What is the best bike to buy for parts?

I'm hoping to open a discussion here. I think this might be helpful for those of us that are hoping to make our bikes better, and maybe better than the original. Plus it would answer a big question of mine.

Premise 1: A lot of parts on these bikes are interchangeable between models and years.

Premise 2: Some models and years have better equipment (dual front brakes, bigger gas tank) that will fit the lesser equipped bikes.

Premise 3: Paying $200 for an entire bike that isn't running is better than paying $200 for one part, $100 each for 2 parts, $50 each for 4 parts, etc.

Premise 4: Tearing apart a bike to use and sell it's parts is economically efficient. (You can get more out of it than you put in, after all is said and done.)

Now, I know that some bikes just don't have a good analogue, like the Seca Turbo...CMIIW, but if you need a parts bike for a Seca Turbo, you pretty much have to get a Seca Turbo.

However, I have a 82 650J Maxim. I'm pretty sure that an 83 650 would be ok, but what about a 83 750? What bike would I have to get to get the bigger tank and dual disk brakes? Would it be better to just buy those parts separately? What would a Seca bring to the table?

Obviously if you are doing a restoration, then maybe anything other than an exact match might not work. But what kinds of these bikes might be best for mix-and-match.

I also realize that the premises might be debatable as well....so debate away!

 

The problem is, successful mix-and-match happens across model lines. Examples: All 3 years' 550 Seca front fenders are exactly the same as the 650 Seca except for finish. The 550 Seca's rear brake assembly, however is the same as the one on the XS400 Seca/Maxims. The 550s used the same master cylinder as the XS400s; but the handlebar switch pods are interchangeable with the 650 Seca/Max. The same brake calipers were used on the 550s, the 750 Seca and the 1100, but the 750 Maxim, 650 Seca and 650 Maxim all had different front brakes. I've got an XJ900 speedometer in my Seca 550, and I'm going to replace my mechanical tach with a matching electronic unit from an FJ600. But fork tube sizes are all over the map and exhaust systems are a real crapshoot with very little interchangeability. Secas and Maxims have different frames.

The best choice is probably a bike as close to yours as possible; otherwise you'd pretty much need one of each.

eBay takes up less space in my garage.

 

eBay takes up less space in my garage. <QUOTE>

And PayPal takes up more space in your bank account. lol.

 

What is the best way to research what is interchangeable with what? I know to look at chacal's catalog for a lot of things...but where can I find what fuel tank, for example, will fit on my bike?

 

I use an online Yamaha parts fiche: http://www.yamahapartshouse.net/pages/p ... amaha.aspx as a starting point.

-Look up the part in your bike's fiche under "OEM Part Diagrams," highlight, right-click and "copy" the part number.

-click on "choose another model" which will take you back to the lookup page.

-"paste" your part number into the "Quick Part Lookup" box on the right, and be sure to select "Yamaha."

-click "Quick Look Up" and you will get a list of every bike that part was used on. You may also get some superseded part numbers in the mix; do the same thing with one of the "supersedes" and it may expand the range even more. Knocking off "-01" or "-02" suffixes and replacing them with an "*" helps sometimes too but then you can occasionally get some misleading results.

Note: This is NOT the end-all interchangeability reference. Parts cross-referenced this way pretty much WILL work, for sure. There is other interchangeability as well (like the XJ900 speedo into a Seca 550 cluster) that won't show up using the fiche. For those you have to find people who've done it, or experiment. I've got more than a few oddball Yamaha bits that didn't interchange quite as I had hoped...

 

That's helpful...for some reason I guess I thought parts numbers were model specific, not the same even for the exact same part. Don't know why I thought that, but I guess I did.

I'll look around a bit, but off the top of your head do you know about the 2 biggest mods I'm thinking of doing....bigger fuel tank and dual disks up front? What are my options for parts for my 82 650J?