New to xj, just got one 2

Hi. im new to motorcycles, but i am not new to small engines, and i have just received an 81(the bike info on the front, behind the light, says manufacture date is 80) 650. my grandfather bought it new, and it has been sitting for 9 years. and it only has 5800 something miles on it. he cant remember if it was an 80 or 81. but these past years have done the bike hard. I have been in the need of a hobby, so i asked if i could restore it. it seems like good condition, minus all the lights, signals (excluding the back right turn signal),and the tach and spedo have all been busted up. oh, the gas tank also got a similar hammer treatment, its gone. the tag expired in 1987. i want to restore the bike to riding condition, so he can do whatever. i have been searching for a website with plenty of info, and helpful people, because im going to need alot of help on this bike! i have a pic of it, more later though. any help with the bike, or finding parts, will help me out tremendously. also, how do i start working on this thing? so far, im going to clean it of all debri, and i was going to give all the rusty parts a wd-40 bath. is that a good start?

 

Clean, change oil, clean and flush fuel system, see if you can turn it over, if so then proceed (got to find out if the motor is still good first!); drain and flush brake system. After that check that the front fork seals are not leaking. New brake lines and brake master cylinder rebuild wouldn't be a bad idea either. If it won't run, you need to get the motor freed up. Pour a little Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders and try turning it over by hand a few times. If it won't, don't worry, let them set overnight with the oil and try again in the morrow. Give that a shot before you drop a bunch of dough into it. It's got to run to be worth the effort or you have to really want it badly. Let us know what you find!

 

Welcome silentmunky;
Maybe you could get a look at the title for the year, or give us the serial# and we can look up the year and model. I think you will find lots of people here very knowegdeable on the xj bikes, so getting info is not a problem.
A cleaning is a good way to get started, you can see things much better.
Ebay is a good source for parts, there are also some suppliers listed in the links section.
Get a service manual or the XJCD(also in the links section) A brand new 3 disk version is just about to be released, they say about months end. It has most all owners manuals, service manuals, lots of pics, tips, and tricks. I think it's a must have. It will also have a new parts cross-reference.
Until you get a tank, you'll need an auxillary fuel supply, you could use the tank from a riding mower or something similar.
Pull the carb bowls and see how much grud is in the carbs.
See if the motor will turn over, a little oil in the cylinders would help.
Pull the small round cover off the left side of the engine, and use the nut inside to turn engine. Caution!!! DO NOT use excessive force on this bolt if the motor does not move under moderate pressure. Or put it in gear and try to rock back and forth. If it turns, change the oil and filter, plugs, air filter, check spark plug wires. Be sure to install an inline fuel filter.
Well that should get you started. Not to be the bearer of bad news but you will more than likely have to pull the carbs and clean and install new kits. It's just one of those things.
Good luck

EDIT: robert I type to slow, you beat me to it.LOL

 

yeah, the carbs will be a pain. so what your saying is get the engine to turn over first, to see if the bike is worth it? sounds like a good plan. the carb bowls are the silver circualr caps on top right? the serial # is 104290, and their was a 4h7 in front of that. one of the boots for the spark plugs is broken, and there is no battery right now. the engine looks good, other than the usual things. like the boot, rusted exhaust(towards the end, not near the exhaust ports), and a squirell nest. luckily the squirels have vacated. the front brake is a disk, and the back is a drum. so you are suggesting rebuilding the back brake? the front looks ok, ill pull the caliper regardless of that though. and should i worry about the trans or that rubber connecting pice after the trans and before the back wheel? or should i just work on getting it to run first? thanks for the immediate responses, i dont think the project will be as hard with all of the help!

 

hey mate, good luck with the bike, i got my first xj a couple of months ago :wink:
cheers brenton

 

looks like you have an 1981 xj650h maxim.
As Robert and Richard have stated, start with the motor, and work your way out from there. Find a manual, or get the xjcd that's talked about on this site.
You can look up your bikes parts blow up online at Yamaha's web site: http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/myyam ... there.aspx

Good luck

 

Well, first I'd replace those squirrels... :wink:

 

Jazz, your just too funny! I love your posts.

