XJ650RJ Project

Well, this XJ650RJ followed me home. Since they were 1982 only here in the states you don't see too many of them around, so I thought it would be a fun project.

Needs a good amount of work, so I'm going to go for pretty much a full restore as time and budget allows. I figure 2 or 3 years.

PO said that the PPO destroyed the tank, so there is currently a Maxim tank on it.

It has been sitting for 9-10 years. I pulled the carb rack and cleaned them up and bit and it ran, so at least it's a runner.

 

Got the front brake calipers off. Managed to get the pistons out - one took some patience and a consistent application of air pressure, but eventually it popped out. As an extra bonus, I didn't lose any fingers in the process. There was some pretty nasty goo in the lines that must have been brake fluid at some point. Going to need full master cylinder and caliper rebuild and new lines - but that may be a while until we get to that stage of the project!!

First question for the group: The calipers don't seem like they've been painted, but the ends of the "ribs" are black. Did the calipers originally have the exposed/polished ribs, or were they all black?

 

Pretty sure they were black, my RJ came stock from original owner and is all black.

 

A fun machine to ride! Going into my second season with my xj650 rj it has a nice layout that suits me; foot pegs back bars low and short. Nice powerband handles well with new tires. You have a great ride in the making , good luck with the refresh!

 

you can sand the paint off of the ribs to expose the aluminim

 

650 maxims had exposed aluminum lines, 650 secas were black

 

Having trouble thinking of a name for this bike, so for now it's "Jane Doe". I have a funny feeling that name will probably stick.

It is now torn down to basically a frame, engine, front and rear wheels, and the airbox.

Not too many surprises (so far). First surprise hack job was hidden in the headlight bucket. The clutch switch was bypassed:


The next surprise (really just a mystery) is some booger welds on the frame - below the exhaust but above the crash bars. If I didn't know better, I would think somebody welded on some DIY highway bars, but I have no real idea what would have been welded here or why:


Four valve lash measurements were out of spec. I had one needed shim on hand, 3 more on the way to bring all of them into spec. Removing the cover over the pickup coil to turn the engine by hand was no easy task. Who knows when the last valve lash check was done??

Exhaust collector seems pretty good. A little rusty but salvageable. The chrome bits look pretty good. The down pipes need to be re-chromed. Would also like to get the muffler cans re-chromed if possible.

I was able to find a trashy (read: affordable) right side cover on eBay and repair it. The left side cover that came with the bike also had a crack and needed repair. Both are now ready for primer.

 

May be welded some holes in the frame

 

That’s a possibility I guess. I kind of hope that is not the case. Couldn’t bode well for the rest of the frame if it was holy way up there!

 

Grind it off and see what’s under there

 

Good news. It looks like clean frame underneath.

 

Now the bad news...

The bike is comepletely torn down now. I inspected the frame. Most of it looks pretty good. Except for one crack sort of by the side stand.

Does anybody know if this is common and/or have any advice? I'm thinking I'm going to find a metal shop that can do the repair.

 

Yeah, that happens.............water accumulates in the down tube, I believe there is a weep hole down there somewhere but it gets plugged up and then that's the result. Unfortunately that bend is a high-stress point and any weakening of the metal there results in a crack......and it's not easy to fix properly. Others will chime in on how they have handled it.

 

Dan, a lot of people cut a section of good frame from a junk frame and weld it in. Send me a text message with a little bit bigger pic so I can see right where that is.... I think I can cut a section off of a dead rj frame for you

 

Dave is the world's greatest un-sung hero!

 

Yes, indeed!!

 

I would add layer of slightly larger diameter tubing (same wall thickness) over the bottom of that rusty tube, extend the overlap maybe 1.5" on either side of the crack for 3" total. I would be wary of cutting out a piece of the frame, alignment would be my concern, and unless you sleeve the tubes you still only have a butt weld for strength. To get the brake pistons out (more safely) next time use a grease gun, grease will push the pistons out and not pop them out due to high pressure build up. Or soak them in 50% acetone and 50% auto transmission fluid.
Cheers, 50gary

 

Agree, grease is the safe way to go.

frame... if a patch is made from the correct part then it’s straightforward... I know some people have made the hole, the weld supports/overlaps on the inside, the v- and weld carefully fitted replacement pieces on. Goood welding skills are obviously essential.

 

That’s why I outsource a project like this

 

Post-electrolysis power wash.

 

Looks rust free. Was the whole frame dunked at once?

 

Hi @Huntchuks. No, I was not able to dunk the entire frame in one shot.

I have a 55 gallon storage tote thing from the Home Depot - big rectangular box. It's big, but it's not THAT big.

I just kind of moved the frame every day when I cleaned the anodes for about 10 days to try to get as much as I could.

You can kind of see this little section forward from the rear tank mount that never really got dunked, so I will have to media blast all of that:

 

How did your dunked tank turn out?

 

Here is the tank I cooked earlier. You can tell how bad the exterior finish was by how much of it came off in the tank.

 

Nice, how about a picture of your vat/anodes setup.

 

Here’s the big tank:


This is a smaller 17 gallon model


Old school power supply


New school power supply:

 

Nice setup.

 

Here’s the current anode collection I’m using


Progression of anode stock I’ve used. Some of the first on the left. The stuff on the right is next.

 

Those calipers look exactly like mine and mine are original.

 

Calipers look period correct.

 

XJ650RJ Seca calipers are black all over, ribs and all. Other models from this era had the tops of the ribs polished to a bright finish.

 

It doesn’t seem like any silver RJs in the US had the rear “YAMAHA” sticker on the tail cover, even though it shows up on parts fiche.

Has anyone ever seen an example of a silver US RJ with the Yamaha emblem on the back?

this is @hogfiddles RJ collection and it doesn’t look like any of them have the emblem on the tail:

 

This is @David Gaunt 's Aussie version, it does have the tail emblem:

 

But I think I do have some tails that have it on...... actually, I think my nice silver project that has become a nice red project had the emblem on it. I’ll hafta look back

 

I have a silver 82 that I bought from the original owner and it has the Yamaha sticker on the tail.

 

But how many of them have an original State Farm Insurance decal on them?

 

The State Farm sticker is a very rare option. Total unobtainium

 

Dave has at least one, maybe more........

 

Dang it... I thought hid that.

 

Funny that you should ask. My 750 has that sticker under the seat on the crossmember over the fender.

 

You could create a Non Fungible Token for it, auction it at Sotheby's, and retire rich........

 

Got some high build sprayed on Jane’s body panels today.

found a sticker, but it’s the wrong size, so the search continues

 

I looked thru.... I can’t find my yamaha sticker on any of them yet..... one more place to look

 

I think the US RJ rear YAMAHA emblem might be more rare than the State Farm sticker

 

Your frame section should arrive this today if it’s not already there.....

 

@hogfiddles - it was waiting when I got home last night. Many thanks. Now I just need to find someone willing and able to do the work!!

 

One of my 900s has a rare sticker...

 

When you do, let me know how it turns out, I've got a project 900 with a frame crack by the kickstand. Maybe that's why it had that sticker on the back....

 

Wouldn't it be cracked on both sides