New Old Stock (NOS)

Hi Everyone!

My name is Jim, and I am a rider!

When I was 18 I got my first street legal bike, a Honda 350 Twin.

For the next 11 years I rode a variety of bikes, but my favorite was always my first new sport bike, a Yamaha XJ650LJ Seca Turbo. I only managed 12K miles on it before I was rearended by a drunk.

The bike was totalled, and my baby was gone. I went through a series of used bike over the next 8 years, all Japanese, and all just not quite as good as my beloved Turbo.

When I was 25, and having over 100K miles on motorcycles, I didn't own a car for several years, I met a woman, got married, gave up the bikes and had a kid.

Flash forward 12 years and I find myself single again, and itching for a bike. I find BMW and my love afair begins. 85K miles, and 3 years later, I am still loving my BMW, but I am missing something in my life. My first love, the 82 XJ650LJ Turbo of my youth.

Somehow I manage to miss several good deals, but this weekend I found my old friend on E-bay, and next Saturday I will be picking her up.

Based on my recent riding experience, and forum experiences, I can see me being on here a LOT!

So, let me introduce myself. I am Jim, I live in Northern Virginia, and work for the government. I am an avid rider and wrencher, and am very much looking forward to meeting others like me!

Here are a few shots of my new bike, from the add:





Only 8500 miles on it, and I got an excellent deal!

Jim 8)

 

Welcome HOME!

 

Welcome Jim, she looks beautiful. Little more even character than most I would say.

 

Welcome and congratulations!

Your Turbo looks sweet. One of the nice ones I've seen for a while. I was actually watching that one on ebay myself. You got it for a pretty good price too if you ask me.

After having ridden one of these beast for a while, I know I couldn't live without mine.

Now you just need to find an '83 tank and make sure this bike has the power up kit.

Best of luck with it,

Greg

 

Geebake, what is the "power kit" that you are referring to for the turbo bikes?

 

The '82 Turbos were restricted to (I think) 6 lbs of boost. The story goes that Yamaha got tired of the other Turbo bikes outperforming them so in '83 they opened it up to (again, I think) 12 lbs of boost. Not wanting to leave '82 owners out of the fun, they offered a kit to upgrade the '82s to the same level of boost. Needless to say, you can't get that kit any more, but you can make it yourself very easily. There are posts here that cover how to do it. It's pretty easy. If I can find it, I'll tack it in here and you can decide whether or not to do it.

You can also tell pretty easily if it's installed by watching the boost gauge. If it goes well into the red, it's installed. If you don't get much past 50% on the gauge, it's either not installed or you have a problem.

Greg

 

Quoted from wise Turbo owner MacMcMacmac:

"You can tell if it has a Power Up kit if the hose leading to the wastegate actuator is plumbed into the surge tank instead of the turbo housing. There should also be a blind aluminum plug pressed into the hole where it attached onto the turbo, and a round, white plastic case inline with the hose. Also, if you are making significantly more boost than the 7psi the 82 came with, stock, the boost gauge will go deep into the red. If you do not have the Power Up kit, you can simply disconnect the hose leading to the wastegate actuator and plug it, but make sure the tube going to the fuel pressure regulator stays connected. You should now have 12psi to play with, but still have overboost protection in the form of the pop-off valve built into the surge tank."

 

I purchased my first NEW 82 Turbo in 83, got $1500 off, and they installed the boost kit for free. What a difference it made.

What is the difference between the 82 gas tank and the 83?

Thanks for the warm welcome. I anticipate a lot of participation here!

Jim

 

Always nice to see more riders around.

Abd welcome back to the dark side.

 

The '83 tank is a gallon larger. May not be a big deal to you, but I like the extra range.

To my knowledge, aside from the paint, there are three differences between the 82s and 83s.

1. Less restricted turbo (ie power up kit)
2. 4.2 gallon tank on the 82 was upgraded to 5.2 on the 83
3. Fork tubes on the 83 are 1mm larger.

