Steber's 81 XJ550 Bobber

Spent the day cleaning up the swing arm. For winter storage, the bike's an hour away down at the garage. Progress will be here and there, i'll shuttle smaller pieces home to work on them as I can. I took advantage of the warm weather and got the swing arm in primer today.



A few minor imperfections to fix, all in all very happy how it turned out. Will let the primer set up and wet sand and prep for final paint.

 

I really liked the way my frame is coated on my other bike from the factory. It has a great texture look that I wanted to duplicate on to this bike. I didn't want a glossy paint.

This is my raider frame:



So I know from spraying the bedliner that if you spray slightly closer you can achieve a more dimple like effect rather than an overly gritty bedliner texture. So with that in mind I went ahead and painted the swing arm. I'll follow suite all the way through the frame as well.

 

So.. the texture was a little more "gritty" than i wanted. I had two options - leave it as is or sand it and if it came out bad I'd just respray it.

Well, I decided to do some wet sanding on bedliner.. Not something I'd ever think of doing but it actually came out well. It gives the texture some depth now that the highs are a matte black and the lows still have a bit of sheen to them. I'm sure with time, UV rays will balance it all out but i actually like the contrast.

Yes, wet sanding bedliner works, however counter intuitive that sounds. It has a nice smooth dimple texture that matches exactly what i was looking for now.

 

That almost gives it the look of a hammered finish.

 

Agreed. which is more or less exactly what i was looking for. I think once its done on the frame too and sitting under what tins are left it'll really be nice. Also it'll be resistant to most anything that I come across. I didn't want to have to break out the guns and spray a 2k on the frame components, so this was a fairy cheap trade off that will hold up just as well.

 

i think rustoleum still makes a spray called hammerite, it's not as textured as the original but not bad. think orange peel on steroids and tough as nails

 

ace hardware sells it, made by Kilz
this is 2 parts silver 1 part black

 

Thats a nice looking texture as well, I saw it and pondered it for a bit but went with what I knew. Wasn't sure of the durability of hammerite. Can't say i regret going my route, but the hammered looks like i could have saved me a step or two in the long run for sure. I took advantage of those few final days of warmth, the temperatures plummeted here over night the day before yesterday. Which is why I didn't have time to research the hammered look.

 

Not much to report.. been studying wire diagrams and figuring how to trim the fat.. Don't wanna go full blown minimal, Will try to remove enough relays and so forth to be able to squeeze in what I need. I'm assuming Frank Johansson's interactive diagram will translate close enough for bypassing needs, along with other schematics and such. speaking of space, i went ahead and ordered a LiFePo4 battery with charger, this should help save on space, now i just need to find a space to stuff it. The price was enough to make me wanna cry in a corner, but sadly I dont think i have many options.

Also ordered a seat that i'll have to fab up a mounting system for. got a few more tricks up my sleeve for that. I exhausted my 2016 budget for now. I have plenty of work to keep me busy for awhile, so I think i'm okay with that. The battery was a big blow to the budget for sure, but this should allow me to at least get the bike back to a rideable state. From there, I'll have to move forward on making it road legal, and final fit and finish.

At anyrate, i'll try and keep updating this thread as I work on the bike. Got a newborn coming in about two weeks so the bikes going to take a back seat for awhile.. Even if i sneak out here and there, progress will be slow. More coming in 2017 for sure, hope to have the bike finished by summer, but we all know how those timelines go.

 

bike work or babies ?

just forget that right now

 

If you want a lift, go price rebuilt magnetos. It'll make that tiny battery look like a bargain.

 

I guess that all just depends on how bad the winter is again.

 

Decided to sneak in one more trip down to work on the bike. I pulled the engine, test fitted the swing arm again with the paint on, shaved a few mounts off the frame and stared at the wiring in horror. I thought i'd be able to "trim the fat" out of the harness but that doesn't seem like its going to work itself out. Way too entangled for that to work itself out. I'd like to keep about 75% of the wiring functionality. Such as turns signals, indicator lights, and so forth. State registration requires turn signals, along with dash indicators for both high beam, and turn signals.

As i've been discussing with a few members, it looks like I'm best to just wire from scratch, use a minimal wiring and then add on from there. I figure I'll do away with all safety features such as auto canceling turn signals, clutch switch, kick stand, and any other starting type of check. I went to look for wire at a few automotive stores today, and none have the colors i need so I'll have to shop online.

At any rate, glad to get a few odds and ends done.


If anyone can help point out what i need to tap into on here for a minimal harness to get my bearings straight.. Starter is top right, generator in the middle, but whats behind the plate? I have a book somewhere, i guess its time to dig it out.

