'82 Seca 750/650 Café rebuild

I've been lurking around the site for a bit, but figured I should post up a thread on the build I'm doing. This is only my second motorcycle, my first to be rebuild from parts.

I was given this project by a friend (Bruce_M on here), after he moved to a different city and I guess it was easier to give it to me than to move this pile of parts to the next province over. I owe him one to say the least! The stuff I have is a 750 Seca which was bought as a parts bike for his other build. He used the engine, and some seat components and other small bits to update his other XJ. This "other" XJ had a 650 motor, which is now the one in my parts pile, along with 2 rubbermaids full of parts. I rode the earlier version of that bike 2 summers ago as a loaner, and it was my first time back on a bike after a near-death experience on my first bike. Suffice to say there are some parts here with some meaning to me and I'm excited to ride this as a new build.

I'll make a few posts of the initial progress so far, but after I catch up to present day, things may start to look a bit more sporadic... with a 1 year old daughter, and an unheated garage in Saskatchewan, I get in a good thrash session when I can, but it often sits idle for a week or 2 in between.

 

Since one of the major things I am missing is a seat, that's one of the first things I need to sort out. Initially I thought I would make my own "street tracker" style fiberglass pan, as this is one of my favourite styles of bike. After lots of eyeballin', however, I decided that together with the stock tank (which is huge, and a sloping teardrop shape) this would be hard to make look right. A better fit might be a standard 'cafe' type fairing, and I had an old tank hanging on my wall from my first bike, a Honda Twinstar CM200T. I had removed this tank due to the awful liner job someone had done on it (that bike was a ride-wrench-repeat affair until the day I got cut off by a van and came to in hospital). I cut off the rear tabs on the frame (immediately behind the part that holds the fender) and set the Honda tank on for a look.

This is starting to look like what I want... but how do I cut open a fuel tank?!? there was still some stale old vapours in there. As I found, the internet is the LAST place you will find good information on doing this, and when you go looking, all you find is arguments.... pages and pages of arguments. I don't want to be responsible for anybody else, so I won't mention my method. Best advice I'm willing to give is to ask advice from an old gearhead you know and trust (in my case my dad) who has done this. Anyhow, I cut the tunnel out of my tank:


Now at least it sits down over the frame, and I started to eyeball what else should be trimmed (see the masking tape line)

 

Somewhere in there I made a small order for some handlebars (Bikemaster superbike bars) and grips (Renthal), also threw some new roller head bearings on the order to qualify for free shipping, and I hear they are a good upgrade. I needed to have a seat base now, and I thought I'd try making this out of MDF, since it is easy to shape, glue, staple, etc. Here it is after some initial fitting.


I did a bit more trimming on the fairing as well, and made a cardboard template for my planned metal side covers. Really starting to get a 'look' going

 

tonight I did another trim and fit on the rear fairing bump. If you notice above, I initially chickened out on going to my original line I taped off. So tonight I came all the way there after all. I figure, sneak up on it, the metal is a bit harder to put back. There were still dimples left from the badge locations on each side, and a big one on top where the honda had a hinged cover over the gas cap. I heated these areas with my torch and hammered them down flat. There's more bodywork to come, but it's a start. I also had another look at a Lucas style tail light fit up into the old tunnel area. (This was out of the parts bin that came with the bike)

 

gives a whole new meaning to spare gas tank.
would be nice if you could make it into a fuel cell for long trips

 

Awesome!

 

That wouldn't be too difficult to do. I've seen aux tanks that are in that position before; ugly square ones.

 

Probably a decent idea, but I have no plans for fuel in the tail section. With the slim side covers, I may not have room for the regulator and fuses in their stock location, so there is plenty of room for them in the tail. Probably even enough room for one of those mini batteries, which would leave some nice storage behind the airbox. I'm also thinking of retaining the saddle bag mounting locations for road trip potential. I can't really imagine running out of gas before wanting a stretch at the next town, but then again, I'm new at this...

 

Well, given where you live, you may find that the next town isn't always near enough (or the gas station is closed for the night). I have to plan carefully when traveling on the High Plains of the U.S., particularly if I head west. The extra liter of fuel I carry has come in handy more times than I'd prefer.

 

I'm not knocking the potential need for extra fuel. It takes planning to make it across Alberta, in a car, in the middle of the day. I am just shying away from making this thing into a tank, and plumbing that all in. I think I will make provisions for saddle bags/rear rack, and then I can just carry an MSR bottle of emergency fuel on road trips. Speaking of which, what is a normal range for a stock XJ750? (I will be running the 650 motor, 750 tank, so lets assume I will do the same or better)

 

I hit reserve at around 130 miles, and absoultely MUST get fuel at 148-150 miles (during typical windy-midwest riding conditions at freway speeds).

 

Looks like you are doing some nice fabricating, I am anxious to see your project mature... It is also great to see another xj'er here in Saskatoon , keep us informed
Alan