New guy to the forum

Howdy! Just acquired an '82 XJ650 for my next project and seeing as how I've only done Hondas so far, I figured this would be a great place to hook up for some help along the way.

The bike is about 60% complete as it sits right now. The PO had some high ambitions and no ability... lol Yeah he's a friend of mine, but... He needed cash and I knew what was there, so I had no problem forking over $150 for it.

Plans are to hard tail it with about a 4" stretch (depending on how hard it is to find one of the elusive XJ700 cross joints) with a Vstar 1100 drive shaft. the front end will have a girder of some sort. I've got my trees machined already, but that's as far as I've gotten. Haven't decided on a tank yet. I really like the look of the stock tank, but I've seen a number of bikes with a sporty tank on em and really like that as well. We'll see what happens.

At any rate, I'm sure I'll have some dumb ass questions along the line here somewhere.

Attached a couple pics of some of my last few builds.

 

Wow, those are pretty nice! Welcome to XJ's.

 

nice bikes, think i seen you over at TCU, not sure what cross joints are but i'm parting out a xj 700 x

 

CBnutt, Thanks. Y

Yeah I've been over on TCU for a few years now.

I'm looking for the yoke, universal joint, cross-joint.... Between the output shaft and the drive shaft. It's part #37 on the fiche.

 

Suppose I could've posted up a pic of the XJ.... Here's my starting point.

It's a runner. At least it was 2yrs ago, before the "attempt" was made. lol

 

You've done some nice work, be sure to post some pics as the build progresses.

 

Welcome.

 

nice work!

cant wait to see what you do with the xj!

 

Well, here we go...

got it stripped down over the weekend and repaired the broken exhaust manifold stud. Wound up oversizing it to 8mm and I'll just turn a new stud at work with an 8mm thread on one end and 6mm on the other.

Started doing some measuring for the girder front end and got it roughly mocked up for ride height on the back. going to sit a little higher than I'd like, but I want to keep the center stand on it. Already have the solo seat from another one of my builds and I'll be fabbing up a set of bars eventually. Haven't decided if I want to go with a taller set or a dragbar style. Too many decisions!!!

 

i got a cross joint as long as one from a 85 xj 700 Maxim x will work

 

That's what i'm needing. What's it gonna cost me to talk you out of it?

 

whats it worth

 

The last few I saw on ebay went for between $15 and $25. Your call I guess.

 

$20 plus shipping

 

Sounds good to me.

 

A quick word of advice; we've seen a whole lot of folks end up disappointed or really pissed off:

Before you sink untold hours into building this bike, have you at least run a compression test on the motor? I'd hate to see you join the ranks of those that've spent hundreds of hours on a "build" only to discover that the motor made 120lbs in 3 cylinders but only 60 in one.

Just making sure you know whether it's a viable mill or not before you get too far. You don't want to discover after the fact that the bike won't run.

 

Yes sir...the engine is in good shape. Helped the guy I got it from check it out before HE bought it. Bike only has about 10K on it. All by the proverbial little old guy that only drove it on Sundays. lol Actually I think he was only in his 50's, but he was the only owner. Had maint. receipts and the whole 9 yards. I took it for a spin and it ran like a raped ape.

 

Well, I got my broken stud issue resolved. Now to come up with the driveline parts so I can get some measurements and get going on the hardtail.

Wound up opening up the stud hole to accept an 8mm stud, then made a stud that was 8mm on one end and 6mm on the other. gonna work like a champ!

 

Well, I've gotten to my stopping point for the moment. Frame is all tacked together. Waiting for my buddy to get some free time, so he can TIG it up solid for me. Wound up sticking the with the stock yoke and drive shaft and just lengthening it with a CNC turned sleeve. He'll be TIG'ing that as well. .002" slip fit for the shaft ends should be balanced pretty well I would think.

 

As you are going with an open shaft.
Make sure you add a mounting braket to the left side for the final drive assembly. To keep it from turning under accelleration.

You also need something on the right side for the brake plate to keep it from turning under braking.

