Raven's XJ750 Seca - a resurrection story

Hey everyone-
First off, thank you all for making this an awesome forum. What you're about to read would not have been possible without this site, no question. So thanks to all who contribute here!

The back story...
On April 17th, while I was out to dinner with my girlfriend, I received a phone call from my roommate..."We have a problem." He, who had borrowed my bike for the evening (he's licensed and experienced, so I trust him) was struck from behind in a hit-and-run.

Thank God, he was largely OK; he was wearing his helmet (took a good scuff), jacket with CE armor (left elbow pretty scuffed), gloves (left knuckle guard scuffed) and boots (the leather scuffed off of the now exposed steel toe). AGATT anyone...? His left knee got a nasty bruise and his left hand has been sore, but now, a couple weeks later, he's about 75-80%.

The accident happened as he was at a stop light, turning left. The silver mid-sized SUV behind him hit on the left-rear mid-turn. The bike went into a low-side and sent him and my bike into the curb. @sshole speeds off, and the next two cars that come by don't bother to stop to see if he's ok. The first car that did stop...a group of high school kids.

Police showed up, as did paramedics, who gave him the OK to go home. By the time he called me and I met him at the accident site, a tow truck was there, strapping my bike to a flatbed. Surreal? Heck yes.

My bike is 28 years old, I don't have collision coverage, and the police said it would be highly unlikely that they'd be able to find the @ssface that hit my roommate...so it's time to fix the bike myself...with a pile of help from this forum

I've done my best to take pictures of what I've done, hopefully help someone else to see what I've done, and given everyone here fodder to criticize my handiwork :wink:

 

Damage

First things first, what all happened?

Headlight glass, retainer


Bucket, fuse, one horn, left front signal


Fender (that'll buff out...)


Engine guard (hey, it worked!)

 

Damage, part 2

Gear shift lever, now stuck in 1st


Engine itself saw a little action, spark plug terminal


Atari got tweaked


Rear taillight housing; the tail cowl didn't crack

 

Damage, part 3

The one positive of this...

Freedom!

 

Teardown pics, and the plan

All in all, not too bad. Mostly cosmetic, but certainly a number of high priority things that have to be repaired/replaced before riding. At this point, I'm at a crossroads of sorts...I can rebuild the bike more to my liking, and I'm leaning toward a more street fighter/hooligan style. Of course, I would have preferred this opportunity under different circumstances.

Left footpeg


Check the bend on the engine guard

 

Headlight

My attention turns first to the headlight...

Mounts off of eBay


Had to sand down the spacers to make 'em fit tight (thank you weird 36mm forks...)


Installed


Rectangle of the 80's no more! Bucket from a XJ550 Maxim, but the inside is as rusty as can be...for $20 on eBay, no complaints...

 

Headlight, part 2

Still rusty after wire brushing, turning to chemical warfare


I think I saw this in Ghostbusters 2


Cleaned 'er out and grabbed the Rustoleum


The chrome wasn't anything to write home about, so I scuffed it down and went for the all-black bucket


Checking the chrome ring plus black bucket...I like it


Had to test mount it, to see how it looked...my roommate is supervising.

 

Guards

While in a local motorcycle boneyard, I scored a set of engine guards. They were in pretty rough shape...belt sanded the outer fins back to looking decent. I cleaned them, scuffed them, painted them, then sanded off the paint on the outer fins:

Old


New


Comparison

 

Controls

Oh what a bummer, new headlight so I'd better change to a bar-mounted MC. The stock right controls, obviously, has the lever built in, so that'll have to go.

My dining room table/workbench


Stock set chopped


Test with the chopped, stock right controls; no go, the new lever will hit the controls, if I want it to still fit on the bars...


Found a set of right-hand controls for an XS on eBay, these'll fit perfect, and the pin-out on the connector for the starter and kill switches is the same, so it was plug-n-play. However, gotta clean it first...

 

I like it. Looks like a built to watch. Good luck Raven!

