Rebuild

Hey guys I’m new on here and idk how/where to post. A few months ago I bought an 82 xj550 as a project. Did some work and got it to start and run, pretty surprising as I’m new to working on bikes. Basically I’m at the point where I need new parts and all that. So I’m starting with redoing the carbs, maybe a new head, and wiring. I took it apart and found a lot of cut wires and ones that were disconnected. Is it hard to redo all the electrical? Is a wiring harness all I need to replace everything? I also did an oil/filter change. Right now when it’s off and cold there is a little bubble on the sight glass, not sure if that’s how much it needs. I put new brake fluid in it (dot 3, not sure if that’s right). Put a new bar and levers because the original ones were super beat up from the people I bought it from. Sorry if I’m asking too much I’m just not sure which direction to head and what I need to do to have this thing ready for spring. Thanks all

 

do you have a workshop manual and wiring diagram for the bike,
i wouldnt think you would need a complete wiring harness for the bike , cant you just replace the cut wires with pieces of different coloured wires?
why the new head?
oil sight glass, yes correct, small bubble at the top of the sight glass, with the bike upright and level
Yamahas usually use DOT4, fluid (it should be stamped into the top of the fluid reservoir), although DOT3 wouldnt harm anything.

 

There's a wiring diagram here: http://www.lumien.se/stuff/xj550/

How many miles on the bike? Curious about the "new head" comment.

 

I bought two kits off of Amazon , for male and female plugs , and another with brass spade and blade type connectors , and the crimp tool , as I recall 50$ , the other thing keep your gauge of wire the same most is 14 gauge , and try to keep same colors, brown,black,red,blue,yellow, white, I just bought the lot of these wires off of eBay for 26$ enough wire to make a new harness if I needed to. Cheers

 

I didn’t really want to get a whole new harness but I SUCK with electrical/wiring on anything. I thought about just replacing the cut ones and didn’t think about looking at a wiring diagram so thank you for that lol. It sounds like the valves are bad so I thought I might as well replace the whole head because like I said I’m new to bikes so I don’t know how difficult it would be do to a valve job. Also it has about 30,xxx miles maybe? I’m unsure but I’ll look. Thanks guys

 

Do a compression test. Valve clearances, have a read at these, check and adjust where necessary before you decide to change the cylinder head.

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/airhead-valve-adjustment-with-pics.14827/

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/thre...tment-part-2-the-tool-vs-ziptie-w-pics.29209/

 

Wont let me directly reply to replies lol but I replied to everything further down

 

but you just did

 

My bad lol I’m new to this

 

Okay so colored 14 gauge wires, any way you could give me the list for all the connectors and that tool you mentioned?

 

What pressure should they be at

 

http://xj4ever.com/catalog/p-7.html

XJ550 engines:
Minimum: 100 psi
Standard: 121 psi
Maximum: 135 psi
Max. variance between lowest and highest: 14 psi

 

Yes will get you the kit numbers but I'm out of town right now.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18-GAUGE-W...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

 

here is the wire kit and below is the plug kit

 

Thank you!

 

Anyone know how to adjust the clutch. Yesterday I thought I’d take it out for a little test ride but the clutch didn’t disengage. This probably goes back to when I replaced the bar/levers. I made the mistake of letting my friend help me and not paying attention to what he was doing so I don’t know how he took the cable off and put it back on. I tried to do it myself but the only thing that happened was the bike stalling after I put it into gear. Any ideas?

 

Nevermind I’m an idiot, forgot the bike doesn’t go anywhere with the stand down, I fixed it.