A new project, the abandoned xj650RJ

I guarantee he'll want to ride it...pride in all the work done must be shown to the world!

 

I had a few minutes today to work on my project so I figured since I am this far and the engine is ready to go in a fresh coat won't hurt.


and two coats later:


And the frame after a fresh coat where it is going to show.



Hopefully I have some more time before dark tonight to put the engine in the frame.

 

Fitting the swing arm with new bearings...



I am also spending some quality time with the dremel



Now I need to figure out what is missing inside the shaft... according to the parts diagram there is supposed to be an oil seal and I can't find it.

 

There's no seal there...... There better not be any oil in the brakes!!!!

 

Ok, so I spent a bit more time polishing, and parts are dusting off nicely. I few question for the pro-polishers, how do I get rid of the streaks that I can see were made by the small dremel buffing tip?



I will be polishing a few more parts in the upcoming days while I get the carbs done.

 

Get a bigger buffing wheel

 

Depends on which dremel wheel you were using. If it was the small felt wheel and compound that comes in most dremel sets, there's not a lot of avoiding it on large parts.

I've been in the polishing/buffing business on and off for over 25 years and the best advice I can give you (because you will get bitten by the bug) is to get a bench buffer from Harbor Freight. Around $50 plus wheels and compound and it makes the work a lot easier.

If you go with wet/dry sandpaper (ala BigFitz) from around 800 progressively up to 2000 grit to get the shine.

If you go with the wheel (me) you can use 600 and 800 wet/dry for the polish, then a soft or semi-soft wheel and white (aluminum) compound and you'll have the "chrome Look".

Then it's just a matter of using some (I use Mother's) mag and aluminum polish a couple times a year to keep the shine.

I haven't done a write up on buffing/polishing yet because I ran out of aluminum bits to clean up.

Oh, btw, you can also use the bench buffer (very soft wheel, blue compound) to polish plastics and take scratches out of CD/DVDs.

I really need to find some more aluminum........

 

Thank you for the comprehensive answer. I did polish with the felt wheel on the dremel and used the red'ish compound. I was going to go over again with the white compound and see if they will go away.

I think I will go to HF and get the bench buffer/grinder. They are not that expensive and I have a whole lot of parts that can use it.

 

Today I spent some time with a bigger wheel... I realized that at the bottom of my toolbox I had a larger wheel and the chock for my power drill so I did that and after a couple of minutes and the battery on my cordless drill this is what I got:

 

Today is going to be a hot day here so I got a bit done this morning,



After getting the shaft connected to the joint and getting the swing arm half way in I realized that I forgot the brake actuator by the pedal... I noticed that on the back there are a couple of tabs where the return spring and the brake light switch connect to it.

So after a couple of tries, here is the rear of the bike assembled back together. I feel like after this built I will be able to do it during my lunch break.

I need to go back and get rid of that rust in the brake actuator because now it looks like a stain of ketchup on a white shirt.

 

Not much to update this weekend I am working Saturday and Sunday plus a ton of rain so no wrench time on the driveway. I did have time to polish a couple more parts. If it rains like this monday I will be replacing the fuse box on the wiring harness that I am actually using for the bike.

 

After reading and following Fitz's "how to" ...
Rebuild vacuum operated fuel valve

and ordering all the parts from chacal the pet rooster is ready to go whenever the tank is ready for it.

In the middle of it:



And done...

 

Hey tskaz, I've got a bunch of aluminum just laying around on my 82 650 Maxim you're welcome to polish!

 

I removed the wiring barness to be replaced with what I thought was one in better shape. Here is the first difference:

What is in the circle replaced what is in the square, the genius who "fixed" the wiring harness decided to get rid of a fuse (pointed on the arrow).



I will replace that old fuse box with a new blade style fuse box. But first I need to sort out the other differences that I have found.

Find the differences:

 

Eco,

I've seen some like that before, too. As a matter of fact, if you recall in a previous thread, not too long ago, I mentioned about some of the strange repairs I've seen........one of them being eliminating the fuse box. Someone said ' if there's no pics, it didn't happen'......so--here's a pic for you to be able to verify it. I'm sending it to your cell phone cuz I don't have a way to host it somewhere------check it out.

dave fox

 

Thanks for sharing, this is the bowl of spaghetti that Dave has on deck:

 

You can also see the tank is held on by a loop of wire.....

 

I'm affraid the shipping would be a bit prohibitive.

 

The front wheel and forks came off, I have two sets of forks to pick the "better" ones. Both seem to be in similar shape (cosmetically) but will have to go over them mechanically to make sure they are solid and in good operational shape before I clean the outside.

 

I was searching for ideas to paint the bike. What are the odds to find theexact same bike the way it looked 3 owners ago? I found the way my bike looked in 2007.

Take a look a the first page of this thread for a picture of the bike the way I got it. It would have been nice to start with it that way.