XJ650RJ Slow progress...

So I'm going to start a thread for my XJ650RJ to help myself remember what I've actually done to it. It's been a slow process, but with a few more months of summer, I'm in no rush to get it done. Winters in northern california aren't that bad anyways...



Heres when I first got her. Terrible picture, but she wasn't in the best of shape. Tires cracking, terrible paint, but she seemed to run okay apart from a flat spot at the higher rpm range.

I went through the brakes first. The guy I bought it from had replaced the lines and pads/shoes a year prior, which I confirmed. A nice thing to have checked off of the list.

After a afternoon ride ended up with me and my buddies wrenching on my bike, I had to tear down and rebuild the alternator. New brushes may have done it, but I got a good deal on a used, low mileage stator and rotor from a local junkyard.



Then I replaced the clutch. It was slipping, and although the friction plated looked mint, it definitely needed new springs. The adjustment was tough, but worked out.



I went through the whole bike and rebuilt all of the lock cylinders and little latches. None of this stuff worked, but now it all seems like new. I'm still having a helluva time locking the handlebars, but with enough jiggling, it wil eventually find its place.



Gave her a new coat of paint. I thought this color was going to be different, more gunmetal, but alas it was metallic OD green. Not the best for visibility...

...so I painted it blue.



I like it much better.



Added some pro taper-bars. They change the feel of the bike dramatically. I actually really enjoy the change.

Checked the compression...



Not too shabby from what Ive read. It was a dry test-no oil. All within 2% of each other.

I also added a small fairing.



Some might not like where it puts the wind, but i think it helps a lot. For me, all of the wind and buffeting still hits my helmet, but not my chest anymore. Driving behind a semi truck at 60 is so much smoother now.

I've also done the following:

LED dash/tail lights.
Valve adjustment
Carb sync
Heated grips
12V outlet
New D404s.
Spin-on filter adaptor.

Whats next:

Colortune
New rear shocks (on the way!)
Front stainless lines
Carb rebuild. Oh crap.
Front progressives and 15W.
Building some panniers from scratch.

I want to make this thing comfortable. Thats it. It's not a BMW 1200gs, but it has proven to me that it can actually be very capable on long hauls. This will be a slow process, but I think life deserves a project. Especially one that hauls ass.

 

Wow, I love the Blue color. Looks like a great job so far! Keep it up.

 

Thanks! I was pretty happy with the color, too.

I have one concern. My oil smells slightly like gas. The petcock is in good working order, and doesn't leak a drop without the engine running. How much gas smell is "normal"? It doesn't reek, but there is a hint. The oil level has always remained consistent. If I fill it to halfway up the sight glass cold, that's where it stays. What should I check? I've never wet-set the float bowls...

 

BINGO! :lol:

Oil should only smell like oil, not gas, but it's good that it isn't filling the whole crankcase with fuel. I would guess a slow leak through caused by a float height out of spec. Did you replace the needles and seats?

You might be able to actually check the levels with your carbs still on the bike if your drain screws aren't buggered. That part is easy - it's actually getting them in spec that can be a PITA.

 

DAMN! Nope, never done the needles and seats. I wanted to take the carbs off anyway. I have new boot gaskets and I was hoping to do a patch jop on the intake manifolds. They're cracking a bit, and don't want to afford new ones right now. Any good tutorials on removing the carbs? I have a manual, but they always fail to mention some things...


Also I found this. I think it's pretty damn intriguing....Home made cross drilled rotors.

http://www.xs11.com/xs11-info/tech-tips ... ow-to.html

 

Got some new shocks on. Cheap-O ones from EBay, but they are a whole lot nicer than my old shocks.

 

I'm going to tear into my carbs soon. I've rebuilt plenty of automotive carbs in my life, so I'm not too worried about the process, although they always had one thing in common- readily available rebuild kits. Now I hope to have this done in two days, but that assumes I will know what seals/screws etc I will need to replace. Does anyone know what basic parts I should get, and what parts I should replace while I'm in there. She runs ok, but I have no idea what state they will be in when I take them apart. I dunno, may be asking too much..

 

All depends on how deep you want to dive in. For the first time personally I would say strip them completely to bare bodies. It is not too difficult. If I can do it anyone can. From the bottom up these are the rubber parts you will need to replace.

