THANK YOU!!!

I'd like to take a thread to thank everyone here and their vast knowledge of XJ's for taking the time that they do to help newbs like me through all of the technical and often challenging crap that we throw at you in often poor attempts to get their XJ's running. I truly am grateful as I'm sure many of you spend several hours (on a very regular basis mind you) responding to each and everyones often long and often pointless posts (much like this one!). If it weren't for all of you, I would have given up a loooooong time ago!

So you're probably wondering why I'm saying thanks in the first place... About an hour ago, I finally finished rebuilding my carbs, tuning them, synchronizing them, and getting the bike running like a clock (on wheels). But before we go there, I'd like to recap my experience thus far:

Last fall, I purchased an '82 XJ650 Maxim for $350 from a guy here in town that I found via the local Craigs list. I took it home that night and have spend upwards of 25-30 nights, often for 6-8 hours a night, working on the bike. During that time, I ran into several ( if not all ) of the major issues that are posted here on a regular basis such as:

It's because of you guys that I was able to get through these and really learn alot about not only XJ's, but bikes in general. For that I thank you.

I also wanted to take a chance to post some of my pitfalls that I have encountered during the rebuild to hopefully help some other newbs to get their bikes running. Here are my warnings and suggestions, in no particular order:

Well, that's about it for my rant. I can finally get out on the road now!

See ya out there!

 

Love the quotes, great advise to the un-initiated. Happy trails!

 

Yes a fantastic site!
Lots of useful info and very helpful people.
With a manual, the XJCD set and XJBikes, I have rebuilt my engine and sorted out many little problems that bikes this old tend to have.

Couple of points to your quotes, a manometer can be easily made with some clear tube and 2 stroke oil (got 'em spot on). Bench synced my throttle shafts with 0.0015 gauge with very close results (less than a eighth of a turn to fine tune with manometer). Opens hornets nest...you don't need a YICS tool! Increase your idle to 1400 RPM and sync then. It works done my EFI and a set of carbs like this. Closes hornets nest. Total cost for gear $4 for the tubing.

Enjoy your ride!

 

Ahhh, there should be more of these success stories. Always good to hear positive feedback from the members.



Nearly brought a tear to my eye. :wink:

 

Thats actually just what I did, except I used transmission fluid. I thought I was doing something wrong when I started it up and all the fluid started sucking into the 3rd cylinder. It appears that though I thought my bench testing was pretty close, apparently it wasn't. But a few minutes later, I had them all synched up and running like clockwork.

Next step is to colortune ( just didn't have the time ) and then starts the cosmetics! New seat cover, paint, new lights all around, little polish, and she'll be lookin good!

 

Happy graduation! You are now one of us who help and guide. One thing you will get from this group is the confidence and skills to conquer problems that are out of the norm. I have finally fixed my oil leak. No one here has had this happen to their XJ so I was on my own with this problem. Based on the knowledge skimmed from this site and the XJ-owners list I was able to examine and find two possible causes.
I have also learned to disassemble and calibrate a torque wrench. Never saw that one coming! All because these guys showed me the meaning of that REO Speedwagon song, "Keep Pushin On"