Ghost

 

That's the plan. Still waiting for the PO to drop off the swing arm so I can cut the cup off it. After I have that, I'll be able to get the mount figured out. The brake stay is still on the list. Just haven't decided how I want to do it yet. going to try and do something out of the norm with it.

 

Let's see.

The yellow bike is just a seat pan we cut out of a piece of .125" steel we ha laying around the shop.

The green bobber seat we picked up from a friend on TCU in the for sale section.

The king/queen on the blue bike was a for sale item on the Jockey Journal.

The green VLX is a LaRosa solo I bought on ebay.

And the solo on the orange VLX I made from stuff I had around the shop.

 

looking good!

 

Looks friggin awesome so far man, teddy likey!! :lol:

 

It's all in the details right?? LOL Made some tubing plugs.

 

Wow, been a while since I've been over here. Pretty much had forgotten I had an account. The bike is coming along. Hope to have it road worthy by the end of June. Just finishing up the paint now and going through the carbs. I'm going to attempt pods and open exhaust on this (I've been warned already about the headaches I'm in for). Really happy with how my girder turned out. My measurements actually worked out right and I wound up with about 3.5" of trail. Hopefully going to get it back to a roller this week.

I've been looking around for a minimal wiring diagram, and I don't know if I'm just blind, or if I'm not capable of using the search engine on here, but I'm not having much luck. Any chance someone could point me in the right direction?

Here's a couple pics of the progress. The roller was back around the end of middle of March. Still had to add the drive shaft plate, the brake stay, and all the other little necessary tabs. The paint was more of an experiment just to see I could do it. Rather pleased with the results.

Thanks

 

Wow, wild paint

 

Thanks. Wound up with just under 100 hours in the tank and fender. I'll never complain about a $1500 charge for a wild paint job again. There's a lot more work involved than everybody thinks!

 

Gettin closer. Back to a roller now. These pics are about 2 weeks old now. About to start wiring this week. Still need to finish going through the carbs and get my jet kit bought and installed.

 

Sweet

 

WOW! Now, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! My butt couldn't handle a hard tail but that is one sweet lookin' ride. I'm looking forward to seeing it with electric and exhaust.

 

Me too! LOL Can't get this thing on the road fast enough. My goal is to have it ridable for our anual car show in a week and a half.

 

Are you gonna do a front brake?

 

Yes sir. There's a mini drum on the front. front wheel's off a '78 TS185 dirt bike.

 

Here's a tip - - since it looks like you're going for PODS,

make some 2" velocity stacks to straighten and clean-up the airflow going into the carbs. That is some wicked "70's paint !!

 

Thanks! the paint was actually an experiment just to see if I could do it. turned out better than I'd hoped!

I'd planned on using the airbox to carb boots as stacks in front of the pods. Had a couple people recommend it already.

 

Can anybody tell me what this is? It's on the bottom of the engine case on the clutch side. Had a single white wire running to it. It's broke off right where it enters. I don't see it on the wiring schematic. thinking it's an oil temp sensor maybe? It runs into the harness with the alternator wires.

 

Forget it. I was pointed to the Ultimate sensor switch relay page here.

 

Really nice looking bike.

 

Well, I was finally able to purchase the rest of the stuff I need to get this build done. Carb kits, 6 Sigma jet kit, new oil filter, air filters, and throttle/clutch cables should be here this week sometime. Brought my tank over to a friends to have a new fuel bung TIG'd in. Some dumbass didn't do his test fitting with the petcock on and it lands right on the #1 carb hat. Now it's just a matter of finding the right combination of brass fittings to make this on/off petcock work.

Also working on a seat for the wife. Though she didn't find it nearly as humorous as I did...

Hopefully be able to take a test ride this weekend. I'm shooting for Saturday morning, as there's a car show I'd like to enter it in at noon. We shall see! Then again, it's close enough, I'm not opposed to pushing it across the highway and down two blocks either! lol

 

Well, It's running. Was able to take a first little rip with up and down the block the other day. Still have carb work to do (go figure right), but it's running, so that's a start. Never got to ride this before the project was started. Damn this is a quick little scoot!

Youtube video of first ride

 

Cool

 

pretty damn cool.