 

I would strongly consider keping both the kickstand switch and the clutch safety switch. Ankle repair has gotten very expensive, and oopsies do happen.

Behind the YICS badged cover lies the ignition pickups.

 

K-moe, I 100% appreciate your concern and understand where you're coming from. I can say until im blue in the face that im perfect at starting the bike in neutral with the clutch always in, but you're 100% correct that oopsies happen. I'm not trying to eliminate these features to be a rebel or a hardass, as much as im trying to defy the mold of an XJ I'm not trying to be the guy driving with no front brake and no safety features. That being said, I'm really out of room for putting things. I am, unfortunately, sacrificing function for design. I'm trying to stuff the TCI and rectifier under the tank where most of these relays are, but I'm open to suggestions. I'm not sure how much room i can free up in the headlight bucket to stuff some more things in there. My seat is going to be a cantilever style seat, much like the new triumph bobber thats coming out, so theirs not going to be a pan under the seat for electronics.

My new battery will be 5.27" length x 2.55” width x 3.62” height, as of now im not 100% sure where this is going either. I'm hoping to shove it directly in front of the swing arm behind and under the starter. If I'm lucky, i can box out an area there and possibly shove the TCI in there too. I'm deleting the fusebox for inline ATC fuses. If any suggestions are there I'm open to them. An outside perspective can always move a project forward faster than a man sitting on a mechanics seat staring at a bike. I know i bit off more than I can chew and I'm shoving 10 pounds of s*** in a 5 pound bag, which is why I'm leaning towards the minimal harness.

 

Steber, what about building a 'headlight box' of some sort? Switch out for a LED headlight (if you can find one that actually saves you space) and build your own housing that has room to hold all your electronics behind/beside it. Maybe style it like a small faring, or just a fork-to-fork black box that sits right behind the light but between the forks right below the triple tree. Not sure I'm describing what I'm imagining here real well....

 

up front behind where the original reflectors went there's a cavern between the frame rails. try to keep the tci and r/r as far from the heat of the motor as you can.
don't worry about the original colors, after all it's not original wiring. if you put the wire where it should go it don't matter what color it is, it's the copper that counts

 

Revelcal -You know, a cowl might work. I never shared this yet but, mine as well now, since im on track, this has been my rendering from the beginning of the project and it does include a cowl. I just havent decided how i want to do the cowl yet.

Polock - do you mean at the neck in front of the coils? I hadn't looked there.. that might be a good place to toss a few things too.(or just one since i imagine its a tight squeeze) I do want to keep things away from the heat, the tank is raised up an inch or two. but its still going to retain some heat above the tank. Yeah, i thought about just doing my own thing but I wanted to be able to reference the diagram if i ever had to trouble shoot it. I figured i'd look on line and see if i could source a bigger selection, i visited 3 places and the littearly only had red, black and green. wanted a few more colors just to keep things straight.


Sucks having the bike away from the house. But once I get the seat on I can bring it back home, I only have access to a welder down there, so that's why I've had it down there.

 

Also, for the majority of the wires they appeared to be 18 guage, i didnt do a strand count or anything, but does anyone know off hand what guage for the majority of the wires?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/351832285827

 

do this stuff and be a artist
http://nickugolini.com/blog/?p=1507
http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/cable_lace/cable_lace.html
it is impressive and you don't have to hide the wires

 

I got my wire from ebay when I did my ground up wiring on my Virago a couple years ago. I think it was 13 rolls of 100 foot each of different colors and I used 16 gauge. I'm thinking off the top of my head that it was around $60.

 

I spent some good time looking up different things last night. I was thinking about going with GXL wire instead of TXL, seems to have a better quality. I found a listing where I could get 10 wires of my choice of color, each strand was 10 feet long. I'm thinking this should be close to enough wiring. I know I can use any color wire, but I'd really like to keep it as close to the correct colors as possible.



This is the listing I'm refering to. My question is since my bike is litteraly cut in half, I shouldn't have any long runs just busy wires around the engine. Is 10 feet each enough or should i double down and get 20 feet each.

If 10 feet is too short, I may just abandon the color idea and go with my own. Yet, i still would like to stay as close to the diagram as possible.

 

Looks like time allotted me one more session working on the bike. Which gives me some time to mull over some electric issues i'll run into.

Issue one is for sure the battery.

My failsafe mounting location would be here. But I REALLY don't want a battery box taking up that room, i want to showcase the monoshock set up as much as possible
.


But.. I want to tuck it away if possible and after thinking it over, what do you guys think about this location? Its down below where the center stand mounts. I would make a nice box that would fit under the swingarm (I checked fully extended swim arm and it gives me about 3 inches of clearance) This would lead it to be directly behind the collector box of the exhaust, i think its far enough away for any heat issues. I might be able to fit the rectifer down there too. I don't see any clearance issues but wanted to get some opinions from others on to maybe not seeing some issue that may arise.