Bowl to body gasket.
Needles. (Possibly the seat to go along with it.)
Fuel rail o-rings
Throttle shaft seals
Pilot mixture screw o-rings

All other parts are metal and can be cleaned.

Obviously the fuel rail and throttle shaft seals only need to be replaced, and only can be replaced, if you break the rack. The only other part to be careful around is the diaphragm, that peice is really hard to find a replacement for if damaged. All other rubber parts you should have no problem finding replacements for. Len probably has them.

 

Oh and I forgot. If you are planning to break the rack and make them zestfully clean. Give yourself more than 2 days. When I did mine, it took me one day to disassemble, then each carb and corresponding parts sat in dip for a day each, then another day for re-assembly.

Main thing. Don't rush it.

 

Cool looking bike, keep it up.

 

Also, the first time you break the rack apart, it's a good idea to get new drain screws. Parts are readily available as long as you go to the right source.

PM member chacal or send him an email at: info @ XJ 4 EVER "dot" com, without all the spaces of course. You'll have an email back very shortly giving you way more info than you asked for, just make sure you include year/make/model in your email to him.

 

What make are these rear shocks? Do they perform reasonably well?

 

Thanks for all the carb advice. Senior Chacal is where I've gotten pretty much all my parts thus far. Shipping is awesome.

As far as the shocks, they say "RFY" on them, but I think it's a fair bet to say those letters were chosen at random by a Chinese company. They are readily available in an assortment of colors by a few different sellers on EBay. I bought from a guy in Southern California because it was close.

Here's the link: http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem ... 0825770896

You get what you pay for. They feel great now, and have significantly tightened up the rear end with a preload of only 1/4". Unfortunately, they're really good at pointing out how badly I need front progressives and an upgrade to 15w in the front. Jumping on the bike, the front seems soft, and it's worse when you hit a bump mid corner. After upgrading my front, I think I can give a better review. At the (somewhat) low price, I would probably buy a new set over rebuilding them when the time comes....

 

Worked on a couple more things. Soft-bags and hand guards. They really help calm some of the buffeting from the windscreen. Who knew?



A bit crowded on the bars.

 

I just want to confirm...I got a replacement tach from a maxim. It is ELECTRICAL. I will be adding the proper wiring in.

So...The original harness is connected via two wires: BLACK and BLUE, for the tach bulb. The new cluster has a 4-wire set up. The ground for the tach is spliced into the bulb ground, so that is covered. What remains is a BROWN, and ORANGE wire. The ORANGE should be SPLICED into ANY POSITIVE WIRE I find going from either of the coils to the TCI unit, right? The brown I will just splice into anything I find to be 12V with the key on.

AMIRITE? I have a diagram, I just want to confirm before I make and sudden movements. I heard wiring can smell fear.

 

OK, so I got it. And for anyones future reference, the orange wire attaches to the positive on the coil. The electric tach is so much smoother, and it seems more accurate. Now, does anyone know how to block off the old hole in the head? I sure hope it stops all that damn seeping oil, too....

 

Does anyone know if a fork brace from an XS400RJ (Seca) might fit on a 650 Seca? My buddy has one he lit on fire and fried the wiring trying to work on it(he he he). It has stainless lines and a couple more performance parts. The fork brace would be rad. All it costs is one can of beer.

 

So I've done a little work, and I just wanted to see what everyone thinks.

I had a spare rear fender with a crack in it, so I reshaped it a bit higher(I know everyone does this.)



Also got a brake light modulator:



Carbs spotless! I still have to buff them a bit on the exterior.



Front running lights with smaller signals, and all new cables.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm headed to pick up a seca turbo oil cooler tomorrow! Stoked on that...

 

My mom used to say "if everyone else went and jumped off a bridge would you do it too?"

As long as you didn't cut up a GOOD rear fender, you're forgiven. And you didn't cut it too short.

Bike's looking good; very tasteful. Chacal has the correct silver "Yamaha" tank badges if you need a set.

 

I got RID of the cut fender and replaced it with a CORRECT rear fender. I think they look a lot better when they're the full length.

Dave F

 

Ha, I guess what what i meant to saw was "I know, I know, everyone does this", but you are indeed correct. I will not be jumping off any bridges.

The fender was pretty mangled sop I thought I'd try it out. Honestly I wish I would have left just one more inch, or enough to remount the reflector.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

The bike looks great, you need to change the title, you are making progress pretty fast. Or I may have to change the name on mine to "Grand Canyon Building speed".

