XJ900 Rebuilt from boxes

Well. I'm very close to completion of my #71 XJ900

Lots of trauma along the way, and I know a few will be horrified by my transition to a none standard paint scheme from the US.
My Original XJ900 was from the UK and had the static fairing. I had to sell it to move here a (USA) and marry my American wife.. Although we did both go on a rally using it, to Wales, and had a very memorable time before it was sold.

When I saw this one in boxes, I had no Idea how rare they were, I had looked for one previously and wondered why I couldn't find any. So, as only 1,000 were shipped in.. plus whatever came from Canada, or was shipped from UK. So Harley Davidson were to blame lol Nothing over 700cc was allowed to be imported (OK correct me if I'm wrong)

So, from a box of bits..

I try and replicate the bike I had back in England..



And here she is



Just lacking a lot of clear-coat and some electrical work. otherwise I'm just so pleased everything went as well as it did. And I'm very thankful to a few members of this forum for input and advice.

Vid of her running

 

Awesome job, very jealous.

 

BRAVO!

 

Thanks guys Can't wait for the first ride, some electrics to finish and clearcoating to do first.

 

Nice job indeed......

 

I think it's been done all wrong.
Send it over to me and I'll set it right. No charge

 

but but but........

 

I don't knoooooow....in fairness the pic of the one you had across the pond isn't as clear but i still think this one might have that one beat. They're both good looking bikes.

Gary H.

 

Awesome bike, nice job

 

Nice job - I have an XJ900 that I bought in a box earmarked for resto next year. May have to call on your wisdom along the way!!

 

Holy cow that's awesome!

 

Hey pkay.. get some pictures up.

 

I had a bad time with my clutch
It kinda disintegrated. I think a stud broke and got tangled up with everything else. Result was a locked back wheel and some road rash.
Luckily, I was on a back road at the time. I was heading for the freeway, so it could have been much worse.

I replaced the clutch cover, which looked like it had been in an explosion, and put in a full clutch. Swilled out the chunks as best I could with a couple of oil changes.
Back running again now but seems a bit "boggy" top end. Not sure why.

Here she is finished.

 

Wow , I like the paint scheme, simple but effective. The Race Tech are to bright yellow though, but the whole thing looks awesome.

Did you drill your front rotors yourself? Long process? Big improvement of the braking power?

 

No, they were like that when I got them.. the originals tend to warp when they get too hot.
Having said that, these too seem to do a little shimmy when I brake hard. The last owner seemed to know what he was doing, rear shocks were racing shocks, the battery is a 200 dollar battery. He used to race it. It has pods too. Pretty tricky to dial in for the full bandwidth, but there is no airbox. Jets are about the max they go up to, fuel economy is about 33mpg and no reserve as the petcock was replaced with a spout and on off tap. I did a rebuild on the old one, but the seat was too bad and I gave up. Ordered a Suzuki GS1000 one. I'll post back if it works out. Also had rearsetts so all foot controls had to be redone. It doesn't look it, but it's a long way from what the PO had. Just got some rear footpegs from China 7 bucks shipped lol perfect fit too

 

I was lucky enough to find two complete 1983 XJ900s next to my place, and if I had enough room, I'd probably buy two other ones partially dismantled. But, thinking twice, it's probably a good thing I don't have enough room, because I don't have enough time for another project anyhow ! I have to concentrate on havin gthe red one running well, then i'll work on the yellow one.

 

Harley was to blame, but they didn't ban imports over 700ccs, they just had higher tariffs for them. That made a lot of bikes in the 700-1000 range unprofitable for import brands.

 

Yeah.. I hear ya.. stable is full here too.. Not sure what I like best. Putting them together or riding them haha. Another close to me. He wants 1100 for it. Has it listed as a "900 seca" so not much interest probably by the poor description. I see he just dropped it to 1,000 I'll give him a few months and wave 650 at him. Can't hurt. Looks a little more original than mine, but still with a 4 into 1
Please link to pics of your XJ900 I like to see what people have got. These are great bikes.

 

I was about to link to the pictures I put in the Hangout forum, but I think you found them and you put a message for me in the other forum !

The tank scoops on my red bike were a bit damaged, I had to fix them , now they are solid. I didn't inspect thoroughly the ones on the yellow bike but I expect some cracks there too.