XJ 650 4k0 - cafeish build

Well here goes nothing:

I planned on doing this from the very get go, but back then I didn't have a proper ''media equipment'' (a working cell phone camera) to be able to keep you up to date.

Basically I have decided to share with you my project build that was a bit spontaneous. At start, I planned on keeping it stock as much as possible because I wanted this motorbike since... a long time. However, later on the road when I bought the bike and started to work on it (with the help of you guys) I figured out that so many things needed to be repaired/replaced, that - I might as well try to make something a bit different. The project has been on its way for a while now, but as a student i haven't got too much time on my hands so it's going rather slow... Here are the result so far. I will make sure and update you guys on what has been done along the way.

Here is a picture of the bike when i got it:

And after giving it some EC:

 

So first things first, I had to get the bike going and for that, I had to:
1. Use a working battery (I know - I used a car battery, but at that time, I was still hesitant on buying anything for the bike until I prove it is not toast...)
2. Check the spark
3. Change fuel - if you don't know how long it was inthere
4. Clean the carbs - again, they may look clean but they are all gummed up inside
5. Check the compression
6. Inspect clearances and change shims if need be
7. Change the oil - inspect the oil you've drained out
8. Pray to the old and new gods to get the thing is running

Here is an advice for ''newbies'' like myself that plan on embarking on a journey like I was:
If you are buying a bike for yourself and you wish to restore/customize it, be ready to spend a dime or 2 on it, yes you can do it on the cheap, but it’s like this – you get what you pay for. If you intend to ride it one day, not just show of with it - buy a bike that at least cranks, preferable after a couple of cranks is actually starts! If you have the option of checking the vehicles past – do it. Trust me on this one – it will save you a bunch of money and time.

 

Black was not available in North America... That's a pretty cool scheme. Looks better than the red n white we got in Canada, perhaps better than silver n blue...

 

So, when I got the bike running with the help of this splendid forum I started to inspect the bike further.
I found out that:
Both mufflers were rusted badly on the inner surface that faces the wheel - cannot be seen until you take the muffler off. One had a 5 cm gaping hole, the other had a crack on almost the entire circumference at the joint with the collector (again, the visible part did not show the crack).

In addition, the collector was completely rusted; it had holes in the body which were man made (previous owner drilled the holes, I guess for the sound??), the joints with the head pipes were all but intact.

The cylinder head was cracked but I did not notice the crack because it was under a layer of grease and dirt – I still have not addressed this issue. And of course - IF you don’t clean your bolt holes and threads and IF YOU DON’T USE A TORQUE WRENCH you’re bound to strip some threads, which can be a big problem if those threads are in places where you don’t have a lot of options to repair them with helicoil or some other technique.

Custom wiring in a smaller extent, but still a pain in the bum...

The collector... The smaller hole in the muffler.... etc...

 

First of all i decided on removing everything from the bike coould inspect the entire thing, head to toes.

After i got every thing out of the way i decided on shortening the rear end and adding a loop and in the mean time i also took the gas tank to be repaired since it had 2 huge dents..

And the welded loop: , the loop was cutom made since it's a bit unorthodox in it size, the tubing is 2mm thick and 2,54 cm in diameter, the loop inner diameter is 18 cm.

 

After the loop was fitted, I went about making a seat for the bike.
During my long and tiresome search, I found out that 3 mm aluminium should be enough to withstand my weight since there is a cross bar right underneath the sitting area. Since I live in a small city, finding a small sheet of aluminium of that thickness is near impossible i had to resort to drastic measures - my boss (where i work during college) had an old signboard, which was yellow and had the restaurant’s name on it but it was thick enough for me to try it.

I measured the width and length needed to make the seat panel. I drew it on the sheet and started to cut. I got the aluminium flat rectangle plate and now it came to bending.

How to bend sheet metal/aluminium in a straight line without a metal brake or vise: You need a flat chisel, a small hammer, 2 boards.
1. Draw the lines where the bends need to be - take in account the thickness of the sheet

2. Take the flat chisel and place it on the line where you plan to bend the sheet. Gently hit it with a hammer, just so it leaves an impression (you don't need much force - it's aluminium for crying out loud), place the chisel on the same drawn line just next to the impression you made before and make one more impression, continue doing so until you've reached the end.

