Dano's 83 XJ750 Project

8) Well here starts the project. This wont be a wild one but should be fun.
I am going to try and do this useing what I have around here and the bike itself.

I traded for the bike and have seen the way they look bobbed and that's for me. I do have some mechanical things to cover before any major mods but I already pulled off the 4 inti 1 header that has like 500 miles on it and installed the original exhaust since I like the 4 into 2 look better for my vision.

So I got my first piece of trade or sale part. A 4 into 1 exhaust.

Pre Mod to do list.

Go through front brakes-
They are firm but not much braking power. Figure I would just go ahead and pull apart the calipers and cleanem up real nice and replace seals if needed. Replase hoses with black colored stainless hoses.

Replace head bearing with tapered roller bearings. I have a big detent in my front end.

Most importantly, first I need to go through the valves and make sure everything good there, make a carb tool and get the rack tunned. I am hoping that my cold start problem will go away when everything adjusted.

So here we go.

 

Most of these bikes need a re-jet with a 4 into 1 exhaust, so the carbs may be jetted different and causing problems. How did it run before you changed the exhaust?
Your brake MC will also need a clean and check the rear brake shoes for delamination.

 

The previous owner change the pipes and never rejetted so Switched back for 2 reasons. First because I want the duel exhaust and was hoping the cold start problem might be affected but it did not make a difference.

On the brake situation. I want to just go through and "clean" everything but I also wonder if I shouldn't just do a full rebuild of the calipers and MC. I went through and priced out doing accomplete overhaul including rebuilds of calipers, mc, new ss lines, banjo bolts, washers, needed caliper hone, mc hone, pliers for mc ring. The whole works would run $375 which is not a shocker by any means but don't want to send cash unless needed but brakes are kindof important.

The hard part is hat I have no garage so my work will be driveway work so working around the weather is an added challenge.

The valve work is taunting me big time. I feel like I need to get that done before I can troubleshoot and running problems but which do I do?

Pull tank and cover, measure clearances, pull shims, get sizes and figure what is needed, pu everything back together and see about shim swap or buy the ones I need and order them. Pull everything apart and go at it again.

OR

Take it to the local Yamaha shop and drop it off, pick it up 2 days later all done but $150 or so short on cash.

WHAT TO DO........

Not wanting to ride the bike tooooo much before verifying the valves and mixture is ok of course but want o ride also.

 

you can skip banjo bolts, reaneal the washers(but their cheap), caliper hone ?
use your fingers and steel wool, MC hone( steel wool and a wooden dowel)
you going to need new donuts for the valve cover bolts too, face it you'll be down for a week if you order from chacal, two maybe more from anywhere else

 

Yep that's what I figure also. Steel wool you say. I'll have too just go for it just cleaning everything up real good and see where it ends up.

I just figured if I do the valve work the saved labor will buy my new ss brake lines.

Selll that 4 into 1 and most my other projects parts order covered.....

 

If the PO never re-jetted, then the valves have never been checked as well. Best to start at the beginning, check valves, clean carbs(full monty), bench sync, block YICS and sync carbs on bike, then colortune.

 

Checking your valve shims shouldn't take more than 3 hours if you are completely new to it.....

 

Ok I took the easy route guys.
Due to 2 employees walking out without notification in the past two weeks I have am on the counter hours up to 85 a week right now at my coffee shop, so I dropped my bike off at the local shop and am having them go through the valves for me so I will have a clean slate to tune everything up as I get a little time here and there.

I know, a couple hours of labor could have saved me enough to do my fork bearings but what's done is done.

 

Went by the shop today to get an update on bike.

Tje mechanic said he checked the compression and all cylinder above 150 and within 5 pounds of eachother.

He looked around and found that the petcock has a major vacume leak and as soon as he plugged the vacume line and started bike in prime it started and ran perfect cold warm and responive as all get out. The choak works as it should and smooth as can be expected.

I think I will cap the vacume port and run the petcock the old fashion way. Prime=on on =OFF due to no vacume hooked up.

Oh wait I just realised that means no reserve. Well I will have to check on a replacement.

Good news anyway.

 

Well after sitting over night the mechanic said the cold starting problem still there. Hsd him check valves like I asked in the first place and intakes good but all 4 exhaust were .015 just .01 too tight so they said they would just leave them because it couldn't be the cause of problem but I told them to go ahead and get them in spec so I have a good solid baseline to work from.
So after the valve adjustment he will see if the problem still exists. If not great but if it does he will rebuild carbs.
Looks like my fantastic deal on the bike will even out to a good deal but I will have a gone through bike front to back and then the bobber project starts.

Ordered my new old style peacock and fork bearing yesterday and will get thst project done next.

 

Changed out petcock and valves all set. Carb kits here tomorrow so carb rebuilds the weekend.

Got my acordian boots and fork seals in the mail today. Will go through brakes, forks and steering bearings first of next week.

Should be a different ride middle of next week. ..

