Hello from new guy

Hello all I'm new to forums and Yamaha's so please bear with me. I have been riding and working on bikes for quite awhile and am looking forward to belong to this site. i'm planning to restore a 1981 XJ650 turbo 1 has anyone ever seen one of these not much info out there.

 

https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/highly-modded-650-seca.85760/

Check this out. @Simmy knows his stuff. Welcome to the forum.

 

Thanks I appreciate the help

 

Welcome to the forum, glad to have a new face, voice. That looks to be an aftermarket turbo set up of some sort. It is not a factory XJ650LJ so it will be an interesting project for sure. Did it come to you with any documentation? It doesn't look like much of the Yamaha factory turbo info will be of much help. Good luck and keep all us interested folks updated on what you find.
Other than "USA" where are you?

 

Thanks I'm from Massachusetts I bought the bike from the original owner he bought it from a local Yamaha dealer who was authorized from Yamaha to upgrade it as a turbo prototype he rode it for 738 miles and put it away said it was way to fast and was tired of getting speeding tickets my next move is to visit the dealer and see if anyone is still there that would remember modifying this bike. I Googled it as a 650 turbo prototype and only found one reference on a site Bike-urious. thanks for the interest i'm going to enjoy this forum.

 

Hey welcome to the forum @Jperg49.
You are correct, what you have is known as a "Turbo 1".
I have a brochure somewhere for one, I'll try and post it tomorrow.
This was a Maxim turbo you could buy from Yamaha.
There was discussion here previously about them, one came up for sale on eBay.
As far as I understand, most of the bike is stock 650 Maxim.
I'm not sure how collectible it will be today, the paint job and colours look ahem....very dated today.
There was even a matching helmet available, LOL.
The turbocharger, draw-through carb and all the plumbing could be adapted to any XJ, that is the valuable stuff here. Thinking 750 Seca with twin disc brakes!
If you do restore it to original you will not see another one.

https://www.bike-urious.com/factory-atp-kit-replica-1981-yamaha-turbo-1/

 

Thank you Simmy I was told you new your stuff they were obviously right. if you have the brochure that would be great. i would like to restore it. the actual original miles are 738 miles i think it still has the original oil.

 

[QUOTE="Jperg49, post: 674018, member: 34154i would like to restore it. the actual original miles are 738 miles i think it still has the original oil.[/QUOTE]

that’s awesome, might I suggest starting a thread for the restoration in Technical section. Let us in on your steps to seeing a rare piece of Yamaha history come back to glory.

 

Yes great idea it's going to be a couple of months before I get started need to finish up my 1953 triumph 6t blackbird first then I can devote all my time to the turbo 1 in the mean time I looking for the turbo boost gage bracket that was the only thing missing if I can find one if not I will have to make one it's winter so I have plenty of time in my workshop. as soon as I start I will start the thread .

 

Thanks Simmy that is awesome.

 

Wow i have been looking for info like this for the past year I may have to start this project earlier than I thought Thanks again.

 

Wow, that is super cool. You would definitely be the coolest kid on the block if you got that restored!

 

Good work Simmy. The seed has been planted.

 

@Jperg49 , Congrats on a very interesting save. Very cool.
@Simmy, Also very cool info. I was completely unaware and have been at least a little bit educated.

 

@Jperg49 Wow that is fantastic! I recall reading about those years ago and always wondered if any would pop up. That would be a full resto if I ever got one, super unique and in my mind worth the trouble. Congrats!

 

The more I look at it the more I like it.

The color scheme may be dated, but it is really growing on me. I'm almost tempted to paint up a set of side covers and tank in that paint scheme just for giggles.

Also, notice that the tank is smooth - it does NOT have the mounting brackets for the emblems. I'm wondering if Yamaha actually produced some 650 Maxim tanks without the emblem brackets or if they were "deleted" after the fact?

 

Thanks Guys still finding my way around the forum Special thanks to @Simmy, for all the info looking forward to posting my progress.

 

@Simmy found this on the internet thought you might find it interesting.

 

Another interesting detail is that the lower "tail" on the right side cover is painted.

 

Dan not sure what you mean i must be missing something

 

@Jperg49 - Below is a random photo from the internet with the little tail piece circled. You can see on this non-black bike that the lower "tail" of the right side cover is painted black. "Normal" is that any non-black bike had this lower "tail" painted black to make it visually disappear and look similar to the left hand side.

In general, if you see a non-black XJ650 Maxim with that lower tail painted the some color as the cover, it would be considered "incorrect". The TURBO I is then an exception to this rule, since the marketing material and the photos of the bike clearly show the right side panel to be the body color.

To me it is interesting because I'm wondering about how the TURBO I was produced.

Kind of sound like it was a kit with new tank, side covers, handlebars, mirrors, and turbo kit that showed up in a box and were installed by a dealer on a donor bike. If that's the case, then I'm still curious who did the paint/body on the body parts and assembled the kits?

I guess my question really boils down to this: Did the tank and side covers leave the factory in Japan like that, or did Yamaha USA have somebody modify and refinish the tank and covers to make the TURBO I kit?

At any rate, just a bit of curiosity on my part.

 

Dan from what I understand Yamaha provided a complete kit to certain dealers the kit contained the turbo setup tank and side covers the ones on my bike are not painted they are gray plastic I found the dealer who built my bike i'm going to pay a visit and see if there is anybody left who knows anything about this bike but I'm not optimistic. Thanks for the interest and pointing that out if I find any more info I'll post it.

 

Dan from what I understand Yamaha provided a complete kit to certain dealers the kit contained the turbo setup tank and side covers the ones on my bike are not painted they are gray plastic I found the dealer who built my bike i'm going to pay a visit and see if there is anybody left who knows anything about this bike but I'm not optimistic. Thanks for the interest and pointing that out if I find any more info I'll post it.

 

sorry for the double post still trying to get the hang of things.