3. When you finish making the impressions the sheet will bend a bit on its own - in a straight-line if you were accurate with the impressions. Place the sheet on a board and put the other board over the sheet (a sandwich if you may). Align the end of the top board with the line, which you drew, and ''chiselled''. Step on the board so you fixate everything and just slowly bend the sheet upwards with your hands (grab the sheet close to the bending line, so you do not warp it at the free end), it will bend easily.

 

The seat continues:

In the meantime, I decided that I want my seat panel to fit the curve on the tanks end so i decided to shape it - with a small 250g locksmith hammer and some good old elbow grease.
I placed a thick sweater in a bag and wrapped it up tight. I placed my bent up seat panel on the bag and started bashing it with that small, locksmith hammer. This way when I hit the panel, it caved in a bit since the material underneath the panel was soft enough for it cave in on a small area but it still gave enough support on the larger surface area for the sheet to keep a straight profile where it wasn't hit by the hammer.

Lter on i got refined a bit more, but this is how it turned out.

 

looking good so far

 

And some more, getting the rear shape and the fixation mechanism - i used m6 NUTSERTS:

 

After the base was built, I went searching for a proper foam for the seat... It was quite a task, it needs to be dense enough, it has to be shapable but on the other side it needs to be durable to withstand all the abuse from my bodyweight. After some phone calls i found it.


Fast forward and here it is on the bike shaped as i wanted it:


To shape it I first drew a side view outline and cut it to that shape, than i started to form it. For shaping the foam I used: coarse sandpaper on a homemade sanding block (made it from a piece of wood and some good rough sanding paper) and an angle grinder with a coarse sandpaper disc (works wonders for fast sheding of exces material). To glue the foam to the base i used the yellow glue that leather workers use to glue pieces of leather together.

Next thing in line was to upholster it, since i'm way ahead on my project then i am with this post i don't have all the detailed pictures of every process + I kinda wrecked my old phone which had most of the photos...

I skeched the shape, decided on a color and tried to make it as sloce as possible to the idea, here is how it turned out:

If you look carefully, you'll see extra 3 holes - those are for air to excape and reenter the foam when it's compressed.

 

On the previous post you might have seen a homemade license plate bracket. I made it using a pipe, 12mm diameter with 1 mm thick walls. I bent it home using nothing but sand, duct tape and some imagination. to fasten it i made triangle shaped washers, which i placed on the bolts, where the axle bolt goes and the lower eye of the rear shock goes.
The backplate was made out of 0,75 mm thick sheet mteal, shaped with an angle grinder.

 

Next on the menue was the front end. Since i'm making a cafeISH bike i decided on using clip ons. Non chineseum clip on bars with 36 mm diameter are quite difficult to source out if you don't plan on spending 150€+. But i got lucky and found a pair of used MAGURA clip ons for a fraction of the price.

At this point i was so far in that i decided to customize my dashboard aswell, at first i made a bracket for only the tacho and bolted it in the place where the ignition switch was, and it looked OK , but I couldn't get rid of the idea that i'll have to go without warning lights and without the Revcounter.

Sooooooo i decided to spend (again) and i bought a ACEWELL 2853 tacho. It was used but in superb condition + the gentleman selling it was super kind and gave me a an extra discount since he didn't need it anymore. .

Ok so now we got:
- new handlebars
- new light bracket
- all in one tacho

What do we need? Nothing, but if you are like me, and once you let your imagination take over you decide that you need a custom triple tree clamp that will go with the new tacho, right?

 

I couldn't find any analog clamps, that i could just swap and a custom triple tree clamp on sites like ''Dime City Cycles'' costs a bunch and I can't afford one, and as a student i'm working a lot to pay for all my expences soooo the only logical thing was to make one my self, RIGHT?

I couldn't find any technical drawings or SW files for the xj 650 seca triple tree clamp, sooooo i had to make everything, from the drawing to the finished product..... At that time i didn't know how to use SW or autocad or any of those engeneering programs (I study medicine...). I taught my self how to use SW in a day or 2 and everything was set. I had to mesure everything and do it so, that everything would be almost perfect. I managed to do so somehow using a basic calliper and a few other things, here it is: , it's just a sketch, and in SW:

I went and bought a 7075 avigrade aluminium block, 30 mm thick and took it to my friends uncle, who by any chance owns a CNC machine. I gave him the block and the SW file which he converted to god knows which format and he let te machine do the work.
And the final product:

Now I just need to cut up the clamps, make holes, thread them and VOILA it's done.

