1982 XJ1100 bobber project

Ok just a heads up I am no mechanic or machinist or anything of the sort...I just felt like challenging myself and chopping up a bike. Picked up this 1982 xj1100 barely running for $700 and started to go to town. Pics to follow, enjoy.

 

I picked it up on fri. the 30th and couldnt wait to get into it so I started tearin it down.



and then didn't stop



kept going

 

I started a carburetor rebuild and found out I needed more pieces so in the meantime I decided to clean.





I've never done this step process with steel wool before...I hear you can do better but I have a lot of dirty bike to get to and its not easy.

 

Today I started the frame, cut it down



and started to build it back up



had some concerns about the back wheel and some fit issues but i think we got it worked out



that tail pipe isn't done don't rag on me

...and thats as far as I've gotten in the week and a half I've had it.

 

Any tips are more than welcome!

 

Hopefully you bagged and tagged all the old parts so you know what they are when you get rid of them. Those shocks look like V-Max ones, any interest in getting rid of them?

 

I plan on parting out all the pieces I can via ebay. But if you would like to make a fair offer for them I'd gladly miss out on dealing with ebay. :lol:

 

Post a list of what leftover parts you will have. I might be interested in other things as well.

 

Sorry I got behind on posting anything....made a little progress so ill post a couple pictures

 

the pipes have been wrapped, never done this before I would probably do it a little different and inside...your pulling this stuff out of a bucket of water and it was like 40 degrees out (good for the ole hands)

 

tank all cleaned up and ready for paint

 

mock up for some tabs and brackets blinkers and license plate

 

same mock up from behind

 

decided to paint the front forks and hit it with a few coats of clear...they look really good in person

 

mandarin copper and racing stripes are on!

 

fender and tank sorta lined up

 

Dont be fooled those lines are the same size

 

got the 82 and circle on...never had any idea how hard a stencil would be to put on a curved surface...difficult is an understatement

 

Love the tank color - nice work

 

a copper bobber eh? nice paint.

 

front forks look awesome...so nice in person

 

Thanks for the compliments guys, I will try to keep the pictures more up to date

thanks again.

 

Nice colors, like the lettering style. 8)

 

Looks great! Did you do the tank with a rattle can or hit it with a gun?

 

Curious about that too. Is that a rattle can job? Mainly the forks. Those things look very sweet man. Makes me want to make a project out of mine. Did you bake it?

This may be a newbie question too, but I see the springs coming out of them and I also see the transition tube for air? Have a feeling it definitely is a noob question, but are they dual?

 

Thanks guys. The paint job was not a rattle can job it was the real deal my buddy has a decent setup in his garage so he helped me out a lot. The forks have a couple coats of black and then a few more of clear to really make them sharp looking.

 

BAD NEWS, the paint job looked great in the garage but when it got out in the sun light it had dull spots...so it went back to primer and has been repainted (which is bad but a little bit of good because we got to make the racing stripes fatter and the circle fatter too) Ill post some pics.

 

yeah so frame is done! brakes tires wheels complete for the most part.

 

tank w/ stencil still on before 2nd tank/fender paint attempt

side view

 

rear view same mock up, pre 2nd attempt fender/tank paint

 

Lookin' good.

 

Realll nice job so far, great job on the tins and the final drive paint as well, really sharp lookin.

I'll be following this one!

 

I like the stance, the handle bar is sweet!

 

Yeah Baby -- looks great!!

Wasn't that tank Copper?

 

That tank WAS copper but we had to redo it ...but im pleased with the outcome new pictures to follow shortly!

 

Back to copper and looking pretty damn good!

 

It do look NICE :wink: !!!

skillet

 

Looks sweet!

 

nice work, love the copper color!

 

The bike is together and it looks amazing, we tried to fire it up and....nothing.
We eventually got it to turn over once or twice...then nothing....

We decided it had to be the ignition coils, tested them one was dead...got those ordered and they arrived we got them on the bike and now....blump blump ...nothing (AAAAAAAH!!!!)

SO NOW WHAT? Plugs are good, spark from all fours ...frustrations have kicked into overdrive.....dont know what to do now...

 

Tight valves will make it hard to start. Also when you cleaned the carbs there is a tiny passage for the enrichment circuit wich is the choke. That needs to be cleaned well. I had a problem using a car ignition swith, took me days to figure out, but appearentley there is an override in the tci so that there has to be a seperate push button starter, can't use the start side of the key switch.