My '81 550 Seca Restoration log

Good call on the clear lenses!! What's shipping on those i wonder? If its excessive, perhaps one of us could just order them for both of us, and then include them in the box with the fender if we go through with the trade.

Just a thought?

-Also - is there a law pertaining to having to have amber lenses in the back? or could they be clear lenses/amber bulbs all the way around?

I suppose that might vary by state.

 

damn, just ordered a ton of stuff from here, i wish i would have just added a couple to the cart

http://www.powersportsuperstore.com/K-S ... 145686.htm

 

If i can find a dealer - I think im going to try these bad boys out:



http://www.maxxis.com/MotorcycleATV/Str ... Front.aspx

http://www.maxxis.com/MotorcycleATV/Str ... -Rear.aspx

Maxxis sponsors the mountain bike team I'm on, and i love their tires, so it would be neat to try out their motorcycle tires as well!

 

THAT may be a bit of an issue. I just Googled myself blue, and cannot find one on-line retailer offering their line of STREET tires. ATV and dirt bikes yes; no street tires.

Hmmm...

 

Damnit. Their Street tires are no longer sold in the US or Canada. (as of 2009 i guess)

They looked promising even

Bummer.

Yeah - I tried googling to no end - so just ended up calling their us headquarters - http://www.maxxis.com/About-Maxxis/Location.aspx

Oops, should have checked my email before i made the call, haha -

"Dear Chris,

Thank you for contacting Maxxis International.

As of January 1, 2009, all Maxxis street motorcycle tires have been discontinued in the U.S. and Canada.

Maxxis off-road motorcycle tires are unaffected by this change, as are tires in other categories including ATV, passenger, light truck, and bicycle.

Sincerely,

The Maxxis Support Team"

Sounds like it may have been some sort of DOT issue or something

 

Alrighty!

Some parts came in!

Still waiting on a few things and still have to order some other things, but this is a good step in the right direction:

Picked up these footpeg brackets - guy wanted 30$ for the pair, i offered him 15$ shipped for the left one that i needed, and he said sure - so i sent him 15 bucks and he sent me both of them... lol.

So if you know anyone looking for a right side, i'll sell it to them for 15 bucks! haha. Should clean and polish up real nice.



Also grabbed these up for a nice price - 9$ shipped - and since it cost $5.80 to ship them, he only took home $3.20 - Works for me. also dirty, will shine up nice as new.



Heres the first batch from powersport superstore - chain, front and rear wheel bearings, tapered headtube bearings, grips, front brake pads, rear shoes, and front sprocket. Rear sprocket should be here soon.



And lastly here are the new turn signals i'll be using - I'm also planning to pick up a set of clear lenses for them, and then run amber 1156's



Good stuff!!

Progress to be made on the frame next tuesday most likely, decided not to sandblast it due to the cost, and it being in pretty good shape anyway - so just going to sand down and prime the rough areas, ht it with some primer, and then shoot it with frame paint. - Paint and primer suggestions are welcome - I have access to a paint gun/booth, so non-rattle can paints are welcome suggestions. Economical is preferred, but it shouldn't be total junk - if you get what i mean.

Thanks for following along!

 

Question for you all - what is needed to have the turn signals double as running lights?

I know i would have to go with a double filament bulb - but would i have to put in another socket as well?

The wiring to a constant 12v i would just wire into the headlight circuit or the ignition circuit like i jumper-d over to my empty fuse bank to my cigarette plug on my maxim, but i was wondering if the socket would have to be changed as well - or where to solder the constant 12v wire to on the current socket.

if that makes sense? hopefully, lol

 

mtnbikecrazy55,

The sockets on my 650 had one wire and grounded to the frame. I bought the three wire lights from Len and swapped em out. The new set up have a hot wire, ground wire and a wire that plugs into the blue wire bullet connector in the shell which is also the tail light wire. I don't know if it's possible to make those sockets runners and keep the flasher function. Hope this helps.

Gary

 

Sockets for dual-filament bulbs are different than sockets for single filament bulbs.

You would need "three wire" sockets, for dual-filament bulbs.

 

such as these?

http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo ... ckets/171/

Only thing is the mounting holes are angled the wrong way. Right width apart though, so making some 90 deg. bend brackets/adapters wouldn't be too hard to make.

 

More input: would any of these speedo's swap in?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-Yamaha-RD- ... de&vxp=mtr

 

That one should, although the input stub (where the cable screws on) is probably at a slightly different angle than your original.

Other than that, it should pretty much drop right in; it may require a wedge-shaped shim or some reshaping of the housing to accommodate the different angle on the bottom plate (where said stub is.)

Take a look at the second pic in this article to see what I mean: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2 ... meter.html The instrument you're interested in will be like the one on the far right.

