Newbie with first XJ750

Hello everyone.
I have been a motorcycle rider for 38 years and have owned just about every kind of bike made and have run the gammit from the suicide machine Kawasaki 750 2 stroke in my insane young days to Harleys and sport touer bikes. Well being the BIG guy I am I haven't had a crotch rocket due to the tank and my gut wanting to be in the same place.
Well with the need for a around town cruiser and weekend play toy I started looking around for a project and I found an 83 XJ750 with 15,500 miles on it in nice shape.
Worked out a trade for a couple items and a little cash which works out to about $750 for the bike.
It does have a few items which need attention, to be expected, but she road the 60 miles home without a hickup.
My plan is to bob it after I have all the mechanical items shaken out.
To do list before customination;

1. When starting the bike cold if you let the rpms drop and motor die it wont start unless you put a tiny bit of gas in the ait cleaner or let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Once it's warmed upat all starts right up with a tap of the bbutton.

2. Real bad center notch in stearing so need tapered bearings.

3. Valve cover oil leak.

4. Not much stopping power in front brakes.

5. No glass in tach. Tach works great just no glass.

Other than that she seams to be quite solid and fun to ride.Then I will start the bobber projects with forward controls, bobbed fender, side mount license plate mount, flat black the whole bike, wrap the 4 into exhaust.

Well I look forward to the fellowship here.
Dano

 

Heres a pic

 

With the color of those pipes i would be inclined to think it is running lean . You may need some carb rejetting with thay pipe !!

 

OR the valves have never been touched and all of the exhaust valves are tight...

(Can't adjust the carbs until the valves are in spec anyway.)

 

I got the original pipes with the bike and was thinking about putting them back on. The 4 into 1 has only been on the bike for 500 miles acording to the previous owner. I know people love the sound of the header that's on there and yes it barks big time but I would like a little quieter note which I am asuming the stock pipes would have.

I am going to have to get set up to set valves and adjust the carbs. From the little bit of reading I have done I guess I will need a special tool to remove shims and a set of shims. A tool to block the equalisation tube of the carbs. and what is this color plug I have seen listed?

 

Colortune, i believe is the animal.

re: valve shim tool, I think some use a folded ziptie ( or equivalent ) to hold the valve open, to remove a shim. Some seem to like it better.

I believe hogfiddles runs a shim pool, so you can swap out what you need / don't need.

 

Yes Colortune. Is it different than reading your plugs for burn?

So with the ship pool, do you need to pull everything after checking clearances and send them off to get them swapped out and just leave the bike down or can you get a set of shims sent to you then do the work and send back?

Thanks 8)

 

Not sure, hopefully someone knowledgeable can chime in.

Not sure on the shim pool either, PM HogFiddles and he should set you straight.

heh, i'm just full of help =).

 

If you pm HogFiddles, I'm sure he would be more than happy to discuss options with you. When I swapped shims with him, he allowed me to send a deposit for the shims I was trading and once I swapped out the ones he gave me and mailed him my shims he returned the deposit immediately.

Like I said though, I'm sure he would be happy to discuss it with you.