BK's Winter RestoMod Project - 82 XJ650 Seca

Disclaimer: One week from this first post I will be gone for two weeks. This, uh, "build" will be off to a slow start.

Introduction: Been wrenching on cars and 4x4s for 15 years now. Brand new to bikes. Bought my first bike four months ago; 86 Honda XL 250 R. Great little bike. Shopped around for a winter project that in the spring will be better on the road for me. Picked up an 82 Yamaha XJ650R Seca. This isn't going to be a total mod of a bike, but moreso restoring it back to where it should be.

The bike the day I brought it home for $750:


Had an aftermarket fairing:


The guy I bought it from said all the plastics were original; along with the fairing. Yea. Sure.

Got home and the first thing I did was remove the fairing:


The instrument panel was held with zipties:


So I got to plugging along and fixed the instrument panel. I knew I had electrical gremlins to figure out since the kid had so eloquently installed a switch for the headlight. Also the brakes were locked up pretty good. Didn't get any pics of it, but the caliper slides were all frozen. Popped them out with a c-clamp, lubed them up with lithium grease, and went on my way. Brake pads were new though. Strange.

 

Last night I spent about 2h in the shop. On the agenda: wiring.

And this is mess I opened myself up to:









Nevermind these bastards crawling all over:



One thing I wanted to figure out was the high and low beam. The kid had cut the wires to the headlight and ran a wire directly to the battery with a switch in the middle. I had no gauge lights either.

Once thing that was curious was this plug is removed (blue zipties):


I split the harness open and figured out that the instrument panel and headlights were curiously connected to this plug. After 2h I called it a night and went to look up a few things.

So that plug is a headlight relay. Well, that makes sense. It must have been trashed so the kid unplugged it and hardwired the headlight right to the battery. Now, I read that you can bypass it connecting the Bla/Blu wire to the R/Y wire. I'll do that today, but when I return in a few weeks I'll replace the whole relay.

Also the fusebox is old school. I'm going to buy a new five slot panel today and wire that in. Looks like one of the fuse holders broke off and the kid wire nutted an inline fuse. If you ignore the electrical tape and exposed wire, I guess it turned out great! (dumbass)

But that's where I am today. This bike will sure keep me busy for awhile.

 

Welp, I'm out of time for today. But, I have the electrical sorted out. It...actually wasn't all that bad. I went to NAPA and they wanted $26 for a fuse box; it'd be here by Thursday and wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Sadly, I just went with the old glass style fuses. $8. Run it. Soldered several wires, the connectors, and away I went. I had to cut back like 12" of the wiring harness from where the exposed wires were. Spliced/Soldered in from there, to the fuse, to the headlight relay. I lopped off all the wire nuts he had on there. He installed five wires and a switch to run the headlight. That's what a lot of it was. I cut all that shit out and jumped the headlight relay. Bam. High beam. Low beam. Everything worked perfect. He gummed up all the electrical over a $30 part. Another option, though a pain in the ass, he could have done was leave the relay plugged in, start the bike, then jump it the relay with the engine running. Though, I did make the mistake and bypass the relay and started the bike. Killed the battery. Trickle charged it for an hour and finally got it running. Leaving the headlight unplugged for now until I get back from our trip. I'll order the new relay then. From there on its intake manifold and rear brakes. Little cosmetic work, but all in all it's looking really simple.

Sadly, this "build" isn't going to be as intense I thought it was going to be. I figured I'd be wiring for a week. Nope. 4h. All done.

 

If you want the build to be more "intense" you could take a bit of time and start making a spare wiring harness or two

Looking at how much surface rust there is on the frame I'd suggest that you consider tearing the bike down and cleaning it all up. At least have a good poke around the lower left frame loop. Yamaha did not put a drain in the tubing, and the tubing was not dipped, so water can collect there and eventually put holes in the frame at that point.

 

I've assembled wiring harnesses before. Blech, not one of my top hobbies.