 

Nice work!

 

Impressive set of skills.

 

I want you around when the bombs start flying.....

 

Wasn't sure if the coment was sarcastic or genuine It doesn't sound like much, bending steel pipes, but the first time I did it, I just went for it, and the walls didn't bend in an arc but rather folded on them selves, so i figured it would be easyer if the pipe would be solid as if it was a rod, that way it wouldn't fold - tried it out it worked

Ok, since the order of the posts isn't complitely in a chronologicl order some might have noticed that in some pictures in my previous posts you can see things i did to the bike, before I made the actual post, thats because some items were being made at the same time or i had an ''engineering crysis'' at certain points while doing a certain piece.

One thing i did in the meentime was - I stripped the tank of all the color and took it to a shop to prime it, just so it wouldn't rust. The primer (epoxy they call it here) is mat-green in color but i cinda like it this way

 

Next on the list: REAR LIGHT and turn signals.,

Here where I live, we need to have E marks on our lights + there's a bunch of other regulations which in some cases are there to prevent accidents because of missuse of items but others are there just so the birocrats could waste our time and money since for every little thing you do on the bike you need a bunch of papers and what not just for it to be street legal and the E marks on lenses are one of those things...


So the turn signals are LED and are generic as they get (don't judge), but I like them + they didn't brake the bank. I bought some adapters from E-bay for a couple of bucks (from china - It's a piece of steel powdercoated and has 2 holes, so no harm in that, right?). I might make my own brackets, that will be welded to the frame, but for now it's as it is.


I wanted the rear light to be streamline as possible, since the led stip lights that are bendable don't have an E mark, I wouldn't be able to ride the motorcycle in Europe... So i decided to go with a small led light. I found one from HIGHSIDER, looks nice, has an aluminium housing and look sturdy. I tried it out, it might be small but it's bright.
And here it is on the frame before the seat was done: , but fter i finished the seat, i din't like it so much, since it was sticking out way too much, . So I taight about it - why not integrate it intoo the frame? But the problem is, i allready welded the loop ontoo the frame, it doesn't have any holes + the litght is not round with straight top and bottom edges but is rather elipsoid so i tried on a pipe with the same diameter - it want horribly wrong, it was a comlete mess but i figured that having that extra bit of motivation ''nothing can go wrong or else...'' might do the trick, so i went for it... I masured everything, sketched it on the frame, drilled a couple of 8 mm holes and used a angle grinder to connect them, then with a hand file i stared to shape the hole - took me 4 hours to shape the damn hole just so the ligh would fit in - like a glove!! We wend from this to this .

And when they are turend on:
.

 

Genuine!

 

Side panels and the front fender:

Front fender is the original one, just shortened - nothing impressive there, you can see it on the pictures with the tank recolored.


Side panels:

First, I wanted to go with the original plastics, but they are super bulky and they protrude sideway too much, since the seat is narrower than the original one.... Plus the right one was broken, I could have tried to plastic-weld it, but i decided to make my own side panels as well (you can see a pattern here - every time I plan on doing something simple, I overcomplicate it....).
I saw a few posts with panels made from a single sheet of aluminium or some sheet metal. I got my hands on one more plate of aluminium, 3 mm in thickens and it was brand new! I measured stuff and drew them on a cardboard piece and I cut it out, it looked fine so I went for it. I transferred the sketch onto the sheet and I cut it out using and angle grinder (terrible for cutting sheet aluminium). .



