, die cut vinyl

I think they're going to look pretty good on the (eventually) victory red tank.

 

What are you gonna do with the wheels?

 

Rims will be satin black with polished edges on the centers and outer rim.

Calipers will be....well I have to leave some things as a surprise.

Tires will be Pirrelli MT66 front and rear.

 

I'm impressed man, you are gonna have a very sweet ride. Absolutley goona be a head turner. +2 bro

 

Been busy making my shoulders sore the last few days.

I'm pretty sure sanding would be a great form of torture for thy enemies.

Slap some Bondo on something and tell them, "Sand, damn you, SAND!"



But I did make some progress.



And got the first primer coat on tonight.



Should be ready for paint by the time it arrives.

Only one spot to touch up with the Bondo, then two more coats of primer, wet-sand, and touch up with the spot putty before the final coat of prime.

Then on to paint.

Then I can start all over with the damn sanding. Go me.

 

Dude, you sure I didn't sell YOU my original tank? The one I got on my 650 Seca looked like Mr. Potato Head; I replaced it with a straight one with one tiny dent. Fitz=NOT a bodywork/paint guy. That one looks like it was quite a challenge.

 

Have you seen the new powder coat painting system that JCWhitney is selling? About 100.00 for the painter and 12.00 to 20.00 for the paint. Bakes in your oven.

 

Thanks Fitz, at least, I think that's a compliment! :smile:

Worst part of the tank was the two dents in the front on either side. Have I mentioned that I despise windshields on motorcycles?

The PO's stupid little hose clamp screws touched the tank at full lock, which is apparently something he did quite often!

O-n-B, Looked into the powdercoat. JC sounds cheaper than Eastwood. That's not surprising though.

If I can think of more than just the carb hats that I would like to coat I might look into it a little further.