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Raven's XJ750 Seca - a resurrection story

Discussion in 'XJ Modifications' started by Raven, May 11, 2010.

  1. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Hey everyone-
    First off, thank you all for making this an awesome forum. What you're about to read would not have been possible without this site, no question. So thanks to all who contribute here!

    The back story...
    On April 17th, while I was out to dinner with my girlfriend, I received a phone call from my roommate..."We have a problem." He, who had borrowed my bike for the evening (he's licensed and experienced, so I trust him) was struck from behind in a hit-and-run.

    Thank God, he was largely OK; he was wearing his helmet (took a good scuff), jacket with CE armor (left elbow pretty scuffed), gloves (left knuckle guard scuffed) and boots (the leather scuffed off of the now exposed steel toe). AGATT anyone...? His left knee got a nasty bruise and his left hand has been sore, but now, a couple weeks later, he's about 75-80%.

    The accident happened as he was at a stop light, turning left. The silver mid-sized SUV behind him hit on the left-rear mid-turn. The bike went into a low-side and sent him and my bike into the curb. @sshole speeds off, and the next two cars that come by don't bother to stop to see if he's ok. The first car that did stop...a group of high school kids.

    Police showed up, as did paramedics, who gave him the OK to go home. By the time he called me and I met him at the accident site, a tow truck was there, strapping my bike to a flatbed. Surreal? Heck yes.

    My bike is 28 years old, I don't have collision coverage, and the police said it would be highly unlikely that they'd be able to find the @ssface that hit my roommate...so it's time to fix the bike myself...with a pile of help from this forum :)

    I've done my best to take pictures of what I've done, hopefully help someone else to see what I've done, and given everyone here fodder to criticize my handiwork :wink:
     
  2. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Damage

    First things first, what all happened?

    Headlight glass, retainer
    [​IMG]

    Bucket, fuse, one horn, left front signal
    [​IMG]

    Fender (that'll buff out...)
    [​IMG]

    Engine guard (hey, it worked!)
    [​IMG]
     
  3. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Damage, part 2

    Gear shift lever, now stuck in 1st
    [​IMG]

    Engine itself saw a little action, spark plug terminal
    [​IMG]

    Atari got tweaked
    [​IMG]

    Rear taillight housing; the tail cowl didn't crack
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Damage, part 3

    The one positive of this...
    [​IMG]
    Freedom!
     
  5. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Teardown pics, and the plan

    All in all, not too bad. Mostly cosmetic, but certainly a number of high priority things that have to be repaired/replaced before riding. At this point, I'm at a crossroads of sorts...I can rebuild the bike more to my liking, and I'm leaning toward a more street fighter/hooligan style. Of course, I would have preferred this opportunity under different circumstances.

    Left footpeg
    [​IMG]

    Check the bend on the engine guard
    [​IMG]
     
  6. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Headlight

    My attention turns first to the headlight...

    Mounts off of eBay
    [​IMG]

    Had to sand down the spacers to make 'em fit tight (thank you weird 36mm forks...)
    [​IMG]

    Installed
    [​IMG]

    Rectangle of the 80's no more! Bucket from a XJ550 Maxim, but the inside is as rusty as can be...for $20 on eBay, no complaints...
    [​IMG]
     
  7. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Headlight, part 2

    Still rusty after wire brushing, turning to chemical warfare
    [​IMG]

    I think I saw this in Ghostbusters 2
    [​IMG]

    Cleaned 'er out and grabbed the Rustoleum
    [​IMG]

    The chrome wasn't anything to write home about, so I scuffed it down and went for the all-black bucket
    [​IMG]

    Checking the chrome ring plus black bucket...I like it
    [​IMG]

    Had to test mount it, to see how it looked...my roommate is supervising.
    [​IMG]
     
  8. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Guards

    While in a local motorcycle boneyard, I scored a set of engine guards. They were in pretty rough shape...belt sanded the outer fins back to looking decent. I cleaned them, scuffed them, painted them, then sanded off the paint on the outer fins:

    Old
    [​IMG]

    New
    [​IMG]

    Comparison
    [​IMG]
     
  9. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Controls

    Oh what a bummer, new headlight so I'd better change to a bar-mounted MC. The stock right controls, obviously, has the lever built in, so that'll have to go.