It looks OK, but it does not look ''grate''. I taught a bit about it and I went for the ''I have too much time on my hands so lets overthink it'' option - pressed, perforated sheet metal panels How did I plan on doing it? I was going to build a mold press with scrap wood, a wooden board, couple of 12 mm bolts I had lying around and a bunch of time.
All I have from power tools are the tools every household has: a drill, an angle grinder, a welder, a 2 stone grinder and that's it... No tools for cutting wood, so as broke as I was at that time, I went to the home depot and I bought a hand saw since I didn't have one. A small Japanese hand saw ideal for making small straight cuts, not ideal for anything else, but hey, it was 3 euros and stubborn as I am, I was determined to make it work (somehow). I also bought a perforated sheet of metal 1 mm in thickens and the cheapest 18 mm thick wooden board. Why the wood? I was going to make a press mold out of the wooden boards, the base boards I already had from an old cupboard top and I needed the solid wood for the mold pieces.

I used the cardboard templet from before to draw the female and male mold parts. I got the rough shapes out with the hand saw and using an old impact screwdriver (I pretended that it was an impact) as a chisel, and I got the round shapes using the angle grinder and metal files. The male mold had to be a bit smaller than the female one, because the metal would shear without a gap - and we don't want that + I added a chamfer on the male mold to get the shape I wanted. Making a single shape hole in wood is easy (you just need 2 boards and make half of each hole in each one) but trying to make a negative that's 3 mm smaller all around? Hard as frig... But If you have time and the patience, you can do it....close enough.


I don't have a press at home, orrrr a 20 ton jack lift, but I have big screws which could be utilised. I drilled some holes in it, used double-sided sticky tape to glue the molds to their respective base plates, and I made side rails so the top and bottom base plates with molds would fit ''perfectly'' on top of each other. I placed the sheet meal on top of the male piece and I dropped the female piece on top of it with the sheet in-between. I tightened the screws in a cross patern and voila, I got this out:

. 3D shape, not perfect, but nothing a couple of whacks with a locksmiths hammer couldn't fix I cut the shape out with a 20 mm edge arround the shape, and I bent the edge downwards. This way i could try it out on the bike. And here it is:


So i liked the shape, but it looked unfinished, it was missing something but I couldn't put my finger on what was missing... A couple of days ago I figgured it out - It needed a frame arround it so here it is with the frame (I cut a 30 mm wide and 90 cm long band out of a 1 mm thich sheat metal plate and i wraped it arround). And i made the other side aswell.
.

NEXT TIME: how to fixate the pieces onto the frame, for now they are in there only because of the tight fit....

 

Then I'll take that as a huge compliment, since it's coming from the great chacal himself

 

Basically, you've "invented" mandrel bending, but you've replaced the mandrel with sand. Sandrel bend?

 

The next time someone makes a seat like this can they please make a mold of the base so they can then knock out fiberglass copies for the rest of us Now to find a piece of 3mm Aluminum

 

I will most likely make a fiberglass seat but for mine, creating a mold would be a great idea!

 

Ok, so it's been half year now and a lot more has been done.... I would say all, but I think we all know that there is always that little something that you could have done

We got stuck at the side panels... So sadly I could not figure a simple way of fixating the side panels from the pressed steel mesh so I decided to use the 3mm aluminium...again.
The frame it self is not made out of straight tubes but they are bent, so if I wanted to make the panels so that they follow the lines they had to be bent, twice with 2 different radius. I managed to get the perfect radius for the first bend over the muffler (yeah, I know - I could have found something more suitable, but the muffler is toast any way). The 2nd bend was tricky because it had to be made so that it converges with the first one, hard to explain but you'll see it on the pictures. Then I made some tabs and welded them on.

Pictures of the panels are still to come, but here are some tabs




Next in line was the electrics tray. I used 0,75 mm thick sheet metal to make it. It's pretty straight forward: measure, take in account that you need to make 2 bends and make the cuts and folds accordingly (it helps if you draw it on a piece of cardboard and try it out), because unlike the ore 80's bikes, the rear part of the frame is higher... Once I made the bends and I tried it out without the welded folds. Then I marked the folds how they need to be placed when welded. I welded them and luckily for me, it got welded up just as I placed it, so it's not crooked and it fit like a glove + the welds did not distort the shape tho the welds are not ''nice'' to look at but they are functional and once I grinded them and the tray got powdercoated - they didn't look half that bad

And for the skeptics, when you take a sheet of 0,75 mm thick sheet metal, it's super flexible and people tend to doubt in it's strength, even when you make the bends it's still doubtfully week, but after the welds are made the tray becomes super rigid and it can hold much more than you'll be placing into it... I made sure that the regulator could fit perfectly and the TCI as well, + all the wires. Because the panel fills out the space under my seat, it also acts like a mudguard

and the aftermath:

 

Next up: relocating the key ignition, pictures of the side panels, lowering of the front end, preping the frame for paint etc., work done on the engine, etc....