I'm going to pull the carbs out and give them a good cleaning. Buy a carb synchronizer too. Anything under 3k RPM and it runs really rough. I'll install a new intake manifold while I'm in there. It really doesn't look too bad. I should hose it down to get all the cobwebs out though, haha.

Has a hard time finding neutral too. I need to rock the bike back and forth to get it in there. Always jumps right to 2nd. Not sure if that is normal or not.

Choke cable has like, three strands left holding it on. I'll have to replace that as well.

Not planning on getting too technical with it. Just the major things to get it road worthy.

 

Valve clearance is major.

Gary H.

 

Neutral is easy to go past. It takes a bit of practice, and I still sometimes glide right through to second.

Yes, valve clearances are major and are also the least most likely maintenance item to have been ignored.

 

Done it before on my XL. I'll do it on this bike too. Its easy enough.

Its not so much for driving, but to fire it up, let the bike get warm while I throw on my jacket and grab my backpack. Throwing in neutral while I run in the house is what I'm talking about.

I killed the battery again this morning. I seem to keep flooding it out. Question. The fuel knob. RES mean reservoir. ON means, on. And PRI means ? Primer? Should I start the bike with it on PRI?

 

PRIME is for filling the float bowls when they are dry, or for draining the fuel tank.

ON is for normal operation

RES is for reserve, which gets you about 20 to 30 miles of riding before you will start walking.

Leve the petcock set to ON for starting, unless the bike has set for a few days without running; then set it to Prime for 30 seconds to fill the float bows, and back to ON to start.

 

I second this. My frame looked really good but I had to have it repaired on both sides of the cradle. I only caught it because I stripped it down for powder.

 

Ah. That makes sense then. I had the tank off the bike over night. During my awesome time wiring, I did hit the start button a few times to ensure the starter would kick over. Must have tapped the carbs of all the fuel in the process. Went to start the bike with in "ON" and it was a bitch to start. Along with that, and bypassing the headlight relay, I killed the battery.

 

Take a peek at the starter and rotor brushes.

Gary H.

 

So I'm back at this. I bypassed the headlight relay with a switch I mounted through the headlight housing. Works perfect.

I bought all the stuff to make a manometer too. I am going to pull the carbs and clean them out. I'll order an intake manifold and get those all dialed in. But can't do that until I know what I want to do with the exhaust. So, there's this:



Open sounds badass, but I have a rising suspicion that after the first 20 miles of listening to that I'm going to regret it. Its loud. Like, way loud. I'm going to feel like such a prick if I leave anytime before noon firing up the bike and waking every known creature within thirty miles.

But that's where I am now. Yea, slow going but now that we're home and I have time to tinker I'm hoping to get this thread built up a little.

 

Open pipes are for racetracks and asswipes.

 

Yea. I cannot stand hearing them, but once I sat on my bike with it I was all smiles. It'd piss a lot of people off I'm sure. I'll probably end up putting that flat black pipe on it.

 

i think neutral is easier to get going down from second, rather than up from first.

 

Spent a few hours in the shop today. Learned that gasoline really burns the lips.

Made a manometer:









It works...ok. My carbs are way outta whack though. With that said, I cleaned them up a bit.

Removed the carbs and cleaned them out. They were pretty dirty.



Little gunk in the bowl



Now, question. There are these screws:



Center of the screen. Bottom of the bowl. What are those for? All four a totally stripped out. Not sure if that's going to cause issues.

I also learned how the carbs all work. I just need help dialing them in.

I know I'm premature on synching the carbs (I need to check valve clearance and get new intake manifolds), but few questions.

With the ATF in the lines, all four lines are even. Good. I start the bike and one tube will dip down and another will jump way up. There are the three screws I can turn. So say tube three is down. Which screw controls that tube? There's three screws and four tubes.

