Introduction of myself, a man with a plan

here's my blinker switch setup, it's ugly but i was in a hurry
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4j6bf_0WGweWjN0ckRjMUtJcFE

 

I don't think it is all that ugly. Put a screw on rubber switch boot over it to help be more weather resistant and you should be long term good to go.

John

 

LOL...he's had it that way since before I joined the forum.

 

Great dog!

 

he's a Mountain Feist, basically a mutt with a name that likes to chase squirrels

 

So nothing like his owner?

 

So I've been working on my front end I had donated to me off an 80-81 650 maxim. It's been sitting outside since 2002 with a leaky tarp over it.

I've rebuilt the master cylinder

It wasn't nice. Hard coagulated brake fluid all the way up to the diaphragm. That was fun, and I'll take a picture of it now when I get home.

Rebuilt the caliper

Rebuilt the forks.

I have a tapered roller kit for when I transplant it onto my seca 750.
Stainless steel braided brake line I'm gonna put on it.
I have a new tire.
New brake pads.

The front fender was all rust underneath and dirty on top.

Cleaned up all the rust and painted it.

This was before I cleaned the top.

And after.

It shined up really nice. Gotta love tin foil.
I'll take more pictures when I have it all together and on the bike.
I do have a quick question. It didn't have a headlight, so I picked one up.
According to bike bandit a seca headlight is 12v 60/55w halogen.
The 2009 Yamaha v-star 1300 bulb is the same.
Will there be any issues if I wire it in? I guess I'm wondering if it'll blow a fuse or melt any wiring. Electrically speaking it seems like it should work ok, but I wanted a second opinion from someone who knows wiring better than me.

 

Well, I got her all together again with the new front end. Needed to fabricate a headlight bracket to hold the 09 headlight in the original 650 bracket, but I think it turned out ok.

 

Well that doesn't hurt my feelings too badly. Combined with whatever dials are on there, you've un uglied the 750!

 

Those look like xs or aftermarket front turn signals?

 

It's an 80-81 maxim 650 front end, so it's the cluster from that too. It's a mechanical tachometer, so don't have that working atm, but I'll address it this winter.

I'm not sure. I picked them off the front of the 650 maxim this spring, so the history is cloudy. If they're not stock, then they probably are one of those two.

 

Well, new news. This last weekend I took an msf course. It was quite informative and I had a lot of fun.
At the end of it I took my test and as soon as I pay the state I'll be endorsed.
Lol, yay me!!

 

Ok, so on the write up on the how to on here it says to check valve shim clearance at room temperature. My bike's covered, but outside and I don't really have an option for getting it to room temperature ATM, but want to get that checked so it's ready this spring. The closest option I have is the in law's unheated garage.

I'm guessing the reason for room temperature is so there's no cold expansion to muck up the readings. My question is what can I do to get it road ready before it's riding time? Perhaps a set amount of expansion at such and such a temp factored in, or anything like that?

I'm curious about it because I have hogfiddles rebuilding my carbs, have all the parts and tools ready and available, just got my endorsement, and I don't want to miss out on any riding time as I'm chomping at the bit a bit lol.

 

Shrinkage, not expansion.
Wait until spring. There is a correction factor for cold weather, but I'm not sure where I put my notes about that.

 

Right... Had the right thought, just derailed in the wrong direction. Can I blame it on the cold? Lol

Ok, so spring wise, what temps am I waiting for?

 

50's-80's would be fine

 

...and once you get there temperature wise with the season... make sure she hasn't run in... what was it again @hogfiddles ? 24 hours?

My rule of thumb is... don't run the bike today if you plan to check shims tomorrow... Maybe you don't need that much time...

 

Any issues checking without it being run for months? I'd guess not, but I didn't know about the 24 hour deal either, so better safe than sorry.

And I didn't think of it earlier, but if I take the handlebars loose I can maybe fit it in my front door, so yay

 

No, I think that's fine... I say 24 hrs because our air cooled heads take a long time to cool down. Hogfiddles holds a carb clinic once a year in June where we have checked clearances before. That was his advice to me.