 

Perfect - now i know what to keep my eye out for -

Question - why did you decide to go with the xj900 speedo over the one on the right? fitment issues? or? or was it just because the 900 one was NOS?

As well as - will one from an 86-89 fz600 work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-FZ600-Da ... 59&vxp=mtr

 

Hold up -

"
I also "tarted up" the tach to sort of match the speedo; I have an electronic tach that DOES match that I will install one of these days."

How can one put on an electronic tach?

As in that case - I would pick up a nice set of gauges from a fz 600 if they would work - tons to choose from on ebay - and i can be patient and wait for a cheap set to come up:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid= ... &_from=R40

 

Alright - Finally got some pictures off my camera so i can show you all some more progress:

Disassembled the gauge cluster to clean it up and lube the internal mechanisms, plans are in the long term to swap out the gauges with those of a fz600 - to take advantage of a larger range speedo and an electronic tach



All buttoned up and back together:


Before and after of the rear sprocket hardware:




Took the speed sensor apart, cleaned it, and then reassembled with fresh grease:




And here is some magical awesomeness - If you don't want to mess with electrolysis or want to mess up whatever you're working on with vinegar/muriatic acid, this is the stuff to get!



Comes in both quart and gallon jugs, and is available at harbor freight - so a great thing to get 20% off on, as well as a free flashlight!



Check this out:

Before:




After soaking overnight and a little brushing with a soft bristled toothbrush -





Harmless to chrome!!


Have to say I'm highly impressed - plus its REUSABLE. Pretty awesome.

It's normally ~30$ a gallon before tax, and with the coupon it makes it around 25$ after tax.

Worth it in my mind!

Also dismounted the tires off the wheels after work one day, so those will be a good afternoon spent polishing those up all pretty:





Also took the old wheel bearings out:





Other than that, the pile of finished parts is growing and the box of stuff to do is getting smaller and smaller, so progress is undoubtedly being made!



Hopefully the frame will be at least primed by next weekend, all this grinding is getting ridiculous, haha



I also got the new rear sprocket in the mail as well as a decent looking set of headers and a solid collector - so two less things to have to worry about, pics of those next time around.

Have a great day!

 

Chris, great progress you're making. I once purchased a CB450 in Mi and had to take the front fork assembly and wheel front wheel off to slip it into the back of a Ford Fiesta. Rolled it on the rear wheel like a wheel barrel up the elevator to my 3rd floor dorm room, reassembled and the next morning back down the elevator to ground level. You should have seen the eyes on the dudes waiting for the elevator when those doors opened up downstairs, LOL.

 

haha thats awesome!!!

I picked up a 750 parts bike to snag the engine out of last weekend for 40 bucks - and brought it home in the back of my escort wagon



Gotta love a ford!

 

just caught up on your thread about the 550 restoration, and can relate to you pretty closely. Just finished school myself nearly two years ago and find the fact that you are an RA (i'm guessing since you work for the dormatory & RA's get their own room) with a motorcycle project in your room is pretty cool. some people couldn't handle the amount of time needed just for living/going to school let alone rebuilding a motorcycle in their dorm room, haha. good work

 

Fantastic work! I've been using Prep and Etch phosphoric acid to de-rust things lately. But with all the talk of Evap-o-rust (and with how clearly it worked in your pictures) I may just have to give it a try.

 

Thanks!! Yeah I'm an RA - sucks sometimes, but for the most part its pretty chill and getting housing and my meal plan paid for, thus allowing me to go to school without accumulating any debt, is worth it to me. Done with it after this year though, two years was enough, lol.

It's taught me a whole new level of self dicipline as i force myself to keep the work on the bike for the weekends primarily, as like you recognized, between school and work, life is just too busy! But it sure is hard falling asleep knowing theres an xj that you could work on just 5 feet away from where you sleep

Thanks for following along!

Thanks man! for sure give evaporust a shot, the stuff works wonders!!

 

Sorta mini update!

Got my seat covers back!!

Here they are!







And here's the one for my maxim, the black looks lighter in the picture, but they're both a nice dark black, ill get better pics of them once i get them on the seats:







Like I said, i'll get some better pictures once they're on the seats, but so far im really impressed, the guy does really nice work. He stitched in a piece of 1/2" foam in the "seat" part as well - will make for an even comfier ride without it feeling like you're sitting on a pillow.

I'm thinking of getting them professionally mounted, as they came out so nice that they deserve to be put on by someone with a heat gun and the experience to make them look as good on the seat as they do off it.

Mike is really affordable for how nice they are - so if anyone wants to purchase one, go through his ebay store, he makes them all by hand, one at a time, IN THE US, so no cheap chinese one size fits all junk.

