1982 XJ1100, finally found one

Yes, after looking for a long time I finally got my hands on one. It even has a title, and for me that is almost shocking. Really nice guy from the Milwaukee WI area (thanks Jack) for nice bike.

It will need an air box and then have to see about the turn signals. The gas tank is rusted but I will take care of that in short time. Jack (the PO) had the bike running yesterday and put 3 miles on it and even left some nice marks on the back tire. Come on all us kids did that kinda of stuff when we were in our 20's.


xj1100 1 by Tim Brown, on Flickr
xj1100 2 by Tim Brown, on Flickr
xj1100 3 by Tim Brown, on Flickr

 

Start work on the tank and then look over the bike. I am sure the brakes need TLC. Besides that look like a very good project bike that might only need a few things.

 

Gas tank prep, removed nasty gas, threw some chains inside and then shake and flush for longer then I want to. But got the water coming out almost clear. Have it sitting in the house with evapo rust in it for a week to finish the cleaning.

Removed the old nasty lead acid battery that still has the battery probe in it. Ordered a new motobat, $$$ but they are great batteries so far.

Will need a new fuse box, someone along the line removed all the wires from the OEM box and just put blade holders on it. No box to hold them and does not look very good.

Checked all the plugs for spark, yes and very blue nice spark. Cylinder #3 has a heli coil in it, but seems to have been installed well. Well enough to make the engine run at one time. PBlaster on all the fun things that need to be removed and checked for safety.

Rear MC seems to be frozen, will also soak that a while and see if I can break it loose. Kinda has a link system like the front of a Seca does, no wonder it is frozen...lol

 

I’ve never seen an XJ1100 in the wild. There are a few XS1100s in my area, but no XJs. Looking forward to seeing what you’re able to do with it.

Is it normal to have a right-hand operated petcock? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that on a bike, but my experience is pretty narrow.

 

Yes the XS and XJ had two petcocks to feed either side of the carb rack. Those models didn't have a fule rail that would let fuel flow from 1 to 4. It will not stay that way, I will rig up a "T' style fuel to allow both left and right petcocks to feed both. Get rid of a part they called the Octopus of lines under the fuel tank. Both OEM petcocks were vacuum operated and needed all kids of lines. The petcocks also had two nipples coming out of them, They will be replaced.

Fuse box is wired, not completed to my liking yet, need to get a right-hand cover to make sure all the wires will fit behind it well. Ordered the air box of ebay, have to do what you have to do. The CV carbs need that air box that is for sure.

Here is a weird and cool thing. This bike has a huge back brake MC. The rear back MC is not just for the rear, there is a line running along the frame going to the front left caliber. The pucks on both lines of the rear MC are not moving. I have them soaking and will try compressed air and then a grease gun if that fails.

 

Braking system like a Moto Guzzi, didn't know that.

 

Lines, lines everywhere.......a complicated system, but it seems to work well when it's working well......

 

Took time for the rear brakes. The MC is find and once I cracked the banjo bolts on either side, I could tell the MC was trying to push. I started on the rear line, yep blocked solid. Took some time with a wire and compressed air, but got it opened up. Got it back in bled. The rear brakes are working....a little step forward.

The front left bake that is linked to the rear brake is not working. I have some penetrating oil on the first connector but just guessing, the line is block back by the MC. That would be the lowest point on the line. 17mm and 10mm brake line connector like on a car. Have to let it soak.

xj bat by Tim Brown, on Flickr
Old batter is gone, new one showed up today, will get that in once I get the brakes working.

The fuse system that one of the PO had going on.
xj fules by Tim Brown, on Flickr
Cleaned the front left and rear brake calibers all the way down. Not too bad, a little muck and some brown dried on DOT 3 here and there. Pucks move nice now, cleaned and polished pins as well. All back together now.
brake puck by Tim Brown, on Flickr
brake puck 1 by Tim Brown, on Flickr
In all my yrs working on older bikes, this is only the second bike that has had good MC front and back but blocked brake lines. Might have to heat the line and try the crayon trick to see if I can get them threads loose. Might just go with a good vise grip on the 10mm as them little bolts hate a wrench. Can't get anything on there but a open end wrench at it is a solid line.

This is also a first, the back brake peddle has a broken bolt in it. Going to be interesting either drilling it out or see if I have the same thing from one of my spare bikes and just cut it off. They don't like to slide off with that bolt in there, kinda of a safety issue and it works good.

