Project Night Mare ... 80 XJ650 Maxim Cafe Build

Well my names Shawn , and I am owner/operator of Raw Elegance Customs in East central MN. I am usually the one people bring their bike to for custom paint and grafix...I figured it was about time I build my own. :twisted: took me a while to find what I wanted in a donor bike , I decided to go with our beloved XJ platform because its rarely chosen for a cafe build , and I have always liked the lines of'em.
Anyways I eventually found one that was priced right , to justify ripping it apart . Its a 1980 XJ 650 , 17000 on the clock , and a cracked head (complete with JB Weld attempted fix :roll: ) I also chose this bike because I have many parts left over from customer builds (mostly chops and bobs) like tanks and forks and fenders and such. Heres what I got going so far......

Po's Craigslist pic...

getting started

harness is out...

Before tail hoop fabed out of a scrap luggage rack...

after...

donor bump stop....

and this is my stop point for today , long way to go but a solid start.( 8hrs.)
Does anyone here with electrical skills want to build me a simplified harness, willing to hire . I can chop, fab , mold , and weld like a mofo , but wiring is my Achilles heel....lol. or a nudge in the right direction to get one made . Just want the bare minimum to start ,run, and be legal . ( Headlight , brakelight and turns .) Thanks for looking...
-Shawn

 

Do a "search" simplified wiring diagram. There is a good one floating around here somewhere. GOOD LUCK with your build! You might have already thought of this, changing over to a Seca rear tire (they're larger) will give you a better stance for a cafe style...

skillet
btw don't feel like the Lone Ranger when it comes to wiring!!!

 

Don't know if this will help but I saved it a while back with fantasies of something like where I think you're headed. One of these days . . . Good luck. Keep posting.
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... tml#339443
Scroll down a little for the "minimum wiring diagram".

 

I can do this for you, possibly. I prefer keeping it original so that if anything ever wanted to be put back on it can be. If you want it done so its more bare bones, I can, but there are 2 ways I go about this. One is using the factory plugs so the things you are plugging in still plug right into the harness, the downside being you still have bloody big plugs to deal with but a bit thinner harness. The second option, I put in some new plugs, small ones, but then you have to switch out the plugs on everything you plan to wire in to fit.

As well, if you want bare bones, I can do that without a wiring diagram but I need the ENTIRE electrical so I can trace it myself. I need the gauges, the ignition box, the relays, everything the harness plugs into. The exception being for switches and coils (generally anything with only 2 leads I don't need), but the 2 leads for them should be taped together and labelled for each for reference.

Now this probably isn't the case for this bike, but if this bike doesn't have the ignition box (CDI box? EFI? I can't remember the acronym for it) and is self sustaining without a bunch of wiring, and has a mechanical speedo (and tach if you want it) you can just take a piece of string and wrap it through the frame where the harness goes, measure it and give me that if all you need are lights because lights are easy to wire up and all that would have to be done is put it into the bike and crimp a few connections for the switches and power. But this only works if it already has a very simple harness. If it has an electronic tach, and has a bunch of wiring for engine operation, this won't work. My buddy had a Yamaha Enduro or something, and its harness was pretty much just lights (none of the lights worked though), so I made him one that was pretty generic. I doubt you could get away with that on this bike though.

Also I work at my own pace, and I am fairly busy until mid April, so you probably wouldn't have it back until end of April, beginning of May. That would be my deals, and I would need some compensation, I take money or bike parts as payment.

 

nero... Thanks for the offer may take you up on this but gona take a wack at it first... seems pretty strait forward. and I know what you mean about free time...3 kids , wife and a full time job besides the shop....

About the rim idea ... might just do the rear to front conversion , useing 2 seca rears. thanks for the link it really made things easier to understand. Diagram in the factory manual is a mess.
-Shawn

 

Yeah definitely try it out. Its really not that bad once you get into it and find a good system, get a rhythm going. The one thing I suggest though, try it out when you have lots of time, enough time to do it all at once. I am fine setting it down and coming back days later an picking up where I left off, but I know lots of people have a hard time taking short breaks even, its easier if they stay working on it and keep their head focused on it from start to finish. And there is nothing worse then taking a break, coming back and thinking, "What was I doing?" cause then you really are SOL, because what follows is trying to figure out what you were doing, not doing what you were doing and making a rats nest! Haha! I have seen lots of botched electrical jobs on many different things, its astounding what kind of mayhem people can accomplish with wiring and 95% of the time it comes from trying to do it in more then one session and most people don't think in a way that is wiring friendly and those 2 things do not mix well.

 

Well I got a few goodies in the mail this weekend , and I had the weekend off work so I got started.
Head and gasket set arrived first so I started there....

Doing a complete topend build.
Next I got the new fuse box upgrade , and I splt the harness to find the POs botched mess....


Next the tail arived , off a 74 xs650 but a little work and a prayer to the XJ godds and it should work out fine.

Heres where I ended up, rebuilding the head is about done, wiring is complete , and the motor is out for a cleaning and prep for paint, and I mean to fit the seat this week, as well as fabbing up a mock oil tank to house the gizzmos....all in all a good weekend. :wink:

 

more more more

 

Where did you get that sweet fuse box?

 

How do the cyls look. I am gathering that it overheated thats how the head cracked. If it did i would check everything really good. For an air cooled motor to crack a head has to get really hot. If that was the case more then likely the rings lost tension and bores might be oval. Hopefully everything is ok would hate to put all the time and money in a bike that is gonna smoke like a 2 stroke

 

Googled the fuse block number and found out it is $12.67 on amazon.com should get one and redo mine.
Buss 15600-06-20 or Bussmann BP/15600-06-20 Quick Connect Fuse Block
Real cool project thanks for the pictures

 

Just be aware that the box pictured is a common bus input type & would require a loom rework to function properly, stock wiring is one in one out. (each fuse has a separate power supply from a different source, the pictured box has one power supply only for all it's outputs)

 

Sorry guys been crazy busy last 2 weeks....
cutlass79500...First thing I checked after the head was removed...all good think I dodged a bullet there.
chuckm505.... Actually I got it at my local Napa auto parts for 7.00 .
750E-II_29Rbloke...You are correct sir . I have planed a complete re-wire, to simplify things a bit.
Well managged to get in the garage for a bit this past weekend and got the seat support bars welded in , the faux-oil tank cut out of an old Semi exhaust tip I had that was the ideal size , next is the battery mounting plate and oil-tank caps t cut out and weld togather , fab some
verious mounting tabs and blast the frame for powder-coating....


If anyone has a 18" seca rear they want to sell let me know....
Thanks for looking
-Shawn

 

Updates are necessary in order for me to be happy about this thread!

 

looking good so far man!!