 

Looking good.
Compound bends are a pain, no matter what material you have to work with.

Keep an eye on the voltage regulator. Even though it's going to be bolted to a big heat sink, they do tend to get hot and airflow is not likely to be ideal in that location.

 

Yeah, that's one of my concerns, I hope that the tire will provide enough wind to the metal tray to dessipate the heat better... I'll let you guys know if it does not work out since I'll be needing a new regulator

As promised, here are the side panels:

and after sanding with 400, 600, 1000 and 1500 sp:

Ignition relocation:
I relocated the ignition switch to the left side of the frame, right above the head cover.
I was doing the relocation while the engine was outside the frame so I had to guess how much space was there. I used a piece of 3 mm thick metal strip which i cut to lenght and shape so it would go arround the ignition switch round body. Than the made bracket got welded to the frame.

And here it is after i instaled the engine back into the frame:

I also had to extend the wires for the ignition switch, which was not that difficult, I just made a middle link with the same connectors that the xj already had, so if one day I decide to revert the bike to its former self (excluding the rear end) I can do so without any extra hassle, just remove the middle link and return the ignition switch back to the former place.

 

I lowered the front end by 4,5 cm which is - as I read - at the upper limit of how low you can go without seriously compromising the handling. I made 2 metal spacers, 2,5 cm long. I placed one into each fork. The spacers also increased the preload on the springs and in fact made the front end a bit firmer, which I actually liked because the old config felt a bit soft for my taste. I got the other 2 cm by placing the forks higher into the upper triple clamp, because the old clamp has the fork clamps lower than the middle clamp and my new one has all 3 at the same level I had to place the forks higher up to be able to clamp them. This way the front end is lowered and the gas tank and the seat sit on the same line

I disassembled the frame and took it to a professional paint shop to get it powdercoated. The price was professional, the paint job - not so much.... The paint has adhered well but I HAD FREGING SAND in all of my threads which I did not block with screws... I asked them beforehand, should I place bolts and silicone cones into holes that must stay clean to which they replied that they will do it for me... Well once I got home I found out that they placed the cones but left the threads unprotected throughout the sanding process.

Now I had a beautiful black frame which I could not start assembling from the fear of damaging the threads. I tried blowing the sand out, but that did not work because it got compacted so freging well that it wouldn't budge out of the holes. I tried using the bolts and screwing them in and out repeatedly but to no avail.

So how to remove compacted sand out of small diameter threaded holes? It took me a while but remembered - how about the round wire brushes that are used to clean gun barrels to people from the states that might not sound super innovative, but where I come from even the cops go around without guns from time to time. I bought different size brushes and put them into a cordless drill and went to work. I cleaned the threads in no time. Heck I even used this method to clean the threads in the cylinder head when it was off

So the entire write-up could be summed up to this one lesson: HOW TO CLEAN THREADED HOLES? One option is to use wire brushes for cleaning gun barrels

 

Work done on the engine:
I disassembled the entire engine, every bolt, every bearing, cog, shim, plate etc. ... Cleaned everything, inspected everything. I found out that the upper chain slide was toast, it fell apart and was held in place by the chain, one mounting point out of 3 wasn't even connected to the main body of the guide anymore. When I released the 2 remaining holding bolts, the guide fell apart into 3 pieces. So I ordered a new one from the warehouse, but the new chain guide has only 2 mounting points because it also fits the FJ 600.

The cylinders had a Max of 0,4 mm clearance each, so no wonder the bike had such a hard time starting up... I tried getting a hold on OEM pistons and rings, but boy is that expensive + eBay didn't even have 4 same sized pistons and rings. So I did some research on eBay merchants selling pistons and other stuff engine related and I found on couple of forums that the merchant ''Cruzinimage'' sold decent quality merchandise, a few people wrote that they had no problems after installation and running the bike for some time. So I bought a set of 0,5 OS pistons and rings, which cost me the same as one 0,5 piston without rings on eBay at that time.
When I got the pistons they looked brand spanking new, they seem to be aluminium cast and turned on a lathe - to my knowledge anyway
I know it's a risky move but only time will tell if it was worth it.

