'95 XJ600 - New horse in the stable (Pic Heavy)

Look what I found...

A 1995 XJ600 Seca II, 2,300 original miles. It's been sitting since 1998.

I paid $200 for it, and the P.O. even trucked it home for me. Can't wait to start giving it an overhaul. When this one is up and running, I can at least get my Seca fix while my '92 is still getting straightened out.

 

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Good deal! Why did he sell it so cheap? Was he your uncle or something?

 

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Man, what a fine looking machine you have there and all that for $200, I would say you found the jackpot of the day for sure! Hope all turns out fine for you with your bike, sure looks by the picture that you shouldn't have to do to much to it. Best of luck! grunt007, 81'XJ 750 Seca, Mi.

 

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Thanks guys. He already had multiple bikes, one of which was this one that would probably never be fixed up, so he just wanted it out of there.

The gas tank is pretty rusted and the cables are frozen. Tires are dry rotted. Fork seals leaking. But it's a diamond in the rough, that's for sure.

 

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Great find for you to work on over a period of time, great project! But there is no such thing as a cheap bike, especially these older bikes. Take your time, do it right and you will definitely have a beauty on your hands.
Good luck and keep us updated.


Cheers, Graham

 

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Thieving swine.

 

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Welllllll, that's actually what I was thinking when I typed my response. :roll:

 

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I had similar thoughts.

It's gonna need the "normal stuff" but with those miles it's a cream puff.

Quite a find.

 

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I can live with that! lol

A good amount of progress has been done this morning. Gonna post pictures in a bit.

Is there something I can do to prep the engine since it's been sitting for 12 years? Put some oil in the cylinders and turn it by hand a couple times first? I'm not sure of the best way to prep the engine after I get everything else squared away.

 

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Damn...nice....

I've been tempted by one here... only 17K km's on it,
But in worse shape, for $950

Still tempting though.....

 

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Progress today:

This fairing was a little more intensive to get off than the '92


Little windscreens...hmm


Front fairing has a clean break. Perfectly fixable.


The ignition switch still had that factory peely film. Nice!


Nastiness


Yikes


There's probably some foul beast in there waiting to attack my hand


Gotta go


Dirrrrttyy


This one should be salvageable


Yep, that's what came out of the tank


It's in decent condition


The whole inside looks like that


Had to grind off a link because I don't have the luxury of a chain breaker yet


Before some washing


After some low-pressure washing


Better, better


The foam on the bottom was crumbling, but the actual filter looked brand new


Now for the carbs


Back, foul beast!


The throttle cables moved, so it was the carbs that were pretty gummed up


The clutch moved, but the cable was stuck


Gonna needs new booties


Since the clutch cable was frozen, I had to remove the handle to get the cable out of there


Ok, carb time


Not bad, not bad!


Pretty nasty, but workable


And as you may have predicted, I broke a float tower. Clean break though so it should be repairable. I need to let the whole thing soak in some Pine Sol or something else that won't bother the shaft seals because there were other frozen parts (choke, a couple floats)

 

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Other than the bits and pieces you've identified so far your big investment will be in "Elbow Grease" and "Git R Dun"!!!! :lol:
Unfortunately, I've looked on eBay and even checked local auto parts stores and can't seem to find them anywhere.
I don't know if Len (Chacal) carries them, I'll have to get in touch with him. :wink:

All joking aside, you have made a ton of progress so far and nicely documented with the pics and descriptions. Looking froward to seeing this one through to completion.
What you and others on this site have done is inspirational to me, I just wish that life, health and recent injuries wouldn't get in the way of bringing my bike back to life.
I've just been diagnosed with R.A.I.D.S. (Recently Acquired Income Deficiency Syndrome) which I hope to recover from as I have a job interview on Tuesday and waiting to hear about another job later in the week. :mrgreen:
Continued good luck with the bike and I hope you don't find any nasty surprises that you can't deal with.


Cheers, Graham

 

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Thanks Graham, I'm real excited to see this bike get on the road too.

