FZ600 Resto - the hotrod XJ

The threads should be the same. Things like that are pretty-well standardized. Neither Honda or Yamaha make shocks; they buy them from outside suppliers (often the same one).

 

try this link.


This racing clip brought to you by Yamaha. This is awesome footage from UK of classic racing. Its fantastic to see all those XJ powered racers lined up. 98% of the field are FZ600's with the odd GPZ550, FJ600 in the mix. Watch the start of the video, at the 5:04 mark you can see all the FZ's blasting past an FJ1100, hilarious!
That Mike the Spike Edwards is a fast old man. If he can go that fast on an FZ600 I guess the old bike excuse won't work for being slow! Especially when he blasts past 30 bikes identical to his.

 

Well, that looks like a hell of a lot of fun. Maybe an FZ or FZR is in my future.. nothing too big though, I'll get into trouble.

 

You are awesome. I have everything I need for that.

 

I bought what was left of the parts bike which recently donated its carbs to my project.
This FZ got sacrificed for its swing arm which went to an RZ350. Its a common upgrade to the RZs as their swingarm is steel plus it widens the rear rim.
I actually wanted it for the gas tank which came with it.
It has inner surface rust but no perforations that I can see. I was told to try vinegar, anyone else do this?

These front ends are an awesome mod to a 650 or 750 Seca. It drops your front end about 1". Its 16 x 2.5" so you need to mate it with a wider rear rim, using the maxim 16 x 3.0 lowers the rear about 3/4" so it works out real well. Unless you're dragging parts on your seca on corners now then probably no problem, it will obviously drag your footpegs sooner. Might be good for anyone shorter in stature plus it looks really cool, actually uses the same 2 rim sizes as a 1986 Kawasaki ZX1000R Ninja. Slips right into the seca triple trees.

This bike was running just 5 months ago. Has a really good motor with about 58,000 kms and also came with the TCI and electrics.
I have the airbox, speedo and some more body work.

 

Actually I was incorrect, the 1st 1000 Ninja had a 3.50" rear with a 16-150/80 tire.

 

For the gas tank: Any acid will clean it, but only phosphoric acid will passify the steel and rust. On a tank without any holes, using phosphoric acid is a one-and-done deal; no fogging oil or liner needed (though big flakes of rust still need to be broken free and flushed out of the tank).

 

thanks k-moe, I see they sell this at Home Depot. The paint on the tank is reasonable with minimal scuffs and dents, I sure hope it works out. I've never been a fan of chemical tank liners as I've seen the mess when/if they separate from the shell.

 

I'm surprised you lot could understand any of that 'Yorkshire Drawl'.. I'd never heard of Croft circuit - sure looks bleak but as we say here 'It's grim up north..'

 

You can see in the pics the cush-drive rubbers from my spare rear wheel. There is a lot worn away.
The rubbers in my other wheel were a little better but still allowed the wheel to rock back and forth about 1/4" on the hub.
New replacements are expensive but they really restore the ride on chain drive bikes.
Much more positive shifting and easier on your gearbox, chain and sprockets.
I found a seller on e-bay who had 6 of them at a reasonable price so I bought them all and re-did both rear wheels I have.
Also replaced the bearings and seals in my spare wheel, now I'm ready to spin the 2008 (or 1998?) Pirelli Strada up in smoke!
The DOT number ends in 208, I think that means manufactured in the 20th week of the 8th year of the present decade, am I reading that right?
Anyway it looks old and slippery.

 

20th week, 1998

Only three digits would be 1998, they changed to four after 2000

 

Whoa! Definitely not fit for anything but a burnout or 2 LOL
Thanks for clarifying that.

 

I reassembled the swing arm, rear wheel and brakes. In the suspension department I just lubricated everything and put the same shock back in. Nothing was sloppy in the linkage.
The rear brake was working great so I just replaced the fluid and mounted a new SS line.
The wheel has new bearings, seals and cush rubbers.
Planning to order a Pirelli Sport Demon in 18-120/80 OEM size.

Nothing has more patina on the street than a beat up Kerker from the 80's!


My restored Yamaha box. The lid still snaps tight. I was able to just stretch enough wire out of the harness to reach all the terminals as a PO had cut the main red wire shorter.

 

The carbholders have visible cracks in them so I bought replacements. Replacing big rubber parts always helps. There was a recent post here someone I think glued the gasket on one side and put something removable on the other side, seemed like a good idea.


2 rights and 2 lefts.

#1 and 4 look to be the best shade of tan. The inside 2 are sootier. All irrelevant as they'll be running with a completely new bank of carbs.
That would be the 3rd set of carbs on these plugs. LOL maybe I'll get it some new ones. I traded sparkplug caps from the wreck I bought last week as the 4 I had on it were not a matched set- 2 needed the bobbin on the plug and 2 snapped onto the threads. It didn't seem to make a difference as the motor red lined smoothly.
The wreck had what looked to be a new set so I put them on.
I looked at the serial number on my spares bike and it is 11 newer than mine. Practically twins LOL.