Greg

 

Greg:

What is it about that extra 1mm in length that makes it better than the '82?

I've never even laid eyes on a Turbo. But, from reading the Posts and absorbing a little bit of that Turbo-Lingo; I can almost feel the boost happening and would definitely want to have more boost than less.

 

I think the extra 1mm is in the diameter of the fork tubes, not the length.........

 

Yeah, the extra mm is in diameter not length. The biggest downfall of these bikes was the woefully inadequate forks. A brace is almost mandatory if you can find one. The larger forks on the '83 were better but still spindly even at that time.

When the boost kicks in, it can be a humbling experience. I would never think that one of these could perform like a modern sportbike, but I would be surprised if it couldn't hang with one in mid range acceleration. These things will go from 40 to 80 in a split second. You better be holding on when the boost gets going or you're going to take another kind of ride.

Greg

 

Just curious, the tires on the seca ARE tubless, right?

I can't remember, and have not been able to find a reference to this anywhere.

Oh, and is there a good list of links on the turbo Seca?

Thanks,

Jim

 

Jim, here's one I found trying to understand the turbo better Turbo Seca

 

940 miles round trip in 17 hours, but it is home!






Not a flattering picture, but sadly reality!

The bike on the other hand, looks great! It runs great, and looks pretty good. A little polish, some corosion control, and new fork seals and front brake pads (anyone know where to get them?), and it will be a great second bike.

More pics later, but I am very pleased at my 8500 mile, $1500 bike.

Jim

 

Hooray! Score one for the home team! Glad you got that treasure home safe and sound. What a find!

 

My first ride.

Memories flashed back, and the rush as the turbo kicks in is as impressive as ever, despite many "faster" bikes I have owned since then.

It runs great, and only needs fork seals now that I cleaned up the brake pads and rotors.



It looks great from 5 feet. Not bad up close either.





How can you go wrong with only 8500 miles on it? I added 50 today, but was cautious since I was using a "borrowed" plate.



Since I had it out, I figured a stable shot was in order.

The Turbo, 80 BMW R65, 05 BMW R1200GS, and an 05 BMW R1200ST (technically my GF's bike).

I have to admit, the modern bikes are faster, have better brakes, handle better, and are more comfortable. BUT, I bet I put a LOT of miles on the Turbo. What a fun little bike, and awesome for WV weekends!

Jim

 

That was a great road-trip, No Doubt!
Perhaps I'm a bit biased, but that sweet little XJ Turbo is the best of the bunch, as far as I can see.
Every time I get to take mine out and unleash that turbo rush, I get goosebumps & laugh out loud!
Welcome back to the world of XJ Turbo Power. Long Live The Beast.

 

It was a great find Jim...congrats! Nice collection of bikes you got going there too.

 

Thanks guys!

I rode it a mere 65 miles today, but man what fun!

It definitely brings me back to my roots, and I can't stop inducing the "turbo rush"! It's like a crack adiction! :lol:

Jim

 

If you are still looking for some brake pads or want a set of extra ones I have some that I will not be needing. I have a 650 turbo front end on my bike... a P/O had put it on there and then it sat outside for many years and the calipers are beyond rebuildable so I will be replacing them with some r6/r1 calipers very soon. I ordered the brake pads before I actually started digging into the calipers and realized they were as bad as the were. They are stock replacements I ordered from mrcycles.com. If you want them I can send them to you for the cost of shipping which shouldn't be much. PM me if you are interested.

Have fun riding, I still have a couple weeks of work before I get on the road.

 

Will those pads fit a LH Turbo?

 

Thanks for the offer, but mine were new before oil soaking, and I managed to clean them up by burning the oil off with a torch. They work fine, so give Robert a shot at them if they fit.

Thanks again!

Jim 8)

 

Not sure... the yamaha part number is 43F-W0045-01-00 if you want to check.