Running 1982 XJ650 barn find

Just picked up a barn find. It's mostly original but with a handful of things to do on it. Front brakes are non-existent, still has an original fuse box, a few odds and ends missing (bolts odds and ends, nothing big), no battery, and the bike locks are mismatched/missing. Ignition is from "some other bike", gas cap has a picked lock, helmet/seat lock is just gone. The locking chain is still there. Seller let me listen to it run and shift through all the gears. Fired right up when jumped. I discretely felt the engine before to make sure it wasn't pre-warmed.

If anyone has a lock set (ignition/gascap/helmet-seat/chain with key) they want to sell, hit me up. Otherwise I'll head to Ebay.

Gas tank looks nice inside and just had one dent on it. Side covers are pretty eh... But still there. Anyone have any experience repainting them? Bike still has its original exhaust, with no holes.

Also this has no title, but it's never been titled in my state of PA. TO VERMONT I GO.

 

Some pictures, of course.

 

Doesn't look too bad. Miles?

 

I've refinished quite a few - not really any more difficult or easy than any other paint job. Are the side covers in good shape? Cracks? Missing tabs or pegs?

The three most important things for a good paint job are: 1. Prep. 2. Prep. 3. Prep.

 

About 18,500

I haven't had time to pull them off to look yet for damage. They look scuffed so the jury is out on what they look like underneath. Didn't notice any cracks though. I'm pretty happy with "present" so far. For painting, any recommendations on type of paint to get it looking nice? I imagine the job looks like 1. Remove badging. 2. sand to plastic. 3. Many layers of an appropriate paint. Step three is where I'm unsure. Specifically what paint to get.

 

18,500 miles that is nothing for an XJ.

 

Yeah I was pretty happy with that number. From what the seller said this is a legitimate, found in a barn, barn find. I was expecting a mess in the gas tank but it actually looks really clean. The seller said he spent some time getting it tuned and I believe it. When he started it up for me, 75-80 degrees out, engine cold, it fired to life without the choke and idled great.

 

Nice find. One thing you should do is change the fuse box if it is the original one. Better with a blade type fuse box, the original Yamaha ones the clips break. Most people here fit the blade fuse boxes.

 

Yeah, I've got one on my shelf from a parts bike I tore down, I'm not sure what condition it's in because I was drinking in the garage when I took it off. I'll take a look at it tomorrow and see if it's serviceable or if I need a new one.

 

A thread on the old fuse box here.

https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/your-fuse-box-a-ticking-bomb-by-rick-massey.2210/

 

That barn looks weird. No cows to be seen.

 

I legitimately got stuck behind a piece of farm equipment moving at 5 MPH, and passed a herd of cows sleeping in a field on my way to pick it up. That's rural Ohio for you.

 

That's a pandora's box. Of course it is one of those things where the sky is the limit.

Hopefully somebody has a good idea what to use as an affordable option to paint a couple side covers. (Tank too?)

Otherwise, you need to invest in a "system" like House of Kolor or PPG or something like that.

The exact process will vary a little by the paint system, but generally look something like:
Sand smooth (not necessarily to bare plastic)
Primer/Sand, repeat as needed until smooth (get to at least P600)
Basecoat
Clearcoat
Sand (P1000, P2000)
Buff

 

The side covers are largely all intact. The one has a crack that circles a portion of the clip portion. No posts are broken off. That crack can flex open. If I can find a suitable glue I should be able to fix that. Any recommendations from anyone? Otherwise I'll probably just go with a gel superglue



The fuse block I thought I might be able to use is intact, but looks like junk and is missing its cover. For what they cost I'm just going to procure a new one.

 

You can try gel super glue in the crack but later I would apply epoxy over the inside area of the crack . Before epoxy I would add strength by embedding paperclip parts into the plastic from the backside (heat to red hot and melt into plastic), spanning the crack in several places. Be careful of going too deep.

 

The panels look pretty good - certainly not beyond repair.

My methods are documented here:
https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/how-to-repair-plastic-side-covers.130812/

 

That repair guide is brilliant. I'm going to study that and make use of it on my 1996 Goldwing too.

 

Clean the ABS, use a soldering ron to melt it back together, or make an ABS slurrry with acetone and shavings from an ABS pipe fitting.

 

Stickied now.

 

I use enamel spray paint with rubbing alcohol prep. 4 coats of color and 3 coats of clear. Once it's dried a couple of days, sand with 1000, 2,000, 2,500, then rubbing compound, then polishing compound, wait a week and wax it.

 

I started cleaning the side covers, and it looks like what I took as severely scuffed to start might actually just be dirty. If that's the case I'll be over the moon. Cleaning I know I can do. Hopefully this coming week I'll have more time to spend on it. I've been working 70-80 hours a week pretty much since I got this home so I haven't had hardly any time to mess with it.

