A new project, the abandoned xj650RJ

Not worth it. Of course, I'm a bastard and when someone lies to me, craigslist or not, I walk away after giving them the V sign and a verbal scar.

 

How's that being a bastard? Totally reasonable behaviour IMO, in my "book" people get every benefit of the doubt to prove themselves honest & good, but as soon as they prove otherwise they can whistle, whatever we may have previously agreed...

 

Rookie update: I was trying to bench sync the carb floats and I thought I had some passages blocked in the bowls to do the testing. I opened them up and two of them were only half way up filled (obviously not enough gas and the other two were totally dry. Even if the floats were a couple of mm off compared to each other how could they be totally dry?

This is when I need a yoga session otherwise I am going to beat this thing up so hard that Dave will not be able to salvage a single bolt.

My guess is that this is the reason why owners hide their xjs under a tarp or a barn and let them sit. I wish somebody who knew what they were doing lived nearby to give me some pointers.

 

Which two had fuel in them? If the fuel transfer tubes were blocked that would keep all four from filling properly (or at all if completely blocked).

 

The two closest to the T on the gas shaft were half full, I may need to use my air compressor and hope that whatever is blocking it will clear up, I really don't want to break up the rack and have to replace shaft seals... but oh well.

 

I am so thankful for awesome people in this forum, Dave called me and gave me some pointers on how to troubleshoot my carbs.

I flipped upside down the rack without the bowls, blew air into the gas inlet with a little hose, no air would come out so all needles are sealing properly, next I lifted the bowls one carb at a time and I could hear air coming out. That tells me that the fuel shaft is not blocked (I'm glad).

I noticed that the petrooster barely drips gas when on prime. I will investigate this later and rebuild.

This conversation with Dave was better than any XJ yoga that I've tried before

 

Glad to hear those results..........

Now, things to look for on the 'rooster.......

1. it could simply have dirt plugging it, or a mud wasp......seen that often--
2. the diaphragm could have turned to goo in the presence of old rotten gas
3. more than likely its a case of a really dirty screen/tower on the inside of the tank.....that can also cause the insides of the petcock to get nasty.
4. Whatever you find, make sure to install an inline fuel filter, then you will never have to worry again.

Nice chatting with you a few minutes ago............

Dave Fox

 

+5million on the inline filter! Glad you didn't use the XJ as an anvil after all! 8O

 

Howdy,

I went back and blew compressed air into the fuel inlet, It raised the valved enough for all the floats to start bobbing I made sure that I took one off at a time as well as the float needle and blew some air to make sure the passage and needle is totally clean and clear.

The compressed air also helped to make sure that the passages in the bowls were clear.

More work ahead but one thing at a time...

 

I can't figure out how I made room for the carbs... now with the airbox in, boots on one side and intake manifolds on the other there seems to be zero clearance for the carbs to go it. I tried to push back the airbox as far as it would go but there is still not enough room to slide the carbs in.

This is a proven example that taking things apart is the easy step, making them fit again is a real pain!

 

Put the carbs in from the left side of the bike. Make sure of the following:

push the airboots back into the airbox

make sure that the clutch cable is out of the way

Now you should have plenty of room. work the airboots on to the carbs once the carbs are in place.

Dave F

 

Thanks, and that is how it works, I was trying to secure the boots first off the box, obviously there is more than one way to skin a cat (or maybe there is only one RIGHT and easy way to do it).

 

From the LEFT?

Wasn't it Dale Earnhardt who said "there's two ways to do this-- my way and the wrong way?"

Isn't the starter kinda in the way? I always take mine in/out the right side. (So does Yamaha.)

Or am I not the only one who's getting old here?

Dragon Warrior, it is easier to remove/install the carbs if the airbox boots are not in the way at all. The factory book has you removing them (and the airbox mounting bolts) prior to carb removal, although re-installation is indeed easier if they're just pushed into the airbox. And I wasn't just busting Dave's chops, the carbs come in/out the right, but he was right otherwise.

 

I removed the boots. Made gettin the carbs in and out really easy. But like fitz said, getting those boots back in with the carbs in was a test of patience. Something to remember if you remove them is that they are not all the same. I'm sure you have figured that out already but thought I would mention it if you didn't. Better to not find out how I did where you spend 40 minutes getting 2 boots in only to have to pull them back out to fix the problem :-(

 

Now that's weird, I have the ones off of my '83 Maxim 750 right in front of me and the four of them are perfectly identical.
Is this different for a 650?

 

On mine the 2 & 3 airbox to carb boots were slightly shorter than the 1 & 4 boots. Might be different on the 750. That I'm not sure of. At least that is how they were on mine.

 

SInce the back of your carb rack is certainly straight, so the face of your airbox is convex or what?

 

I think it is more that the 1 & 4 carbs don't line up with the airbox holes. So they have to be a bit longer to reach the carbs... Not sure the truth in that but that is only explanation I can think of.

 

Makes sense!

 

I believe the airbox boots are pretty straight, the intake manifolds are not, they are angled differently (don't ask me how I found out).