1982 xj550 burned. I need some ignition advice..

I have a 1982 xj550, which I just finished this last weekend. It's a fairly custom flat track/brat style bike. I was using the stock harness and ignition system. I had trimmed the harness back quite a way, but as we know everything is tied together at some point, so these ignition components run pretty deep.

Sunday, I had finished the bike entirely. Got it down off the stand, fuel in the tank and cranked it up for the first time since the build began. About a year and a half. (Things have been busy) I had gone through the carbs, so it popped off right away and died. Cranked again and it popped off right away, but backfired and started on fire. Pretty decent flame right off the bat. I grabbed some rags and tried to smother it, but it was not to be. I didn't have a fire extinguisher in the shop (FAIL), so I ran to fill a bucket of water as my brother started dumping on it the only liquid we had in the shop (beer). The beer didn't slow things down, and my five gallon pail didn't even touch it. I should mention that my big garage door was still blocked for the winter (I don't use the big door in the cold months) and the only way out the side door would be to take the handle bars off.

So the five gallon pail didn't do the job. I ran to drag out the hose, which is cheap, kinky and about 5 miles long. By the time the hose was straightened out enough to get water through (MAYBE a few minutes since the backfire...this all happened really quickly) I get the hose to the garage door, knock out a window and flames have engulfed the room. Like you wouldn't believe. This is about a hundred year old structure. Bone dry. Tinder. The garden hose was a joke. Luckily a passer by ran through the yard to ask if we needed help. I shouted for him to call the fire department.

ANYWAY...long story. Fire department(s) show up, day/structure saved (somehow), bike-not so lucky.

The frame seems to be fine, engine looks remarkably clean, tires SEEM ok-no visible damage...fork seals still tight.

Everything else is toast. New gauges, headlight, seat, tank...GONE. The entire harness is gone, all electrical components are gone. This brings me to my point and my question....

Does anyone have any experience with hand wiring an ignition system? I could get a stock ignition box and coils, but has anyone wired it up point to point? A quick walk through the wiring diagram looks like it would be challenging. I guess I'm wondering if there is a bare bones wiring option for the stock ignition...? This is the biggest hurdle for me of this (re)build.

Any help or guidance offered is much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

sorry to hear of your plight after all the hard work. search the forum for "minimal wiring diagram". good luck.

FU

 

Oh man, that's too bad. Sorry to hear! Text on a screen doesn't show emotion but please know we do feel for you.

The bad:
you've lost a lot of work
You got set back a long way

The good:
WE'RE HERE FOR YOU EVERY STEP
all parts can be replaced ( let us know what you need.... I'm sure someone has it)
You're alive, your building is standing

Stay here, you'll make live again....

Sounds like you have leaky petcock and sticky floats that loaded your airbox with fuel.

You'll want to check your crank case To make sure it is not full of gas in the oil.

 

Hey man! I feel your pain! Road my first XJ every day all summer, then suddenly my co worker came up to me on our lunch break and said my bike smells like gas. Here I'm thinking, This bike is old and has that weird gas smell. So I went outside, sat on the bike, turned it over and it started right up no problem! My other co-worker drives up on his bike and parks it nex t to mine and I asked him if he sees a leak or anything, and he says nope! all of a sudden it backfired and a small flame appeared. then all of a sudden the flame spread to my pants and he grabbed me off my bike. I had to just stand by and watch it burn up =[

Long story short, Fire Department came and Put it out. The engine and frame looks totally fine, but any plastic or rubber was long gone.

That same day I hopped on craigslist and bought another XJ because I was not about to start driving my car again.

I'm assuming my carbs were full of gas .

 

Your crankcase was probably full of gas too. If you smell fuel when standing next to a parked bike the correct thing to do is to look for the problem, not to start it.

 

For future reference, if you happened to find gas in the crankcase, how do you go about removing it?

 

You remove the oil drain plug, and the oil filter.
You then attend to the carbs to solve the fuel getting past the float needles (stuck float, worn needle and seat, missing or perished o-ring/washer, crud from the tank keeping the float needle from seating).
Then you refill with some sacrificial oil (along with a new filter) and do another oil change a few hundered miles later.

 

Goodness, I sure appreciate the posts. For some reason when I created this thread, I didn't subscribe to it. I never realized anyone had posted. (Still trying to figure out how this site works) Thanks to all for the responses.

I just posted a new thread with an update, but the long and short of it is...its about done! Just got it out on the road for the first time yesterday. Had a heck of a time. No going back now!!

 

Man, that is a bummer. Makes me think I need to get a small extinguisher to mount on my bike somewhere since I've got all kinds of iffy wiring and carb issues. Might just save me from my own irresponsibility some day.