How would you tastefully modernize your XJ?

Something I was daydreaming about at lunch today, and I thought I'd see what people here had to say...

Imagine you wanted to keep the old charm, look and feel of your XJ, But wanted to bring your bike into the 21st century. A couple conditionals -- I don't mean because something's old and worn out. That's a given... or at least I hope it is. I mean upgrades/replacements done because it's both newer AND does the job better than the OEM item - but still looks the part. Also, I know most anything can be 'modernized,' but that's not what I'm lookin' for. The idea is that when somebody walks by, they just look and say "Yep! That's an XJ," not "well, that was an XJ.... once."

Better tech, better metallurgy, better "whatever is important to you," I guess.

What would you choose to do?

I'll start it off with the first four examples, that somebody's likely to come across on this forum:

- braided steel brake lines - because they last longer than rubber and give better brake response.
- new sight glass in master cylinder - because, it turns out, old crumbling plastic is hard to see through.
- spin-on oil filter switch out - because ...spin-on (and better filtering, yay!)
- upgraded fuse box - because, ....jeez -- lots of electrifying reasons.

(edit: maybe there's a better area to put this thread, but that thought didn't come to me 'til after I hit 'post'!)

 

I did the brake lines and fuse box. Those are a must! I added LED bulbs to the instrument cluster. Not a huge win, but hopefully, they won't blow and I used red for general lighting which looks cool.
Does the spin-on filter really do a better job? Is it necessary, or just convenient? I opted to keep stock.
Been toying with updated headlight bulb..maybe one of those fancy LED things, but cost has made me put it off, but I'm sure it's brighter and whiter light.
EDIT: I also went with an AGM battery. Sealed is better!
Maybe a more modern brake pad material? Some can chew the rotors faster, so that would be negative.
Other stuff works really well, I must say!

 

- better starter clutch system
- fuel injection

That's about it.

 

Rear shocks.

 

+1 on fuel injection. I would also do rear disk brakes instead of drum, as it would make a visual inspection easy.

 

Buy an XJR xxx

 

Spin on filter with the oil cooler attachment. Maybe the straight 5 spoke mags off an 85 Max. Depending on the bike, a new seat by Corbin or something. Perhaps a different handle bar and levers/mc, remove the sissy bar if it's there, a tasteful windscreen like K-moe has on redbike in the showcase. If I had a square headlight and Atari, that would HAVE to go if I was modernizing. So, not much...
Did I mention that I sold my 750 Seca? Rather be riding than wrenching. If I had a 650 Seca, the list would be much shorter!

 

Did you see the 650 seca in the CL optimists thread?

 

yes. Where the heck is Sioux falls? Not near Ontario, that's for sure!

 

That should be easy... I wonder how Yu Tanaka's project is going.

 

Changing to fuel injection is easy? Yikes. I'd be terrified of doing that project!

 

I've heard the rear swing-arm can be a bit flexy and some use one from a Radian. Basically, the rectangular extrusions resist the twist better. That's why you see them on sport bikes.
I remember making this switch on a solar powered race car I worked on back in early 90's at college. I wasn't doing mechanical, but we went from round tube to rectangular tube on the trailing arm suspension.

 

I've done all this to my Seca...braided steel hoses, upgraded fuse block, AMG battery, Spin on oil conversion ..... Next up ordered taper head bearings from xj4ever but waiting for fall to tackle this upgrade .

 

That was definitely sarcasm on my part. I is scared of electrics!

 

Another modification could be to switch out the forks for something more modern, perhaps inverted?

 

I've considered this myself, but only in a broad daydreaming sense. Would have to basically find a wrecked bike on Kijiji with an intact front end (very uncommon) AND correct length forks to have any chance of getting it going cheap enough... Then it'd just be a matter of finding some taper bearings with the correct ID and OD to just mount the whole front end on.

 

And a 6 speed transmission!

 

XJ550R... just saying..

 

If I wanted it to be more modern I'd import a first-year XJ1300, or buy a new Honda cb1100.
The upgrades already mentioned are both sensable, and effective.

 

Being able to flirt with 60 MPG would be nice. There's room in the case, if a fella wanted to take on an ambitious project.

 

I kinda like the look of the newest refresh of those XJ1300's ... but it makes me feel like one of them damn hipsters, when I say that. Ack!

oh... but it has a little tiny plastic gas tank. double Ack!

 

Oh, I didn't know this was even a thing. Damn, that is a sexy bike.

I love the look of those. No way I could afford to import one, but I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I definitely don't qualify as a hipster, or millennial, or whatever... *Shrugs* some group deciding they like something I like is, imho, right there with "Even a blind squirrel finds the occasional nut."

I love my Standard bikes, always will, whatever their current popularity.

Pure porn:

 

The U.S. allows any vehicle 25 years old, or older, to be imported without it needing to meet U.S. regulations for safety or emissions. Importing anything newer is prohibitively expensive.
You do still have to meet registration requirements for your state of residence though.
Unfortunately for me, almost everything is prohibitively exepnsive.

 

Oh no! Thanks a lot, K-moe... Thanks a lot! You just introduced a way for me to blow through money I don't have.