Let me know what you guys think. I think a sturdy battery box down there should protect it from any sort of puncture issues, and im willing to take a bit of gamble to keep things hidden. I dont use the side stand unless i bolt it on for servicing the bike. but the spring never goes on.

 

Seat just came in today too.. Here's a few mock up ideas and a quick photoshop to show the cantilever look im going for. Not fond of how it lines up wtih the tank. was hoping not to end up with a tank swap because im kinda fond of the shape of the tank. Opinions welcome.

 

Cantilevered seat looks tight. I don't think its something a guy my size could be riding, as I don't think I could trust the strength to support my 300lb ass over bumps and rough roads. Thats really my only criticism that comes to mind.... just gotta make sure that cantilever is solid and strong, because all of your body weight is going to be leveraging down on it, and if it fails your ass is in the tire.

 

Lots of "updates" today.. truly the last day i'll get to work on the bike for awhile (Promise this time ). I'm trying to give myself as much hope and settle down all the ideas/concerns that have been running through my head.

@Polock had a good idea shoving the TCI up the neck a bit. Not the final position but just showing where it'd fit. I'm thinking between a hearty size battery box where i can shove a few electronic components, such as battery, rectifer, and starter solenoid, and moving the TCI up to where its pictured I MIGHT be able to get away with a full harness, which would maintain all safety features and functions. Of course, quiet a few wires would need to be rerouted/extended but it might be a very viable option instead of rewiring the entire bike for a minimal harness.



If i'm missing anything let me know, but this might have all my basis's covered.

 

Yep. For sure their will be a LOT of weight (and leverage) on the seat. I'm 6'4 @ 200lbs.. I plan to use the same tubing as the frame to come up over the back of the shock, from their a gusseted bracket of ~3/16 steel will be used to connect/support the seat. Also, a rear fender is in the plan too. just incase an oh shit moment would happen.

 

I was kicking around some ideas for the battery box as well. My idea was to make a removable style box that would swivel on the existing pivot points for the service stand, since im not using it. It would bolt in to the existing holes, and then it seems i can tap the inside of the peg mounts and use them to secure it at the top. Just a mock up idea. but heres a picture. Also, as the box size sits, i can put the rectifer inside the box as well. I'm guessing this ould be too much heat. So i'm thinking it could also mount on the outside of the box.

two picures attached show some ideas. If i mount to the outside this would give me room inside the box to "tuck" some connections to keep it a bit cleaner.

 

I like the battery location, not familiar with that battery but there are some types that will mount at any angle. If so, you're good. You'll want to make sure that rectifier/regulator has some airflow so I would not enclose in box. I like the TCI location as well.

Looks great overall, you're past the hump where many "builders" give up and leave a trashed bike to rot.

 

Thanks, I for sure wanted to get over the hump before i set the project aside to focus on family matters. After sorting out a few bugs today I'm very content, i can walk away from the project for awhile and come back ready to go when time and the funds kick back in. Everything seems like it'll fall into place, I can't foresee fabbing up a battery box causing any issues. I always knew i could do it, just at what pace was always the question. The bike was really important to me and I know cutting it up could be offensive to some, but I had the original owners blessing and thats all the mattered.

As for the battery, i specifically bought a LiFePo4 that i knew i could lay down, so we're deff good for mounting it down there. I'm amazed at how small the battery truly is, and at 240CCA it should have more than enough power to crank the bike over. I'm leaning towards mounting the rectifer on the outside for sure, it gives me more room inside the box for any odds and ends. I still have another 24 hours with the bike, i dont think i'll get to weld anything up, but I can continue to clean up the frame and surface rust for now. I'm very happy with the progress thus far.

 

Mocked up a slightly better battery box. It swivels on the same posts for the service stand. need to work out a few more kinks but the general size is there. Will make the steel one about a half inch shorter to allow a bit more clearance at the top end.

 

With that attitude no doubt you'll be successful. Looking forward to your finished project.

 

that's not quite where i meant, reach in and put your fingers between the tank mount knobs. where it is in the pic will be kind of exposed to the elements. that area needs to be free if you ever want to put a steering stabilizer on and your key switch can go there too(fits perfect).
80% of these wires now live between the tank mount knobs.

 

Great. More room sounds better. I'll look into it more when I pick the project back up. By the way, Is that a single back bone conversion on that frame?

 

Just a quick update, very preoccupied with a new child. Was lucky enough to have someone toss the new tank on the frame for some quick pics. Looks promising, a bit shorter than the maxim tank, which i think i can work with. Tunnel depth is great for what it is. Not sure if my friend was able to slide the tank on the tabs properly, as i know the maxim tank is a tight wiggle so I'll have to look into that at some point, over all, I think its a better fit to the project. Fingers crossed it all works out when i get back to it.

