81 xj550 project

Glad you had a good vacation! Pleasure to meet you, talk bikes awhile and go for a ride. That was pretty fun redlining the 700 so much!! Lol

 

Yeah, a lot of fun. The streets up there are just beautiful. I took the bike out a few times during my stay and put about 400 miles on it. Wanted to cruise but my bike just wanted to go fast. I tried to redzone mine as well but didn't manage. Got close to 100 mph in second gear with plenty of room left. Bike is a monster.

 

Bike is coming out great! What top triple tree are you using? I got a 81 xj550 seca and want to do clip one. But need a smooth top tree. Thanks keep it up!

 

Thanks. Check one of the previous pages, it is in there somewhere. someone had the same question.

 

Ok will do thanks

 

Not sure what diameter your forks are. Make sure it's the same. Mine are 36.
There is also a thread by a member here somewhere who simply cut off the part that usually holds the handlebar.

 

Yeah just did some research mine are 35. So I'll just take it off and grind it down. Thanks

 

Brake is back on, still needs fluid though.
I also shortened the speedo cable by 6 inches.
Next up is installing the clutch cable which I have to lubricate first. I was going to replace the clutch plates but decided to leave it for now and see how it shifts first. Need to order a chain tool this week and install chain. Haven't checked yet but assume the manual gives me more info about installation length wise? Or should I just look at the old chain and cut it to the exact same length? How do you guys do it?

 

Hoping this will help make the clutch cable slide a little smoother...
(And before I hear it: it will be removed before I put it on the bike )

 

IT'S ALIVE.
not sure how many years have passed since the bike ran but it fired right up.
Yay!!
Dave, bike idles as smooth as a new bike. Brilliant job on the carbs. I am totally happy, but still have stuff to do before I can take it for a spin.

 

Yeah BUDDYY!!!!!!! Always an exciting moment the second they come back to life

 

Very true.
Smoked like crazy but that's ok.
I'll put a chain on next week and take it around the block. This should clear it up. But maybe I should go to DMV first and make it street legal.

 

Uh---yeah..... This IS New York. Lol

 

Well thinking about it, you're downstate----- up here you'd probably have no problem

 

Finally started to look into seat again.
Originally I wanted a hump kind of style but I never really liked that style anyway.
I was just playing around when I saw the tail of the recently purchased KZ650. And I love it. It needs some cutting, fiberglass in etc but it suits the bike perfectly.
Here a pic of the original fairing..


I cut almost an inch out and put it back together..




Before I continue with this one, I have to fiberglass a smoother transition to tank. It's done but is drying at the moment.
More to come.

The only "problem" is that I now wish the frame hoop was bent upwards. It is sticking out. Since I don't want to start cutting the frame again, I will just fiberglass it and put my tail light in that area. Difficult to explain but see below.

 

In case anyone wants to know what it looked like with hump, for ideas etc, here it is. I actually shaved off the top a little more after the pic was taken.
I used plumbing/sealer foam (comes in spray can) which is easy to shape with a knife after it is dry

 

Depending on how I like the finished product, I might cut off 2 inches in back and make it less "pointy". But so far I like it.

 

Finally managed to go to DMV today. Yay.

Bleeder kit and chain tool are on their way as well and should be here before weekend. Fiberglass process is slow but I take my time and do it bit by bit. And my long workdays don't help either.

Any good links about putting on a chain and brake bleeding for dummies would be appreciated.

 

Sloooow progress.
I put the chain on this morning and fixed my foot pegs. They were kind of "hanging". Turned out I only needed a wider bolt.
The brake and clutch foot lever went on as well. All that's left now is to fill up the front brake, figure out my shorty brake lever, finish the tail and finally hook up the tank. Still waiting for the fuel line to arrive.

I have been taking my time with my new tail fairing. A lot of fiberglassing but it is getting there. Once done, the paint job will set me back 400 bucks but it will be worth it. Also found someone to custom make a seat for me.

I think I will take the bike around the block today. Fingers crossed.

