xj650 tachometer

This is my first post so I apologize if I'm breaking any forum etiquette here. I recently purchased what I believe is an 82' xj650 that was in pretty good running condition with a few minor issues needed to pass the safety check. Although I have conflicting information as to the actual year of the bike making it difficult to figure out the exact parts I need. The short VIN is 15U 000 426 which I've translated from the post on this site to JYA 15U 004 AA 000 426? Meaning it would be a 1980?... Oh and if it makes a difference, it is a Canadian motorcycle, bought in Ontario.

Anyways, a lot of the electrical stuff was kind of rigged and many of the stock connections in the headlights were loose so I'm trying to get all that sorted.

So far, my problem has been the tachometer. It currently doesn't work but I can figure out if its because the previous owner removed the mechanical cable or if it's an electrical issue. I've been doing research for a few weeks but I haven't found a solution.

I'm trying to find out if my tachometer is an electric or mechanical tach. There is definitely no entry point for a mechanical cable on the engine.. although when I opened the tach assembly and looked at it, it looks like it could house a mechanical cable in the back. The only wires attached to it were the blue/white/black connected to the light bulb. When looking at parts on ebay, I'm looking for defining characteristics to what an electric tachometer would look like.

Here are pictures of the inside of the tachometer:


And the cluster it came from:


I appreciate any help you guys can offer!

Just for kicks here is the bike in question. As soon as I've figured out the safety issues the tank is being repainted..

 

That is definitely a mechanical tach. Your motor is a YICS motor so its an 82 or later. I don't believe the YICS motors ever had provisions for a mechanical tach drive but the more knowledgeable members will post here shortly I'm sure.

 

Thanks!

As I suspected it looked like a mechanical tach. Is there anything that gives them away when people don't specify when looking on ebay or other online sources?

 

I'm not familiar with that cluster, but I would think looking at the back would give it away easily. Here is an 80 and 82 Cluster for a Maxim XJ650. They are identical, however, looking at the back it is clear that there is no cable drive for the tach.

 

If the bike is an 80 and the original harness is in place, then you will not have wiring for the tach at the cluster. You mentioned that the wiring is fairly cobbled up, so its possible that the PO swapped with a later harness. It also could be totally butchered. Either way, it's not terribly difficult to add the necessary wiring for the tach if needed.

Again I'm not super familiar with anything other than an 82 Maxim, so I can't say if the 80 harness would work with an 82 motor. I suspect someone will chime in.

 

Turns out it's probably not an 80.. I found this somewhere else on this site:

"MODEL NAME: XJ650RJC
STREET NAME: 1982 XJ650 Seca Canadian
MODEL ID CODE: 15U
FRAME ID: 15U
SERIAL NUMBER STARTS AT: 000101"

with fits with my VIN of 15U 000 426.

I must of translated it wrong from that other post... On my title it says it's an 82 and all the parts checked out so far, I had just translated the short vin wrong and thought it might be an 80.

 

Yes you have an '82. problem solved. Why you have the instrument cluster from an earlier XJ is still a mystery.

 

@ k-moe: Which one? I was thinking those were from a xs.

@ Cyfer: fwiw the handlebars have been flipped over.

Gary H.

 

An XJ650 Seca. The housing is the same. They were around in other parts of the world beginning in 1980 (including Canada). What makes me curious is if this isn't a later engine that has been swapped into an earlier frame, which would explain why it has a cable driven tacho.

Cyfer, what is the VIN that is stamped on the right side of the steering neck?
Also look at the head between cylinder 3 and the camchain tunnel. Is there a tacho drive there?

 

Gary H.

 

A seca with a 140 mph gauge? I looked up the specs and it said they clocked around 127 from the factory.

Gary H.

 

This bike is a Canadian XJ650RJ Seca, it is supposed to be an RJC model with a YICS engine, but I'm not sure that it is. It doesn't have the YICS oil pump covers and it is hard to tell from the picture whether it has the YICS ports in the jugs, A mechanical tach would be correct for a non-yics Canadian Seca (as well as the 200 KPH speedo). The silver color (front fender) is typical of the non-yics Canadian RJ models; the YICS RJC models would be painted red.

Hard to tell from the pictures, but all the YICS RJC Seca models should have an oil cooler, too. The non-yics silver bikes would not have used one.

Of course, it could be a cobbled-together bike. It would be instructive to match the frame VIN against the engine VIN (on the top of the engine case by the clutch cover) to see if they match.

 

I agree it doesn't have yics covers but it looks like it has the port. I could be wrong.

Gary H.

 

I can kinda see the port but isn't the valve cover a giveaway?

 

The engine VIN and steering neck vin are a match to the 15U 000 426.

I'll double check when I get home tonight but I'm pretty sure there isn't. I watched a pretty extensive tutorial on replacing the mechanical tach cable and didn't see the same entry port.

I'm pretty sure that is is an XJ650RJC. When I took off the tank to do some work I noticed that it was originally red. I also have all the paper work tracing it back to the 80's where it was purchased not too far from me in Ottawa. There is YICS embossed on the head cover.

Where would I find these YICS ports in the jugs? I'll take a look to confirm. I'll also see if I can find an oil cooler.

The guy I bought it from said he had swapped out the front fender because of some rust and had another one laying around. Could be the stock, proper coloured one.

The previous owner might have just bought the wrong tach on ebay and left it on for the sale? who knows...?

 

I looked up what an oil cooler should look like and I definitely have one. It's mounted behind the forks on the upper part of the frame, right?

 

Correct. So you have an RJC model, no doubt, and the YICS embossed valve covers only fit on YICS cylinder heads. So it's a pretty rare bike, and yes it should use an electrically driven tach. Your theory as to what happened:

sound correct, it's why they are referred to as "PO's", which doesn't stand for Piece Of S#!t but rather for Previous Owners, although the difference can sometimes be hard to verify.....

You'll need an electronic tach from another RJC model or a Euro-spec XJ650 model. All other XJ650RJ Seca models used mechanical tachs.....which is why the PO bought the one he did, he either didn't know or got frustrated when he realized that the correct tacho was going to be difficult to locate. The mechanical and electrical versions of the tach fit and (outward, installed appearance) look identical.

The YICS chamber is a long, horizontal, INTERNAL passage located at the rear, top edge of the cylinder jugs, there Is a bolt & washer that seals off the passage at each end.

I may be incorrect, but, I believe the RJC (YICS-engine) models should also have the YICS emblems on the round oil pump covers.

 

Ah good. Thanks a lot for your help.

I might be looking at an after market tach/speedo in that case. Are they pretty simple to install? The bike has a fairly custom look so I don't mind not keeping it original.

 

I am bidding for an xj650 maxim cluster assembly on ebay. It doesn't have the same top speed but will it still work on the bike?

 

Won't fit correctly, neither the tacho itself nor the entire cluster......look on ebay.uk and search for XJ650 tachometer you'll find some there, just make sure it's an electrical tach version (1980-81 Euro models used mechanical tachs). The RJC model is really the 1982 Euro XJ650 model brought over here (shortage of bikes in Canada or over-abundance of bikes in Euroland being dumped into Canada, who knows?) with only a minor amount of changes to accommodate North American laws/rules/styles. Even the red color is a Euro color.