Not running the bike the day before is a safe amount of time for your engine to "rest" before checking clearances.

Some may feel that is too long because it's too long to NOT ride... To that I say the simple solution is to get multiple XJs!

 

'"Overnight cold"

 

So, I'm fabricating some pass through mirror brackets. What do y'all think?

I think the look fits my badtmilda.

Need to make a bracket to the normal mirror mounts for stability, but so far so good.

 

Brackets should work just fine. I'm most impressed with your bike sitting in the house. I've tried and tried but the girlfriend just wont go for it

 

Lol, fiancee wasn't happy with it, but I can be convincing when I need to be.

 

Well, got the brackets done this morning.


Now I just need to paint them and can turn to my next idea.

 

Got em all done, and they're rock steady. I like it, lol.

 

Ok, I'm having issues with bleeding my brakes. 81 650 front end. I rebuilt the master cylinder, caliper, and upgraded to stainless steel brake lines. I ended up bleeding the dry system last fall with a mighty vac, and it did ok, but not quite right yet. Then it was time to put it up for the year. Never done this type of work before, so operator error is a high possibility.

This spring I brought it into the house to check the valve shims and get it ready for the season. I've been trying to bleed the brakes for a week and a half. When it didn't work normally I did some research.

Since it didn't work normally I've tried to:
I made sure fluid was coming out of the bleeder.
Checked the relief port (I think,) at least the little hole towards center side of mc that is almost microscopic.
Reverse bleed the system.
Take the caliper off and suspend it above the master cylinder.
Run an orbital lightly from the caliper to the mc.
Putting the bleed nipple hose in a container of clean brake fluid and bleeding.
Cracking all the banjo bolts to release trapped air.
Took the caliper loose, pumped the lever and pushed back in the caliper piston.
And have secured the lever to the handlebar for 2 nights in a row.

When I had the caliper loose and was pumping the brakes it was taking a LOT of pumping to get even a little bit of push out of the caliper.
To me it seems like I may have messed something up in the master because it's acting like the master cylinder piston isn't functioning correctly, like maybe reamed it out too much. I didn't think I did it for long enough or at sufficient rpms to overbore it, but I'm at my wit's end and can't think of anything else that I can try. Any thoughts on what to try?

 

watch that relief hole and give the lever a bump but only to 1/8 travel, don't squirt fluid everywhere.
might have air trapped in the cylinder, seems like a full pump and the air doesn't have time to come out that relief hole

 

Thanks for your response Polock.
I think I may have gotten it figured out... Maybe lol. Time will tell.
I ended up pumping the heck out of the brakes till the caliper piston was almost at the end of the boot (took about 20 minutes of pumping the first time,) putting the cover over the mc and squeezing the caliper piston back in with a c-clamp somewhat forcefully and steadily. Did it again (took 5 minutes this time). Then once more for luck. Put the caliper back on and voila. I had brake lever again.
I'm thinking the fluid travel back to mc at a good clip disturbed whatever trapped air that was giving me such a headache.

 

I have had very good success just flicking the brake lever, similar to what polock described, with the master cylinder cap off and watching all the tiny little bubbles rise. Once no more bubbles I bleed normally a couple times and end up with a firm lever feel

 

So apparently at one of the local bike places I'm now known as "the seca guy."
The service department manager was talking to me and pulled me into the shop. He says "we just got this in on trade. Thought of you right off, so I'll sell it to you for 600."
It's really nice looking and if I was richer I'd have a new bike. Seca 650. He started it and drove it a bit, and it's damn near pristine as far as I could tell. Thought I'd share

 

Get it.
$600 is a steal for a Seca 650 in that condition. Ratty project examples go for not much less than that.

 

It would already be in my garage.....

 

Borrow the money, steal, sell a kidney, whatever. When opportunity knocks...........

 

Heck -- ratty xj650rj projects go for MORE than that!

