Starting to mod my 1982 Maxim XJ750 - Ideas anyone?

Here's what I'm thinking:

Sandblast and polish the wheels
Paint the Tank and side panels black
Shave the seat
New Grips
Round Head light
Paint the fenders black
Replace the Tach/Console
Boots on the fork

What do you guys think?

If I want to replace the tach what am I looking for? I'm not sure where I should be heading with this, i'd like something sleeker and less gawdy.

Any other suggestions on what I should do? I don't have a huge budget, but I do have a friend with an auto body place so I can do most of the painting/sand blasting etc.

 

Well, I'm in the process of sanding/polishing the wheels on my 1982 xj750 Maxim right now. It's a bitch, but tif it turns out as good as I think it will it will be worth it. Don't sandblast though. The wheels are powderdoated wich takes FOREVER to sandlast. The best way to go is to get a chemical striper. Just brush it on and cover it in plastic and in 20min you can scrape it off with a putty knife.

I am also modifying my bike.

The Build:

polished wheels

stage 3 carb jet kit

individual air filters

4-1 exhaust

1985 honda full rear fender

single solo seat

Bullet style turnsignals

round chrome headlight

round chrome guag cluster from a 1981 xj650

chrome grips

chrome footpegs

polished engine covers

chrome crash bars

Custom paint

Custom side panels

and other little things

 

check out ADVrider.com/forums ...it seems like you are into that kind of thing...plenty of inspiration there.

 

PhotoXJ - - so you want the shiny bits black and the black bits shiny??
Your bike really looks nice as-is. I'd get the mini crash bars, fat grips, round headlight and gauges, and add a real trunk- - done ! (and mini blinkers)

 

T2R - Sounds like we are on the same page for ideas. Where should I start looking for gauges? I'm not 100% sure what type I should be looking for or where. The centre cluster is so huge with so much going on I want to make sure I can still get most of the info.

 

Heres mine. a nice simple build. I will get round to hardtailing at some point but it will do just fine for this year as it is

 

what did you paint transmission with? fork and fenders? I'm seeing something like that for mine. I just want something clean and classic like that nothing too much into way of physical mods, more aesthetic.

 

well i just bought that exact same bike and here's what i'm doing.
painting side covers and tank. including airbox side covers
highway pegs "you already have'em"
keeping rectangle headlight and funky gauge cluster.
i think the gauges and square lights say "hey! i'm from the 80's and proud so bite me!"
smaller turn signals.
LED's all around.
custom tail light.
bar end mirrors so i don't stare at my shoulders all day
and i might shave the seat. we'll see after my 1.5k ride this spring
also a headlight modulator and brakelight flasher are in the near future
mostly i'm just painting every little thing i can until spring is here lol.

 

The forks and engine are done in a saturn finish high temp black, the rest is a sweet yet simple paint job, paint it black, pull over a fishnet stocking, paint it grey, remove stocking then gloss coat. it looks great.

 

Here's a better pic of the paint finish

 

was it a tough job to put the airfilters on? did you notice much of an improvement in performance moving the intakes from under the seat?

 

why was that pic on ebay?

 

hey photoxj what is that thingy you got clamped halfway up your right side handlebar?

 

Under the seat has been gutted completely and the wiring sorted, its almost roomy under there now. The ilters are easy to put on, just get the middle two fastned up before you put on the outer two.

 

performance is much better, stage 2 dynajet, filters and dunston decebel pipe. I have a lovely little carbon straight through stubby to go on instead of the dunston, once this is sorted i'll be able to run the forward controlls underneath as they are ment to be. With the addition od virago wire wheels the whole look should be greatly improved.

oh and the pic was on e-bay with a bunch as i was selling off the orrigional parts and stuck the new pics on there as well to show off

 

dude the fishnet carbonfiber look is stellar. makes me wish i though of it.

 

Yep exactly what I was going to say. Gives me good ideas for sportbike parts!

 

it's a hacked tripod mount. I have a little HD camera that I'll toss on to get some footage from time to time.

 

that's a cool idea. do you get a lot of vibration or does the mount help with that?

 

It looked gerat untill about an hour ago..................
just high sided the bastard on a muddy welsh road.

i might need a small amount of repair work................ tank, forward controlls, bars, grips, lights, muffler, seat ohhh and a new hip

shit its sore