Also, the fuel supply. I dumped out what was in my tank and put two gallons of 93 in it. I set it on a ladder and put it on prime. Since I had the manometer hooked up, the vacuum petcock couldn't be connected. I siphoned the fuel (BLECH!) and heard it go down the fuel line. But then the bike would run out of fuel. I siphoned the fuel again and put a pair of vice grips to hold the suction; no luck there either. So what are my options to supply the bike with fuel? 2L bottle flipped upside down, vent on the bottom of the bottle, and a feed through the cap? That's something I need to figure out.

So yea, the bike runs. A little. But it only runs on full choke. I have to lay into the throttle to keep it running. I'll pull the valve covers to check the clearance. I'll have to get that little tool if I need new shims. The carbs are going to take a bit to get right though. The three screws are really what are throwing me off.

Got a decent amount of work ahead of me.

 

If I'm looking at it right, it looks like the bowl drain screw? Mine are totally stripped aside from one.

 

Watching this video:


I need to redo my clean job. No biggie. Carbs were easy to remove. The boots are a pain in the ass to get right though.

 

Don't watch that video (well watch it, but don't rely in it).

Read this link: http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/in-the-church-of-clean.14692/

and this one: http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/the-secret-life-of-carburetors.14751/

and this one: http://www.xj4ever.com/setting fuel levels.pdf

 

That's exactly what they are. Chacal sells replacements. If yours are so stuck that a left-handed drill or ez-out won't budge them, then you may want to look for used float bowls.

 

Thought so.

I have a list of parts I need to order, big portion of the list is just hardware that the PO stripped beyond recognition.

Since I'm new to all of this, I only have a basic craftsmen tool box, mostly just a socket set with some screw drivers, allens, pliers, vice grips, etc. Very minor stuff. I don't have a drill ot anything yet.

I recently moved into my new apartment ( a tiny 1 bedroom cottage ) so I'm still collecting tools, well trying to while still being able to have money to eat and make rent LOL. My build is extremely budget based.

Sorry to derail thread. I also watched that video AFTER reading church of clean and other various threads on here. The video helped a bit with some parts. But I definitely wouldn't rely on that.

 

feed through the cap and vent there too, once the siphon is started it should stay if the bottle is higher than the carbs.
four lines/carbs....three screws.... | * | * | * | .... when you have the carbs off and play around with the screws doing a bench sync, it'll get clear

 

Alright, did a whole bunch reading on the carbs. Way more informed this time around. Going to bench sync the carb. The wet setting has me a little lost though. 3mm but I'm not exactly sure what I'm measuring. I also need a bottle, not spray, of carb cleaner. Can't find any. Well, I did but its in a one gallon paint can for $35. Was hoping for a quart or something.

Tonight I'll dig deep into the carbs. next step is the valve clearances.

 

You are measuring 3mm down from the bottom of the carb body (essentially the first 3mm of the float bowl)

 

Well. Tonight sucked. Pulled the carbs. Then started to pull the manifold boots off. Seven came out. But that one.

CLINK

sumbitch

So now I have one bolt snapped off in the head. There was about 1/4" of threads sticking out. I tried welding a nut onto it. No luck. I used the tip of a regular screwdriver to notch it and try to twist it out that way. Nope. You can see the rust around the bolt hole. So looks like I'm pulling the head off. Damnit. my coworker's husband runs a machine shop so I'm going to see if there is something he can do to get it out. I'm not all that pissed off because I sort of wanted to pull the head anyways. There was a bit of oil seepage around the gasket and I want to fix that.

Tonight I got up to pulling the valve cover off. Going to look up removing the cam chain. The oil left over in the pockets around the valves has me concerned though. It looks like coffee. Not sure if that is normal or not.

From here I have two questions.

1. Head bolts common to snap off the block?

2. Check valve clearance now or wait until I pull the head?

 

1. not common, but possible.

2. Now. You can do it with the head off, but you will have to build a fixture to keep the open valves from being damaged.

3. Can you drill a straight hole? I just drilled out a broken manifold bolt myself. It does require patience, a steady hand, and a 90º drill adapter so you have room to work. The one I worked on was stuck enough that I couldn't pick out the remainder of the bolt and ended up drilling oversize and using a Helicoil.