 

hahah. i dont know if they would want to come back. ill have the most time working on it tomorrow, after i get off work. whats the the h for in xj650h? what year's and model's will parts match for this bike?

 

The H is for the year 1981. My 650J is an82, K would be 83.
The new version of the xjcd will be out soon. It's supposed to have a parts cross reference on it, I can't wait. To tell you which parts fit which bikes.

 

Silentmunky, 4H7 is an '81 H model like mine. Most parts from '81 to '83 will match up but get that XJCD for the parts matching data. Good luck.

 

cool, ill wait for the cd. whats the price? i drained the oil tonight, it was a blue color, not really noticble, could have also been the moon light. it drained quickly, not sludge in it either. im going to put deisel in it to clean it out further, is this reccomended? i pulled a bowl on one of the carbs, everything looked new, no rust, slight gas smell. didnt get the spark plugs off to check their condition. whats the voltage of the bike, 9 volt system 12? i need to know, because i dont have a battery, and if i do a test run soon, ill need a battery source. and should i open the side of the engine and hand turn it, like suggested above, before i do a test start? and i think the (baffles, or muffler?) i dont know the termanology for it, the last of the exhaust might be clogged, and it is rusted, so i might take that off before a test run to prevent blockage and backpressure.

 

Hey silentmunky you may want to go to this link I found it very helpful when I first got my XJ last summer.
http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/XJ650.htm

Also download this link of articles from a 1982 Cycle world named what's new for Eighty-two Yamaha. Lots of info on the XJ bikes. I sent these to Woot sometime back and he was came up huge and posted them on the web.

wootton.pointclark.net/Yamaha.pdf

Oh yeah you will need Acrobat Reader to view the articles but Acrobat Reader is a free down load.

 

wootton.pointclark.net/Yamaha.pdf

 

Silentmunky, do not use diesel to clean your engine if you intend upon starting it. I spun a few bearings doing just that on an '80 Bonneville. Bad juju. Use a good motor flush or just substitute a quantity of oil in your case with Marvel Mystery oil and flush it in 300 easy miles. You can take the case cover off of the left side of the bike to turn over the engine by hand with a 19mm wrench. Your machine is a 12 volt system and your battery should be a 12N12A-4A ('81 Maxim right?). As for removing your exhaust, I would advise against it. Your CV type carberators need the backpressure to work properly. If your system is clogged, you'll know about it when it is running. Check for equal pressure output at the exhaust muffler when running. Any other questions?

 

when i turn it over by hand on the inside, clockwise or counter? i have classe and work tomorrow, and i might have tornadoes tonight, so i should be close to turning it over wed's. thanks for the help robert. could i use something to jump the bike first, so i dont have to buy a battery i might not need. thanks for the quick help.

 

You would be turning the engine over in a counter-clockwise rotation. You can use a car battery to run the bike, just make sure your not running another vehicle on it at the same time, you might smoke your regulator! I would not "jump" a bike off of a car that was running. I would turn off the vehicle that you are jumping from, attach the battery jumpers, then fire up the car. I would reverse the process to remove them. Turn off the car, then remove the jumpers. Does that help? The point is to avoid monster spikes in amperage and voltage running into the bike. Attach the positive lines first, then the negative from the dead battery to the chassis of the vehicle providing the jump. In that exact order! Reason being is that a battery in a state of discharge may still be outgassing that fine flammable hydrogen gas and if you were to introduce a spark in it's proximity, BOOM! Attach the negative from the dead battery to the chassis of the jumping vehicle (can't say it enough). Good luck and use common sense with the jumper cables.