 

I mean, granted, it doesn't have a title, but it would come with a bill of sale, and from a dealership I don't think there'd be a problem getting a new one. I'd need a couple months to save and he said it might still be there, but the girlfriend doesn't like the idea of me getting another bike when we need a car, so sadly I don't see it happening.
There's a saying. "If momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy."
It would be a heck of a deal, and i'd love to have it, but I was sharing for the sake of sharing. Thought it was really neat that as I was going through the store 2 other people that work there stopped me to see if I'd "seen the bike in back, cause they told Bill I'd love it." Lol

 

Around here, no title means it's a parts bike. That one would triple my money AND when I get a good sale on parts, a bike, an instrument, etc....., I take the missus out for a dinner------ She stopped complaining a loooooong time ago.

 

That's fake news, women are never really happy, and always find a one reason or another to be unhappy, it's part of an overall life strategy to control others. Very effective, too. Unless you take the red pill......

 

@jayrodoh another one... This looks nice!

 

Ugh, yeah another good one far away. If closer it be in my garage!

 

No it wouldn't...... I would have virtually already had in MY garage, cuz I said it first....lol

 

Ok, so, list of stuff I did this last month:

Installed LEDs in the indicators, Speedo/tach illumination (red), blinkers, brake lights.
Installed aftermarket flasher and auto cancel bypass.
Installed blinker modulator.
Painted the gas tank and rear end red with metallic flakes.
Fixed a loose ground in my blinker.
Checked valve shims and replaced 5 to get it all back in spec.
Replaced donuts and valve cover gasket.
Installed cleaned and rebuilt carbs (thanks hogfiddles.)
Installed oil pump gasket.
New fuel line.
Wet set float levels (not hard, but definitely a patience game to get it all spot on.)
Synced carbs.
Rode my bike.

I thought my bike was nice before, as I didn't have any basis for comparison, but didn't know it was so bad till now. The sheer power and responsiveness she has after the changes absolutely floors me.
Hi, my name's Camo, and I'm officially an xj junkie for life.... Lol

 

Countless times I've told people that the xj650 has more power than any one needs. When they're dialed in, it's amazing just what's really there!!!

 

Ok, so I took my bike for a longer ride today. Went roughly 2 miles, 35mph fine. Went roughly 5 miles started sputtering slightly so I pulled over, 60 mph. Went another 2 miles at 60 and it was sputtering again, so I pulled onto a back road. After a short ways (roughly half a mile) at 35 the sputter went away. Got to the other end of the back road and went 50 mph. Started sputtering again. Pulled over. Warmed my frosty butt up for a bit then headed home.

Sum up.
Starts sputtering after a mile or so at 50+ mph and goes away at 35 after going slower for a bit.

Guess.
It's acting like at higher speeds it's chewing through the gas in the float bowls faster than it can be replaced.

It's a guess because I got too cold to confirm.

 

Unless not being able to colortune it yet would cause that issue. Might be the likely culprit, but wouldn't it be something that would be there at all speeds?

 

Without looking back through the entire thread, have you wet set the fuel levels?

 

Set y0ur petcock to PRI and see what happens. What procedure did you use, and what level did you set your wet levels at? Those should be double-checked.which way did you adjust the levels? Did you end up bring the floats farther into the body, or lower into the bowl from where I initially set them?

Floats were set to initial dry settings of 17.5mm
Mixture screws are set at initial setting of 2,5 turns (plus an extra 1/8th tweak)....but you definitely need to do your colortuning---remember that he 4th carburetor body has the fine-thread mixture screw in it, so that one will probably take a bit more turning to get it dialed in..

Don't do a lot of changes all at once, we need to do things one thing at a time.

Are the plugs new?

 

I have wet set them all at 3mm, and I have a gravity feed petcock with on, off, and res

 

And pop the gas cap open to see if that changes things............it may be the atmospheric vent inside the cap is plugged up.

 

I brought them closer to the carb bodies and I set them at 3mm. I set them level front to back and side to side to check them. Spark plugs are from last year, but I only had about a week and a half of riding them on it, so figured they'd be ok. Slight discoloration, but no deposits.

The issue only presents at speed. Is it possible to open the gas cap while riding, or would it rip off?

I am planning to get the colortune in one or three weeks depending on finances.