 

I figured I'd pull the head, repair what needs to be repaired, then check valve clearance when I get the head back on.

I do have a 90º adapter on the drill. And it will get in there. I just need a small punch for the pilot hole. I'm thinking I should probably grind the threads down flush then punch. I'll also have to get a tungsten bit. The bit I tried wasn't even marking the bolt.

But then again the bottom half of the case did have a bit of oil on the outside; everything from the head gasket down. That tells me the gasket may be no good causing low compression. While I have it apart now, perhaps I should just suck it up and pull the head. I can polish the ports too. Clean it up nice. New head gasket would be good to have too. For ~$200 worth of gaskets and some major time in the shop, I'm not really fussing that much.

 

Just ordered this:
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-XJ650-Haynes-Repair-Manuals/dp/1850103534

That is the right one, correct?

 

Tonight I'll jot down the clearances on the valves tonight. Get into pulling the head tomorrow.

As far as pulling the head, remove all the bolts and loosen the cam chain, right? Just loosen that cam chain adjuster under where the carbs were and I should be able to pull it off the sprockets? I'll also set the crank to the "C" position so everything goes back to the same timing.

 

Wait til you get your manuals. They should be loosened in order to avoid warpage. It will also explain loosening the cam tensioner, rear cam chain guide, and all the other stuff. I just went through a head replacement.

Get the good gaskets through Chacal, I had an issue with an aftermarket cam tunnel gasket that required me to do it twice. http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/head-installation-sanity-check.69186/

 

+1 what jay said. There is a step that includes using a wrench to align the cam dots with the cap marks. If this step is missed the timing will be off.

Gary H.

 

Yea, I guess I should wait then. I would remove the head bolts starting from the outside and work my way in; and install the bolts from the inside and work my way out.

I'll get the gasket and hardware kit from Chacal. Looked other places and they're all the same price (sorry, but I always shop around first).

Cam chain doesn't look too bad. I'm thinking I just loosen it enough for it to come off the sprockets then pull the head.

 

Once the tensioner is removed, you'll actually unbolt the sprockets from the camshafts to remove the chain. Don't drop one of the bolts into the can chain tunnel though! Stuff a rag in there.

 

Ah ha. So the sprockets do come off then.

The Haynes book will describe all of this, right?

 

The sprockets and cams have to come out. You'll "hang the chain" to remove the head. Yes, the manual and this forum will help get you through it. No worries...you've got this.

Gary H.

 

Damnit. I have to remove the cams too? I was hoping I could leave them bolted in and take the whole head out in one unit.

I'm fine with taking the head out. The only thing that concerns me is getting the timing right. These motors are interference motors and I don't want a piston smacking a valve in the face.

 

Technically you could break the chain, that would get your head off without removing them. But then you gotta rivet it back together somehow with the cams and guide in there, which would be tons of fun.

You have to time them back in regardless since you are disturbing the tensioner etc. and depending on where the cam is, one or both may rotate a bit once you pull it. There is no "bolt it back on exactly as it came off" technique here.

Take your time, do it right, you'll thank yourself many miles ridden down the road. There's many first timers on here that pulled it off. My Kaw you have to pull the cams to change shims as they're under bucket type. After a few times it's old hat.

 

You're mechanically savvy. You won't think it's as difficult once you do it. The cam chain is connected to a sprocket on the crankshaft.

Gary H.

 

Add a JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screwdriver to your tool box. It will help to eliminate the stripped screw syndrome. The shortcut to this would be to file down the point on a standard #2 and #1 phillips. This way you get full engagement.

 

Yea, I snapped another screw off the side plate last night. Forget the real name of it. Its the cover that you remove to be able to turn over the motor. I have it drilled out, just need to pick up a small enough easy-out today. Going to start replacing all screw driver head screws with allen heads. Everything is getting anti-seize too.

Took a bunch of pics last night, but it was too late for me to upload them. I'll do that this afternoon.

