Running 1982 XJ650 barn find

Just picked up a barn find. It's mostly original but with a handful of things to do on it. Front brakes are non-existent, still has an original fuse box, a few odds and ends missing (bolts odds and ends, nothing big), no battery, and the bike locks are mismatched/missing. Ignition is from "some other bike", gas cap has a picked lock, helmet/seat lock is just gone. The locking chain is still there. Seller let me listen to it run and shift through all the gears. Fired right up when jumped. I discretely felt the engine before to make sure it wasn't pre-warmed.

If anyone has a lock set (ignition/gascap/helmet-seat/chain with key) they want to sell, hit me up. Otherwise I'll head to Ebay.

Gas tank looks nice inside and just had one dent on it. Side covers are pretty eh... But still there. Anyone have any experience repainting them? Bike still has its original exhaust, with no holes.

Also this has no title, but it's never been titled in my state of PA. TO VERMONT I GO.

 

Some pictures, of course.

 

Doesn't look too bad. Miles?

 

I've refinished quite a few - not really any more difficult or easy than any other paint job. Are the side covers in good shape? Cracks? Missing tabs or pegs?

The three most important things for a good paint job are: 1. Prep. 2. Prep. 3. Prep.

 

About 18,500

I haven't had time to pull them off to look yet for damage. They look scuffed so the jury is out on what they look like underneath. Didn't notice any cracks though. I'm pretty happy with "present" so far. For painting, any recommendations on type of paint to get it looking nice? I imagine the job looks like 1. Remove badging. 2. sand to plastic. 3. Many layers of an appropriate paint. Step three is where I'm unsure. Specifically what paint to get.

 

18,500 miles that is nothing for an XJ.

 

Yeah I was pretty happy with that number. From what the seller said this is a legitimate, found in a barn, barn find. I was expecting a mess in the gas tank but it actually looks really clean. The seller said he spent some time getting it tuned and I believe it. When he started it up for me, 75-80 degrees out, engine cold, it fired to life without the choke and idled great.

 

Nice find. One thing you should do is change the fuse box if it is the original one. Better with a blade type fuse box, the original Yamaha ones the clips break. Most people here fit the blade fuse boxes.

 

Yeah, I've got one on my shelf from a parts bike I tore down, I'm not sure what condition it's in because I was drinking in the garage when I took it off. I'll take a look at it tomorrow and see if it's serviceable or if I need a new one.

 

A thread on the old fuse box here.

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/your-fuse-box-a-ticking-bomb-by-rick-massey.2210/

 

That barn looks weird. No cows to be seen.

 

I legitimately got stuck behind a piece of farm equipment moving at 5 MPH, and passed a herd of cows sleeping in a field on my way to pick it up. That's rural Ohio for you.

 

That's a pandora's box. Of course it is one of those things where the sky is the limit.

Hopefully somebody has a good idea what to use as an affordable option to paint a couple side covers. (Tank too?)

Otherwise, you need to invest in a "system" like House of Kolor or PPG or something like that.

The exact process will vary a little by the paint system, but generally look something like:
Sand smooth (not necessarily to bare plastic)
Primer/Sand, repeat as needed until smooth (get to at least P600)
Basecoat
Clearcoat
Sand (P1000, P2000)
Buff

 

The side covers are largely all intact. The one has a crack that circles a portion of the clip portion. No posts are broken off. That crack can flex open. If I can find a suitable glue I should be able to fix that. Any recommendations from anyone? Otherwise I'll probably just go with a gel superglue



The fuse block I thought I might be able to use is intact, but looks like junk and is missing its cover. For what they cost I'm just going to procure a new one.

 

You can try gel super glue in the crack but later I would apply epoxy over the inside area of the crack . Before epoxy I would add strength by embedding paperclip parts into the plastic from the backside (heat to red hot and melt into plastic), spanning the crack in several places. Be careful of going too deep.

 

The panels look pretty good - certainly not beyond repair.

My methods are documented here:
https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/how-to-repair-plastic-side-covers.130812/

 

That repair guide is brilliant. I'm going to study that and make use of it on my 1996 Goldwing too.

 

Clean the ABS, use a soldering ron to melt it back together, or make an ABS slurrry with acetone and shavings from an ABS pipe fitting.

 

Stickied now.

 

I use enamel spray paint with rubbing alcohol prep. 4 coats of color and 3 coats of clear. Once it's dried a couple of days, sand with 1000, 2,000, 2,500, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, wait a week and wax it.