XJ900 #1488

Thanks to the forum folks and pointing out that I had one almost in my backyard. I now have a XJ900. On the table with a charger on it.

xj900 by Tim Brown, on Flickr

Looks like the normal stuff with all out XJ bikes., oil window is full to the top, guessing gas in oil. I will give it a oil change in the morning and a quick look over and see if she will fire up.

 

It's got the side scoops!

 

Good rainy day to work on the bike. Started with an oil change. Forgot how stuck that 19mm oil plug could be. Got it without stripping it. The oil was full of fuel. I looked at the new looking petcock and noticed the PO had on PRI. Was thinking that te petcock was done but not for sure. I did like the little tie warp that was in place instead of a clamp for the petcock hose.
petcock by Tim Brown, on Flickr

Pulled all the plugs, all of them were very "used" but noting too bad. Maybe running rich, but with that nasty air filter, that alone could do it. Put some Blaster in each cylinder just in case and let it soak. Went for the timing cover next, just to see if I can hand turn the motor and it is free. Last person working on the bike must not of had a 19mm wrench.
vic by Tim Brown, on Flickr
From what I can tell that looks like vic grip marks on that bolt. Oh well.

Batter is a newer batter and took a good charge over night. Got some new oil in it and hooked a AUX fuel to it. A little choke, and it more or less fired right up. Fuel was coming out of #4 but not crazy. Turned off the fuel and got the fan on the bike and let it run until it was more or less out of gas.

Stared prep for pulling carbs, man they sure made the XJ900 for pulling the carbs. Really short boots on the air box side, very nice. Just pushed them back into the air box and the carbs popped off with a little nudge from both sides. I did notice this and will have to get a OEM one to replace, yet another tie wrap.
Tie rap by Tim Brown, on Flickr

Carbs took a while to get cleaned up and found that I need some new bowl gaskets for sure. But being that these carbs go in and out with ease, I had to put them back in and start the bike up. Only thing in the carbs that were bad were the emulation tubs. Most of the holes were plugged. The rest of the carbs were good, but the bowls were showing signs the tank needs some TLC.

Checked the charging system, looking good. Once I moved the wonderful old bus fuses around a little bit, all the dash and headlight stated to work. Seems that the bike is ready for the road test once I get some new gaskets installed. I did the brake flush too and that was more or less easy. The front was not so easy, as all the bleed screws were plugged with rust and stuff. All good now. Ended up getting some air in the line, took a while to get pressure back up.

 

Always fun to find all the little Easter eggs left by the PO.

 

Need to order a few parts. Rebuild front brake MC, it is leaking. Bowl gaskets, only one leaking #4 but get one get all 4. I also think #4 float needs to be adjusted. Throttle cable is working, but the 90 degree protector that is held in place by a screw and bracket is broken. Very common to have these broken there. The Vision 550 I just refreshed had the same thing.

Got the gas tank soaking for a week in evaporust. Temps are still only in the 50s here, the process should be done in 70 or above temps. We will warm up later this week, that will help take care of the spot rust in the tank.

Cleaned the petcock, looks to be new or almost new and have very little issues or gunk at all. Just hope it works as it should. I normally change them over to a non vacuum type just to take that potential issue out of the equation.

Cleaned up the OEM fuse box, it will stay for now. Tach is not working, will have to do some troubleshooting on that once the bike is on the rd.

 

The color and paint/stripe scheme is actually attractive for a non-stock, custom job.....

 

Timbox…..congrats!

I’ll send you a private message later on to get info so I can get it on the registry. The nearest number to yours, is #1486.

BTW, it’s ‘emulsion’ not emulation