Haynes manual will be in today. Went through the carbs all last night. Pulled the exhaust. All the ports have about 3/16" of carbon buildup. Plugs had a little carbon. Plug #2 still had fuel on it; the others were dry.

Measured all the valves too. One has .000mm of play. They're all over the place. I wrote them all down; I'll update it all today when I get out of work. This motor was not taken care of.

 

Did you also pull the exhaust gaskets?

Key words: was not. It'll be taken care of now.

Good job.

Gary H.

 

Exhaust gaskets? Like where the tubing goes into the head? There were none there that I saw. I have a handful of pictures that I will upload when I get out of work tonight.

 

Plans may have changed for this evening. Its a weird, seventy something degrees outside. I'm taking the other bike out for a spin so pics may have to wait until tomorrow.

 

Annnd now the weather is crap again.

So onward with the progress as of last night.

Here's a pic of the stuck bolt I'm going to be dealing with:




The oil near the cam looks like coffee:


Not entirely what the could mean.


Speaking of cams, the most forward one had this on the end:


But the rearward cam looks like this:


I went inch by inch in a 10' radius looking for that plug. No where to be found. I look all inside the engine compartment and the valve cover. Nothing. Possible it wasn't in there to being with? I would think oil would be everywhere and it wasn't...


Went through the carbs much deeper this time. Stumbled across this:


Took a little finagling, but I managed to get the tip reset back in there. Not sure if that is something I should be looking to buy, or if popping it back in we be secure.


Another broken screw:


I have it drilled out and just picked up a few easy-outs. Every screw that I am removing will be replaced with an allen head and anti-seize.

Here's what the exhaust ports look like:




And the front of the block/head:




Head gasket probably couldn't have been any good. There's a decent amount of oil around there.

Tonight I'm going to paint up the tops on the carbs and get those back together.

My Haynes book arrived so I'm going to tear into the head. I have all the valve clearances written down too. There's one valve with 0 clearance.

Time to get dirty!

 

if you wait till the head is back on to set the valves, your going to turn the motor over a few times by hand. Then if the cams are wrong you'll know without doing any damage

 

Yes, there should be crush gaskets in the holes. Both the intake and exhaust cams should have the half moon valve cover end plugs. The fuel valves are aftermarket and can be problematic because the open clip has a tendency to rotate and get stuck on the front of the float tang. Hold off on ordering parts until you complete the tear down.

Gary H.

 

1) how funny, that's the same intake bolt I had to drill out.

2) If you look at the pic of your exhaust, you will see a copper colored ring. That is the outer edge of the exhaust gasket. Take an awl or screwdriver and poke the gasket perpendicular(isn) to the exhaust port, ito the gasket, and pry them out.

3) the viton tips are just pressed into place. Sometimes they fall out because they can shrink a little. Popping them back into place works fine.

 

If you use them it is suggested to turn the open portion of the clip that grabs the top of the valve toward the airbox to hopefully prevent what i stated earlier.

Gary H.

 

Yea, I noticed those tonight.

So I got the head off. here are the pics from tonight:

Top of cylinder one:


Cylinder walls don't look bad:


There is a little ring in, cylinder three, I think:


Head gasket was pulling up a little bit; not sure if it affected the motor at all:


Two of the long bolts unthreaded from the block. They had these sleeves on them. They were all rusted and crunchy. I'm guessing there are replacement ones?


Top end:


How the bike looks as of now:



I tried drilling out that bolt. To the guy that suggested they be made from unatobium, I hope you get stabbed in the face with a soldering iron. Coworker's husband runs a machine shop and I may just bring it down there because I've had zero luck.

Oh, the valve clearances:

Cylinder One

• In - .000mm
• Ex - .076mm

Cylinder Two

• In - .102mm
• Ex - .165mm

Cylinder Three

• In - .076mm
• Ex - .102mm

Cylinder Four:

• In - .063mm
• Ex - .127mm

I will reference to the chart and get the needed shims.

Once that damned bolt is drilled out I'm going to start on polishing the ports. Get them nice and shiny. Then, parts ordering time. yippee.