My Winter Plans (With Questions)

I have been an avid reader of much of this site since July of this year and a proud 1982 xj7850r owner since mid August. In that time I have put over 8000 km's on the odometer and now it is time for my winter work to begin.

The bike is in great general condition and after new tires really has no major issues of immediate concern. The po was a bike builder who applied a retro/metalflake paint job that will not need anything but wax and some elbow grease to perfect. Here is a list of what I plan to do over the winter:

-remove motor and replace camchain and guide/dampers
-check rings and bearings (replace if necessary)
-sandblast/clean entire motor and coat first with black then Nyalic
-polish all covers to a satin finish and coat with Nyalic
-clean and paint frame back to black (just touch ups and a topcoat)
-convert stock airbox to toolbox/storage
-add pod style filters
-drag bars installed turned down
-dual 4" headlights mounted in line with stock front signals (piaa 510's)
-add steering limiter so bars won't hit and wreck the paint
-tilt stock guages more forward and down to "lower" stance

Now that I've told everyone my plans and I have most of the parts I will be forced to supply some ambition and get to work.

First off, does anyone have any ideas regarding any of my plans? Opinions regarding any of these mods?

I live in the prairies but often ride into the mountains to find higher altitudes. Has anyone ever tried a dial-a-jet set up on an XJ. From what I understand you tune the bike lean and these auxiliary jets (tied in to the float bowls) can be dialed to richen up as needed but backed off when climbing high.

http://www.thunderproducts.com/dial_a_jet.htm

 

Nope, never have heard of Dial A Jet!!??
Let us know how they work out for you, I would think it would make things tooo complicated...... but who's to say.

Are you tearing into the engine because it's worn out?
If so are you really good with the wrench and understand these engines?
If no to the above questions, I'd think twice.

I understand you thinking on the pod air filters and there are some fab articles in this web site for doing that. So is that the reason for the Dial a Jet?

Sounds like it will be personalized real nice.

BTW, sorry I forgt to say welcome to the site.

Let us know how your doing in this project, pictures are always a plus.

Good Luck

 

Actually, I have a motorcycle mechanic locally who is into riding older UJM's. He just bought his first new bike this year and has been riding for thirty years. I will get him to do anything I am uncomfortable with and hopefully get the chance to watch and assist/annoy him during any teardown.

The dial-a-jets were a random discovery when browsing regarding high altitude riding. I have plans to take this bike everywhere once it is complete, and some mountain passes can reach 13,000 ft elevation. Just a curiousity but I thought for the price they may be better than a Dynojet setup for the adjustability.

Thank you for the welcome! I have been contemplating many new bike purchases, but keep on leaning towards so many of the characteristics of the XJ and the cheap insurance/initial cost leaves me room to browse the local cycle trader for other bikes to suit other purposes. Now I figure I might as well fix'r up and make it a bit of me as well.

I also forgot to mention I also have new clutch friction plates, brake pads, and a Stainless Brake Line/ Anti-dive Line kit as well on my task list.

Thanks again and regards, Darryl

 

Here's hoping you get all you want done this off season!

Hope the rewards are great next riding season.

 

If it runs good ... I'd scrap the plans to go for Pods.

I would.
You do as you please with your bike.

But, if all the guys who have switched over to Pods were issued Colored Shirts ... Red for sorry they did ... and Blue for satisfied with the result ... you'd need several Blue Shirts.

Boxes of Red ones!

 

I'm with Rick.... he's seen it all too often!!!



The really rich man is the man who learns from the mistakes of others!

 

I had questioned the pods myself but liked the idea of freeing up as much flow as possible to compensate for the changes in air density when in the mountains. Maybe this isn't such a big deal anyway but I like to plan things to death and do it right, once, and then just ride it!

I also liked the idea of the air box becoming some tool storage in case I do some sort of Cafe chop on the rear.

Any comments on the Dial-a-jet concept? I was thinking, with pods or without, that it would be interesting to combine this with a small digital stoichiometer on the handlebar and use to "tune" to your current environment instead of just an "at home" tune.

 

I looked-up "Dial-A-Jet". Looks like that might be one of the solutions to the "Pods-a-too-Lean" problems. I didn't know how they were going to fit an XJ-Bike with a 4-Pack of Hitachi's doing the breathing ... but, it's clear they are engineered to fit the Drain Screws for Fuel Supply ... a nice feature.

I guess with the added "Dialed-in" enrichment you can get from the Dial-a-Jet, it won't be too hard to add some extra fuel without having to play with the stock Jet arrangement.

 

Can't say I'm a big fan of the pods - seems to be too much hassle for very little improvement - though the Dial-a-jet might mitigate that some.