I took the cylinders and pistons to a machine shop to get the cylinders rebored and honed. Even the grasps that worked there said that to the naked eye the pistons look same as any modern made pistons...

The old pistons ... Sadly I can't find the picture of the new ones...

The slide bearings for the crankshaft were looking good, everything else was looking fine and dandy.

I then:
1. cleaned the cylinder head and cylinder block (outside and inside) + removed all old gaskets
2. cleaned the valve surfaces and bodies
3. laped the valves
4. painted the cilinder head and block i have to hand it to my mother - she let me use the kitchen oven since she didn't like the idea od me making an oven out of cardboard, tin foil and a heating gun
5. changed the valve seals

I might have left out some details, but in general, that's it.

 

After i reasembled the engine, i got a buddy to help me get it into the frame, which at that time was out on 2 wheels and 2 new tires - CAUTION: viewer discretion is advised!

Frame without the engine - here you can see that tank to seat line i was talking about and you can also see my tire choice, some of you will like it, some may hate it but I really couldn't picture any other tires on this build, maybe the firestones but i couldn't find them in my country... Even for these i had to do some diggind arround....

Gas tank was in primer back then but it did look nice with the seat Trying out some lines: ...
Front end - new headlight and chopped fender + the Magura 36 mm clipons.


Before I put in the engine I also:
1. rebuild the master cyalinder
2. rebuild the front calipers
3. changed front and back brake pads
4. changed the special bolts on the rear drum slave arm (mine were tosat)

 

After I placed the engine back in I started to do my electrical work:
I was scared to pieces of the electrical work because the PO did some custom wiring, but to my luck most of it was intact + I have got no clue how to do electrical ''stuff'' at all
So again, I went home, did my research for a couple of hours, once armed with knowledge I went back and I tackeld the problem both hands and feet on the job
I removed the old wire sleeves, checked if all connection worked as they should, I then started to tinker with the wires to see which is for what and I got my things in order. I managed to wire the acewell speedo/tacho/warning lights. I still can't get the tacho to work as it should, I did the LOOP method with 1 Mohm resistor but it does not work as it should... All other warning lights work as they should.
I even installed the license plate light with internal wiring in the plate bracket.

I cleaned the wires and connections of all the dust and dirt that accumulated over the years, I shortened some wires (back end of the loom) and I put on new sleeves (major pain in the ass to do). I placed the wiring back to where it belonged, did some tinkering at the electric tray so the wiring is routed directly into to tray. I got the rear and front light to work as they should, I got my brake switches to work as they should. I got the horn to work (caused some issues, but sorted it out).

You may know that I used LED blinkers and rear light. To get them to blink at a normal rate there were a couple of options:
a.) you use resistors - not good, they heat and they take up a lot of space
B.) get motogadget m-unit, switches - not an option, I rather spend those 500 bucks on the engine
c.) toss the led flasher and use the old ones or buy new ones - nope, it has to be as I want it
D.) find a compatible relay - JACKPOT

I did my research and I found that a company named KOSO has made a flasher relay that works on both halogen and LED flashers, it has a range of 25 to 1 w blinker compatibility (I think). It was 25 bucks but it comes with instructions and from a reputable company. NOTE TO ALL: if you plan on installing it - you need to be able to start the engine, otherwise it will not program it self properly, but once you get the bike to run for couple of minutes the relay figures everything out and makes the damn thing blink like it never blinked before (so - at a normal rate). Picture of the relay.

And a little tease picture:

 

GAS TANK:
I decided on a special matte color - frozen finish from BMW, looks good on a car, but couldn't tell how it would look on a bike And i chose to put on some gloss stripes, but no stickers or wraps, a genuine paint job I went to the same guy that primed the engine and told him about my idea. He told me that the paint job would take quite a bit of elbow grease and a lot of accuracy and that it would cost quite a bit more but he was willing to do it just for the cost of the paint he had to buy, but under one condition - that I help him out with his Porsche project paint job - and so it was set in stone.

