Bought a 82 Seca 750 off CL

Hi everyone, new here. I picked up an 82 Seca 750 off CL today. I sold my 1990 Honda CB1 that I owned for the last 6 years last winter and have been missing riding so my mission was to find the best bike close by that a grand or so would buy and I see an ad for a mostly unmolested bike with a clean title, current inspection and new tires. Bought it for $950!
I plan on picking up a repair manual and searching the site a bit. I know nothing about this bike or yamahas. It has k&n pod filters and a era correct mac exhaust. I guess those pods are a sore subject? I asked the PO about the jetting and he said it was the stock jetting. I plan on doing some fluid changes, a carb sync and going over the bike to familiarize myself with it.

 

Most people simply discourage people from tossing pods on w/o getting it running correctly first. If already installed and/or properly jetted, most don't complain to loudly

Sweet looking ride. That is the year/model of Seca I'd like to get.

Check the rear brakes for delamination before you ride any more!

 

Nice looking bike. Although 4-1 and pods usually means it needs a rejet because it will run too lean so keep an eye on your plugs.

Metal_Bob- if i was doing a stock Seca I like the yellow aux light on the 81 better than the clear lenses on the others.

 

Welcome to the site Durk! Good looking bike I think you got it for a great price and looks like the PO took good care of her. Dont overlook the date code on the tires. Let me be the first to introduce you to Chacal and his forum all the info and more than you will need on your bike you will be able to find here and of course if you need parts he has them too. Heres a link. http://xjbikes.com/banners.php?bid=3

 

Gratz all over ya' Durk..!
She's a purdy son of a gun!!! 8)

 

Thanks that is good advice about the rear brake I'll look it over. I think I'm going to replace the fronts with sintered pads as they aren't stopping the bike as nicely as I'd like.

 

You'll need to eventually (and sooner than later) rebuild the front brakes: Caliper and master cylinder seals had a two-year factory recommended lifespan; the brake lines a four-year life. They have their manufacture date stamped on them; if original they need to be replaced right away. Upgrading to stainless steel lines in the process will be the single biggest improvement you can make; better pads alone won't give you much.

The rear needs to be cracked open and the shoes visually inspected for signs of delamination; this happens way too often with the original shoes and is dangerous: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15874.html

The issue with tires is that these are tubeless tires; anything over about 6 years old is too old. If you don't find any date codes, they're WAY too old, regardless of tread life.

The above-related advice in regard to pod filters is good; watch your plugs and good luck.

 

Durk, I too liked the look of this bike when I seen the post. I live in Rochester, PA. About 25 minutes NW of pittsburgh, up 65. I always keep a watch on CL... There is another gentleman, Polock, up here who rides a seca. He's a good guy, helped me out a few times. Anyway, great buy. I'm glad to see another local xj rider in the area!

 

Yeah I know where Rochester is my Gram lived out that way. I'm near New Kensington.
The tires a non issue they are brand new shinkos.
Took a look at my plugs and they look really good, a tiny tiny bit white on the ends. More good advice about the brake lines I'll check that out, thanks! That goofy lower fog light isn't working (not concerned). I need to pop that case off and clean the oil sight glass (weird), I'm gonna change the oil so that's no biggie. I'm not going to have time to get a plate until next week so I'll have time to spend with her.

 

Re-upped with Progressive, $6.25 per month for insurance haha.
I got the idle adjusted. I guess I need a special tool to carb sync with the YICS?
I'm still learning. It doesn't really need a carb sync but I want to see where they are at.
I'll get a vid of her running up here in a couple days. She sounds sweet.

 

Got my manual. Cleaned and re-oiled the K&N pods. Changed the final drive fluid metal shavings and all. It was full but the oil was very old/bad. Have motor oil and filter to change soon. Adjusted the levers and bent the area where the levers pivot back in so they don't wobble. Still need to get the back wheel off although the brake indicator shows the pad is almost new. I found an auction on ebay for a build your own stainless steel brake set that should be around $60 which is awesome. Bought new grips (old ones were really cheap and foam) and new shifter rubber and blank key off ebay.
I need to drain the fork oil and put in some fresh 20w (not motor oil WFT yamaha?). Also going to drain the brake fluid for fresh DOT4.
There is a dent in the tank that I'm going to try and work out with some dry ice. I'm not even going to mess with the carbs at this point the bike fires right up and runs like it is new there are other priorities to salvage some riding time this summer. I'll do the valve shims and that stuff in the winter. I'll convert it to modern fuses also.
The mac exhaust is drilled out and has an annoying rasp when you let off the throttle I'm going to try and plug the holes with some large sheet metal screws.

