New to the forum, thought I'd post up my latest project. I've been wanting to do a wee Cafe Racer type bike for a while but when the opportunity came up to collect an XJ650 (in bits) for free, well, I jumped at the chance - Seems like a great platform to start with for such a project.

Got it home, all the boxes and stuff took up the remaining space in my shed (not good lol).









I Nitromors'd the frame and started sandblasting it.



Got fed up after spending hours having been covered in sand

I want to get the frame/swingarm/wheels/etc and the engine done fairly quickly, giving me a rolling chassis (with engine) to get some much needed space back in the shed.

Back to sandblasting the rest of the frame, 99% back to metal.

Primed


Painted & Lacquered. (was going to powdercoat but thought i'd do the best i could do with hat i have, that way it's all done with my own hands.)


Will leave it a few days and polish it up, get a nice smooth shine on it.

Need to tackle the engine next.. sandblast it to a nice even finish. Not sure whether o just lacquer it after that or paint it black and buff up the fin edges again.. hmm..

Anyway will keep yous posted.

I gave the engine a wee go with the sand and got 90% of the crap off the fins. Gave the rest a degrease and seems ok, still needs a wee clean but I shoved it in the frame.



Started on the swingarm







Wheels next.. oh joy.

Hey Man, that looks good! Keep doing and keep us posted!

comin along great keep up the good work!
Shaun

Yeah I'm just after doing pretty much the same to a wee Bandit 400 Limited Edition (you can see in one of the pics) so the thought of going through it all again makes progress slow lol - Will get there in the coming months though.

Well i've been too busy trying to get the Bandit running sweet, still a wee bit rough above 8k but anyway!

Polished up the fork legs a little tonight





Went about getting the race off the bottom yoke:



Polished up the top yoke a bit, new bearings etc and wanged it on.



Will finish the forks tomorrow and stick them on. If i get time I'll put the shaft in and the swingarm.. then onto the wheels.

Got the forks on today:



Then set about the front wheel, some stages of the process:

Before:


Paint:


Polished:


Whacked it on the bike, beginning to look like one now too :up:

Nice work.You make me feel like I am one lazy Bi**h,for hanging in the house in this crappy weather.

Oh I've been there, best not to think about what you're going to do, just go out and do something lol... stand & stare too long and I end up going in the house.

Been too busy cleaning and tuning the carbs on my other bike, it's been a b**ch but she's running sweet now so I can hopefully spend more time on the XJ.

Sort of polished up the brake drum housing a bit. Cleaned up the diff. Polished & painted the wheel (same as front), whack the swingarm, shaft, wheel, brake and diff on.



I've got Marzocchi shocks there to put on but they're in a bit of a mess paint wise.. hanging up now drying off, will put them on just now until i get a new set of chrome numbers or something.

nice man coming along...

Managed to get a bit more done recently.

Shocks on:


Bars painted, headlight on but the brackets need a tweak, not quite straight. Will end up with clip-ons anyway so they're just on to make it easier to move etc. (why paint them? lol)


Carbs were utterly manky inside & out.

Before: (you cant see the dead spiders & insects in the pics lol)




After:




Next I will get all the bits and bobs on the engine in prep to get the bugger started to make sure it runs before I go any further.

is it me or are the shocks upside down?

Quote::

is it me or are the shocks upside down?

the one in the picture sure looks like it is...

Well usually with gas shocks the reservoir is at the top, same here.

these are the same type shocks i have on

cgi.ebay.co.uk/MARZOCC...240%3A1318