A Scottish XJ550 Cafe/streetfighter'ish racer...

Looking awesome... can't wait to see this one finished.

 

Cheers c_muck. I cant wait either :lol:

To push it further along I recovered the seat tonight & started filling the seat unit itself to have it nearer to paint.
I also pushed the bike outside for a better piccie of it with it's shiny new wheels & tyres. 8)



Cheers
Col.

 

+1

 

fooken brilliant work mate! keep it up!

 

:lol: A bit done today on the XJ with cleaning up the swingarm where I've been welding tabs on for paddock stands & shark fin & the welding from mating the XT swingarm top to the XJ bottom half. Removed all the paint & once I have tapped a few holes into it I will be ready for paint.
I wasn't happy with how low it was sitting after fitting the 17" wheels so I removed the top shock mount & rewelded it 10mm further back which is enough to give it a wee lift to where I am happy with.
Welded a few spots on the lock stops too so fingers won't be trapped on the tank from the clip-ons.
Finally mocked up the front brake caliper & disc. Will be needing a 15mm spacer made up for the disc to hub which I will get a mate to do as he has a lathe & I will cut out the caliper bracket from some 10mm ali I have lying around. The plate that is shown with the scabby looking bolts is only 2mm thick so won't cope with the EXUP caliper braking forces I don't think ...& the 2 bolts won't be a good idea either.. :lol:

You can see from this piccie that I have plenty of clearance from the spokes to the EXUP caliper . 3mm easily..


Cheers
Col.

 

Keep the updates coming. I am in the middle of building my own "bike that was in boxes" --a low-buck, lower-talent XJ650-- and will be watching this thread for motivation and inspiration. That front brake setup makes me DROOL. No offense to the XJ purists here, but THANK YOU from saving this thing from 80s comfort bike oblivion (although the 550 never was quite as ugly as mine). Here I am, just thankful that mine finally RUNS right, then I see this thing. Ha.

 

Cheers Platkeyboy,

I'm doing my best to keep it moving but dead busy with work & other stuff at the moment so doing little bits when I can.
The front brake set up is not complete yet but can certainly be fitted to your project aswell, just need to find the correct parts & a hacksaw to cut the ali plate .. ;-)

Good luck with it.

Col.

 

More or less finished the rear brake tonight. Replacing the rod operated brake with a cable due to the rod not being able to be used with the XT top half swing arm on the XJ.
The bends needed in the rod to clear the arm would have looked all wrong.
I came up with a similar thing that I used on my T20 race bike. A Vespa rear brake cable & assorted adjusters & cable stops..
The cable routing is kept in place with wound 4 mm rod that I coiled around a 10mm bolt & cut 3 coils of then welded to the swingarm.




That's the swing arm finished bar painting so I will remove that now & finish of the welding on the frame. Still need to have the brake pedal welded up to accept the Vespa cable eye.

Cheers
Col.

 

Good work so far. I have to admit I am a bit jealous of a couple of things, including the ability to do fine welding. I have to contend with a 16-year-old mig welder (bottom-of-the-line-Lincoln) that is the size of a small dog and varies between no penetration or tearing holes in metal. Haha.

What type/brand welder do you use?

 

Cheers Platkeyboy but the welding is all about practice. I've been restoring an old car for the last year or so that has had a ton of welding needed doing to it so thats where I've had the practise.

It's a Seeley 150 turbo I think which is easily 15 years old itself too. Pretty sure it is 0.8 thick wire that I use & Argoshield light gas. Got a tip to push the pool of weld instead of dragging it which I have to say made a difference.

Cheers
Col.

 

Not much done to the XJ in the past two weeks unfortunately with being busy at work then having a wee hoilday with the family but back at it tonight.
Dressed up most of the previous welds on the frame & welded in some frame bracing & put in a bracket for a steering damper.



Forgot to take a photo of the steering damper bracket.. D oh!!!
I'll get that tomorrow along with the modified lower yoke.

Cheers

Col.

 

Paint removed from frame now with wire brush attachement to grinder.
A new frame brace welded in to replace the split lower rear one where the centre stand used to live.
Paint removed from the fork lowers, the top yoke & the front brake caliper which was actually anodised black underneath?????? Why it was painted(badly) I don't know??? :roll:
Split the rear shock & wire brushed the body of it removing all the rust & years of crap that has built up on it. Will have the spring powdercoated next week hopefully as that is a difficult one to clean up & look good.

It will be polishing of the fork lowers & top yoke once again tomorrow I think & prepping the frame & swing arm for primer & if I get a chance possibly degrease the engine too.. Probably fit the new fork seals once they lowers are polished too.
Get it all ready for paint next week hopefully.

Cheers

Col.

 

Been dodging in between paint stripping & painting today.
Paint stripping the petrol tank & the painting of the rear shock, engine & tacho mounts.

Here's the tank with a coat of stripper on it.. Turned out like it has had a wee bash & has been repainted properly with the correct decals fitted a one time in it's life. A wee bit of filler was on the left hand side where your knee would be..





Ground of the plates for the tank badges as I want a smooth finish to the tank there. First coat of filler is already in there now too.
Be rubbing down tomorrow... the joys..

Cheers

Col.

 

Thought I'd put up some photos of the bitties I've been giving a lick of paint these past few days.
The major part was the engine. I would've really liked to have stripped the motor completey for this but I'm hoping to eventually put in a tuned 600 at some point in the future so this one has had a wee clean up & some engine enamel for now. Still to polish the casings & expose the fin edges.


May well have the frame done this weekend if not Monday, see how it goes.

Cheers
Col.

 

Been a bit busier today with a mate turning down the spacer I needed for the front disc. Thanks Gordon. One more bit done making it all closer to completion.

Once that was done I was back to painting the frame which I decided to paint in the back garden seeing it was a nice sunny warm day. 8)
Used Simoniz Tough Black enamel which I'm well impressed with giving a really shiny flowing finish in deep black gloss.


Hoping to have it as a rolling chassis for the weekend with the engine in place so I can move it around as I will be receiving a Suzuki T20 race bike for the weekend 11/12 June to race at the Bob Macintyre trophy meeting at East Fortune.
The T20 needs a bit of space so the XJ has to be rolling to give me enough room in my garage.

Cheers

Col.

 

Excellent work. I really like the mono-shock mod, I want to covert my Maxim some day seeing that I'm not a fan of exposed rear shocks.
BTW my last name is Craig, so its nice to see a fellow Scott doing so well! :wink:

 

Cheers O-B

Yeh, we Scots seem to be everywhere :wink:

Col.

 

I now have a rolling chassis with the engine in & I am starting to try & figure out the rats nest of wiring that has to be done to try & make it all look tidy.
Been cutting out all the excess wires that I won't require. It has come to halt this week as I am sorting out the Suzuku T20 racer that I will hopefully be racing this weekend at East Fortune.

Here is how it is at the moment...




Cheers
Col.

 

So are you just going to run a rev counter? Or is it just a mock up for a single speedo?

 

"Piggin Nora" that's a fine we beasty that you have been fabricating. Hope the wiring does not become the bain of the project.
Cheers, on a job well done.....so far.


Graham