Good intentions project

Ok so I just want to explain my story to fellow people who might see my endless loop holes and struggles that followed after buying a 1982 xj650j YICS project. Ok first off I received a phone call from my friend one day. He said he was getting married and 5 months from having a baby too. He said he traded his truck for some cash but in getting this cash he received this motorcycle and he wanted to know if I was interested. So I went and looked at this bike and aside from a poor paint job on the gas tank and a little rust in the tank, it felt pretty solid. He said it ran but it really didn't. The battery was dead and the front brake didn't really stop anything, so I know he wasn't riding it. Anyways it was also badgless aside from the side yamaha engine markings. He wanted 500 bucks. I wanted 250 buck delivered to my house. So he brought it out...

First I wanted to see if it would run or if I was wasting my time. I wanted to change the oil first and I found the whole thing was practicly full of gas. The fuel bowl on the 1st carb had leaked for some time to the crank. So after a few sprays of carb cleaner and fresh fuel with a fuel filter installed and a new battery and I was ready for the first test. I started it up and it ran and idled great... I thought wow what a steal... so I started down the road, at night btw, and as soon as I got 200 feet away to the stop sigh over the hill the bike hic uped and died. So I tried to restart it and nothing happened. Then when I thought for sure I was going to be pushing it back, I let off the starter and she fired.I rode it back and parked it. I researched it and found that that was linked to a voltage problem. I checked all electrical points and I replaced the voltage regulater with a brand new one. Then I also suspected that maybe the yics passages were clogged. So I tore the motor down and started rebuilding as I went. I had the head serviced. I installed a new head gasket, new carb boots, all the gaskets. I put it all back together and tried to start it and one of the cam spockets snapped in half. I torn it apart again and replaced. Half was in the oil pan btw.

So I finially get the thing running pretty good and I'm running up and down the road... untill I get word that I'm going to Iraq for a year. So I drain the gas and cover it. While I was gone the cover came of and something must have just lived right on my carbs and just messed them up. I get back and find my bike is covered in bird poop and it looked like heck. I started cleaning it and I wanted to get it running again so I could drive it this year... but one of the carbs back fired and set the bike on fire... it didn't do any damage just really dicourging to see your hard work in flames. So I decided to rebuild the carbs only to find the is some exstensive damage from the previous owner who couldn't use the right screw driver or something. So I decided to build my own intake and run ducati monster miniki carbs to it just because I can. So now I ran new fuel lines. Hooked up the carbs to my two to one intake set up and bam... it runs again... the only thing is the ducati uses a fuel pump and I'm not so the bike seems fuel starved all the time... that might be the next installment... ill post some pictures if anyone wants to see it.

 

Dude!!!!

You should win some kind of award!

 

I think building your own manifold is pretty cool,I'm guessing alot of folks dont understand the complexity of such a project and have it work properly when your done.Awsome job and dont give up.

 

you have put a lot of soul into this bike jayronimo - thanks for your service to our nation too. I have a full four bank (still mounted) of Hitachi 32mm carbs from a 1982 XJ650RJ Seca that I'll give you for a very cheap price. Make me an offer if you want them and we'll work out the shipping costs. They came off a running (fairly strong) bike a few weeks ago. They could surely use a good cleaning but they are in good shape otherwise. Let me know via pm if you want them. Best regards, Scott

 

Well my initial intent was to run a 1600cc holley webber carb cuz I had a spare laying around. So I rigged up a 4 to 2 to 1 intake set up so that all the cylinders ran off the one. Well I started it and the bike idled around 5000 rpms... and no matter what I did I couldn't get it to come down. Its just too much carb for the motor. I took the carb off and I began to dig into the oem carbs to find that the idiot bent the floats so the fuel level wouldn't over flow and spill out on the block.

So I tried to find floats but all you can get is used carbs and take it out of them but I might run into a bunch of rust or crap. So my cousin gave me a set of miniki carbs from his ducati 944 monster to see if I could fit them some how... I started by first measuring and figuring out how to not modify the frame but have a straight shot to prevent a little resistance as possible. Once I figured out the plumbing the rest was pretty simple

 

pictures!?!??!