XS parts on XJ's

I've been roaming the halls here over the past few days preparing for the arrival of my 82 XJ650 Maxim. I brought it home this evening, and of course, once I finished annoying my wife showing it off, the first thing I had to was hop on the net and look at stuff to buy for it. One thing I've noticed on this website is people recommending Mikes XS and Partsnmore as places to get parts for our bikes. It seems like Mike's is all about Yamaha XS' and not really XJ's. Now, this is my first bike at all, so definitely my first Yamaha, and I'm not sure how to tell if an XS part will work on my XJ. Any help for a newbie?

Oh, and here's the beast.

 

What parts are you looking at specifically?

 

Part # 24-2063 and 24-2061 for starters. http://www.mikesxs.com/mikesxs-chassis. ... ory_id=1.4

I also noticed that they had chrome side covers for the XS and I'm betting that I won't be lucky enough for those to work with my XJ.

 

Those should work for you, the plugs look like the same ones from my 82 750 max which leads me to believe they were probably standard for a while.

Don't take my work for it.

I'm curious to how you'll solve the missing clutch cable mount on the left control. They look damn nice, thats for sure.

 

Some generic XS parts will work on an XJ but some of the specifics will need detailed checking.

Eg, Bars, switches,shocks blinkeres etc will probably fit nicely but you need to check yourself. If you ask Mike if it will fit an XJ he will say NO, XS only. Ask him if his parts fit an XS1100 and he will say NO, 650 only.

However many parts between 650 and 1100 are exactly the same with slightly different part numbers. Eg brake calipers M/C's etc

XS and XJ's are all about the same vintage so lots of parts for an XS will fit so long as it isn't a part that is specifically "shaped" to a type of bike.


Now onto your wish list. Be careful with trying to swap electrical components cos them nifty Japs love to change thing sometimes in the electrics. The parts you are looking at you would need to have old and new side by side to compare cables and colours.

I tried to swap a left hand switch the other day to fix a defective turn switch. 80 XS1100 switch had two less wires than the 79 XS1100.

Damn those switches look nice though.

You could most likely make them work but it may take some internal swapping to get it right.

Cheers
HG

 

On a side note, the gauges I'm selling were ordered from his site. Fastest shipping on a web purchase I've ever seen.

Careful with electronics purchases, they're pretty strict about the return policy, to my experience.

 

I have both XS and XJ models as well as an SR500 and while most electrical part like switches and regulator will interchange none of the connectors are the same so to use an XS part you have to rewire it. Starter and generator are quite different and no engine parts are similar but other parts like shocks, brakes, tires, wheels, etc might interchange if they are the same size.

 

I have 1978 XS1100 front forks on my 1982 XJ650RJ. They swapped straight over. My original ones were broken in an accident, and a bike salvage place gave me the XS's.

 

Simple way to tell if the parts are the same or not is first check the fiche for your bike on the Yamaha website, then check the same part on the 650 (taking note of what years the part at Mike's is for) and see if they are the same. The prefix (first three numbers or alpha-numeric combo) will tell you if they are, these ID the model the part was first used on, the main group of five numbers (after the prefix) tell you what group the part is from and what the specific part is, the final four (in pairs, separated by dashes) indicated minor differences/revisions/colour or different manufacturers.

The differences in the 1100 switches are likely due to the lack of a headlight switch on the 80 model as I think that 79 was the final year for US models to have a lighting switch. Most switches can be converted over easily if they are the same configuation by just swapping the wires around in the plug. The wires are easily removed from the plug by depressing the tang on the connector to release it from the plug, then just match to your old one or the harness. The other main difference that can result in a new part number will be the length of the wires.