And don't worry, I have R.A.I.D.S. as well, but slow and steady wins the race!

 

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Great pix man!

 

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Got it started this evening with little trouble. There was a little white smoke coming out of the right exhaust, but it stopped after a couple minutes of idling. Still, there's lots of work to do. Fork seals are the next task, then gas tank, brake caliper rebuilds/pads, tires, chain, and fixing the cracked front fairing.

I also found out today that it's a 1995 based on the VIN, not a '94.

The 95 (R) sits a little higher than the 92.


It feels taller just sitting on it.


Maybe I should give them names?


First things first, change the oil. I have an oil catcher but always seem to get oil all over the place.


Drink....yeess driiinnkkkk


Original filter. Wow.


Did just a hair of cleaning on the carb bits today. The actual rack is really stuck up. Gonna have to split the whole thing because the butterflies are very hard to move, even after soaking in Pine Sol all day. I'm just going to use the '92 rack for now.


I soda blasted them puppies


I then put the fuel pump from my 92 into the 95, changed the plugs, and turned the engine by hand a couple times.


Well I'll be darned. It idled very smooth! What a relief.


A little bit of white smoke blessed the right exhaust. Went away after a couple minutes of idling. I haven't even tested the compression yet, honestly.


Protip: Don't get your pants stuck in there like I almost did.

 

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Wow, I wish I could find as good a deal as that was!

I guess I can't complain tho, my 750 was free, just what I put into her to make her what she is now. Maybe around $1000 (paint was half that)

 

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Cleaned up the gas cap while I should have been doing other things at work

Disassembled


Blessed with the blast of soda


Acceptable cleanliness

 

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Disassembly and inspection progress

These bar ends will polish up nice. Going to paint them black.


The XJ gods are cutting their wrists


Yes, there will be rust. But I need to make sure none of it is compromising the structural integrity of the chassis.


I just cannot wait to soda blast this


This will clean up nicely. I'm so glad it has factory black wheels.


On the morrow, these specimens will have the shazbot soda blasted out of them


Isn't the nut normally on the right side? Interesting.


Oh dry rot, how you depress me so


Unacceptable


I don't need rust infecting my sprockets, thank you


When I did the fork seals on the '92, it was quite a challenge keeping the front propped up. This time, I'm going to try putting a metal bar through these here engine mount holes and jaquing it up from there.


Exhaust nuts, screaming for some polish.


It's getting there. Pretty excited!

 

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Cleaning up more specimens

Before some blasting



After some blasting



It makes the rubber booties look brand new


The exhaust nuts were rusty, but not no mo'

 

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looking good lots of projects going on between yours and all of mine always interesting seeing what you have been doing on the bikes guess its because you live so close. A couple of jack stands and a rod thru the holes should work well maybe a 3 foot stick of rebar should do the trick and be pretty stable. Keep up the good work. My lift will be tied up for another few months but if you ever need to get the bike in the air your welcome to come over and use it. Have lots of tools

 

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Thanks man, I appreciate it! I'd love to at least swing by and say hi one of these days.

 

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What kind of soda blaster are you using and how big is the compressor that you run it with?

 

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yes please, info on your soda blaster. I think I could justify that expense myself at this point.

 

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Today I finally got the carb bodies separated. Man are they a mess. Even separated, the butterflies are sticky and hard to turn. But those aren't going back this bike, anyways. I'll have time to do a real good job on them.

I don't think I've ever said it publicly, but levels of dirtiness like this keep me up at night.




This is acceptable




Once the fork seals get here, I'll start the work on the front end. The forks are black from the factory and still in good condition. They should polish up superbly without paint.

After the front end, I'll move to the top and do/clean/paint/inspect the handlebars, controls, and levers.

Soda blaster...lets see. I made it with whatever stuff I could find -- normal air nozzle, some tubes from a spray bottle and WD-40 can, Sobe bottle with the bottom cut off, and an electrical pipe connector. To fit the main tube in there, I just drilled a hole in the brass nozzle big enough to fit the tube snugly.