 

Do you have the flare wrenches? I have had good success with those on Toyota cars and never rounded the bolt like a stock open end wrench will

 

@Rooster53, I do not have them wrenches. Always room for more tools, that does look like it might work much better. Lots more surface area to grab.

 

Crayon tricked worked. Just had to really heat up the nut area to make the wax boil into the threads. Not surprised that the front brake line was blocked at same place as the rear. Guess that is the lowest spot on both lines and area that had the most junk?
462550301_1084139426684691_2038808107882666611_n by Tim Brown, on Flickr
Fuse box, still not sure if I will leave it there or move it to the top of the battery.
462567305_1603798653890022_7177672521788745213_n by Tim Brown, on Flickr
Drilling out the bolt that is broken off on the rear brake lever, install battery and might finish off the gas tank. I think it has been a week of soaking and ready to finish off.

 

I'm 55 and still clean the treads. Nice score on the 1100

 

Lookin' at this one really close I'd bet with some careful shoehorn work and a few beers I could get that 1100 into my 750 SECA frame.

 

@Brhatweed , I am sure you can source an engine off of ebay.

 

means a beer run? Thing is I'd just get myself into trouble and at 55 years of age I don't need any more aches & pains, would be fun tho. I've always wondered this and maybe Chacal or one of the other more experienced here would know what the interchangability is between the engine pieces themselves, is there a stroker combo for the 750 lower end? I looked thru the information overload section and read up on the various engine frame interchanges but nothing on the swapping of jugs, rods or other internals... maybe not feasible on the Yamaha?

 

You ain't old yet go for it.

 

One of the few jobs i have left to do is replace fusebox some North American egit took it out and left spegetti with blade fuse in end - the mind boggles.

 

Fuse box is not too bad. I will have to find a way to move mine down a little for the cover to fit. I was going to place it on top of the battery, but I see now that the air box (that came in the mail yesterday) inlet snorkel goes across the top of the battery. Replacement petcocks should be in the mail today then I can finish putting the bike back together and see if it needs a sync.

 

Took the carbs off today as I thought I had better get to them. Easy removal even when the temp are down to under 40 in the shed. Love the Wagner paint stripper gun for heating up all the rubber boots. Normal things were wrong, all four enrichment ckts were blocked. The PO did do a good job of cleaning the mains and the emulsion tubes for the most part. The secondary or small screw jets on each carb was also blocked. Will need to order some new bowl gaskets, these are so brittle, there is no way they won't leak if I put them on.

Need to track down what kind of three-way plug goes into the plug under the rectifier.
462553545_532296519804115_669264631227570534_n by Tim Brown, on Flickr
462544136_552454494375673_5242339056170934894_n by Tim Brown, on Flickr
I thought I had better run though the carbs before I put that air box back on. Can't rush things when it comes to them carbs.

 

Might have to change out the bowl jet holder O rings, if they are the originals, should do it anyway. Went to pull them out, and they were loose in the holders, that is not good.

Wondering if anyone else has a XJ or XS 1100 can answer a question for me. The turn signals don't work or the 4 way flashers don't work with key on and bike not running. I am wondering if they should or is this part of the bike that needs to be running before they start to work.

I have used a power probe to make sure the path for each light will light up. Broke into the ckt back under the seat and applied 12vdc to the wire. Front, back and gauge lights came on for each side. Just can't turn the key on and make them flash. I am still missing the three prong relay or diode pack that plugs into the three prong in the pics above. Seems they no longer make that part, so will have to find a workaround.

 

462562575_1252362842552775_8638491517645151567_n by Tim Brown, on Flickr

 

Nice looking headlight, have you used it yet, what's the brightness and light pattern like? Whose light is it?

 

Sent you a PM but will give the info here too for anyone else that might want to convert their headlight over. Easy to do for the most part. The unit https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B2BLCVW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 comes in a bucket as the link shows. You will have to remove the LED from the bucket and retaining bracket. You will have to do the same thing for the old OEM light. If you do the LED first and then the OEM one, you can do a quick swap while the image of how the light goes into the retaining bracket is fresh. There is an alignment notch on the back of both OEM and LED headlights that you have to line up with the OEM retaining bracket.

If the link is dead: "Sktyants 7" LED headlight" should work in Amazon search.

New LED has a plug in harness that will just plug and play. You might have to do some adjusting of a few wires but not too much to make the LED fit into the OEM bucket.

I can't tell you how it works yet, only turns on and does the H and L function on the wall in my shop. It is cool outside here in WI and will not be riding this bike till spring.

