82 XJ650 Cafe Build

according to my book, 5N8 will be '82 M/Y 650 Max. & 4H7 or 4W5 would be '80-'81 M/Y.

Fitz is right it's likely to be an '81, seems a lot of US bikes weren't registered in the same year they were built for some reason. :?

 

Good progress colehole. I've been doing something very similar today.

 

Got finished up today stripping it down.... I was now able to get to those center stand mounts to chop them off.


In the next week or so I'll be taking some Simple Green to the frame and motor to get all the grime off and then taking a wire wheel to the motor and carbs. I plan on painting the carb tops and the valve cover on the motor black. I wanted to powder coat my frame but I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit that in my budget so I'm looking into using chassis paint instead on it..... I've heard it's pretty durable and comparable to powder coat.
Also, I researched my VIN a little and turns out it is an 81!

 

man when i took a quick look at the tank... I thought it was a see through tank and I started flipping out LOL.
it took me a while of tying to figure out what it was to realize it was a chrome reflection..

 

Lol yeah just chrome.... Not exactly sure what kind of tank it is but I think it's an old BSA tank

 

Making sloooooow progress, can't find enough shop time. Started prepping for powder coat today. This stuff is amazing and feels great when it gets flicked on your face while using a wire brush.

 

I've been MIA for a little while! Progress was very slow for a little while but I've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks on the bike. So busy in fact I haven't really even taken pictures while in progress. I have sandblasted and powdercoated most of my parts now.


I've still got to blast my frame and swing arm and then I'll be powdercoating them as well. I removed my valve cover off my motor and blasted and powdered it as well and it came out so good I'd really like to remove the jugs and side covers off my motor to do them as well. I was wondering how involved the process is to take off the top end? I've only removed a top end once on a 72 Yamaha R5 and it didn't have cams and all that so I've never messed with all of that....

 

Curious what size gaiters you went with? Nice build as well.

 

Thanks! I went with these gaiters

 

I've been searching around, does anyone know of the top of their head if there's a thread on here with a detailed look at taking apart the top end and putting it back together? More so the putting it back together.... I'm really wanting to pull my top end off to sandblast and powder coat so I don't have a turd of a motor sitting in a shiny powder coated frame with fresh paint and powder coat on the rest of the bike.

 

Rethinking the idea of pulling the motor apart for blasting.... Has anyone ever tried Eagle One Etching Mag Wheel Cleaner before? I was gonna give it a shot on the motor and see if it will take off all the grime and get it looking good again.

 

Spent all day yesterday sand blasting and powder coating! Wrinkle black on all these parts.





Gotta get my engine detailed up now and then it'll be time to put her all back together!

 

Got lots of work done today! Almost time for reassembly!

 

You did replace those old bearings while you have it apart, didn't you?

 

I sure did! New wheel and steering bearings!

 

Pumpkin and swingarm?

 

....you got me there, didn't replace those bearings but they seemed to be in good working order. Speaking of the pumpkin, what type of oil goes in it and how much?

 

SAE80 GL-4 Hypoid gear oil is listed in my manual. There's a fill line just under the filler bolt. There's a needle bearing in the pumpkin, can't remember if it gets grease or is lubed by the pumpkin's gear oil.
If those swingarm bearings are still good and you don't replace them(I would), at least pop a seal cover and clean them with Marvel Mystery Oil and re-pack with wheel bearing grease. And then re-seal them. Hard to remove the seals without leaving a hole that will let dirt get in and the bearings aren't that expensive to begin with. Do you feel lucky? LOL
Liking the wrinkle paint, can't wait to see the final result.

 

Soooo I didn't label my wheel spacers during disassembly, can someone clue me in on which ones are which? The two on the right are the same diameter

 

Motor about 90% done..... got a little black accent paint to spray then it'll be good to go back in the frame. Looks a lot better than before

 

Got some reassembly work done yesterday.... starting to come together finally

 

This might sound funny but anyone have a idea what kind of tank this is? I acquired it and the PO didn't know what it was, thought it was BSA but I've been searching around and I don't think it is.

 

I like the wrinkled paint. it's slick.

Gary

 

Great work!

 

Here's some better shots of the tank, I've been browsing BSA and BMW tanks and haven't found a match. Any ideas? I'd like to get an actual petcock vs the contraption I made lol. The bottom side of the gas cap is stamped "Patent BLAU"

 

That cleaned up up motor is NICE.

 

NSU tank maybe? Looks to be about the right shape.

 

That's it! Thanks! How it ended up in Northwest FL I have no idea lol.... seems like those are pretty rare bikes?

 

Did you identify what model? Yeah they are fairly uncommon.

 

From what I can tell it's a NSU Max, not sure on year somewhere from 55-59

I found a tank on eBay that has the same pieces on the side where the tank badge and knee pad is missing

 

We'll there ya go, this internets thing is pretty remarkable.

 

Lol sure is! I had been looking for a while but I thought it was BSA or BMW, I've never even heard of NSU before.... figured someone on here might have an idea what it could be.

 

Haven't gotten very far on ole girl lately, I built a fake oil tank to hide some wiring.

Reassembly is almost done, down to wiring and some other minor things now

 

I pulled my shocks apart, polished the chrome and powder coated the springs.... I think they came out pretty good!

 

Does anyone happen to know the thread pitch for Yamaha part #95817-10030-00? Its the flange bolt that holds on the little foot rest side cover/rear mount for exhaust.

 

Yesterday I got in my petcock from Dime City Cycles, turns out a petcock for a Honda CB450 also fits a NSU Supermax tank. Also got my seat back from the upholsterer.

 

Been a long time since I've updated this, got my wiring mostly finished up minus a little cleaning up left to do. Got her fired up today! Not quite running right yet but I didn't have anymore time to start tuning today. I installed a jet kit plus mods from 6Sigma, it came with a couple of jets for further tuning. Tank and tail piece are at the paint shop so it's naked for right now.

 

Where did you get them rubber fork cover things

 

I got them from Bike Bandit, I forget which size but if you look up parts specifically for your XJ the right size should come up

 

I've been looking all over, I know I've stumbled across a good thread on performing a vacuum sync on the carbs. Anyone know where it is? I'm stuck in carb tuning hell right now lol

 

Look in the DIY forum.

Gary H.

 

I found one in there but it was a dead link?

 

Does anyone know where you can buy drill bits for drilling out jets?

 

these would work well. I have something similar.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/21-PC-FINE-...319?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4184b027f7

CN

 

Got some cleaning up done today, wiring all tucked away under the seat

 

Slick! Glad to see you kept the shocks; your back will thank you. The camera man reflection in the swing arm cover is a nice touch.

Gary H.

 

You got some good eyes there Gary!

 

Together, we all do. We don't miss much here!

Gary H.

 

Ha! I just had lasik surgery a month ago and I didn't even catch that!