Brand new to the XJ world

Hey guys, so i finally got my dad to agree to let me fix up his old bike hes had sitting around for probably 10 years. Its a 1982 yamaha xj 750 maxim with under 7k on the bike. This is my first motorcycle and first project bike. I have ridden dirtbikes all my life so i know the basic bike maintenance. After reading around on this site I realized how helpful you all are and Ill take what I can get.

Just had the time to pull it out of the shed today and clean in up, it cleaned up pretty nicely!

So knowing this is a 30+ year old bike I realize there are saftey measures and such that I definitely need to take care of. With it sitting so long it currently does not run but with being in such good shape and low mile for the age its definitely worth a shot. I know I will have to clean and soak the carbs, dump the old gas out, new break lines , flush and replace all the fluids. I was wondering what else i should take care of while im at it, like known problems or things I should replace due to age. I work 50 hr weeks so this will be my after work and weekend project and hopefully can get it up and riding soon.

Also with this bike being 30 plus years old it looks a little dated to me. I would like to customize it or just add a few of my own little touches to make it look a little nicer while keeping the cost as low as possible. The main things I was hoping to do were replace the handle bars with drag bars or zbars (anyone know where to get a cheap pair that they have had success with?). Hopefully replace the front square headlight to a round. (is the wiring easy could i just get a round one from a different bike that would fit into the rectangle mounting bracket?) The speedometer and tachometer since its so big and bulky. (any cheaper digital combination or again smaller simpler ones of different bikes that would be easy to wire and mount). and lastly the huge bulky seat ( i would like to keep it a 2 seater so i was wondering if theres a place i could get an aftermarket seat or if anyone knows a take off seat from a different bike that would fit decently with out too much modification to mount. I dont mind putting in work but im not a welder or anything.

All suggestions, tips, and constructive criticism is very welcomed. I understand im brand new to this and most likely will have a lot of questions. I appreciate all the help and patients. Thanks guys!

 

Leave it stock. Get it ready to ride by doing all of the maintianance that has been lfet undone. Ride it and enjoy. Too many of these are getting customized; that one is nice enough to be treated as a classic restoation.

 

keep it original. Of course it looks dated........it looks like an excellent starting place for an early 80's XJ. Just like all the rest of ours.

Dave Fox

 

Thanks guys I appreciate the input, thats what I was debating to keep it original since it is in pretty good condition for its age. At the same time I did want to make some changes just to fit my style and liking more. If im going to be the one to ride it I might as well enjoy how it looks. Maybe ill just wait till its fully rideable and give it some time and see how i like it. Anything else im forgetting that i should do to the bike to ensure safe riding due to the age and time it sat?

 

Short list:
Valve clearances
Carbs, cleaned, rubbers replaced, wet set floats, bench sync, running sync, colortune
Brakes, front - complete rebuild including MC, lines, calipers, pads
Brakes, rear - new shoes, lubrication
Change oil
Change final drive oil
change air filter
new tires
rebuild petcock
de-rust tank
new plugs
new battery

 

looks clean idk about dated, just dont follow my example and start a build thread and take the whole thing apart.

 

Food for thought. When I was young i never imagined that anyone would want to put any money into a 1983 GMC truck. It was just an old truck and didn't look very cool. To my eye the last good looking GMC was built in '65.

So I bought a 1983 GMC in '92, and took pretty good care of it even though it was a work truck. I sold it last year at a profit, even when adjusted for inflation. While that particular outcome may never occur for an XJ, it will never happen to non-stock XJ.

 

First tip: DO NOT "soak" the carbs unless you plan to break the rack and replace the throttle shaft seals. This may not be immediately necessary but if you dip the carbs you'll force the issue.

 

Thank you all for the help and tips, I really appreciate it!

sorry for the lack and late responses, ive read all the comments and gotten to work on the bike in my spare time between working 50 hours and trying to have a life.

Here's a quick update:

carbs cleaned and rebuilt
all new fluids throughout the bike
breaks redone including break line
new fork seals and fluid
new battery
new tires

my dads friend has been working on bikes for years and helped me with all of this and ins convinced for the most part shes safe and good to go!

mind you this bike has just a hair over 6k on it!

I know there will be more down the road but as of now its running good and the main safety precautions have been taken and changed.

Ive decided atleast for now to keep the bike mainly stock except for one thing. I really just cant move past the ugly 2 piece handlebars and really want to change these out. Ive seen teddytedteds post on how to do it the easy way. I

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=3 ... +bars+easy.

I have decided on buying a cheap 7/8 daytona styled handlebars from jcwhitney (anybody have any comments, good or bad?) and understand that these should work with the given length of all the control cables. I would like to do the same thing but having trouble finding 82 virago bar clamps. What other bar clamps could I use or would some universal 7/8 bar clamps/ risers work?

Any links to some products would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks again for all the help and patience, this forum is awesome!

 

81-83 Seca 750 clamps will bolt right up, as will the Seca 650 clamps. I'm not sure about the bars clearing the stem nut though. I haven't done the swap.

 

X2. That's in nice original condition. (I would leave mine stock if it was in as good a condition as yours. As it is, I'm NOT changing it much.)