Rob

 

Glad your roommate is ok. Nice to see you being able to rebuild after the accident, great time to start fresh. I have got to say I LOVE the look of the new engine guards. slims the bike down just enough. Keep up the awesome work I will be waiting t see more updates.

 

This build is going on my favorites bar. Definitely something to follow.

 

NICE headlight. What kind of paint is it? You mentioned Rusty...but which one. I like it! (And I may start searching ebay for a 550 headlight myself)

 

Thanks for the comments guys ManBot, the paint is just a rattle can of flat black RustOleum. Ended up doing about 3 coats total on the inside, 3 more for the outside.

 

Gauges

Next task, stripping off what I need from this beast...


Mental note of what wires go to what indicator


Back removed...note the printout from here


The guages I got...I'm loving these. The speedo is from MikesXS.net, the tach is from an eBay seller out of Canada. This Seca's tach is electric, and I really wanted one that was the same size as the speedo. The only electric ones on MikesXS are micro-sized, but apparently at partsnmore .com, they have these for about $75. I got mine for about $50...those who are looking, keep an eye out and you might find 'em cheaper.

 

Gauges, part 2

High beam and neutral light wiring


The yellow wires go to the turn signal indicator light. On the Atari, there was one indicator light per side; here, just one for both. So that they all don't light up four-way flasher style, I'll have to wire in some diodes.


I couldn't wait, had to see what they looked like. 3/4 view, checking clearance of speedo cable against headlight...ended up moving the headlight down the forks further. New left foot peg also installed, and you can sort of see where I ground down the chipped cooling fins on the engine


Rider view

 

you got some luck on those engine guards, they're pretty rare and expensive

 

Gauges, part 3

Put tank on temporarilly, as I need to have it repaired (good size dent on the right side from my roommate's knee). Also added the headers and the gauges to check the wiring of the controls and the tachometer. I can't remember what it was exactly, and I'll edit this post if this is incorrect...but for the tach, it was Red (tach) to Tan (bike), Green (tach) to Grey (bike). Everything worked! New gear shift lever installed here too. Firing it up for the first time with just the header pipes...holy crap was that loud.


Headlight wiring...I ended up cutting the connector out, and wired it in straight up. There is seriously no room in that headlight bucket for anything.


Gauges and wiring all done...for now. The red wires are for the oil level indicator. I may eventually wire these in, but without the Atari, will the the sensor in the oil pan trigger a light?


Lighting for the gauges works! But ugh...what a crappy difference. The speedo is lit by LEDs, the tach, by one #74 twist-lock bulb. I'm currently looking for a good short plug-n-play SMT LED that I can swap out...any suggestions?

 

I know it...I saw a set of this style on eBay a while back for something like $130...I paid $25 for these, but mine were in ROUGH shape.

 

Signals

Here are the new turn signals, in this pic, attached to the rear mounts. These were marked as being for a VMax, but I love them because the body is metal, as opposed to plastic


On a test fit, I discovered the stem of the turn signal was too long as-is and it would hit the lower plastic fender. To make them fit, I added a collar sleve to the stalk of the signal, acting like a big washer (the sleves, I got from my local hardware store in their misc. washers/fasteners aisle)


Rear signals mounted


These are the diodes I used


Remember the loose yellow wires from the gauges for the signal indicator light? Here's me testing the diodes in the circuit to make it work correctly.


Cut down the stock mounts, and had to add a collar and 3 washers per side so that the signals cleared the fork.

 

looks like it's comeing togeather nicely. def. gonna keep an eye on your progress.

 

Raven posted: "I'm currently looking for a good short plug-n-play SMT LED that I can swap out...any suggestions?"

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/ ... bAod8BpLlA

 

OK gurus, here's where I need your help

To make the brakes work, I intend on getting 3 stainless lines from Len (chacal), one from the MC to the splitter, then from the splitter to the calipers. I've weighed the pros and cons of using the splitter versus two long lines right from the MC, I would much prefer to clean the bars up more and go the splitter route.