You might want to look into having parts powder coated rather than painted - especially the frame. Powder coating is much tougher than paint, and doesn't require a clear top-coat.

Instead of drag or 'clubman' bars, have you though of using the clip-on's that you can lower? Should solve the need for a steering limiter....

 

Give me 2 blue, please, one with a Yamaha logo, one Kawasaki.

 

Kevineleven is that an electrosport gauge on your bike? How was it to install? What warning light options did you hook up?

I had thought about clip ons, and have been revisiting it since mounting the drag bars inverted. I love the downturn feel and I can lay on the tank without affecting my controls or comfort much. As I am 6'4" this helps a lot with wind resistance and I think with a tank bag full of twinkies and fresh underwear that it should be quite comfortable on long trips.

How is the riding position with clip ons? Would there be enough room to install my factory switches/controls and grips? I do still want to be able to ride a bit "upright" when cruising through town. I have been known to put 900 kms on in a day and need to retain some riding comfort.

 

I just want to thank everyone here at XJBIKES.com yet again for the fabulous site that this has become, and give you a little update on the results of my winter so far. My plans have obviously been adjusted as this process has progressed, partially from my own decisions, and often from advice on this site.

My motor will hopefully be back together very soon with new rings, deglazed cylinders, new camchain and slides, freshly lapped valves, and all new gaskets. Everything else looked great and was within spec, so it looks like the PO did his oil changes and treated her right.

I installed a pair of DC1-1 Dyna coils into a flat panel covering in where the airbox used to be. I like the way it looks, and it creates a great storage space behind it. Hopefully the pod filters will clear the coils but until the motor is in I will have to keep the fingers crossed.




One choice that I made an exception on was the drag bars. I only liked them turned so they drooped down, and with my love for long trips, I opted to go to a Euro GP bar instead. In combination with the CRG Hindsight bar end mirrors I think that I will have the comfort and look that I was hoping for. I did manage to find a dual headlight set that I liked from Aztec8 (6" pair). It is almost identical dimensionally to a Triumph Speed Triple's lighting but quite a bit cheaper I'm sure. They seem to throw lots of light as both sides light at once on high or low beam.



I found some LED signals that I really liked the looks of. As a side benefit they have dual wiring with amber running lights for the front and red brake/amber signals for the rear, so they will definitely help to notify others of my intentions.



Now I just need the motor back in frame so I can start bolting on all the other parts. Thanks again to all who have helped me along the way, hopefully I can pay it forward in the times to come.



Best Regards
XJ750Guy

 

jdpesz and I went for a group ride this weekend with a bunch from PNWRiders.com. Mixed in with the sport bikes and our vintage metric cruisers was this Triumph.



As soon as I saw your picture, I thought of this Triumph.

 

I must admit that I even considered a Triumph Speed Triple flyscreen, but opted to go with a completely handbuilt custom instead. I actually spent about three more hours tonight working with metal, in an effort to fab up a windscreen/flyscreen that will suit the lights, as well as hide the stock Seca dash and all the wiring. This is not near as easy of a task as you would think, hopefully I can end up with a design that I like in the end. It looks like I'm ready for the next run with the welder so we will see soon.

I think that if I can capture some of the looks of the Triumph, and the reliability of a Yamaha, that I will have accomplished my goal, as I have always liked the Triumph style.

 

On the subject of Dial-a-Jets, I have them on my 1100 Shadow and they work great. I read where they are to take care of any lean conditions, by taking gas from the bottom of the floatbowls and injecting it directly into the intake when it's needed. So far no complaints!
I did some modifications to the bike (mufflers and air cleaner) so I needed to rejet the carbs. I decided to use the Dial-a-Jets instead of re-jetting and it seems to have helped. I read the plugs and they appear to be the correct color.
Now I re-jetted the carbs (got a kit cheap on Ebay) and installed new needles and jets according to the instructions. Now that it is running richer, I didn't think the Dial-a-Jets are needed, but I left them on anyway. They don't send any gas to the engine unless it's running lean, so it doesn't hurt to have them on. There is an adjusting dial on them, so they can be adjusted for more or less gas to be injected.
Now on a 4 cylinder engine like our XJs, I would think they should make a big difference aposed to a 2 cylinder V-twin.
If I could afford them, I would install them in my 750 Seca to see what difference they make, but that's on the back burner for now.
If you look up Dial-a-Jets, you see how they explain just how they are installed and how they work. I believe they were originally made for two cycle snowmobile engines, so they wouldn't run lean, thus burning a hole in the pistons. Since then, they started to make them for all types of engines to illiminate any lean conditions thru out the power band. I think I paid around $100 for mine when I bought them 6 years ago. I guess it's an option if you don't feel like re-jetting the carbs. PD