 

@Timbox have you checked this site?

https://xs11.club/

 

@Franz Thanks for that will be doing some reading.

 

Worked on the wonky air box yesterday, having to look at the schematics again (I really need to get a manual). The top of the air box has a different way of mounting and also two side mounts. Once I found out that inside the air box the parts had been moved around in shipping, I was able to line them up and get the top mounting bracket on. Plan on doing a run-up of the bike with the carbs on and then remove carbs, mount box and put carbs in for good. Well, good until they need cleaning again.

This weekend should be close to 50 F here, might have to see if I can take the old girl down the rd now that it is safe to drive.

 

Got a call from a friend, you know the type, the ones that want to spend your money for you. He found a 78 or 79 full XS1100 in my own town. Will be going over there in the next few days. I don't know if you guys have seen the value of an excellent XS1100 but no way will I be paying that much for one of our older gems.

 

Wow you're stocking up on the big bikes this year..............

 

mint one near me going cheap
looks like a nice survivor

1982 Yamaha XJ 1100 for sale | Other | Barrie | Kijiji Classifieds

 

That's a nice 1100 l like that.

 

A little warmer weather today, so put the carbs on the bike. Rigged up the fuel for a temporary start and opened up the shed. Bike started right up, number one is not as hot as the other exhaust at 175f with all other three just into the 200 or above range. Bike sounds good, no nasty noises and not fluids coming out of anyplace, to include the carbs. I was lucky I had new bowl gaskets on hand for the rebuild. Bliping the throttle sounds good and I will have to do a good synch to get the idle down below 2k.

Main reason for the run up was to see about my turn signals. Still having issues. Nothing is working from the left bar switch, so I will have to open that up and see what is going on. As stated above, if I inject power into either side ckt with my power probe, both lights work. No flashing, but the ckt to each light works.

I may have a bad diode self cancel pack. I could have a bad 4 way flasher relay and I for sure am guessing on the "B", "L" and "E" plugs on the other three-way relay. I was hoping it was a diode issue with the bike not running that caused it, not the case. Need to order a air filter and then put that wonderful air box back in the bike. I would like to have the turn signal ckt taken care of before I put the air box and carbs back on the bike for shakedown in the spring. The bike sounds great and really spins up fast, I should have know, it is a wonder XJ after all.

 

Another warmer day, decided to tackle the electric gremlins. I was playing around with that three wire plug under the gas tank thinking it was one of the issues. Nope, not part of the 4 way or turn signal ckts at all. I am guessing that my bike just has some rusty connections, maybe locked up relays, or a combo of both.

This is the 4 way relay that is located on the left side of the bike just behind the battery area. Two wire relay that is wired to the 4 way flash swx on the right bar control.
4 way flasher by Tim Brown, on Flickr
In the pic is the swap out to a newer one to check ckt. I went back to the OEM one for now.

This is the OEM turn flasher that is found on the right side of the bike just forward of the AUX power outlet.
Turn flasher by Tim Brown, on Flickr
Removed, cleaned contacts and put a little dielectric grease on them. The issue were hit or miss for some time as I had swapped the two relays and the diode pack that is mounted above the carbs. Playing around will all three of the electric components fixed the issues. Just guessing all the components are fine and it is just age and lack of use on the swx's that was the issue. I will be spaying some contact cleaner in each swx to see it that helps out a bit.

For now, the bike is ready for the air box to go back in and then button everything back up. Might have to go down the the DMV and get title and plates for it.

 

Little bits by little bits. Good old heat gun came in handy today. Yes, had to remove the carbs, good things there is a huge area for them to slide out of on the model. Put the air box in and now to sure what is going on with it. With lots of heat gun help and a few choice words, the boots did slide into place. I have them being held overnight to see if they will get some memory stretch for their new homes.

In the top pic you can see the two open holes, there is a mounting plate that mounts to the frame. Will have to mod mine to make it work.

The other side hole is on both back sides. You can see it kinda in the first pic. That hole on the air box is threaded. Will make it work.
472892929_3823203091273636_259809420359589335_n by Tim Brown, on Flickr
472890375_1306809630387029_2735167664298995350_n by Tim Brown, on Flickr
You may or may not be able to see the three anchor location in the pics. One is on top of the air box. I have tried both ways for the mount and nothing is lining up. The side mounts are also off by maybe 1/2". So more rigging or stuff to make it sit in there right. I think with the rear snorkel over the batter and the front being held by them carbs that it will not go any place. But you never know what a really good bump might do on a hot day with all the rubber is really flexing.