Grips
Bar end mirrors
Valves
Carbs
Steering bearings
Brake service
Fork seals and boots
Petcock replacement

 

Well the projects are done for now. Just fired bike up after;

Set Valves
Cleaned Carbs
Synced Carbs
New plugs
Replaced fork seals
Installed accordion boots on forks
Installed tapered bearings in steering head
Complete cleaning of front calipers, lines fresh fluid
New old style petcock
Changed oil & filter
lubed everything
Drained and filled rear end
Installed new grips
Installed bar end mirrors
Test drive

Then had to get to my coffee shop to take over the counter so no joy as far as a long ride but feeling great about progress. Have tomorrow scheduled off so after week end paperwork will give her a good shake down ride.

Next up is finding my solo seat I want. Figure out mounting for seat.
Get Sparto taillight with license plate bracket
Cut Frame slide rear fender up and mount taillight
Call it done.

 

Oh yes I forgot about other want too items.;
Forward controls
Replace fuse box
Modify Exhaust

 

The first steps of the bobber transformation.

Front fender removed, Bar ends, Grips, Accordion boots.

A long way to go but mechanical needs are done

 

:? Ok when I got the bike it had a 4 into one exhaust mounted with the stock exhaust included in the deal.

There was some blueing on the 4 into 1 so I switched to the Stock setup.

The blueing increased so either I am running lean which I doubt that just a change of the exhaust or the pipes just blue easy.

The 4 into 1 has center clearence issues with my weight so I think the 4 into1 is out.

The stock exhaust is ok but too long for my tast. Cutting off the muffler will make things way too loud for my tast.

has anyone found a muffler that will fit the stock setup but short and quiet?

 

My jetting exhaust nightmare

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... tml#382361

 

OK it was a busy weekend but got some things done to the bike.

Removed grab rail
Re ran all wiring back into headlight housing
Removed giant license plate mount and repositioned plate
Removed passenger pegs and mount
Made exhaust bracket

 

Got a friend of my sons offering to pug a bung in exhaust and hook up his real time analyzer that he uses for tuning high performance race cars and bikes by measuring the data from the exhaust. Then he will compute the changes needed at all speeds/loads and drill out and reposition needles as needed. He said that if a pilot change is needed we will have to order the replacement but everything else he will do on the spot.
Then he will thread in a plug in the bung which will be available for future use after we talk about a custom stainless exhaust which he builds also or for future tuning..
After he is done everything will be perfect from what the 5 guys at my sons bachelor party that he has done it for said this weekend.


He isn't even charging me for the setup and the exhaust will be for cost of materials. I've already been checking out some cool stainless resonators in the $40 range. He said we could use the 4 into one header I have and change the collector to an oval design getting back some ground clearance and then go stainless out to the resonator..

 

A couple of things to note:

The original headpipes already have EGA "bungs" on the bottom of each pipe just before the collector (they're those little "mystery bolts.")

STOCK headpipes, as long as they're not damaged internally, should NOT be "blueing" at all. They're double-walled to prevent specifically that. Unless the inner pipes have fractured, if you're blueing stock head pipes then you're running WAY hot.

 

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=3 ... tml#383619

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... art=0.html

Above are links to my air fuel mixture process and spark plug reading fun so I wont update that again since you can hit the links.

The bike has been running fantastic and I have been learning hot she likes to be ridden. That's more of the trick than anything. Coming from a mainly HD background RPM control and shift points are so different.

The next step is deciding the rear chop. I actually have been playing with the idea of not chopping the read but sliding the fender to where the end of the fender is at the same point as the back of the seat and building a taillight into the small plastic tool box under the back of the seat and mounting the plate at an angle under it. Replacing the turn signals with smaller ones and cleaning up any extra metal sticking out from under the seat on the sides. Wont be a true Bobber but I am starting to like the lines of the bike just needs to be cleaner.
I will have to work on a drawing of the changes planed imposed over a photo.
More soon

 

Blacked out Fork legs, Motor< Rear End, Side Covers. an hourof tape and 5 minuets painting.

 

Next I need to modify seat, frame and fender to take this section out.

 

Got my stainless lines installed last night. Got great pressure after a few pumps so let it sit over night and will bleed again after work but these lines are nice. Much better braking power even with not being finished bleeding the system. Those old line were a big soft spot in my brakes for sure.

 

Made a couple changes to design and leaving seat alone. Removed the little storage box and cut out all but two mounting stanchions to bolt the custom tail plate and LED license plate frame to. The tail/stop LEDs are great, very bright.
I like the clean look I have achieved and no mods to seat. I did rotate the turn signals forward and up on the original brackets but a little better than original position. Of course some mini bullets will be nice eventually but a step at a time.

 

Not bad... Much cleaner looking.

 

love the idea dano of that back end i have been thinking for weeks what i can do with it and u kinda gave me some ideas now thanks! can u show some pics from the rear so i can kinda get the idea how it will look?