Mad_bohemian's VooDoo '82 xj750 Project-FINALLY COMPLETE!

Hi all.
This begins my build thread on my latest project bike, an '82 750 Maxim. I picked it up for about $400. Flat front tire, wiring at the headlight all unplugged. The guy told me the bike had been sitting for about a year.He got the bike from a friend who got the bike from some guy who ran it off the road into some heavy brush. Supposedly it ran after the crash and that owner had replaced the front forks. Clutch cable is gone, brakes need a new MC and lever. The guy I bought it from said he couldn't figure out the wiring to get it started....
Fast forward 2 months. Got the wiring all hooked up and with the help of forum members here I got my starter circuit bugs worked out. PO had swapped the starter relays.
Once I got that straightened out I took my carbs off and cleaned out the bowls. Pretty ugly. Everything was gunked up so I know this winter I'll be rebuilding those.I just gave them a quickie clean job and slapped 'em back on the bike. Put in some gas and hit the starter. She sputtered but wouldn't start. Used some starter fluid in and she fired right up. She had trouble running but then the rpms kicked up to about 4k and stayed there. I used the key as a governor to keep her running but not screamin'
So, at least I know she runs. Now I can start my build knowing that it will at least RUN when I'm done 8O
So here's the plan so far:
Shorten the rear suspension.
Drop the seat area of the frame.
Move the controls forward.
Fabricate a solo style seat.
New rear fender.Not sure if it will be bobbed yet....
new front fender
Still tossing around the idea of a bolt on type chopper front end, nothing radical, 5-9 deg rake with 4inch over down tubes. Pocketbook will have the final say on that one though.
Drag style bars or something close to that.
Want to upgrade the dash to something simpler/cleaner.
Probably change/modify the headlight assm as well.
And will fabricate an exhaust system for it.
Good thing I have all winter and spring to do all that 8O

SOME PICS! Remember ...WITHOUT PICS, IT NEVER HAPPENED!!!
Here's what I started with..



Here she is after I got her running. Getting ready to start the frame mods.




First thing I did was cut the tail section off just behind the shock mounts..



You can also see where I mocked up an 11" 'shock' to see how low I want to go with the rear end.


This shot shows the area of the frame I'm going to change. I want it to follow the lines of the side cover closer...




Next I carefully measured and marked where I wanted to make the cuts to bend the seat section down.



I made a second cut to give me some room to contour the new end sections so they would mate up with with down tubes later.


Then I heated the frame and bent the seat section down till it met the 'down tubes'. I also moved the end of the down tubes in about 3/8 of an inch.




Here's the job when I got done welding and grinding...




And here's with the side cover on.



My only concern is if there's enough strength in the frame at the shock mounts now. I was thinking of strengthening it with some gussets or maybe like this...



Whaddya say guys...Do I need to bolster up this area of the frame??

So that's where I'm at so far. Next step is to get new, shorter shocks and a rear fender. Then once I have that mocked up I can proceed with stripping the frame....

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

bracing is always a good idea...

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

gussets are awesome. cool chop you have going....keep us in fresh pics!

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

i think you better do the braces, you already have them made
make up some struts for the compressed length of the new shocks

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

Good idea polock. Anybody know what the compressed length of an 11" or 11.5" shock is???




p.s.
Here's the first project bike I did with the help of my son. An 84 Shadow 500
Before

After

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

looks very very good, i was going to do the same thing with my frame to give it a drop seat type of effect. i would skip adding the extra tube to the top and do a gusset along the full length of the bottom.

i think the best option would be to relocate the shock mounts to where the 2 frame rails come together. You already went this far and doing that would make it alot easier to achieve a finished look

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

i fired up ms paint to try and show you what im talking about. These gussets would work out well because with the struts/shocks pushing against the frame it would have to acctually rip the metal before it could bend. I even put some stylish speed holes in it for you

just remember when you do gussets: it may look cool to have the gusset run down the middle of the tube but its not as effective/safe as have it along side the tube.

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

Any updates on this project???

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

If the tubing supports will not interfere with the seat, I would strengthen the shock mounts with them and not even consider attaching gussets.

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

could of just slapped some new rubber on a headlight and rode....yeah i know that would have been to easy and there is really no fun in it that way..its looking good

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

No updates yet Winter has come and it is COLD in my garage. (yup..I'm a wuss.. :wink: ) Not much room in there either since I have 3 cars, 3 cycles and a bunch of my son's stuff packed in there since he moved back home. Right now I'm just scavenging pieces and parts that I'll be needing, from evil bay. As soon as I get room or some warmth in my garage I'll start posting updates

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

Kick Your Son Out, and Buy a Heater...... I'm anxious to see some more progress !!!! :wink:

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

Yeah, his move back home is just temporary...and I actually do a a heater...just can't afford the $250 + they want to convert it from natural gas to propane....yeah..I'm a wuss and a cheap azz too!! 8O

p.s. You're welcome to donate to the "Keep Mad's Azz Warm" fund if you're so inclined :wink:

 

Re: '82 xj750 Project begins....