 

well, i wont need to worry about an explosion, i meant to post that it has no battery. haha. so that turns the fear factor down a bit. we are having bad weather right now, so i cant get to the bike. so im going to use this advice wensday. what would i need to do if i found anything rusting inside the engine, after i take that panel off? i know the oil was in decent condition when i emptied it, but oil can only last so long. i guess i wont know till i get it open.

 

Oil is used as a preservitive so no worries below the oil line. Rust under the timing reluctor cover would indicate the gasket was faulty (most bikes don't have this gasket and it is not necessary) and the air was humid. Really no big deal, clean off the rust and paint it. I sand blast all my rusted parts to remove the corrosion and paint within 30 minutes to prevent flash rust from getting into the metal again. One can always assume that at least one if not two cylinders will be open to the air by way of the exhaust system and an open valve or two. I would HIGHLY recommend that you pull the plugs and shoot a couple of cc's of oil into each cylinder before turning the motor over even by hand. There is a preservative oil fogger available from most good auto and marine supply stores that you would shoot in the spark plug hole to get the cylinders wet. Looks like you've time for a break so make the most of it. Make a plan of attack to checking out your machine and make sure you have the needed materials gathered. I would highly recommend you read up on Dan's repair webpage (http://www.dansmc.com/mc_repaircourse.htm) which can give you great insight on the various workings of the motor and how to troubleshoot them. Keep warm!

 

i pulled the spark plugs, they looked in good condition. i couldnt get the engine cover off, the left side. someone previous had done it, and stripped the phillips. should i drill these out? could i easliy find some temps so i can get the engine to turn over? or would that be a bad idea? so far so good. no major signs of trouble, once i get it open ill know what to do.

 

I would try to grind the heads off the screws with a dremel or cut off wheel, whatever you might have. Being careful not to mar the cover. Then slide the cover off. There should be enough of the screw left sticking out that you can use a pair of vise-grips to remove the screws.
I replaced my screws with hex head stainless steel bolts. Size M6x20mm.
Right off I don't remember the thread pitch, but you'll have an old one to compare them to.
Good luck.

 

I would try to slot the screw heads first and try to get them with a regular type screwdriver head. Then I would hit them with a reverse twist drill bits (Snap-On and Sears have these). Grinding the head off would be the last effort to remove them in my book. Don't worry about getting new ones right away, the motor will turn without this cover. Heck, you could even ride without it (but I would recommend against it). Have at!

 

ill work on it tomorrow, and illget the dremel, and camera. thanks guys. inform you tomorrow

 

i got the cover off today, 3 of the 4 bolts came off easy. through ingenuity with a drill and a hex wrench, i got that last one out. i got some pics of what it looks like without the cover. and you said to turn it counter-clockwise. it showed considerable resistance to be moved, i have not sprayed any oil in the cylinders through the spark plugs. i will do that next tuesday, i have spring break, and with that time i want to get the bike going by the end of my break. i still havnt added any oil since i drained it. i need to do that and clean it out. if there is rust inside the engine, can i still get it to turn over for a bit, to make sure i can get it to run? and how hard would things get if there is rust inside on the piston heads?







5583 miles. sorry for the huge pics.

 

Don't worry about large pics, they show detail that can be very important. Yikes! Fog some oil in the cylinders and keep working on turning it by hand. You can turn it clockwise as well but you want to turn counterclockwise to line up TDC. The rust that the reluctor is showing isn't all that bad. I would simply sand and paint it. I'll bet there is a little on the backside as well. The rest of your pickup assembly looks to be in good physical shape. Need a new set of gauges? I have a set but I'm still not unpacked. Perhaps later... You have a fine project there Munky, you'll shine it up in no time.

 

my little camera can go into some major detail, and yeah, both guages are broken out like that. i only have one complete turn signal, everything else is trashed. get back to me about those guages later though! so far everything looks great, nothing is in bad shape at all, althought i have no gas tank, and the exhaust is rusting and scaling badly, underneath. ill get an oil fogger tomorrow, ill go during break at work. also, i have one line that goes to the carbs near where the gas tank should be, is that my gas line?