At work, I have an 80 gallon 5hp compressor that shows 85 psi (15 CFM constant, it says) after the moisture collector. Any compressor will work as long as it can keep a steady psi.



With the two small red tubes, it feeds just enough to be effective yet make your soda go a long way.

Because...you know...baking soda is sooooo expensive.

 

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Air volume needs to be matched to nozzle size to achieve the right pressure at the gun nozzle, 40-60 psi at the nozzle is pretty good, too high and it breaks the abrasive up as it hits the surface and becomes counter-productive, producing lots of dust.

Try adding some glass beads to the soda for the alloy parts, you'll like the finish ! 50/50 mix works well.

 

Re: New horse in the stable (Pic Heavy)

Cool! Thanks for the info, I'll give that a try.

Some progress on the front today. These forks will be beautiful.




The bar-through-the-engine-mount worked great. Very stable.

 

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Seriously loving this thread. Keep it up with all the great photos, can't wait to see this one all the way through!

 

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The butterflies on the carbs would hardly move -- serious gunkage contaminating the shafts.

The throttle shaft seals were "gooey" and keeping the shaft from turning freely. Atrocious.


Look at those things. Despicable.


My gawsh did I have quite a time trying to get the choke plungers out. Had to resort to a propane torch to melt whatever fluids had hardened in there.


I carb cleaned my eyeball, and it hurt really bad.

 

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Front end and controls

Removed the left controls


Removed the front brake


The factory grips are in good condition. I'm going to soda blast them and put em back on.


Oh heck no


There were some foul beasts living the in the left controls. Evicted.


I'm going to repaint the bar and blast the trip head




Front brake lever removed


Ohh you'll clean up nicely!


I've never done and brake bleeding before, but there's no better time to learn than now. There's brake fluid seeping out of the top. Also going to see about getting stainless steel lines.


I'm only a level 2 petcoque rebuilder. Need more XP.


This needs to be flushed real well and I know exactly how I'm going to do it. Stay tuned for that one.

 

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Lol, did you ding yet?

 

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Haven't leveled up quite yet lol

Still, some progress. The fork seals came in today, so I'll begin those in the next day or two. Did a little with the tank and some painting today while I had time.

To get some of the rust out, I threw a handful of screws in there and shook it


You do not want rust lung


This is what came out. Yikes.


This will do the trick, though. Home Depot, $15.


I need to address these little pits after I sand the tank


No big


Painted the pickup coil cover since it was scratched up


Soda blasted and painted the handbar clamps


Annndd the bar ends.


The original grips even cleaned up real well.


Finally, I've been messing around with different plastic polishes. The fairings are in great shape, there's just this film of...something...that's real hard to get off. Novus polish seems to be working well. I'll get some better pics up once I do a whole piece. Must acquire an orbital buffer.

 

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Did a little work on getting the rust out of the tanque.

This phosphoric acid is great! Rusty razorblade:


Le dippe


And five minutes later...wow. No wonder Grandpa wouldn't let me play with his Naval Jelly.


Here's how I plugged the petcoque hole


It worked pretty well


They're going to have fun together. Cue the Barry White music.


The tape just needs to hold the phosse in while I slosh it around


Sloshed it every hour for four hours. Drained, rinsed. Magic!


I found one of these "Flip-It" sink plugs and it fits perfectly into the gas hole


Rinsed the inside with alcohol and let it dry in the sun. Don't worry little buddy, you'll be all shined up and tearing down the road in no time.


NEXT: Sanding, repairing, priming, painting, clearing...

 

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Tank biznas

Before I man handled it


Initial sanding


I wired wheeled my finger


First coat of sandable prime


I think I'm doing alright for never having done this before


Found some impurities, though. Just call me Dr. Christian Troy.


Sanded down the uneven spots, then primed with sealer


Overall, a quality job if I dare say so


NEXT: Paint and finishing

 

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Added the first coat of paint. Needs another one, though. One can didn't quite do it. I used Duplicolor BGM0381 Black Met. It has those little sparkles in it like the Yahama black does.