Anyways I'm amazed at how cheap and plentiful parts still are for this bike. Makes doing all this very easy. I spent a year searching ebay and ebay uk for side covers for my Honda.

 

Don't use DoT4 brake fluid; stick to DoT3.

How many miles on the bike? Putting off checking the valves might not be a good idea.

 

You got a good deal. My buddy had a red one of these he bought new, and put 40k miles on it, no problems. Took it to Colorado once from PA. I like them with the factory bikini fairing too.

Might want to check the valve shims and check/tighten the timing chain too.

 

Ok I need help now. I took the clutch cover off when I changed the oil tonight to clean the sight window. Now when I put it back on the clutch lever has too much slack and won't pull it in to engage the clutch. What I am doing wrong?

 

most likely have to pull the arm off the shaft on the clutch cover and jump it back a few teeth, then adjust the clutch from scratch

 

Thanks Polock, I'm going to have more time to mess with this later tonight and this weekend.
To answer your ? Fitz there are 28K on the bike. The more I work on this bike the more neglected it is (oil was terrible) so I am probably going to check the valves sooner. Just curious though why DOT3 I thought DOT4 was better in motorcycles?

 

Spent some more time working on her today.
Original 1981 brake lines...yay! Figure I should rebuild the calipers and MC and replace the lines all at the same time to avoid a weak link in the system.
PO had the fork springs upside down...yay!
Only one of the anti dives bled and the other one wouldn't bleed even after I took it off and cleaned everything...yay!
I'm going to get some block off plates I'm not messing around with this anti dive BS.
Now I'm searching for some electrical short I keep losing my turn signals but if you move the wire harness around they come back and will cut out again.

 

Here is how she sits now.

 

I would also like to know why this is.

 

my brake fluid says DOT 3/4, i'am not sure if it's 3 and 4, or 3 or 4, or it might be .75, it seems to work though

 

I ended up using DOT4 it's all coming out again anyways when I do the brakes.
Amazing how much better the lever feels when you get all the brown congealed brake fluid out.

 

Another step forward and two steps back.
I fixed the PO wiring hackjob and got the driving light to work. I figured out that the turn signals don't work if the battery gets drained.
For some reason the bike is starting to run rough and backfire. All I did was take the gas tank off I'm not sure what happened. It's backfiring up through the carbs too. I might be riding before there is snow on the ground.

 

Took the back wheel off finally. No delamination! It looked almost brand new, I just cleaned everything up and greased everything. Finally nice to do something without opening a can of worms. I undid the anti dive and ran the single banjos to the brakes and plugged the anti dive. This way will work for now. I'm already sick of dealing with the hidden MC what a PITA.
Still backfiring a little. I'm going to spray some wd40 around the carb boots and see if I have any vacuum leaks.

 

I put the K&N pods up for sale on ebay. You guys are welcome to bid.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0631218690

 

Went to the parts store and got ATC fuse holders. Going to solder the fixes I made and the modern fuses in neatly. Fixed some more wiring messes around the battery. Tried to fit a fuel filter and it kinked the line then I made a gas mess in the garage and got the wife mad.

 

Went back and got some more electronic bits. I'm going to wire in a relay and add a 12v adapter for a GPS or to charge a cell phone. Also I plan on running some more accessories I'd like to stick a temp sensor in my oil cooler and run an oil temp gauge. I'd also like to get a small fan for it to kick on when it gets hot in stop and go commute traffic.

 

you don't really need a relay to run a gps or charge a cell phone, a switch will do, the relay might draw more current than the gps.
a few things about the fan, be careful of the amps it draws, xj's don't have a lot of extra capacity and the fan motor can be over powered by the air from riding and over speed the bearings, hold a pc fan out the car window going 45

 

It is just a switch I could always just run it straight off the battery but since I might add stuff I wanted to do this neatly and only solder this up once.
Yeah the fan idea might not pan out but I'm not doing anything more than adding the 12v lighter socket until winter.
Also I'm thinking about moving the aux light over to the left side controls so I can replace the right side with a bar mounted master cylinder. BUT, I want to somehow keep the brake fluid sensor working in it just for the sake of keeping as much working as possible. Does anyone happen to know if Yamaha had a bar mounted master cylinder with a brake fluid sensor in it?

 

Getting closer to riding...
Got the exhaust off I need to clean the bottom of the engine there is so much greasy crud under there (oil cooler rigged up doesn't help) that when the bike heats up it starts to smoke.
I'm still unsure of what to do with the brakes. I think for now I'll just replace the lines and keep the stock MC.
Fitted a new fuel line that is thicker it should take a fuel filter w/o kinking.
I'm going to wait until I have my airbox on and see how much room I have to work with to run the line and filter.

