A new project, the abandoned xj650RJ

It seems like the forum has gone into winter mode, either everybody is hibernating or the power went out in half of the country. Not much activity in the past few days.

I am just waiting on my parts bike to get here and the weather to get a bit better. Today we had freezing rain in the Carolinas with sleet and not above freezing so my yard is white and crunchy.

Have a good weekend y'all.

 

I take it you missed my "shout." Our power was out for 32 hours, overnite temps into single digits.

Then the pipes froze; propane torpedo heater to the rescue.

So yeah, it's been kind of "winter mode" lately.

In regard to the XS650 Yamahas: when they first came out, ('68) they "shared a shadow" with the 650 Triumph. Then around '78~'79 the bike got a new, larger, heavier frame and became a bit of a truck by comparison to the earlier models. The earlier, "slimline" XS650 makes a great Cafe racer if you can find one.

Wizard restored a '77 a while back:

 

single digits.............a heat wave! We the temps got ABOVE zero for the first time this week yesterday. Back down to zero overnight.

Now, I know that's a heatwave for our friends in northern Canada, and parts on north...............................

Hope you're ok in Mich. now...

Dave F

 

Ok, the weather is crazy. We didn't make it to 30 degrees yesterday, on Tuesday they are calling for 71.

 

If yawl want, I can ship some of our 70 degree weather to you. I think we already had our 2 days of winter down here. Done packed all my cold weather gear away. :lol:

 

70's Heck we would die up here right now with those temps. Can't go from -5 to 70 overnight! Yikes! But yeah on the same note, the snow and nice cold weather up here in upstate NY as Dave mentioned has but the dampers on work in my stable as well. I haven't been out to see the girl in close to a month. But that also is a result of our new dog chewing the Extenstion cord that supplies my shed with power for heat and Light. So with no light or heat, working on the bike is only the parts that come off and migrate to the basement

 

Check with the NWS. Your forecast for Syracuse is for 55 on Wednesday.

 

Sorry Fitz, that was meant to be sarcastic... Reading it now... definately didn't come off that way. I think it was about a week or so ago that it was in the low 60's here for a week. 'Tis Syracuse, we're used to it. If you also notice in the forcast, it is supposed to be mid 50's on wed. and a high of 31 and snow on thursday. As I'm sure you know in Mich. The lakes can be a real pain with the weather.

 

If we'd get any decent amount of snow so we could fire up the sleds, I'd feel a whole lot better about it. The base just started getting good, then we got that stupid warm weather with the rain and lost it all.
Can't ride bikes, can't ride sleds............................

Typical central NY weather..........if you don't like it, wait five minutes. If you don't like THAT, wait five more minutes........

Dave F

 

Eco.
Good news.
I do have a rebuildable 750 carb rack.
Details sent in a PM.

Ghost

 

Well, today I spend about 20 minutes just getting those bowls loose. One of them was working alrght, the other two were frozen big time with a bunch of gunk.

It took me a bit of time and some oil on a can, a bit of wiggling (no hammering yet) and got two of the off. The first one may need to sit on that oil for a bit to get it loose.

I doubt that all this gunk built up on two years when the bike was stored or the PO just had a very crappy running bike. He keeps saying that it ran fine but I guess there is a difference between running fine and "like new".

I also got a quote from Len and it is going to cost me about $400 to convert the 650 carbs into 750 (rebuilt kit plus main fuel, air and pilot jets, as well as jet needles.

This step may take a bit longer than I thought until I can get enough on my piggy bank to service and rebuild the carbs. Once I am done I will be able to eat off of them.

 

Slow an methodical......that's the way to do it!

Keep it up, you're doing fine

Dave Fox

 

My friend just texted me and my parts bike has been picked up in Ohio, it should be here by Monday. I can't wait to get it here and move forward with this project. I am also bidding on a set of carbs jetted for the 750, the cleaning and fixing should be a lot easier and quicker that serrin up the rack I have on hand. Nome the less this one is being serviced.

 

PO probably thought the bike ran fine, and had no idea of its true performance potential. I'd say about a third or more of the people who own/have owned an XJ have no idea of what the bike is really about because they never took it over 5000rpm.

My 550s are the first bikes I've ever owned that make peak horsepower AT redline; virtually every other motor I've had peaked out a couple grand down the clock and there's no sense in revving further. Not the XJ, the faster it revs the more power it makes, right to the top.

That's not just 2 years' worth of gunk.

 

I'm not Hi-jacking here, but it's truly amazing how people define 'runs great', compared to a well tuned XJ! Definitely second Fitz's statements! Good luck with the thread from the great 'white at the moment' north .

Mars

 

My first bike was the xj650 maxim, and even with all the other bikes I have or have had, or tinker with, or rebuild, etc....... I STILL say that the 650 has all the power and speed that I'd ever need.

Dave F

 

Howdy,

I worked for a little bit on the carbs, taking more pieces apart. What I am struggling with is to separate the carb bodies drom the railings. It seems like the screws are super tight, before trying to heat them up, is there anything else that I can try besides a lot of force with the screw drivers (which so far I have only been able to get 1/3 of the screws loose)?

 

Do you have a handheld impact wrench? That rack sounds like it was never apart. If you don't, get one, it will be your new best friend and is one of the best ways to free those old screws.

 

No, I do not have one.

Is there a difference between carb bodies? I am looking online and could get a single carb to replace the one with the damage tower to support the floats. I want to make sure that they are interchangeable if I have the rest of the parts that goes to the rack.