 

Its been awhile, but i got time to sneak away from the family and hammer out some details with the new tank. As in literally, HAMMER out some details. All in all this is as best of start as i could expect. A few small areas on the tank scraped in the tunnel, but nothing the hammer couldn't knock down with a few taps. The news just got better from there, My gas cap swapped right over, and so did the petcock. This was actually the first time i saw the tank since i ordered it a few months ago. The front mounting tabs are tighter on the XV tank, but i shaved down the rubber a bit and it seems like it's holding now. I'll shave the rear mount and fabricate a way to mount it front the bottom. Bolt and wing nut is probably what im thinking as of now. I'll have plenty of time to mull over the details down the road. A date with the welder to get the seat mounted and finsish the tank mounting and i'll be well on my way to the wiring headache.


Here's a picture, meets the seat WAY better than using the stock tank. Much happier with this.


Also, not my garage.. MY GOD I'd have a stroke if my garage was ever that cluttered.

 

How often do you think you'll need to take the tank off? I'd skip the wingnut and use something that requires a tool to remove. That would gain you some extra room for manouvering things, and reduc the risk of the fastner backing off over time.

I like the seat. Simple and clean.

 

Thanks.. and yeah I might be able to just weld a nut in place on the tank and use bolt and lock washer from the bottom for a more permanent solution. Don't see any need to take the tank off nor would i want to. Super tight fit up front on the rubber 'pins', nearly put my back out wiggling it on.. don't want to do that more than i have to. The mount will have to be a few inches forward of the back of the tank since it 'hovers' over the shock mount. a much shorter tank than stock but i actually like the fact it ends at the shock mount.

 

The 84-up virago tanks are all most identical, on top, to the 85-86 maxim tanks. The tunnels are different, as you found out, and the front rubber mounts are smaller than the earlier large rubber tank mounts. The tail of the tank is different, too. The Xj tanks are basically like a flat beaver tail with an oval hole whereas the virago tank is a round loop. Ingenuity is your best friend

 

She'll fit one way or another, not too worried about it now that I see it on the bike. It's the look i'm going for the stock tanks are not 'bobber' friendly with the way they look, I think this tank was off a 2002 xv250, she surly fits the part. Just one less hurtle to clear, many more to go.

 

Wasn't sure about the year of your tank.... the earlier xv250 tanks where actually a small tank under a fake cover---

 

Yeah.. I almost got trolled by a few of them on E-bay when i was looking for a tank. worked out well in the end.

 

The lines look way better with the new tank. She's got curves like a voluptuous lady. I'd get on her...

 

I was wondering where you sourced the mono-shock setup from. The bike looks real good and your thread has given me some good information and ideas for my build.

 

Its custom built, sourced the swingarm parts from an XT250, which was cut and modified to fit the xj550 swingarm. needed quiet a bit of trimming to fit. The rest of the frame was modified, a bunch of bracing was re located, and I made my own custom bracket to mount the upper shock. Shock is off a late model YZF-R1.

 

A few parts ordered here and there.. been working on a few things too, spoke with Gazz a month or so ago about a mod he did to his chain cover. Hands down, i tip my hat to him and wish my came out like his. Maybe its due to lack of patience, or being left handed, or having stubby fingers but I could not get it as good as i wanted. Also learned a few things along the way that I would have done way different, not very happy with how it came out. May end up grabbing another one and attempting it again, as of now i'l throw it on the 'good enough' pile and polish it up and throw it on for now. Luckily its a bolt on part i can swap out if need be.

 

Really slow with progress, but building up some steam. Hoping for an early spring and another date with the welder in the upcoming month or so. With the offseason I focused a bit on a few finer details i wanted to take care of on the engine, as the previous post shown. I worked on the chain cover, the "yics" side covers weren't going to fit what i was after either. I picked up some polychrome side covers cheap with the aide of a few memebers here in finding them.



If i remember right, Len sells a paint that matches the case, after 30+ years of minor chips and scratch I'm going to have to think about pickin up some paint to do the case. Nothing much planned in the short term, surly looking forward to warmer weather to make some healthy progress though.

 

The weather finally picked up a bit and was able to get a decent amount of work done. Got the new tank mounted and seat bolted down. Lots to clean up the frame yet, then i can start painting the frame and working towards some re-assembly. Here's some pictures.

 

Looking for some input.. thinking of possibly rolling a small upper shock cover that slipped on with the seat mounting. Rolled out of some tin, could be all black, or possibly a color as shown in the sketch? Thoughts?