That being said, I discovered a few things on this Seca splitter:


The port that would attach to the MC to the splitter is threaded differently. The ends are the typical M10x1.25. The third port is finer, is it M10x1.0?

Also, there was a hard brake line from the remote MC to this splitter, and a brass fitting is inside this third port. Even if I get an appropriately threaded banjo bolt, I fear I won't be able to screw it in far enough. How do I get this brass piece out? Can I just drill it?

 

Raven.....we have a correctly sized banjo bolt to fit that m/c port on the distribution log..........so you can install a standard rubber or s/s brake line to it...........send me a note and we'll get you set up!

 

Len, you are out of control! Like I mentioned above, I'll be ordering 3 more stainless lines from you; will the brass bit that's inside the splitter, as shown in the above pic, need to be removed, or is the banjo bolt you have short enough to fit?

 

^wamaxim, thanks for the link. I actually looked at that site, at this bulb specifically: 74-xHP3

This one's just over 17mm long, I'll have to measure to see if that'll fit, or if it's too long.

 

Banjo bolt is short enough to fit.....!

Although you could drill out the brass compression fitting, I don't think it's necessary to do so.

Or, if you wanted to be super-sleuthlike-and-slick, you could use the log from a 1982 (only) XJ750 Maxim....same size, shape, mounting config, etc. as the 750 Seca, but with standard banjo bolt threads and no brass plug in the m/c hose port..........but, that might be considered cheating.

 

Len...
I took some measurements for the brake line needed to go from the MC to the splitter log.

Here's my paint skills:


Length:
From end of fitting to end of fitting, just shy of 14"

Fitting orientation:
The two lines to the left represent a top view of the fittings, showing the orientation of the flat surface of the fitting; in other words, the brake line fittings would ideally be oriented (twisted) about 15 degrees apart. If they're both oriented the same, it would still work.

Fitting angle:
For clearance in both cases, I'd need the upper mount to have a 30 to 35 degree bend from the MC, and the lower to have a 35 to 45 degree bend from the log. In both pictures, the brake line is toward the front of the bike. If both are right around 35 degrees, that would still work too.

I'll PM you with this info too, see what might work for this...

 

Bracket

Wanting to use the stock brake splitter log, so time to cut the mounting bracket...

Before using the dremel:

Further shaping (gratuitous "sparks flying shot")...

Painted and mocked up (not bolted in yet)

 

Gauge update and parts arrival

I found a 3 SMD size #74 white bulb on eBay for the tach, looks way better...not identical, but this'll work great:


Stock-wise, the horns are mounted in side the headlight. Here's where I ended up mounting them. It's not pretty, but it's one step closer to being legal.


Loosely installed stainless brake lines...never bled brakes before, so that'll be a fun day

 

bleeding brakes is as easy as a desert with a fruity filling and a crust that fits in a circular dish... just grab two people.

 

Brakes

I opted to work with Len (chacal) to have a custom line made from the MC to the splitter log.

Here it is mocked up:


Bit too long, but by how much...


After exchanging the line with Len twice, I was super pumped when I got the final assembled line. Here it is installed:

 

As you saw in the last pic in my previous post, the color changed. I took the fenders, tank, and plastics in to get painted. I got it done relatively cheap: The guy who I had paint my parts, one week prior, had nailed a turkey at 55 with his car. Needing to repaint his own bumper, he said there'd be enough paint left over to spray my stuff. His car: an Audi S4.

I installed and bled the brake system (Schooter's right, easy...definitely get a friend to help. My lines were bone dry and it only took maybe 35 minutes, and I took my sweet time), installed the petcock back on the tank and put 'er all back together.

Now, 2 months later, the bike is done...for now...
Possible future plans:
-New rear shocks
-New springs/heavier fork oil (a lot more bite with stainless lines!)
-Black out wheels...?
-Vinyl covering on the tail cowl and side plastics where it used to be two-tone

Here she is:







Big thanks to everyone on the boards, notably Len (chacal), with whose parts and help made this bike come back together, and xulf: your cafe progress thread was both a big inspiration and a big help.