I'm in Arizona. No idea what the rules are here on imported vehicles. But I bet not too crazy. Thankfully, shipping costs prevent me from making irrational decisions.

 

Here in Canada it's pretty similar - 25 years for "free" importing (shipping costs though...) and registration requirements are basically just a valid VIN.

Sadly, for new bikes, it's very different. I'd happily finance a XSR700, but as is often the case, Yamaha doesn't want to sell it to me here, and importing a new bike is scary and absurdly expensive.

 

When reading the title, I got my hackles up, because XJ's aren't modern bikes, and that is kind of the point.

Reading the thread, I can see the distinction the OP is making, and get it.

I'd already changed the fusebox and added stainless brake lines. Haven't added a spin on filter but I may.

What else? Don't know. I don't want to do stuff that makes the bike styling look anything other than 36 years old. Perhaps changing the headlight (stock housing but different bulb) to have better night visibility?

I'm intrigued by the idea of swapping in hotter camshafts. I don't remember specifics but I know there is one model with hotter cams that would swap in, and it would be neat to see what difference it made. If it made the bike too peaky, swapping back wouldn't be much effort.

I'd also consider modifying the ignition to play with the advance curve. As I understand it, ignition advances only by RPM with no consideration to load. No idea how involved it would be to play with that (at the very least, I'd bet I'd need to mock in a TPS sensor and then use some sort of brain to work off an ignition advance table) but it seems like if there was power left to wring out of the bike, it would be from too little advance in places...

Fuel injection- I don't think I'm terribly interested, but it may be the only way to get that custom ignition curve I'm mentioning above. If XJ's had conventional carbs, you could gut them into your throttle bodies and make injector bosses in the manifolds, but they don't, so either fab throttle bodies or a different carb that directly actuates the throttle bodies. Also figure how to add a fuel pump to your tank. Use Megasquirt as the controller, find somewhere to mount the box. Seems doable, but when not neglected, the carbs seem to have good manners, so I'm not sure what the point is other than to brag.

 

Yeah, to be fair this is what I'm both loving and hating about my XJ. There are small cosmetic things I've changed on my Maxim (mostly because I prefer Seca styling but had a Maxim) but it's a well engineered machine that wrings a really impressive amount of power out of it's 35 year old engine, with great handling.

My old Sportster had so many design issues that there seemed an endless list of performance modifications I could make, and each would get me a little more power.

Damn talented Yamaha engineers making a great bike! It doesn't even leak oil!

 

Yeah, I wasn't sure quite how to put it when I was writing it - but that's exactly the point. I prefer a bike kept as close to original as possible. But I also believe in using them as long it's feasible, which sometimes requires making things a little safer, or longer lasting.

Off-topic, but one example that made me think of this topic is an old '52 Packard I fixed up a few years back, as a daily driver no less.... Those old cars had an OEM brake master cylinder known for failing gloriously (bendix treadle-vac). They hadn't really begun using dual chamber master cylinders yet, I don't believe - so there was no backup when things went wrong! Total failure.

Restorers will often make this upgrade, if it's a vehicle to be driven and not just a trailer queen.

 

I remember reading on here that the Seca 550 vs Maxim 550 had hotter cams. Couldn't tell you if that's true up the line, and how much hotter. Going to look at my service manual where the specs are.
EDIT: OK, the XJ550RH manual shows the intake lobe lift at 7.8mm and exhaust 7.1mm

 

I'm pretty sure all the Seca cams are hotter than their Maxim counterpart's. Different jets too. That's why they're the best! Oh yeah, except for that Genesis mill... Didn't someone manage to smash one of those into a 650 Seca?

 

Yea, 6 cogs would be nice in my 650 Maxim. An over over drive you could say..but... How about installing the 18" stock Seca rear wheel on an XJ Maxim? Tire is a little narrower, but 5% greater circumference. Should drop top gear rpm about 350 at same mph. Anybody tried this? Course bike would sit higher in the rear.

 

That has been done. Plenty of old threads about it.

 

As k-moe says, lots of threads about this. I've been contemplating doing it for ages, as I've a spare Seca rear end sitting in my basement with a decent tire on it.

It's 22.3" OD for the Seca rear and 20.6" OD for the Maxim rear - very nearly 10% larger diameter.

So, mathing it up with circumferences, that's going to result in a 7.5ish % increase in speed per rpm and a similar decrease in acceleration.

I'd rather have a 6th gear, as that way I don't have to pay in acceleration at low speed.

 

how about some mirrors that actually work, then a set of radial tires.
visit a auto paint store and find a color you really like

 

What I plan on doing is installing the forks from a Radian or FJ (36mm) along with the dual discs, a set of more modern adjustable levers (with cartridge emulators) and a set of better rear shocks, an LED headlight, LED brake light, and maybe a larger tank.

What I would do if designing a "modern" XJ550 Seca would be to make the frame stronger and less twisty and fuel inject the engine (whilst adding a few more HP), plus better forks, shocks, levers, etc. Other than that, yeah, it's pretty much perfect.