UPDATE:
Okay...so being laid off and sittin' around the house goin' stir crazy...I decided to suck it up and brave the cold....
Alrighty then...so I picked up a rear fender , and seat and did some cuttin' and slashin' on those. Because the fender was wider than my rails I was going to try to have it mount coming up from the tire, instead of dropping in like normal.....baaaad idea. It left me with some very large gaps that my seat wouldn't cover (no pics of that abortion... sorry ).
The fender is a Rick Doss "Dixie" Here's the stock version




Well, first thing I decided was the frame needed to be wider. So I split the cross brace, heated up the frame and spread it out about 1 1/4" and welded in a spacer. I made the spacer a little smaller then the cross brace so I can weld a small 'tongue' on the fender so that will help locate it without interfering with the seat.



You'll also notice I went with the topside gussets to strengthen the frame for the shocks. So with the wider frame I was able to drop the fender in from the top....But that meant I had to make some modification the to fender and eliminate my boo boo. So basically I cut off the snafu'd part, rotated the fender to bring the tail up and also removed the flat section. I don't have a pic of just the fender ..but you'll see it later

So next I started on the seat....
I picked this LePera up from Ebay..



First thing I had to do was tear it apart so I could modify the pan. Then I cut 2 clearance slots in the pan for my frame rails...(I also moved the tongue on the front of the seat so it would work like a stock Maxim seat under the tail of the gas tank but I did that after everything else.)



I then took a piece of exhaust pipe steel and cut and ground and hammered and bent the puppy until I had made a liittle 'hood' to go over the rail and give me something to rivet the seat cover to.


It's kinda hard to see...but this is what the bottom of the pan looked like originally.


Then I used a wire wheel to clear out now-excess foam on the seat...



So it would fit correctly on the modified pan..



You'll notice also that I took the mounting tab and moved that inboard more so I can add a mating tab on the frame rail, then I can bolt them together to secure the seat

Then I riveted the seat cover back on, took it out to the garage and did a quick test fit with the fender





I LIKE where this is going


One nice thing about my fender snafu...it left me with a piece left over that worked quite nicely as an integrated tailight housing.



That's all for now. Next on the agenda is to fabricate some fender struts, get the shocks on and finalize the back end details. Hopefully I can get my stepdaughter, who is a phenomenal artist , to do the graphics when it comes time to paint. I really wanna do this on the side covers...





that's all for now....

 

Re: UDPATED 02-13-09:'82 xj750 Project begins....

I like where this bike is going. The integrated light housing looks like you had it planned all along

 

Re: UDPATED 02-13-09:'82 xj750 Project begins....

looking good MB can't wait to see the finished product
Shaun

 

Re: UDPATED 02-13-09:'82 xj750 Project begins....

Update - Tail light:
Been working on the tailight / turn signals and I can't make up my mind. One way would be easy and quick but I am thinking about an even more custom look. I'll give you guys the option and you can help me decide.....

I picked up some LED turn signals and a flexible strip of LEDs for the brake light.


Then I fabricated a mounting bracket for the tail light to mount on.




Drilled and tapped it for 10-32 screws to hold it on the fender.
Then I'll mount the LED strip to it for my brake light, which should look something like this..


I took a piece of prismatic plastic from a florescent light and trimmed it to fit the cowling.
Plan is to laminate transparent red over this eventually.


So here's where my other idea came in... If I go with my original plan with the turn signals mounted on the fender the end look would be kinda like this (the signal is small and on the left side of the fender)



But... then I thought " What if I take the LED turn signals apart and mount them along side the tailight??"... (only one is shown to the right of the tail light)


And the split the lens with red in the middle and clear on the sides so it would look like this..


Not sure if there is a safety issue to worry about, but what do you guys think??

 

Re: UDPATED 02-17-09:'82 xj750 Project begins....

Man I like the look of the integrated signals but I'd be afraid of the visibility issue. I want the cages to know I'm turning or changing lanes. If they are bright enough it may not be an issue.

 

Re: UDPATED 02-17-09:'82 xj750 Project begins....

+1 on the visibility issues but man does it look good!
Shaun

 

Re: UDPATED 02-17-09:'82 xj750 Project begins....

The look is great!
I to would worry about the signal being seen but, the signals are tiny as it is.
Probably little difference outboard or in board.
If you put the tinting on the inside of the lens, you wouldn't see the transition between the red brake and amber turn sections.