 

I've taken the FZ600 as far as I planned for the moment. I changed the main fairing piece for another that had no cracks. The FZR400 windshield fit pretty good. I used more of the roll of green vinyl to do the trim around the windscreen.
Mounted Pirelli Sport Demons in the OEM sizes 100/90-16 and 120/80-18. After lubricating the rear suspension linkage the bike handles like a sharpened scalpel. Previously It was riding on a Sakura front tire and a rear in 120/90 profile, and with some frozen suspension links it felt really off on corners. I talked to a guy who rebuilds rear shocks at the last bike show and considered building one with a stiffer spring and putting stiffer fork springs in the forks. Cartridge emulators are still available. I might consider all this stuff if I ever plan some track days but for now on the street it handles really awesome.
Wheel bearings are all new and with new cush drive rubbers it feels tight.


I'm 6-2 and probably look like a dog humping a football on this thing. I actually prefer riding without the fairing lowers because they do get in the way of my knees. I have a full set of plastic without cracks I plan to put on but they're the 86 graphics, these are good for now.

 

The OEM windshield is blacked out further up so you don't see under the instruments. I left more of the windshield clear and now you can see the back side of the clocks, it looks more like a racer now. Shiny new windshield really makes a difference.

 

after riding it back to back with my 911 Seca you really miss the big bore grunt. Between 7-9,000 rpm I'd match this FZ up against any 600, the long stroke of these things really cranks there. Under 5,000 rpm no one is home. This thing would never pull a chair LOL.
I have another fuel tank I plan to clean up and put to service, this one is not leaking at the moment but the repair looks like shite. In all my refurbishing I didn't dab it with any paint, This is a rider not a show queen.

 

Man I bet you are the toast of that town!

 

I am in lust.

 

That sidecar rig looks just as clean and mean as it did a few years ago at the Paris swap meet. Will you be going again this year?

 

Thanks guys, and yes Maxim-X I'll be at the show in June, we usually camp on the infield of the horse track. I'll be there with both these bikes, look me up. Yes the sidecar still shiny as ever. After reading posts from guys bringing neglected stuff back to show quality bikes I feel like I cheated with my sidecar as I started with a showroom 650RJ with only 6,000 kms on it.
My Turbo project I've recently started will be a challenge but I just lucked out, bought most of the cosmetics fr0m an RJ with only 13,000 kms on it, thanks to the café craze. The XJ650RJ with its 9" headlight, twin instruments, low rise bars, tank and seat has the quintessential look of a café racer, I don't understand why guys decide to modify that???
I've been reading up on the turbo, really digging what can be done with them, really stoked about this one.

 

I will be attending in June also. I will keep an eye out for you.

 

Likewise, I know what your Seca550 looks like.

 

I'll be there as well!

 

This week I rode the FZ for about 100 kms out in the countryside and everything was running perfect. Redlined it a few times.
So perfect I decided to ride it to work the next day.
My ride to work is half expressway 5 lanes wide at times. On this morning there was a jam merging on to the big highway.
The FZ started stumbling and lost all power after about 5 minutes of rush hour stop and go.
I was dead in the water on a freaken rush hour expressway ramp.
It started but was still running rough so I rev'd it as high as I could and merged back into traffic.
It cleared itself then accelerated fine then quit again right at the start of some road construction where 3 lanes were squeezed into about 2-1/2.
There were temporary concrete barriers about 1 foot from the paint marking the edge of the road.
I swear I had to lean my shoulders in when big trucks went by.
I started it again and managed to get to the next exit, I was so happy to be off the highway that I didn't care if I had to blow the motor getting there.
When I returned with the trailer an hour later it started and ran perfectly. I parked it with some optimism for the rest of the week.
Today I replaced the coils with a spare set I still had but still running like shite.
As luck would have it I sold my spare TCI about 3 weeks ago. Would have been nice to eliminate that.
Still runs like crap, all 4 pipes are hot, plugs are tan, all 4 running like crap.
I need to return to basics here, starting with a compression test I think.
I'm down to about the last litre of gas in the tank so the next easy thing I'm going to try is fresh gas.
Probably should have tried that before changing out the coils.



When I took the tank off this time the nipple connecting the fuel line to the petcock came loose.
There is a tiny groove inside must be for a tiny o ring. I wasn't about to wait a week for one if there is.
I had a spare petcock still on a spare tank. I mounted it with the same rubber gasket to the tank as the replacement was dry and crusty.
I got lucky as the spare petcock worked like a charm.
If only I could diagnose the shitting running.

 

Were you low on fuel? Switched to reserve?

 

My first thought, too......

 

Glad you got through the ordeal ok.
Construction, freeway, dead bike . . . Less than ideal.

 

Fuel cap vent plugged, causing a fluid lock?

 

Yesterday I could not get this thing running right, different coils, new plugs, petcock on prime.
Topped up the tank today and it runs great.
I might be the biggest idiot here, it was just starving for fuel.
It was on reserve but on this bike you're not able to run the last of the gas out.
Bonehead award, I accept!