After another coat, I'll start the Yamaha badges + clear coat process

Tonight: Fork seals

 

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Thumbs up on this entire rebuild. Good deal.

 

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Impressive sir. You have a lot of attention for detail.

 

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Nice work... Digging the updates...

It's sooo much easier when you start with such a good specimen

 

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Thanks guys!

Put on the first coat of clear. Ten trillion more to go.


These will look dashing underneath the clear coat on the tanque


Got around to taking the forks apart this fine eve. What a mess.


Look at them fork seals. Terrible, terrible.


The dust boots. Le yipe.


"You got a lot of carbon scoring here. Looks like you boys have seen a lot of action."


Aren't they just gorgeous? Things like this get me excited.


I would have put the forks back together this evening, but my damsel-in-distress lady locked her keys in her car and I, being the sweetheart that I am, went to rectify the situation. Will resume forkatory binzas on the morrow.

 

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Everythings lookin good so far........

Amazing how these bikes seem to attract the "natural weld" effect in all the nicest places.

Thanks for the tip on the "Prep & Etch". Going to give this wirl on a header I am working on. Looks about like that razor blade in some places....before you dipped it.... 8O

 

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Bonus point for that reference, Luke.
I am loving the updates! Nice work!

 

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Yea the Prep and Etch was neat. I knew it would work, but wasn't expecting it to work that well, haha.

Thanks man! I've been a Star Wars fan since before I could walk. I still go to the Star Wars Celebrations they have every couple years. Here are some pics I shot at the last one.

 

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Lookin awesome man!!! Wish I had a garage and the time to do all this. ALL my bikes would get done and be GORGEOUS.
Whats "Free Time"?

 

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"Free time" is that five minutes when you stop to drink a beer on the couch before you start the next project!

 

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Look who made some good progress this fine eve

New fork seals. Gawd that's a ton better. If these leak I'm going to stab something small and furry.


Gorgeous


Got the wheel from the '92 on there for now.


All the controls are still loose so I can sit on it and adjust them on the morrow


The bar and bar ends have Dupli-color paint. I forget the shade, but it's close to the original.


Soda blasted shifter and foot guard


Moved the rear wheel from the '92 over. Man was that tricky with only one rear stand.


What a mess. I love it.


Used the rear brake from the '92 for now. I'll just get new pads and bleed the original brakes and put them on the '92 when I get it running.


The only hiccup in the whole process was having to cut this little guard to get the brake line out.


Here's how it stands now. I can't wait to finish painting the tank, because that '92 tank is just nasty.


What's left:

* Finish clear coating the tank
* Acquire some new fasteners for the fairings
* Polish the fairings
* Fix crack in front fairing

 

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Progress continues.....

Right handy having a matched pair for a bit of parts exchanging isn't it.......

Always liked a "in house" spares source with a project. Makes things a LOT easier.

 

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Here's how it stands now. It's together, it's functioning, but there are still a ton of little things to do.

[flash=560,345]http://www.youtube.com/v/ag-tX7BMA-c.swf[/flash]

 

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I would like to see a pic of all those bikes lined up. I like that you have options there. What all bikes are there?

 

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Lol they're not all mine. I just have the two XJ's. The LS650 is my lady's (but I ride it a good bit hehe), Hyosung is my brother's, Katana belongs to our housemate. The Ninja I'm borrowing until I get an XJ road worthy.

Besides the two XJ's:

1987 Suzuki LS650
2007 Hyosung GT650
2002 Suzuki GSX600 Katana
1995 Kawasaki Ninja EX500

 

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I am a big fan of the ex500. I enjoyed mine. Rode it for about 4 years. I bet the Xj600 rides a little better though.

 

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The EX500 is a great bike. But the XJ600 just feels like you're riding on a breeze compared to it. The ride is smooth, the shifting is effortless, and I haven't found a bike yet that balances as well as an XJ600.