Secapocolypse

Been wanting a bike for while, stranger from another forum offered me one at a near gift price because it was in his storage unit in unknown working condition. All I was told was it was a "Yamaha Seca", but I couldn't see how any of the many bikes by that name would be bad at the price offered.

Went to pick up the bike, after some bouncing around trying to pick up bike keys and storage unit keys, it turns out it was an '81 XJ750. We get back to his place, pop a charged battery in it, set a tank with some gas on it, and had it running without any further work. So, that's the good news.

Bad news is, he's used the bikes stock tank and side covers on a project bike he's building.

Good news is, he's got a pretty complete workshop and will let me use it to whip up mounts for a spare tank he's got (Virago tank).

So, here's what I end up coming home with:


The seat doesn't really latch correctly because the tank is a bit to high, and I kinda want a higher, solo seat anyhow; I'm 6'3". I'm also not super fond of the rear end. Plus, there's actually space under that tank for a 180 amp AGM battery, so why not move ALL the electonics up out of sight somewhere?

So far I've managed to do that last bit, so all there is under the seat rails is the air box. Side covers? Who needs em?

Here's what I've come up with for the seating / rear fender arrangement:


Seat and brake light are from a gsxr600. Rear "cowling" is, you guessed it - from another Seca! I actually had to potential to use that instead of fabbing a tank mount, but it is REALLY rusty inside. After pulling out the fuel level meter, I'm glad I went with the (much cleaner) virago tank. But the seaca tank will make a wonderful quasi-cafe style fender / cowling!

Oh, as to why the thread is "secapocalypse " - I'm a mad max fan, and the bike is gonna get the typical murder out / rat bike treatment that implies. In a clean kind of way, of course, because hey, this is a pretty nice sport tourer.

Long range goal is to build a Hassock front end for the bike...

 

This sounds interesting. I too have a murdercycle I'm sure Max would be proud of. Check it out: murdercycle. Can't wait to see the upcoming progress.

 

Nice job. For some reason I hadn't considered just taking off the back end like that, though I maybe COULD run the stock saddle with some modification to the front to let it clear the new tank correctly.

Looks like we have the exact same 4-1 exhaust system. Guy I got it from replaced the stock "because it was so heavy." How's it run with those pods mounted? Did you do a re-jet? I didn't notice the bike was all THAT loud when running, did you modify the muffler? Muffler seems a bit heavy actually, so I may look for a replacement (likely a glass pack, which WILL be loud).

Are those the instruments the bike came with? They don't look the the "Atari Unit" I've seen on all the early Seca's. I'm not sure how I feel about my Atari. I guess it would be OK if I could figure out how to mount it lower on the forks, because I'm going for darg bars or clubmans, and its all up in my face. Other than that, I kinda like its looks; nothing says "80's bike" like that blocky front end!

 

Well originally I thought it was a Maxim too, but I re-looked up the VIN and sure enough I had a SECA this whole time. It is rejetted with a stage 3 jet kit. So it's "tuned" for the pods and the exhaust. The exhaust is plenty loud and throaty so there was no need to drill out or remove the baffles. The seats is getting cut down once I can figure out the mounting points.... Otherwise I have a fiberglass café seat that, with some slight modification to the rear sub frame, would look badass on my bike.

 

I only have a speedo from an old DT bike. It doesn't work lol. I lost my old speedo cable a year ago or more and forgot to even get a new one, but I don't think it would work with my bike anyway. I want to do the same thing with a newer smaller one. Plus I want to bring my headlight back a few inches to tuck it into the forks more. Gonna cut my front fender down a bit also and pop that back on. I had a few close calls with rocks kicking up at my new headlight.