Great job!

 

The way he cut it, it pretty much looks like a 550 Seca fender. You gotta admit, the original, overly-long appearing fender with that big lumpy reflector on the bottom is the kind of ugly only a true enthusiast can love.

Don't worry Dave, I'm not going to hack mine; but I'm not making any promises in regard to the turn signals except that they'll be "Yamaha" pattern.

I'm also probably going to go with a chrome front fender 8O

 

Having some issues...

Okay, so after this whole carb rebuild thing was over, I started fine tuning. I got a colortune from Chacal, and started tinkering. I realized my damn #2 carb is still acting up. I could not get it to go "blue" even with the mixture screw all the way tight. It get's to the edge, but will not go far enough to bunsen color.

My thoughts are: leaking enrichment choke circuit/incorrect float level/leaking float/sticking float needle/pilot air jet or fuel jet located backwards.

How should I test the enrichment circuit for leaks?

Anything else I should look for? I think I'm going to start from the beginning on this one: Test compression/check valves/vacuum sync/colortune.

Anything I'm missing?

 

possibly just a high float level? did you wet set them? do a quick on bike check before you tear into anything.

CN

 

I'm thinking enrichment circuit not sealing well, as per a PM with Len. I'll be digging into them this evening to scope it out. Nothing is leaking, and it fires constantly as the colortune indicates. It wouldn't run that close to "well" if it was the float level. I checked the level wet twice. 2mm down on that carb according to my notes.

 

Got everything dialed in! Holy hell, it runs like a dream. I polished the enrichment circuit valves, adjusted the floats so they don't hand so low, and removed the screens on the float seats. For now, it is perfectly tuned.

Next order (next paycheck) from chacal is the little screens, then I'll ride her into the sunset.

Thanks for all the help everybody!

 

Got my oil cooler installed. Used two peices of aluminum, and a stainless tube up top. Worked out okay, and hopefully the red thread locker will hold it together. It seems pretty damn solid as is.

Before


The aluminum. It's off an old walk way.


Mounted up top...


And down below...


Drilling out the upper mount for the tube.


And the final upper.


I think I want to replace the upper pin with a rubber sleeve. The lower pin holds it on, I just don't want it to rattle.

Next step is building a guard for the cooler. I have the lower mount, but the hoses don't move at all, so I'm going to leave it off, for now.

 

Okay, been a while since I posted anything and wanted to see what everyone thought about an exhaust idea.

These cans are off of a Ducati ST2 and are Remus brand, although not aftermarket or anything.



From the back compared to stock:


The definitely have a more "sportbike" look. They're about 2 lbs heavier than stock, and they sound almost identical, but are a tad throatier.

Any thoughts?

 

I had a Ducati ST3 with the same OEM cans, you can core the baffle to enrich the "throaty" sound. If it were me, I would hang them lower.

 

Yeah, I saw that tutorial. I'm hesitant to cut them up and have to rejet.

Here's a pic in a more stock position:


And just a tad higher:


They cost $40 so it's not the biggest loss if I do try to chop down the baffles, or even keep them "stock" and shorten the entire muffler.

Clearance is a bit of an issue when they're down low. A few mm away from the axle nut, etc.

The other problem down low is the center stand, which I'd love to keep because I use it all the time.

Function always over form.

 

Do they foul the center stand in both of the lower positions? Of the two positions, I would go with the slightly sportier "tad higher" one. It follows the lines of the cargo rack and side covers better. Plus if you can get the mounts to work, you could find some nice Leo Vince's or Termignoni's in either carbon or titanium, if you were so inclined. I had the LV's in Ti and loved them, super lightweight compared to the stockers.
Fun fact; The Ducati ST series bikes had two mounting points so one could raise or lower the cans to suit their needs, although each position cleared the panniers (as well as their center stand) so I never understood why anyone would run them in the lower position.

 

Yeah, anything lower than the first pic causes issues. Looking a prices for Ducati aftermarket pipes...holy crap I'm scared! More than I spent on my bike in the first place!

 

Oh yeah, you gotta pay to play with them big Italian boys!
I hear ya about the function over form thing, so definitely go with the "tad higher" position.

 

If you decide to go with the new muffles let me know and send the stock ones my way.