Don't have the pictures of the process or the Porsche, but I do have some pictures of the gas tank before the stripes were polished

 

And here it is with all the things put together

 

Hey mate the bike is looking great. It’s the look I’m chasing. Where did you get the top triple clamp from, I be been looking for something similar and can’t find one anywhere. Thanks

 

Hey mate, this looks absolutely fantastic. I want to rebuild my engine like you did (every bolt and nut) but I'm nervous about the cost. can you share how much you paid to redo the engine block?

 

I made it. I measured everything, took on the task of sketching it, learned how to use SW programe and made it there. Then I gave the drawing in the SW file to someone with a CNC machine with a block of AVIgrade aluminium and he cut it out for me. Simple

 

About the costs, that will be a difficult one. And take in account I changed everything that needed to be changed, thigs that were in an OK shape I left...
But a fast and rough estimate in EUROS (I live in europe so everysthing is a bit more expensive, but i'm counting in discounts):
- gastekt set: 90 €
- new pistons 0,75 OS with piston rings on ebay - 180 € - with postage and tax from Japan but not ORIGINAL, searched for info on the merch who was selling them and found good info on him on other forums (HONDA CB forum and KAWA forum) but it's stil a gamble so I'll let you guys know if anything blows up on me
- cylinder reboring and honing to book specs - 60€
- new valve shims - 50€
- new cam chain guides: 30 €
- bolts and other consumables: 30-50€ (don't know the exact cost: the case liquid gasket, moly grease etc....).
- lapping valves - paste + tools: 20€
- 6L of OIL + oil filter - 60 € (you don't need this much, but Since you need to change it about 500-1000 km after the rebuild i bought it in advance)
- paint, oil removal detergent, scrub pads, wire brushes, etc. - 20-30 €

I'm writing this str8 out of my head so i have left something out for sure. And there are things that i will need to change soon:
- clutch plates
- need to check valves again and surelly i'll need new shims
- new cam chain - A HUGE MISTAKE THAT I DID NOT CHANGE IT WHILLE I HAD THE ENGINE OUT!!!!

 

And a VIDEO for all that are curious how it looks now, finished, everything installed and roadworthy.

 

Nice job. I'm guesing you're a young guy with teh clip-ons that low ;-)

 

Thank you! Hahahaha yeah i guess i am a bit out of the Gauss line they are pretty low, but i couldn't get enough clearance for the clamping part higher up (a very bulky clamping end on magura clip ons)...

Also the XJ got a friend this week, the Yamaha family is growing and my garage is getting crowded

 

Oh man...those starters sound terrible! Decent enough machines, but that starter system was not very well executed in my opinion

 

Agreed. Thankfully only the North American bikes got the crappy cheap starter gear system.
Everywhere else got the Bendix-type system that we didn't get until the XV1100.

 

Can't you flip them over?

 

Hello all!

It’s been a while. This thread got a bit stale, covid has proven to be a bigger hassle than expected.

Anyway, last year I didn’t do much work on the bike, but now it’s time for next season prepp to begin.
I got a bit bored last night and decided to add something new to the looks department. So I made these:


They are held down by a neodymium magnet, strong enough to keep it in place throughout worst of times but the caps are still removable by hand.

untill next time, stay safe!

 

Hey man, nice build...just wondering if you are planning on changing the front brake lever? That res is dangerous now it's not horizontal on original bars. High chance of sucking air on a left turn.

 

I changed these bars not so long ago, and I am currently looking for a replacement with the plastic reservoir but I’m not yet sure what will fit my brake callipers (dual callipers, single piston). Do you maybe have any recommendations?

 

http://nissinbrakeperformance.com/motorcycle-brake-mastercylinder/ -- their customer service helped me out and I've been running one of these on my XJ650 for several years using the stock caliper.

They're Japanese and OEM to Yamaha and Honda. Language barrier can be difficult if you have a more complex question than me but email them and see what they say.

They're not cheap but you get what you pay for and front-brake is not something to skimp on.

 

I've seen MC's on more acute angles than that - it will be fine as long as you fill the reservoir and ensure the diaphragm is pressed in so there is little to no air inside. The diaphragm expands and contracts as the fluid moves in and out of the reservoir.