New guy to the forum

Howdy! Just acquired an '82 XJ650 for my next project and seeing as how I've only done Hondas so far, I figured this would be a great place to hook up for some help along the way.

The bike is about 60% complete as it sits right now. The PO had some high ambitions and no ability... lol Yeah he's a friend of mine, but... He needed cash and I knew what was there, so I had no problem forking over $150 for it.

Plans are to hard tail it with about a 4" stretch (depending on how hard it is to find one of the elusive XJ700 cross joints) with a Vstar 1100 drive shaft. the front end will have a girder of some sort. I've got my trees machined already, but that's as far as I've gotten. Haven't decided on a tank yet. I really like the look of the stock tank, but I've seen a number of bikes with a sporty tank on em and really like that as well. We'll see what happens.

At any rate, I'm sure I'll have some dumb ass questions along the line here somewhere.

Attached a couple pics of some of my last few builds.

 

Wow, those are pretty nice! Welcome to XJ's.

 

nice bikes, think i seen you over at TCU, not sure what cross joints are but i'm parting out a xj 700 x

 

CBnutt, Thanks. Y

Yeah I've been over on TCU for a few years now.

I'm looking for the yoke, universal joint, cross-joint.... Between the output shaft and the drive shaft. It's part #37 on the fiche.

 

Suppose I could've posted up a pic of the XJ.... Here's my starting point.

It's a runner. At least it was 2yrs ago, before the "attempt" was made. lol

 

You've done some nice work, be sure to post some pics as the build progresses.

 

Welcome.

 

nice work!

cant wait to see what you do with the xj!

 

Well, here we go...

got it stripped down over the weekend and repaired the broken exhaust manifold stud. Wound up oversizing it to 8mm and I'll just turn a new stud at work with an 8mm thread on one end and 6mm on the other.

Started doing some measuring for the girder front end and got it roughly mocked up for ride height on the back. going to sit a little higher than I'd like, but I want to keep the center stand on it. Already have the solo seat from another one of my builds and I'll be fabbing up a set of bars eventually. Haven't decided if I want to go with a taller set or a dragbar style. Too many decisions!!!

 

i got a cross joint as long as one from a 85 xj 700 Maxim x will work

 

That's what i'm needing. What's it gonna cost me to talk you out of it?

 

whats it worth

 

The last few I saw on ebay went for between $15 and $25. Your call I guess.

 

$20 plus shipping

 

Sounds good to me.

 

A quick word of advice; we've seen a whole lot of folks end up disappointed or really pissed off:

Before you sink untold hours into building this bike, have you at least run a compression test on the motor? I'd hate to see you join the ranks of those that've spent hundreds of hours on a "build" only to discover that the motor made 120lbs in 3 cylinders but only 60 in one.

Just making sure you know whether it's a viable mill or not before you get too far. You don't want to discover after the fact that the bike won't run.

 

Yes sir...the engine is in good shape. Helped the guy I got it from check it out before HE bought it. Bike only has about 10K on it. All by the proverbial little old guy that only drove it on Sundays. lol Actually I think he was only in his 50's, but he was the only owner. Had maint. receipts and the whole 9 yards. I took it for a spin and it ran like a raped ape.

 

Well, I got my broken stud issue resolved. Now to come up with the driveline parts so I can get some measurements and get going on the hardtail.

Wound up opening up the stud hole to accept an 8mm stud, then made a stud that was 8mm on one end and 6mm on the other. gonna work like a champ!

 

Well, I've gotten to my stopping point for the moment. Frame is all tacked together. Waiting for my buddy to get some free time, so he can TIG it up solid for me. Wound up sticking the with the stock yoke and drive shaft and just lengthening it with a CNC turned sleeve. He'll be TIG'ing that as well. .002" slip fit for the shaft ends should be balanced pretty well I would think.

 

As you are going with an open shaft.
Make sure you add a mounting braket to the left side for the final drive assembly. To keep it from turning under accelleration.

You also need something on the right side for the brake plate to keep it from turning under braking.

Ghost