 

Doh!

 

Mutch better that than needing to do more work.

 

Oh you don't know how happy I am. Much better to be a bonehead with a working bike than a frustrated troubleshooter loosing sleep. I was just testing you guys, everyone pointed to fuel starvation one way or another.
We sometimes overlook the obvious after we've had them all apart, so easy to 2nd guess myself.

 

Nooooo way, eh!!!!!!!!!

 

Canadian, eh?

 

In the RCAF, that's referred to as the Rubber Mallet Award

I know Ontario traffic. Scary bunch. Glad you made it okay and were able to solve the issue.

 

It is a section of the 401, better known as the "Indy 401".
The speed limit is posted at 100 kph, if you actually drive that speed you better have a ramp on the back of your car.

 

I was on the 407 a couple of years ago. Pretty much 120-140kph most of the way. Next to no traffic that morning. Got a bill for $77 about a month later! (automated toll setup on that express road)

 

Over the last year the FZ developed a gas leak through the petcock and through the float valves.
Not surprising as I tried to make some old carb parts work by polishing them with a q-tip in my drill.
It worked for a while. The petcock was another used item I had on hand, slapped it into service and it worked, for a while.
I replaced the fuel pipe O-rings and throttle shaft seals, did everything but skimped on the float valves, Scottish heritage.
Yesterday I devoted another day to the FZ resurrection, planned to replace the float valves and rebuild the petcock.
I drained all the contaminated oil from the motor, recently #1 intake valve must have been sitting closed because the intake tract was completely flooded with gas, I blew it out with compressed air.
I pulled the carbs apart and installed the brand new float valves, noticed the dry setting was close to the manual (20mm) and proceeded to the wet set.
I ran out of Sunday trying to get these things to seal, very frustrating. I even tweaked them all higher with about 22 mm dry set hoping to put more pressure on the valves. After the 4th wet set attempt I gave up.
I think they are K&L, made in Japan. I'm going to pull them back out just to make sure there isn't a piece of crud preventing one of the o-rings from sealing around the outside.
Never did get to the petcock.

 

I'm with you, Simmy. Isn't it amazing what a little time does to the important bits? I always seem to forget, thinking that my XJ should startup like the proverbial Toyota Camry. But then a carb float sticks open, or a petcock hose starts leaking while lifting the tank for a minor carb adjustment, and I have to go cut a new length of hose to install.

The carb stuff seems straightforward, but there are definitely nuances that make me scratch my head.

My last carb rebuild has lasted me 10 years, and I even remember using <gasp> petroleum jelly on the throttle seals, so I'm due for a complete overhaul. I can feel it in reduced performance.

 

I took all 4 float valves back out and inspected the o-rings and the holes they each slide into.
I can't get this any more perfect so I've eliminated this as the issue.
I prepared everything for wet setting. With the carbs still dry I opened each drain site tube
and then filled them up. I could easily see all of them shut off except #2, pic below.
So next thing I'm going to do is inspect #2 float itself. It has to be catching up on the hinge or against the bowl somehow.
I have 8 spares so I'm going to replace the float anyway.
These old bikes are not for the impatient.

 

I don't know about that-- I think my FZX Fazer 700 would be.....

 

Same pistons as an XJ700X so I guess we can accept that one to

 

Basically the same engine

 

I finally got #2 to stop overflowing. Actually changed the float from a spare carb and still found it overfilling.
Drained it empty and tapped it during the next fill and finally got to stop. Wet set measurements were all pretty close, good to go. The nice thing about the FZ is the airbox goes on after mounting the carbs.
Felt so good about this I gave it a new oil filler cap from one of my spare engines.
Now on to the petcock rebuild. I have other bikes to winterize and this thing was sure a pita.

 

I have 2 petcocks. The 1st pic is the one that was just on the bike and it was leaking.
The body where the small o-ring for the diaphragm needs to seal is buggered,
I tried to capture this in the pic but it's not clear, aluminum is smeared in a gob, someone tried fixing it, unsuccessfully


This pic is the original one which came with the bike. you can see it is much nicer.
I replaced it because the nipple attaching the fuel came out of the body.
I stuck it back together for mounting the tank but it eventually leaked.
I swapped it with the spare above.





The elbow nipple has a very tight fit into the body. The groove looks like it might hold an o-ring but the fit is really tight.
I think you would have a difficult time squeezing an o-ring there the fit is so tight.
I think it is meant to press together with just close tolerance.
Anyone know?
I'm thinking if I just smear the connection with something it will hold it.
The petcock is perfect except for this.

 

Without anything to hold it captive, oring or not, it would have to be just a press/interference fit. At least that's my thoughts on it

 

Agreed, I need to smear it with some thing that will stand up to gasoline. Fill the groove. What though?

 

Would some tank sealant work? They sell this stuff at parts stores in a tube like TV silicone that's supposed to seal against fuel. Have heard mixed reviews though

 

I have some but it might be too thick to work.
As long as it remains in the groove it might work