After 31 Years...........It's Over!

We had been together for 31 years. I was always faithful and for the most part we got along well. It's not her, it's me. I've been wanting something more exciting in my life and now I have it.

I recently hooked up with a much younger partner. Very sexy, exciting and fast!

She's a 2008 FZ1. 2,873 kms on her clock. Barely broke in! She came wearing a Granite Grey outfit. I made her change. I put her in a retro outfit and now she looks wonderful!

The old girl, the 550 Seca is moving on as well. She has been promised to a 19 year old boy................. my son!

The Seca has been giving me some grief this year. #3 cylinder is not firing at idle. Swapped plugs and coils, not ignition. 120 lbs compression on #1-3 and 105 on #4. I'm back to looking at the carb. I did pull them once and went through the idle jet and idle mixture screw but found nothing. I'll check the float level and spray the idle circuit with cleaner even better. Any other thoughts?

The New Girl



The Pair



My son and I. He's actually getting excited about getting his bike licence. We just have to get it running properly.

 

nothing wrong with trading in the old ride for one with less miles

This is also the part where you take the seca apart, and your son learns...

 

Gorgeous bike man,

Good to see you're keeping the SECA in the family, I'm sure that you'll get that XJ working properly again in no time.

 

Yee-Ha !
be careful

 

Check the pilot circuit, bet its plugged. I am working through a similar problem. The pilot circuit was plugged. And the previous owner had a K&N filter in it and it just runs too lean now. Getting a paper filter this week to get it back to where it should be.

To clean my pilot circuit, I have an entire set of jobber drill bits. The .043 was the one I used to manually run through the circuit under the pilot jet.

 

Compression on #4 sounds really low ... but I don't know the correct numbers.

You replaced the plugs and coils, but did you test or replace the plug wires? Does it fire when you are above idle? If so, does it fire every time or just occasionally? What do the plugs look like? White? Black? Tan? Especially on #3.
If it has been running lean for a while, hope you haven't weakened/holed a piston ...

 

Congrats RangerG! It's amazing how much those two bikes look like brothers, if you painted the Seca's front fender to match it would be uncanny!

Enjoy your new ride, and do work into it's amazing power band slowly at first. I've been through the whole "Holy $#@! this bike has way more power than my old one and how the hell did I end up at what! 120mph!!!!"

That Seca will definitely need some TLC now, it's feeling out of sorts and now it has to compete for your affection. Your son should get to learn a lot.

 

Fantastic! May you both enjoy the ride and the YICS be with you!

 

+1

 

nice looking.

personally I don't like the red fender, gold wheels or gold tubes. Maybe JUST the red fender would work for me.

 

Congrats, That's one sexy new lady Ranger you two try not to have to much fun!!!

 

The passing of the torch.

I too, am passing my 1981 550 Seca down to my oldest son, in favor of my "newer ride" my 1983 Seca 550.

The new bike looks way cool in its new livery. I would eventually paint the fender white and stripe it, though.

Check the valve clearances on the Seca; and when you have the carbs apart, pull and clean the emulsion tubes AND the pilot jets; and replace the o-rings on the outsides of the float valve seats. You might also have a wonky float, be sure to check the levels.

Tell your kid if he crashes the Seca I will ride out there and beat whatever's left of him. If my kid wrecks mine you can do the same (please.)

Just kidding. I can't think of a more civilized-handling bike to begin on. Just put a piece of tape over the tach at around 6500 and tell him he has to always see the needle. (My plan.)

The new bike is sharp. Is it more comfortable?

 

One other item worthy of note:

Your new bike is a direct descendant of your Seca. That's an XJ motor under there somewhere.

 

I'm thinking white for the front guard of the FZ....that.'s just me though! Feel free to ignore me!

 

Nice looking bikes! But isn't there a law in the universe that you are not allowed to get rid of an xj?

 

I like the color scheme !

Since you know which carb is faulty (after diagnosing the ignition again, you should swap 1/4 for 2/3 and run it as a test) Take that 1 carb body down to a shop that has an Ultrasonic Cleaner with the chemicals that won't eat the throttle shaft seals, and $40.00 later you're back in business.

 

The FZ1 is a good choice. I'd also go with a white front fender with red stripe. Kind of like this naked your-a-peein' version here.

 

That fairing on the seca is sexy and the FZ is tits.
+1 on painting the front fender white or even black.

 

Can you and Fitz part with you 550's? I recall a couple of years ago a member who owned the most beautiful FJ600. It was like brand new. He let his stepson ride it...... and it was a write off. Something to do with being forced off the road by a drunk driver. The stepson was ok....until the owner found out the truth (No drunk driver.........)

 

Sick new ride and awesome you're keeping the xj in the family!

I too am in favor of a white fender

 

My son says I should chrome the front fender! :lol: Haven't had time to look at the Seca but I did get a trip in with the FZ. The old bike still rates pretty high as far as comfort. The FZ puts more weight and pressure on the arms.

The five valve engine in the FZ is a development of the Maxim X engine as far as I can see. Still a lot of XJ DNA present.

The Retro kit is a tribute to Yamaha's 50 years in Moto GP. The 2012 R1, R6 and Canadian FZ 8 all have very similar paint schemes (including red front fenders).

 

These aren't stepsons. (You can't kill stepsons.)

He's my kid. If he wrecks the XJ I'll wait until he gets out of IC and then kill him.

In my case, and I suspect in Ranger's; the kid still lives here. So the XJ lives in the same garage.

Plus, my "other bike" is my '83 550 Seca. And the Norton, and a 650 Seca yet to be roadworthy.

I'll be happy if he doesn't hurt himself. I have plenty of spare parts.

 

Those bikes look awsome together. Bikes are like people, they having some company. For what it is worth, a white fender would be a nice touch. Happy biking.