New owner old XJ

I'm the proud new owner of a 1981 XJ750 seca. Does this look like a $500.00 Bike to you? After expenses to get it home, new battery, paying someone else to rebuild the carbs, Kreem'ed tank, new fluids, I'm up to about $1,200.00 This is my first street bike and I love it! It's very finicky during cold starts. Is this typical?

 

Sick look, I'm glad there are still people around who go for that style!
I don't know what you mean by finicky, plus I'm a starter like yourself, but a half minute warm up with full choke is generally needed for my 82 Seca, and at least one 5s push of the starter and then that light throttle twist when you hear er slowly come alive.

 

My Seca was finicky with cold starts. Just like Mercury is saying, you find the correct combination of choke and throttle moves to gt her going. Best things to help correct this are good clean carbs, installing Dyan coils and iridium plugs. Great bike for $500. Really great! And worth every dime you have put into her.

 

nice looking 81 Seca I wish mine looked that good. Mine is also a little finicky on cold start. It needs full choke and a twist of the throttle. It is also cold blooded, takes a couple of minutes to warm up and a couple of miles to run smoothly. Yeah it is cranky but so much fun to ride.

 

Welcome and yes, they are a bit cold blooded. Beautiful score for $500. You'll pour some more into it before your done, be ready.

 

Getting these "Cold-Blooded" Bike's to start-up, dead cold, is a matter of having the Cold Start mechanism in top shape. The Enrichment Circuit is one of the most misunderstood items on the XJ-Series Bike's.

The Cold Start system MUST be well maintained. Once some component part becomes neglected you have to start leaning on the Start Button. Leaning on the Start Button and not having the Engine fire is your unwritten invitation to need to order thirty-five dollars worth of Rollers and Springs for your Starter Clutch.

Those 35-Bucks worth of Parts will run you close to 8-Hundred Dollars to install. Needing them installed has been cause for many a beloved bike to be parked curb-side with a For Sale sign on it and the two words that drop the asking price exponentially: "Needs Work!"

"Choke"

It ain't a Choke. The Fools who named it Choke ought to be shot. It's an Enrichment Valve.
"Valve" ... not a "Stopper."
You open and close it for as much as you need it.

I've seen Bike's with the Top Hat of the Valve Plunger at 45-Degree angles because the Owner didn't understand the mechanism and muscled the Plungers wide-open and then some. Muscling it don't need. Finesse is what's needed.

To Cold Start the most ornery XJ Bike here's all you need to do:
Have a charged-up Battery.
Have correct Float Height.
Have OPEN and UN-restricted flow of Fuel into the Starter Circuit's Siphon Tube reservoir. (Well)
Have Open and UN-restricted flow of Fuel through the Siphon Tube.
Have Clean Enrichment Valves with smooth and synchronous opening of the Valves provided by a rust-free Operating Rod with Valve Pull Forks synchronized to provide accurate opening and closing of the Valves without binding.
Well lubricated Valve Body Shafts moving within cleaned and shined Valve Shaft Body's.
A cleaned and well lubricated "Choke" Lever or Ring to be able to make the System work as designed.

The Correct Heat Range and Plug Gap on Quality Spark Plugs which are replaced at regular intervals.

You Hit the Start Button and Orchestrate the amount of Enrichment needed to have the Cold Engine start.
Then, reduce the Enrichment to allow the Bike to run with as little Enrichment as needed until the Cold Engine is stable enough to run on the Pilot Jets alone.

You have it all Dialed-in nice when you hit the Start Button and the Bike starts before you Bottom-out the switch!

 

Thanks for the advice Rick, but I'm afraid your way over my head. As time goes I'll be able to do more to the bike. This weekends project will be fork seals, front break calipers & anti-dive units. I'm sure you all will be a big help as I learn how to be a motorcycle mechanic.

 

Between Rick and Dan's Motorcycle Repair page (he's in our links), you can do anything on these machines!
Remember, every great journey begins with one step. You've taken your first, it's not time to run just yet but soon...

 

Nice bike! Kinda almost looks EXACTLY like mine. Too bad i thrashed my stock fairing in a laydown when i first got it. Like to see some more pictures when you get a chance. Looks like you got 4 into 1 pipes, I got 2 into 2 pipes with dual mufflers and i like the look of the dual pipe setup. Cold start-up? yeah we all know about that. My cold start-up issues were made worse by an ill firing spark plug that i neglected to notice for the better part of a year! To the XJ's credit it still ran pretty good for 3 and half cylinders. Modulating choke levels can be a tricky science when starting the bike, luckily i figured mine out without getting stranded. Although a couple of times i had to give up on it trying to start when either the battery died or i ran out of time before going to work. Good luck and keep riding!