me (07spacker) and my 82' XJ and some questions

so i've finally registered and began to make a barrage of confusing and sensless posts trying to help and get helped... hopefully i don't kill anyone by annoyance. anyways i picked up my little XJ650 for a grand total of 560 dollars and now i've begun to chop it up and make it my baby. i'm not the greatest of custom bike builders but what i lack in talent i make up for in enthusiasm. anyways i've got a couple pictures of my bike here and got a couple questions once i finish. Thanks all!

My Ninjette XJ and my new shop (the latter being the greatest act of charity i think i've ever been a recipient of...I must be doing something right.)



a few hours and few swear words and i've removed the exhuast and the rear suspension, i'm hoping to just chop a few coils out of them to lower the bike and keep the bottoming out point the same.



30 more minutes and i've gone through with my plan and reassembled the rear suspension... seems to be what i want but only time will tell.



more photos to come as more work is completed!

anyways these questions are probably better suited for the modifications forum but hopefully someone will be able to answer them anyway.

what is the length of the front brake line? i'd like to replace it with stainless steel braided line as i hear it responds better and i have to replace it anyway. can i get just the length of it in stainless line and then attatch it to my OEM fittings? they all appear to be intact and in good working order but i don't honestly konw

is there anything wrong with cutting the gusset weld on the headtube and raking out my front forks to a position i like a rewelding it? i've talked the matter over with a proffesional racecar builder who lives down the street from me and he assures me its fine if i'm careful an meticulous about it but his forte obviously isn't Motorcycles. I'm a very competent welder BTW so its not strength i'm worried about merely geometry moreso.

so it would seem that i have paint in my gastank... i can't be sure but it sure looks like white paint.... i've soaked it in paintthinner for a night and it took nothing off... any ideas of what to do?

thanks in advance for all your help.

 

I would guess the "paint" is Por 15 or some other "tank reconditioner". If that is the case, I'm not sure if you can remove it with a chemical as it is resistant by design.

Are you reusing the stock handlebars? If you go with shorter bars, obviously the length of the brake line can be shorter. Or if you want ape hangers, you'll need longer.

I'll leave questions about frame geometry to someone more qualified...

You can get parts diagrams from the official Yamaha site and you can order the XJ CD which has a wealth of information from the "XJ Chat" forum (3rd sticky post)

You've got a good find there, Good Luck! and welcome to the site. I look forward to hearing about your progress.

 

hmmm i hadn't thought of that but that seems rather likely since it refuses to come off no matter what i try to get it off with. its kind of a off-white color... probably due to gasoline discoloring it.... is there any way to tell? i don't want to hook up a dirty gas tank to my freshly overhauled carbs and gum them up.

i tossed the stock bars and have ordered some mildly sweeped flat bars so the length should be a little shorter but i might have to play with fork height to get my engine to sit level after i've raked the front end and lowered the back so i'm not entirely sure.... i guess i'll just have to break down and measure them once i'm all put together. but is it ok to use the exhisting fittings with a different brakeline?

thanks for the warm welcome, i'm addicted to forums as they're a efficient way to tap boundless amounts of information about specific models... hopefully one day i can be of help to someone rather than asking all the questions.

 

I seem to remember them doing just that on an episode of American Chopper. Considering what I've heard of the build quality at Orange County Choppers, that might not be a good thing...

 

hmm point well taken but i still think i'm going to take my chances... well wish me the best! pictures soon to come!