    My dining room table/workbench
    [​IMG]

    Stock set chopped
    [​IMG]

    Test with the chopped, stock right controls; no go, the new lever will hit the controls, if I want it to still fit on the bars...
    [​IMG]

    Found a set of right-hand controls for an XS on eBay, these'll fit perfect, and the pin-out on the connector for the starter and kill switches is the same, so it was plug-n-play. However, gotta clean it first...
    [​IMG]
     
  10. vintagerice

    vintagerice Member

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    I like it. Looks like a built to watch. Good luck Raven!

    Rob
     
  11. Xplicit_XJ

    Xplicit_XJ Member

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    Glad your roommate is ok. Nice to see you being able to rebuild after the accident, great time to start fresh. I have got to say I LOVE the look of the new engine guards. slims the bike down just enough. Keep up the awesome work I will be waiting t see more updates.
     
  12. Erman

    Erman Member

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    This build is going on my favorites bar. Definitely something to follow.
     
  13. ManBot13

    ManBot13 Well-Known Member

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    NICE headlight. What kind of paint is it? You mentioned Rusty...but which one. I like it! (And I may start searching ebay for a 550 headlight myself)
     
  14. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Thanks for the comments guys :) ManBot, the paint is just a rattle can of flat black RustOleum. Ended up doing about 3 coats total on the inside, 3 more for the outside.
     
  15. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Gauges

    Next task, stripping off what I need from this beast...
    [​IMG]

    Mental note of what wires go to what indicator
    [​IMG]

    Back removed...note the printout from here :D
    [​IMG]

    The guages I got...I'm loving these. The speedo is from MikesXS.net, the tach is from an eBay seller out of Canada. This Seca's tach is electric, and I really wanted one that was the same size as the speedo. The only electric ones on MikesXS are micro-sized, but apparently at partsnmore .com, they have these for about $75. I got mine for about $50...those who are looking, keep an eye out and you might find 'em cheaper.
    [​IMG]
     
  16. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Gauges, part 2

    High beam and neutral light wiring
    [​IMG]

    The yellow wires go to the turn signal indicator light. On the Atari, there was one indicator light per side; here, just one for both. So that they all don't light up four-way flasher style, I'll have to wire in some diodes.
    [​IMG]

    I couldn't wait, had to see what they looked like. 3/4 view, checking clearance of speedo cable against headlight...ended up moving the headlight down the forks further. New left foot peg also installed, and you can sort of see where I ground down the chipped cooling fins on the engine
    [​IMG]

    Rider view
    [​IMG]
     
  17. schooter

    schooter Active Member

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    you got some luck on those engine guards, they're pretty rare and expensive
     
  18. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Gauges, part 3

    Put tank on temporarilly, as I need to have it repaired (good size dent on the right side from my roommate's knee). Also added the headers and the gauges to check the wiring of the controls and the tachometer. I can't remember what it was exactly, and I'll edit this post if this is incorrect...but for the tach, it was Red (tach) to Tan (bike), Green (tach) to Grey (bike). Everything worked! New gear shift lever installed here too. Firing it up for the first time with just the header pipes...holy crap was that loud.
    [​IMG]

    Headlight wiring...I ended up cutting the connector out, and wired it in straight up. There is seriously no room in that headlight bucket for anything.
    [​IMG]

    Gauges and wiring all done...for now. The red wires are for the oil level indicator. I may eventually wire these in, but without the Atari, will the the sensor in the oil pan trigger a light?
    [​IMG]

    Lighting for the gauges works! But ugh...what a crappy difference. The speedo is lit by LEDs, the tach, by one #74 twist-lock bulb. I'm currently looking for a good short plug-n-play SMT LED that I can swap out...any suggestions?
    [​IMG]
     
  19. Raven

    Raven Member

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    I know it...I saw a set of this style on eBay a while back for something like $130...I paid $25 for these, but mine were in ROUGH shape.
     
  20. Raven

    Raven Member

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    Signals

    Here are the new turn signals, in this pic, attached to the rear mounts. These were marked as being for a VMax, but I love them because the body is metal, as opposed to plastic
    [​IMG]

    On a test fit, I discovered the stem of the turn signal was too long as-is and it would hit the lower plastic fender. To make them fit, I added a collar sleve to the stalk of the signal, acting like a big washer (the sleves, I got from my local hardware store in their misc. washers/fasteners aisle)
    [​IMG]

    Rear signals mounted
    [​IMG]

    These are the diodes I used
    [​IMG]

    Remember the loose yellow wires from the gauges for the signal indicator light? Here's me testing the diodes in the circuit to make it work correctly.
    [​IMG]

    Cut down the stock mounts, and had to add a collar and 3 washers per side so that the signals cleared the fork.
    [​IMG]
     

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