 

DROOL - Great Job

Me personally - I would have gotten the "aluminum" on the wheels painted the same as the tank and just re-blacked the black part - But that's just me

If my 82 Maxim had more body panel surface I might consider a similar silver. But with the minimal surface area my black tank/frame will probably remain unchanged unless I get inspired at some point.

Also if I ever get tired of my Atari - I'll use your post for inspiration

 

Nice job Raven!

But, in the close-up picture of the master cylinder line attached to the m/c, it appears that you have both copper crush washers on the same side of the hose fitting? That's not a good idea.....one crush washer goes on each side of the hose fitting!

M/C --- crush washer --- hose fitting --- crush washer ---- union bolt.

 

Trust me, this is how it's setup

The crush washers that came with the master cylinder are rather thick, and looking at the picture, I can see how it may look like they're doubled up.

 

Okay, just wanted to make sure!

 

Controls/MC Clearance

Pics per a request, clearance on the bars of the XS controls and MC:

 

Very nice build! :!: The silver looks very sharp but understated too (I noticed the black tank seam welting). I may do a copy of your bike with my "spare" 750 Seca.

I don't think I would bother with "re-blacking" the side/tail panels at all, nor going with any replacement tank graphics. You might improve the wheels slightly by stripping off the black and just shining the alloy but I wouldn't bother until the next tire change.

 

Very nice looking rebuild. Maybe the a$$hat who did the hit and run maybe did you a favor in the long run. Sure is pretty.

Is your buddy at 100%

Did the ever catch the guy who caused the wreck?

Loren

 

A couple more detail questions:
You said you used an XS right-hand control because the MC adjustment did not clear the XJ750 controls - 650/750/850/1100?
What MC did you use - it looks brand new?
Looks like you used a chrome superbike-bend handlebar, correct?

 

Very nice looking rebuild. Maybe the a$$hat who did the hit and run did you a favor in the long run. Sure is pretty.

Is your buddy at 100%

Did they ever catch the guy who caused the wreck?

Loren

 

You did a tremendous job bro! I hope they caught the a$$clown who hit the bike while your friend was riding it. How is your friend doing now?

 

Thanks guys

My buddy is doing a lot better; his hand is now OK, though his knee is still a little stiff from time to time. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, they haven't found the SUV driver. Though, my buddy, card-carrying conceal and carry holder, often wonders what would happen should he find the person... :roll:

@zap: The controls were from an XS650, though the ones on my XS1100 look exactly the same (same part used on most XS' from that time frame...?). The MC was new from MikesXS, their large bore one. And you're correct on the bars; superbike-bend chrome.

 

Nice job, love the color....... if I can get that 900, a silver/black colorscheme may be the ticket.....

 

Raven,
Congrats on an awsome job. I have been away for a while while playing with my 73 TX (XS) 650.
Your bike is looking great, better than mine in my Opinion. I am redoing mine at the moment. Not much, just updating some stuff. I'm also going to be changing the fork oil for something heavier. Once I went to stainless steel lines, I also noticed the increased response. Thanks for the tip on the LED white light for our gauges a tip i learned from YOU.

Eddie

 

I DO like those signals. Where did you get them at?

 

^koolaid, I got them off of eBay. Just search for "billet turn signals" and some auctions like them should pop up. I saw in your build thread you were looking for signals, I was gonna suggest these for ya.

The bulbs that come with the signals are dual filament, so if you're keeping the stock setup (no running lights), you might have to A) get different bulbs, because the stock resistance doesn't let the relay flash, it just stays on as if the signal's burned out, B) wire in a resistor, or C) wire in both filaments together (I did C).

 

Or you could just splice one set of wires tot eh running lights and get a electronic flasher for $5 bucks and Voila , You have running and flashing signals.

 

...except these are amber bulbs with clear covers - not legal as rear running lights in PA (need to be red). I know - I just got a set due to Raven's build. :wink: