Rat Racer project

as for the dials, they're the same as what's on my bike. they're for the later xj600n diversion's (seca 2). I've got them on a 97 model and they're one of the coolest things on the bike. However, from the front it looks too much like a Suzuki Bandit so I've mounted a Puig Raptor screen to it which hugs the console & makes the bike look really mean

 

Can we have some pictures? However, the bike is in the garage now and I didn't do anything with her for a while. I've bought an old car and the new thing is eating all my spare time. And it's a bit cold in Hungary at these days. Yes, winter is coming So, I'm using my Russian beast because she was designed to this weather

On top of this? I tried some aluminium tape instead of the duckt tape and it's working fine. The only thing I missed was the proper placement of the stripes so I need to remove on of them later.

 

It's cold and wet here. I'm going to assemble the engine this week and pick up my spoked 18" XS650 rear wheel and lengthen the swingarm. I'm designing a 2 carb intake. I'll post the results, good or bad. So far my free bike has cost me $900 in parts and machining. That used to be my bar tab when I drank!

 

Just think you've got more then a puddle of piss to show for it now.
:wink:

 

No Probs, I'll take some tomorrow morining for you. and get them on. I've also found that the screen takes the brunt of the wind even though it's only little.

 

So, two months passed. I did a lot of work with the Russian beast but finally I've got a car which I'm trust in. After a bit of rest I was starting to feel a burning feeling ... nothing was done on the XJ. After a week or two of hesitation I started to work on the bike again. First of all, rebuilt the forks.
Then checked the rear end for any bad movement. Luckily all the bearings are fine. Then ... well. Those were the most important things but I had to check the valve clearances. Yep, I'm still waiting for two shims and because of this I've got time to do all the things nicely and slowly.
Next one ... those bloody carbs. I removed them, then started the disassembling but I didn't feel that burning feeling. I switched to the intake rubbers instead: I realized they don't line up with the channels in the cylinder head. That's interesting ... after a few hours of cutting and sanding all the intake rubbers are fine. Few other horses released.
Then I started to think about the carbs as well. If you look into the venturi you will see sharp edges. Why not to sand them? Sharp edges are not the friends of the good airflow. Do it So, I sanded the carbs as well in hand with a total disassembly and good cleaning.
In the mean time when I read the forums I realized that all my problems were in the wiring. I tried to solve those problems with carburation and things related to carbs but it didn't make real sense. Then when the light lit in my head all the puzzles formed a picture: wiring.
Bloody hell, I was thinking about that for a while but I was trying to avoid this. I wasn't ready to mess with all the wires, connectors and everything else. But then I was in the situation when I can't do anything else and I'm pretty happy to rewire the whole bike. Three weeks ago I started with the brushes in the starter motor as well as in the generator. Then I removed the wiring harness and started to work on the instruments. Guys, that was the point when I realized why this bike didn't run properly: some circuit was drawing a few kOhm resistance instead of nothing. All my questions about the bad idle, dying at idle, hesitation below 2500 RPM, fading lights, no power over 7000 were answered.
But because I'm waiting for those shims, I started to think about my oldest idea: a new petrol tank. A shiny well shaped new petrol tank.
On that night I did a bit of research and I found I can make it although I do not have any tools for welding. But I can use rivets ... cooper rivets. Closed head cooper rivets on the polished aluminum tank. That would look good. I started to imagine the bike with a cafe racer style petrol tank made from aluminum and hold together with cooper rivets. Think about that ... it's better
I bought two sheets of aluminum a bunch of wallboard sheets and I started to build up a new petrol tank. This is where I'm at the moment. When the base of the tank is ready I will upload some pictures.
On top of this, yesterday evening I removed everything from the seat base to force myself to do something with the seat. Don't take me wrong, the original are just fine for the purpose but I'm using this bike for another purpose and on top of this they wouldn't match with the new look of the bike. Get rid of with them!

 

Dude, love the bike.

But paint the stripes already!

 

Sure I love! This bike is all about good memories however I'm now owning her for long time. And some update. Finally I finished the wiring harness. I eliminated all the unnecessary connectors just 7 remained. Also, I removed a lot of wires and replaced a few. The harness looks way better and I don't need to force a lot of wires and connectors into the headlamp unit. At the evening I will take a few pictures.

 

So, the pictures I promised after the finish of the wiring harness.
First, the old one as it came out from the bike (I removed the cover of the harness)


The unnecessary wires and connectors:


And the new wiring harness at various locations:




Also, there is a picture about a mock-up for the new seat unit.


I was thinking about what to do with the rear end of the bike and various ideas came but all of them involved some sort of frame cut or an ugly result. But I do not want an ugly bike at the end (however some might think the original concept is ugly) and I don't want to make any changes which I can't change back. Why? Because the bike is pretty unusual. More precisely it's an XJ 750 model E which was manufactured for the Japanese market in 1982. I don't want to cut anything which is unusual or special.
But finally I came to the result that the original seat pan defines a curve which really matches with the look of the bike as well as the curves of the early '80s.

 

There you go! I am not sure why so many people are scared to do that with the wiring. Yamaha sure did put a lot of CRAP in the system.

 

Hi guys!
The story almost come to the end. At least I don't want to touch her for a while. I'm still working on the carbs - the very low end performance is not the best - but she's almost ready. Well ... she won't be ready but I decided to finish her for a while. Working on the new petrol tank is not a good idea in this weather. I mean, forming the wooden base involves so much dust that I want to do it outside and right now it's a bit cold. However for riding it's all right.

So, first picture (sorry, it was taken at the evening when I finally finished all the important things)


The seat unit:


Just for recap, what I have done during this winter:
* forks were rebuilt
* carbs changed / cleaned / tuned
* lot of different small tuning type things like polishing / sanding, etc.
* new K&N pods at the end of the velocity stacks
* muffler repacked (by the way, don't but this type of Higway Hawk muffler, it's crap)
* exhaust painted to black
* new wiring harness
* new seat unit
* electric flasher relay

I'm going to take some more pictures on a sunny day to see where we are at the moment.

 

Oh yeah, I almost forget!
Finally I was able to remove the center stand

 

I would like to see more pictures when you get a chance!

 

Let me know if you can find another set of upper triple tree clamps and clip on handlebars like that in Hungary.... or just a whole front end!! I've never seen anything like that on a stock Yamaha in the states.

 

Hi Crath,
I was thinking that the front end is original on this bike. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a proper description / picture about the 750 E model so I'm not sure about the origin of the front end. The clip on handlebars are coming from an aprilia I think, but I'm not sure. The seller wasn't able to tell me the origin.

 

how those velocity stacks working with pods compared to straight pods? you are the first person Ive seen puts stacks on an xj and been throwing the idea around in my head.

Looks really good man.

 

Hi Juan, thanks
I can't tell you she performing better or worst because I never tried her without the velocity stacks. But according my tuning attempts on my other bikes she must run better with the velocity stacks than without them. I'm able to give her everything in fifth off idle and she pulls pretty hard till red line. If I'm not in real hurry I don't have to change to lower gears for overtaking.

 

Sweet looking bike. Love the Rat Racer style. I have a similar thing going on with my bike. I know I'm kinda bringing this back from the dead, but I was wondering if you had any good shots of the velocity stacks/filter set-up you're running? I've been tossing around the idea for a while now.

Thanks