Poor mans StreetFighter/Bobber project. '82 XJ650 Maxim

Hello all, here is the start of my build. I have had bikes before, but have never modified one, all my experience is with cars. And my car experience is limited..
Anyway..
Picked up this 1982 XJ650 Maxim for $400. A lil beat up, dented tank and pipes. Two turn signals held on with duct tape, side covers intact but held on with yellow and pink zip ties.. lol The motor was ticking, turned out to be a loose head pipe. Two turns of a wrench and the bike ran smooth as silk. There was also a slow oil leak from the front left corner of the valve cover.



http://youtu.be/qorO_kacNb4 <----- Short vid showing the exhaust leak.

 

I have been prowling this site since the XJ purchase, which was over a year ago. Many threads on here have been very helpful. I rode the bike to work and back most of last summer, then this spring I checked out a few of the mod builds on here and got bit by the mod bug. I really liked the look of some of the bobber builds, so stole a few ideas from those threads.

Again, this is an almost zero budget build, so things are being done with that in mind. Well, not zero, but low budget..

Started by taking off the seat and seeing what was in store for me in removing the rear frame section. I have access to a welder, but no weld skills, so hardtail was out of the question for now.

 

The beginning of the unneeded parts pile. Going minimalist, so turn signals, horn, and some other items won't be going back on.

 

Exhaust removed.


And a growing pile. At this point I wasn't sure what my plan was fender-wise, so nothing is being mangled or thrown out.

 

Gettin naked.

 

Holy crap that's a lot of wires.. Luckily my father is a wiz with that, so further into the build I will be recruiting him for help. I found on here somewhere a minimal wiring guide for the XJ, so with that wiring shouldn't be a prob.

 

Parts pile started to take up a lil too much room on my buddys shop floor, had to consolidate.

You can see the duct tape on one of the turn signals in that one.

 

Eyeballing the back end planning where to make the first cut. Once the hacksaw comes out there's no goin back! lol
Take a look at the wiring there, one of the previous owners seemed to be doing some wiring along with the duct tape work.

 

And gone! Kinda cool, as soon as that rear section was cut off it gave it the open rear wheel bobber look.

 

The next step was moving it from my buddys shop to my garage at home.

 

New drag bars and seat courtesy of eBay. Seat was $49, bars around the same.



Toyed with a bunch of different ways to mount the seat, ended up turning the seat bracket backwards and having my bro weld in a 2.5" piece of pipe. That pic is comin up.

 

A buddy of mine took the H pipe and cans to work with him, in less than 12hrs he returned with these wicked lookin slashcut bad boys!!

Paint can mock-up. Perfect length, exactly what I was wanting.

 

Mocking up the seat to see where abouts I might want it.

 

Fender. Not sure I want it sticking out quite that far, but we will see. Limited tool selection will most likely play a role in where it is mounted in the end. For sure gonna have to trim it down, wouldn't want any of it visible by the shock like that.

 

Semi-gloss and flat black rattle can. After the test spray, flat was the winner! Everyone who has been in the garage has commented on the dents in the tank, but I think they add character!!! lol

 

Not sure what my plan is with the gauges, but somethin has to be done. mabye some smaller ones in cups mounted right to the bar? We'll see. That is a way way down the road desicion. For headlight I am thinking of using a pair of automotive foglights. Again, not sure yet.

 

Some random levers and parts were sprayed with the semi-gloss. Body will be flat, frame and some other things semi-gloss.

 

Masked off the motor and everything and did a test spray (rattle can of course) of that triangle section of frame.

 

Some painted parts made it back onboard.