 

Nice bike, Durk! Where near Pittsburgh are you? I'm from around those parts. PM me, if you like.

 

Thanks, I'm outside of New Kensington.

 

Pulled the trigger on ebay custom SS brake lines.
I got all 4 I figure what the H w/ the anti dive. Maybe I'll get the one to bleed with new lines. Here is how she sits now, fairly naked.

 

Got the wiring sorted. Ran the switch and just for fun threw on the trickle charger connection. I soldered the connections and used heat shrink tubing instead of electrical tape so it would appear less "hacked".

 

Got my 12v plug mounted. Already used it too now I can use my 12v mini air pump to inflate the tires. I adjusted the rear brake where I want it, installed the airbox and fuel filter, had major vacuum leaks so I took it off and did it all again correctly. Now I'm ready to install the SS brake lines.

 

Last night was D day as in DONE SON! Well, almost done I haven't checked the valves yet. Got the SS lines on and bled. I took the top part of the anti dive that wouldn't work and re-cleaned it with brake cleaner and then got the bottom adjuster to turn, put it all together and bled the system. I went for a little midnight run (still no plate) and wow is this a nice bike to ride.

 

Thanks for posting, I have enjoyed your thread.

 

Durk,

Love the bike, I've got one just like it. Same color and all. Bought it a month ago only it had the two hard saddlebags, trunk with a backrest for the passenger and the front fairing, and a stock luggage rack. I've already taken all of it off the back and am looking to take the fairing off but I have to find the hardware for the light as the light is mounted inside the fairing. Don't fool with the carbs, I took mine off last week to clean and can't get it to run right for anything. I'm finding it really hard to get any simple ways to to set the floats. Nice bike

 

Thanks Vanone. Keep me in your thoughts if you ever want to sell that stuff.
I'd love to turn her into a bagger.
No need to fool with my carbs the PO had them rebuilt. This winter I'm planning on bumping up my jetting to accommodate the exhaust and giving her a proper yics sync and color tune in the spring.

 

Wow I haven't updated this, to busy riding my bike .
Put down my first 100 mile day, rode up to Quaker Steak for bike night after work. 3 YICS XJs were there including mine so that was a nice break from the v-twin crowd.
First off, the "highway" pegs the PO had on are a complete joke, the wind blast made my knees hurt, plus they looked dumb. I binned those as soon as I got home. Second my seat is beat, haha. 28k miles has not been kind to that seat, and my tail bone hurt the whole next day from that little ride. I ended up getting a Bike Master GP Touring black handle bar for $18 (motorcycle superstore FTW) to try and get a better riding position. It should perform and look a lot better than the stock padded ones. This winter I'll play around with cutting the foam and adding gel inserts before I recover the seat.

 

You BEST check the valves before you cook one with all the riding.

 

I'm shooting to do that this weekend. I wasted a lot of time trying to get the oil cooler adapter to stop leaking oil. I got a YICS tool so if my valves check out I can do a proper sync.

 

Have you got the air box back in?
Al

 

Yes, that was fun.

 

Yay my GP touring bar came, and the wife was out for a dinner so she didn't see the GIANT oversized box on the porch that I would have had a hard time explaining. This should be way more comfortable.

 

Motion Pro valve shim tool is in transit.
Proper Jets in transit. Going to try 128M/41P.
I'm also going to get one of those silverstar bright headlights. EVERYTIME I take this bike out multiple people pull out in front of me or do that thing where they look after they pull out and end up spiking their brakes in the middle of the road.
GP touring bar = Best $20 I have spent on this bike. Butt/back feel better from the riding position, handling is better, completely different bike now.

 

What are the details on that bar? Have a part number? The seating position is my biggest gripe about my Seca.

I was thinking about installing a set of adjustables from a 900.

 

Dimensional charts for the BikeMaster line on this website: http://www.powersports360.com/eshopprod ... f0824_1209

Re: SilverStar headlight bulbs: save your money; go with a Hella halogen, or install a headlight modulator. (Or both.)

The SilverStars ARE nice and bright, but they don't last for squat. I tried them in my car and the lifespan was ridiculously short.

 

Here is where I got it from:
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/ ... lebar.aspx

It is the black bar on the link Fitz posted.
That is funny about them not lasting, I never used them in a car but I ran one in my previous bike and it never burnt out the 3 years I had it in.

 

Finally took some high res pics instead of the lousy cell phone pics I've been putting up.

 

Love it! The only thing I dont like is the clamp dressing piece. It makes sense with the bar dressing in place but seems blky now with the new bar. I think I would just removie it entirely.

Then get rid of the Atari and put this on there: