Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road - w/Pics

For the group:
First off: THANK YOU for all the various help tips that you have passed along. This forum is way cool. I'll try to keep this brief... I tend to ramble.

Brief History: When I got this bike, it did not start or run. It had been parked for over 10 years, and the carbs were completely goofed up. Not just from age and crud, but from a prior owner who had pulled off the carb rack (twice) and screwed up virtually every setting that could be screwed up. So I did the whole RickOmatic tour on the carbs and WOW! Bike fired right up on Christmas day! Yahoo!

Well... right up until the day after Christmas. I went out the next morning to triumphantly start the bike and... wooka-wooka-wooka-wooka-wooka-wooka.. the starter just merrily hummed, without the bike giving a hint of trying to start. Darn!

So something was still wrong. Or worse, a combination of somethings. But it bugged me: WHY did the bike start so immediately and enthusiastically on Christmas day... and then not at all the next day?

The only difference was that... I'd connected the battery charger, because the bike had been sitting for over a month while I got the carb and brake parts together. So the battery was super-right-at-the-tippy-top of charged up.

And then I read that... as the brushes in the starter motor wear out, the bike can become hard to start. This makes sense, because when worn out, the brushes are applied with only partial pressure to the commutator of the starter... and draw far more current than usual. My bike was a prime candidate for this, with over 50K miles on the clock. Though the starter spins, there's little left over for the rest of the ignition system to do things like - fire the spark plugs!

YES - the spark plugs! What an idiot I am. I had pulled the carbs twice and goofed with them, but had never even pulled the plugs on this bike! Why? When I first bought the bike, I heard it gasp for life under the influence of hard-start spray, and just assumed.. er, you get the idea. So I pulled the plugs. They were a good color tan, but WASTED and worn out. Maybe even the original pulgs. And one of them was gapped at .016 - much smaller than the .025 spec. So I replaced the plugs. WOW - ran a lot better, but when cold, would only start with Hard-Start spray. Dang!

Time to get serious: time to look at the starter brushes. Pulled the starter motor (thanks for the tips, everyone), pulled the starter apart, and found that the brushes were actually okay. Lots of life left. But also a lot of wear, and a lot of brush crud/dust in the end cap of the starter. So I blew out the armature connection surface (where the brushes ride) with Brake Cleaner Spray Stuff, and reinstalled the starter motor.

Next I realized that the crud in the starter was only like, pick a number: a 10% reduction in starter system efficiency? Maybe something like that. So I went hunting for other things that could sap the power of the starter system when starting the bike.

I cleaned the connection from the negative cable, from the battery to the engine case. Check. I pulled apart and cleaned all the positive connections that I could find. There was one just downstream of the battery, on what looks like a fusable link, right near the battery. I cleaned all the connections I could easily see: at the rectifier, and at the ignition module. My thinking? Imagine if each one of these connections on a 25-year-old motorcycle was ... pick a number... suppose each one of these were sucking 10% extra power by corrosion/crud/wear/etc? Yep, that would tank the starter system. Absolutely.

And finally acting like I had a brain, I installed an inline fuel filter between the tank and the carbs - just in case there's rust in the tank that I couldn't see. A cheap just-in-case $3 expenditure.

OH YES - and a final reminder that I also found on this forum: what's marked as a 'Choke' on your left handlebar is NOT a choke: it is an 'enrichment' circuit. If you crank the throttle - even a little bit - while starting the engine, the engine will NOT start. You're cranking air into a system that is designed to work with the throttle CLOSED and use engine vacuum to suck the right amount of gas into the system.

The final result? WOW WOW. The engine started RIGHT AWAY, with the first stab of the starter button. YES! And did so for like the next 10 times in a row. So I put the bike away in the garage (about 40-degrees overnight), and the next morning (today), she fired right up! I declare this patient cured.

So on down the line: Brushes in the starter? Sure, but not right away. Alternator brushes? I'll have to check that, but the alternator and charging system are working perfect now.

Brakes? Air filter? Exhaust? Carbs? Here's what I learned with my second through the engine bits of this bike: the previous owner spent serious money on this motorcycle. The exhaust is a full Kerker system: from headers to mufflers. The deluxe 4-into-1 (collector) into 2 (mufflers), with even a crossover balance downstream of the collector. Heck, 25 years ago, this was an $800 system. This bike also had a Dynojet carb improvement system, a K&N air cleaner, and a Corbin seat. Oh yeah: Ferodo brake pads, and I rebuilt the calipers. So that stuff is set for now.

So that's my news. Right now, I have about $650 into this motorcycle, total. And she's amazing-fast for a 600, and handles great and looks great too. I'll post pics soon.

Well, I failed to keep this brief... rats. But again, thanks to all who helped with their advice. I mean it.

 

Re: Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road

OK, now you have to vewy vewy careful... or you'll end up with another one.

They're addicting. Finish one XJ and you're gonna want another one to work on; then when that one's done...

 

Re: Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road

Great news - Bagsy 1st in the queue for the pictures!

Maybe this is going in a magazine?

 

Re: Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road

Okay: here are the pics:
Somebody spent the BUCKS on this bike: Complete Kerker 4-into-2 system, Corbin 'Gunfighter' seat, K&N air filter, Dynojet carb kit, Ferodo brake pads, new chain and sprockets (front/rear).

 

Does anyone know if those handle bars would interchange with the 750 maxims? They look similar enough.

 

wow! Thats a SHARP bike. that seat is the bee's knees.

its in really good shape for (I think) around 50K miles

 

Re: Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road - w/Pic

THAT is one good looking motorcycle!
I looked for a couple of months and didn’t find any ½ that good for twice your price, CONGRATULATIONS.

I touched up one of your pictures, hope you don’t mind.

ab

 

Hey, thanks for the compliments! Yah, she's a great bike. My wife loves her.

And compared to my own personal bike: a 1987 Honda CBR1000F Hurricane... this bike is a completely different animal. The Yamaha is quick, light, fast, furious and FUN. The Yamaha feels light, and easy to flick around corners. Or for low-speed turns. She's quick, light, agile and fuN FUN!

In comparison? the Honda Hurricane is slow to respond, heavy and ponderous around turns. Oh yes YES the Hurricane will get up to speed YES... but it's a whole different trip. I'm running out of words for the descriptions. The Honda Hurricane is SCARY FAST. She's totally adept at any speed over 80mph. In fact, 100 mph feels like a stroll in the park.

The Yamaha? Totally completely different FUN. She is totally ready to go, and right now. Light, agile, easy to steer and balance. Easy to ride, easy for almost anything, and ready for a trip to the grocery store, the library, over to college... and beyond: I'd take this bike cross-country tomorrow, without any hesitation or fear. Yep. Would do.

There are a few things on the project list still.. like you can see a bit of rash on the left-hand side of the fairing. Soon to be taped and painted.

Again: THANK YOU ALL for the information and pics and everything that I've found here. I like it here, and gosh darnnit: someone pointed out that I'll soon need another project. They're right. Yeah, I know, it's a disease/addiction. Maybe I'll get over it. Er, maybe not.

 

Re: Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road - w/Pic

She is a great looking bike - if it wasn't below freezing I'd be inspired to work on mine right now!

I am puzzled though as to why Yamaha chose to call it an "FJ" in the US when its based on the xj550, takes it styling cues from the XJ900 and they were called "XJ600"s in Europe?

 

I like it like alot

 

That is a fine looking motorcycle, gives me something to aim for with my UK XJ600 (when it thaws out!) Particularly like the single seat
Regards
Peter

 

*sigh* so kicking myself for not buying the $500 fix-er up FJ I saw earlier this year........ but no free cash..... so I couldn't.........

 

Re: Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road - w/Pic

I think they were trying to "distance" it from the XJ nameplate, which due to the overwhelming popularity of the Maxim and the not-so-popularity of the 750 Seca was forever linked to those bikes. (With apologies, I'm just reporting. Back in the day, the 750 Seca was nearly a laughing stock: "a shaft-driven sportbike? hahahahahahaha." NObody took it seriously, which is why Yamaha started selling it with the full sport-touring package installed.)

I think by calling it the "FJ" we were supposed to think it was something new, different. We only had one year XJ900 ('83) and they didn't sell a whole lotta those either.

Now I think it means "fairing" since the only XJ1300s we get are called FJ1300s and are all swathed in plastic. Those rat bast*rd Aussies (and Kiwis) get REAL XJs still. How about in the UK? Do they let you guys have the XJR1300? The one with no Tupperware to hide the motor?

 

It was also marketed as the "little brother" to the radical FJ-1100, which had a radical perimeter frame and tons of power. Since there was no smaller perimeter frame bike, the warmed-over 550 Seca took the job, swathed with a kinda-sorta-similar fairing so it at least had sport-bike bodywork.

This for the US market only. I remember at the time we thoght: "how come this new FJ doesn't have the cool frame like the 1100cc model?" Remember: at the time, Honda had the 500 Interceptor, Kawasaki had the small Ninja, Suzuki had the Katana, and Yamaha had... well, no real sport bike to fill that size spot (they had put all their eggs in the Vision basket - the bike that was almost sales-proof).

 

Re: Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road - w/Pic

But of course! Here's what "Motor cycle news" have to say about it.

 

That is an amazing looking bike, and an entertaining look into electrical woes.

 

Re: Final Adventures in getting my FJ600 on the Road - w/Pic

I am willing to bet if you check the front springs they have been replaced with progressive springs and spacers. To do all that was done to it it seems like a logical addition. Nice bike.