'94 XJ600 Seca II: Reassembly and Naked Conversion

First off...

Hi, I'm insane, addicted to the idea of having a fully custom motorcycle, crazy projects, getting myself in over my head, jumping in the deep end before I can swim (I think you get the idea), pipe dreams, computers and sugar free redbull...

So 5 years ago I wasn't even sure I could change the oil on a car properly. Since then I've rebuilt a few engines and am practically a walking Haynes manual for 78 El Camino's and 89-91 Civics and CRX's...

This is my first motorcycle... It ran for a few hours when I first bought it. Realized it had alot of problems. Took it apart. 2 years ago it was fully disassembled sitting in my overfull garage.

This summer I cleaned out the garage. 8O 1 Full 15yd dumpster later


I have a cleanish garage and a pile of motorcycle parts I'd given up hope on having the space to do anything with.

 

So the first few steps in reassembly...

Sandblasted the triples, the oe "rear sets" (foot peg, brake, shifter mounts)




Paint stripper on the tank?

 

The OE exhaust was all "modified" by a PO... the bike comes with 4:2's and the cans had been chopped open and emptied. Sounded like someone farting into a megaphone

A buddy found a late '90's R1 stock slip-on in his garage when he bought his house and my neighbor had an aftermarket set of pipes from his Sportster that he's given me.


I can, with some work, modify the old R1 pipe into something that I would enjoy having on my bike.

OR

I can, with some work, mount the HD cans on my bike.
With this I have 3 options.
1. Rig a mount to have them both on the same side like a harley, or stacked...
2. Mid-pipes to have them on either side like the OE exhaust.
3. Undertail... How? No clue yet, but it would be fun?

 

looks like a potentially cool project, keep the pics coming!

 

it gave me the shakes looking at those parts,,,, and its been 2 years

btw, whats wrong with the bike?

 

the list?
from front to back...
during tear down discovered the following
parts missing from the forks... spacers, washers
parts missing from the neck... washers, seals
broken brake lever, almost nonexistent brake pads, dark brown dirty burnt brake fluid
missing rear caliper
faulty petcock, internals were stuck in prime so i ended up with a tank of gas in my crankcase. i'm fairly certain my rings are still good.
a bald front tire
missing grab bars
broken plastics, front, lower and rear
a horrible rattle can silver paint job on the frame with complementary over spray on everything, the paint never cured and would rub off
the stock exhaust had been cut open, emptied and shortened. so the bike sounded like someone was farting into a megaphone and the bike had almost zero torque. add that to the fact that the carbs were in a questionable condition before I put them in a box in a dirty garage. They are even more questionable now, what with all the dirt :lol:

I think thats about it...

 

sheesh, I hope you didnt pay much for it

 

about $400 ?

I don't think I got hurt on the deal.

 

i think your missing parts are in that dumpster somewhere near the bottom

 

yeah, but he won't know that til about 3 days AFTER they come and pick it....ain't that always the way it goes.... either that or as your assembling it 2 months from now you'll suddenly realize what that wierd lookin' piece of metal/pipe/hose that you threw away was from... 8O LOL been there....

 

LOL funny thing... Pretty sure the bit of plastic that covers the tail between the 2 side plastics went with that dumpster when they took it a few weeks ago. and maybe the fork spring keepers cause I sure remember those being there when I took it apart and they aren't in the the box of misc screws, washers, wires and "wtf does that go to?"

 

what are those rims for - have a very similar curve as the CBR F4 rims I'm looking for

 

'94 XJ600 Seca II
The only motorcycle I've ever owned

 

Lets see... made some more visible progress

Mounted the swinger, mono shock, rear wheel, side stand and center stand.


Prepped the engine for the paint stripper, de-greaser and 1200psi pressure washer.


Pulled apart the airbox and pulled the cheap lil "velocity stacks"? out to see if I can find some pod filters that'll fit on them instead of directly on the carbs.


Stripped moar crap off the tank...


my body/paint guy gets to tell me how to fix it... it looks like the PO had actually had the bike upside down. flat spots on the handlebars and a dent in the top of the tank. Like it was sat upside down the way i used to do with my bicycle. :/

I'll get pics of that this weekend if he has a chance to take a stab at getting the dent out.

I'm hoping he does. I'd like get all the parts I've prepped primed this weekend... painted even. But the neighbor guy with all the tools of that nature has close to a billion projects going atm and I don't like to ask him for favors when he's busy so who knows. Mebbe I'll have to settle for putting the wiring harness or rear brakes in or something instead.

 

We've all got one of those miscellaneous drawers, but that is the first one I've seen with an engine in it. 8O

 

batteries, scissors, bits of string, motorcycle engine, deck of cards

:lol:

 

center stand was an ebay gem $75 dollars shipped if i recall.

and the status
I've gotten a few bits painted, waiting for them to cure before i snap pics. the lower triple is visiting a machine shop to have the lower bearing pressed on since the old race was all rusty. then I'll assemble more and be able to roll it around my garage

I'll probably have pics of the painted bits and reassembly of what I can next week as I'll be off for some well deserved vacation time. these 2 months leading up to my vacation has been hectic we've been perpetually short 2 guys in our department all summer with vacations and out of town projects pulling ppl away. I've probably NOT been on call 14 days total out of the last 2 months. pay has been nice. sleep has been scarce. I'm like a zombie shambling toward this Friday atm :lol:

 

It would be cool to see this whole build. I am seriously thinking about picking up one of these 90's secas.

 

That's one ambitious project! I can't wait to see it finished. 8O

 

OK an UPDATE
I've spent some time with a friends bike...

'97 H-D Sportster 883
Normally I hate chrome, nothing has changed. However I've found one that I'm not sure I can live without. 8O
http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Co ... del/xl883n

Thus the purpose of this has changed.
I'm completing this build for sale in the spring... to add to the down payment I'm saving up now.

So on with the progress...
The painted bits... going with a Flat Black.




I did do both sides I just missed an opportunity to grab a photo of the other side in the sun.

Lets see, Next...
I lowered the bike to the floor on the rear tire and center stand and tossed some bits on the tail of the bike...


Then with the help of a friend wedged the engine back in the frame... and after MUCH swearing about how much we scratched up the frame in the process... even with the block wrapped in a towel...
Didn't get pics at the time but here it is after bolting up the triple, forks and handlebars.



and lastly... spent a few mornings last week cleaning, rebuilding and swearing about the carbs


Sadly I was so angry about a few things I saw and so preoccupied with not screwing anything else up I did not get a "during" photo.

What I found that pissed me off?
1. These carbs have a hollow brass screw that caps the needle?/metering rod? in the bowl. I found one of them was sheared off and stuck in the guide. wtf?

2. The mixture screws have a spring, washer and o-ring. On 2 of the screws the washer and o-rings were missing... not stuck in or badly deteriorated... but gone.

Did a bench sync on the carbs. Will set floats heights when I can get off my ass and read up on where and how to measure. And need to order $70 worth of carb parts... Dont even recall what I have in my cart on bike bandit... I think orings washers and that stupid hollow brass screw.

 

You can find everything you need at BABBITS ONLINE.COM.They have almost everything you can't find elsewhere

 

Lets play with voodoo and resurrect an old thread...

So I started back on this project after hibernating for the winter...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7waVwrF4yQ

also

This places selection is amazing. I've never found a site with more available for my bike.

 

If you get that thing running with the pod filters let me know I,was really thinking of doing the same thing with mine.Looks Good so far Keep the pics coming.!!