I did start poking around the front brakes, which I know need overhauled. So far I've identified a nearly flat sheared screw on the brake fluid reservoir. I'm tempted to just buy a new to me reservoir from ebay and go from there instead of futzing around with trying to extract it. When I removed the cover on the reservoir, I saw essentially no brake fluid in it. While it's possible that the guy simply didn't fill it, he otherwise seemed like a reasonably competent bike mechanic (not a professional or anything, but this doesn't have a lot of the standard "OH NO WHAT DID THE PO DO" issues). I'm guessing it has a leak somewhere. I still have a rebuilt and functional caliper that came off the original forks for my other XJ650 (upgraded to 750 forks/brakes). So I'll probably just bank on swapping that right over. I'll also replace the brake lines with braided stainless while I'm at it . The only suspect thing will be whatever front brake reservoir I get my hands on (likely ebay). That might need to be rebuilt but that's not a big deal.

Right now I'm just laying plans because I want to get my titling process underway before I spend a lot on parts. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to recover the title using a Vermont registration, but I'm not in any hurry and I can wait until that's farther along.

 

I saw Vermont cashed my check on Saturday morning at 2:45 AM (weird), but I don't have my registration yet so I'm not buying parts. Just making shopping carts.

In the meantime I washed and waxed the side panels to see how that would bring them around, and it sure did. I still have to reinforce the cracked portion of the one, but the other condition of these I can definitely live with.

 

Is that buggered up screw one that holds the cover on? Just drill the head off, remove the cover, and then use a bit of heat and vice-grips to back the screw out.

 

That's the one. Unfortunately the head is already gone and what's left is about flush with the reservoir. Before I buy a new cover I'll probably buy a fresh sharp drill bit and try to drill the remains out, but I'm less than optimistic.

 

Use a left-twist bit. Start with as small a hole as you can, then go up two sizes if possible. If the second bit dosen't back it out, then just keep drilling and retap for a larger screw, or use an insert. If you have to go that far it's really just an exercise in reducing waste, and not an economically sound repair.

 

Thanks for encouraging me to attempt the repair. I picked up some fresh bits and started drilling. I wasn't able to extract the screw ultimately, but I got up to 1/8" then broke out the tap and die kit I have but have never used. Retapped for M4 and when I place an order for the odds and ends I need I'll replace the screw then monitor for any sign of being loose, leaky, or a weak thread. I'll be able to use an OEM screw since they are M4 and it's essentially on center.

 

Got my Vermont registration today. Now that I know one way or another it's going back on the road I pulled the trigger on my shopping list. Various bolts and bits, Battery, braided steel brake lines and a matched set of locked bits on the way. Still need to order my rear brake shoes. I'll probably place that tonight. Any local opinions on any brands? I've seen Vesrah, EBC, and some ebay only name. I'm leaning towards EBC.

This isn't for the new XJ specifically, but I'll probably put it on anyway. I captured lightning in a bottle and found a legitimate NOS seat on Facebook marketplace for $50 a while back. I felt like I was robbing the guy.

 

Wow. What a deal. Hard to find a piece of junk seat for less than $100

 

Up late tonight and figured I had nothing better going on so I'm undertaking some baseline maintenance. Some small issues, but nothing I believe is insurmountable.
1) the gear oil is gross looking and it smells terrible. It's got some greens and blues hint to it, but it's likely original to the bike so I'm just going to change it and move on with my life. The smell is typical. I just hate the way gear oil smells. No metal shavings on the plug, and both plugs readily came loose. Appropriate amount of effort that is. I fought for a while with the plugs on my other XJ.

2) the crankcase oil is thin and smells like gas. Well phooey. So a few things to this. The gas cap doesn't seal. The lock was picked and it was destroyed, so there's no vacuum that can be pulled on the vapor space of the tank. That plays into the fact that I foolishly left it in reserve rather than on, which I believe takes the vacuum operation of the petcock out of the equation. Along with this, when I brought this bike home, there was gas in the tank. There no longer is. I understand that the float valves should seat, but I'm not doing them any favors here. I'm going to change the oil, recap the tank once it arrives in the next few days here, and see how things go. The oil sump sight glass is clean enough I can see level, so I'll fill it to the middle, add gas, then wait. I don't believe this bike was run with gas in the oil, so I'm willing to see how this plays out. There were no metal shavings on the drain plug.

3) the air filter smells like gas, but is mostly clean and debris free. I blew it out with the shop compressor and I'll let it be.

 

I've got a slightly junky 550 Seca seat I'll let go for $99.

 

So there was one "Gosh darn PO" thing on this bike. Someone at some point hooked up a set of air horns. They are zip tied to the frame and thankfully the harness isn't cut, so I should be able to put this back. They just ran power from the battery to a relay then tied in the contacts that would go to a horn to it. I even have a stock horn from an XJ650 on my shelf. But I've run into something odd. Does the horn on the 1981 XJ650 and the 1982 XJ650 mount differently? I'm looking at my 81 and I see a mounting tab behind the reflector that's below the tank mounting bumper that it's attached to. I can't see it at on the 82. I'll do some googling, but if anyone has a picture of their 1982 horn and mount, I'd take a look.