 

The seat will be where that wood thing is at the moment.



Work in progress...

 

Turns out that kawasaki kz650 side covers are an almost fit for the bike. Some cutting and maybe fiberglassing should do the trick.
It's a shame I have to ruin the pieces, but oh well, it's for a good cause

 

It'd be a little slower, but why not pull a mould from the Kawi covers and make some shiny new ones? You could modify the mould and end up with covers that don't have any repairs from being cut to fit.

 

Thought about it but too late

Sanded tail, comes out better than expected. Still minor things to fix.

 

Finished seat attachment. The tongue will slide into gap under tank mount and keep it from going sideways. Two bolts in the rear hold the entire seat down. I was lucky that i didnt even have to bend anything and the seat is not moving at all. Yay
The seat I am about to order will bolt right onto my fiberglass seat pan. No issues with clearance underneath as I raised everything anyway.
Today I am going to just clean up a bit. Sand everything down and hit it with a layer of fiberglass resin where needed. That's mostly the area that will be covered by the seat anyway, but I would still know it's there if I didn't do it.

 

My seat dimensions. As long as my butt doesn't grow bigger, I should be fine. Seating position at the moment is pretty good and enough room. I won't be able to slide back though. But it's not my sport bike, so it'll be ok.

 

Built brackets for rear turn signals. Not super pretty but good enough for now and mostly hidden anyway, especially once they are painted black.

 

Just got an update pic from the paint job guy. Yay..

 

Got a question:
First time I fired up the bike it idled smoothly.
Last weekend I started her up again on stand to shift through gears.
After that, it idled very high.
Since it was fine the first time, I am thinking that maybe it has something to do with the clutch/gears? I did remove the clutch cable but maybe something got stuck or did not shift back correctly? I have not replaced the clutch plates yet.
Is that a possibility?
I even removed throttle cable to make sure it doesn't keep the butterflies open.

 

My new plate came in today

 

Update pic from paint guy. primer is on. Also got word that my custom seat is done and was shipped today.

 

He's still fixing the small scuffs that the primer made visible.

 

seat pan came out great! can't wait to see it on the bike.

 

Tail light and turns

 

Seat came in

 

Your suspicion is not at all likely.
The first time you had it running did you let it get up to operating temp? How about the second time?

 

Thanks for replying. I opened a separate thread for this where all of it points to not yet having carbs synced.

Both times it only ran for like 5 mins, so from a warm up point of view there is no difference.

 

Getting there...

 

what exhaust/mufflers are those?

 

Not sure, they were on bike when I got it.
I always thought they were original, I guess not.

 

There should be stampings on the underside, or backside of the mufflers to tell you who made them.

 

Slick! I like it.

Gary H.

 

A shame that the pics show the bike in too yellow. It's actually more towards slight orange and better looking in person. The first pic shows the real color pretty close.

And a tip for future: always have all part painted at same time with same paint mix. There is a slight difference in shades which, unfortunately, is noticeable. But the painter, who used to build bikes, loves my bike and agreed to repaint if I want.

 

Finally finished moving and can begin to focus on my bike(s) again. The KZ650s as well as the Honda CB750 are sold and I finally have some room in my garage again.
I dropped off the tail for a repaint. It appears as if the color was right but not enough layers were put on.
I am going to change my current vacuum petcock to a gravity one and finally managed to contact Len for some final parts, like shorter clutch able as well as a new throttle cable.

While I am waiting on the above mentioned parts, I think I am going to tear down my other project bike and start the clean up process there. I hope it is less involved as I am not doing any mods there. Just back to original. It's a 85 Kawa GPZ550. Cool bike.

 

Nice build dude, it looks great!! I'm in the process of figuring out the frame layout for my build and I was wondering if you had any advice for me. I want to chop the back and weld on a hoop, did you purchase yours or make it? Do you have any more pics of where you cut your frame? I have a pretty good idea of where I want to cut mine but want to be sure before I start chopping!