Heres his ebay store, he also makes them for other bikes as well:
http://stores.ebay.com/Mac-Motorcycle-Seat-Covers

Heres a link to the seca cover:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/YAMAHA-XJ550-SE ... 50&vxp=mtr

And heres the link to the maxim cover:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/YAMAHA-XJ750-MA ... 4ac1e7f833

Tell him i sent ya!

 

Question perhaps - what's a decent price to expect to pay to have the covers put on?

I called one upholstery shop and the guy said around 25$ a seat - that sound about right?

Thanks!

Chris

 

That's a very good price.

 

Too bad it seems he doesn't make any cover for Seca 900 seat, I wonder if he would consider doing one if I send him the original cover...

 

+1

 

He will - thats how he did mine - I sent him my covers and in return for my old ones/the pattern, he cut me a deal i couldn't refuse -

Shoot him a message, I'm sure he would do it if he has enough time.

He's a real busy guy as you can imagine, but once he has the time he'll tell ya to send em and then drop it in the mail and a few weeks later he'll send you the new cover. He's the man!

Thats why i waited till winter

 

They look a quality job, really nice. Usually a sign of a quality craftsman when they're always busy, you guys in the states are really well covered (pun definitely intended!) when it comes to restoring these bikes.

 

Another update!!

I had planned to mount/attach the seat covers myself, but when i saw how nice they turned out, i decided that it would be worth it to have somebody with a heat gun and the experience to make the seats look just as good as the seat covers to put them on instead.

I called up a local upholstery place and talked the the owner, super nice guy, and he gave me a real fair price. I brought them in just to get a concrete estimate as he said he would have to see them to say exactly, and it turned out that he could do them for even less, and also said he could fix the damaged seat foam for no extra cost - super awesome.

So in the end, it will be way worth it, as now i know they'll look perfect.

Pictures of the finished seats to come, I told him there's no rush, so in a week or so i'll go pick them up.

Continuing on-

After many hours and multiple days of grinding and sanding, the frame was FINALLY ready for primer!



Wiped the whole thing down with laquer thinner


Masked off the vin tag


Going to use a proper gun/booth/nice paint for the topcoat, but for primer, this will do just fine:


Voila!




Plan is to flip it upside down, do a first coat on the underside as well, then another coat on the the top side, and then flip it once more for a second coat on the underside.

So thats where it's at! It's so nice to see the frame coming along, if theres one thing i wouldn't mind not having to do, it would be paint, haha.

Till next time,

Chris

 

Suggestions for frame paint?

Was thinking Eastwood possibly?

 

Just a thought, have you masked the headstock bearing holes (I know the races are out, just mean the surface they press into, can be a pain to clean out after without damaging your fresh paint. Same for shock mounts/threads etc. Not trying to teach you to suck eggs, just couldn't notice any masking in the pics.

 

Good call 750, cover the exposed threads and put an old bolt into threaded nuts as well

 

Shit, thanks guys, ill hit the areas I already botched up with a wire wheel before I put the second coats of primer on.

I did try to avoid spraying in the bearing race areas though.

 

I was thinking of just running a tap through the threaded bolt holes, I had thought of that at least as since I'm doing this at school I don't have tons of spare bolts sitting in buckets like I do at home.

Might just go to the hardware store and grab a handful if cheap zinc plated ones though, might be cheaper/easier than tapping out every one after the fact.

Thoughts on that?

That was what I was going to do on the shock mount threads.

 

I agree on the running a tap through threads after TBH, that way you pick up any damaged or corroded ones & repair them at the same time as removing the paint, then on reassembly all the bolts go in like a new bike.

If it was me, I'd just clean up the head tube, shock mounts & mask them up, shame to waste money on cheap fasteners even if you don't have all the right taps, 'cause obviously a couple extra taps for your money will last longer & look nicer in the tool box. I always look at situations like that as an excuse for buying a nice new set of whatever it is I'm short of :wink:

 

Sure. Don't bother with the hardware store. Our bikes use an "odd" set of thread pitches; M8, M10 and M12 are a 1.25. You can find them at the auto parts but generally they'll have bigger heads than the same size JIS bolt (13mm instead of 12mm, etc.) Look at the torque chart in your service manual it gives you all of the thread sizes and pitches.

You can also go to the craft store and buy a whole bag of mini-corks for about $3. And wrap a hunk of masking tape around the upper shock studs.

 

True, but then where's the excuse to buy a nice set of taps n dies? :lol:

Those little corks/bungs are a good idea though, specially if money's tight. they do the same kinda thing (or SHOULD!) when powdercoating

 

Sounds like a plan, ill just tap everything out after its all painted.

As for the headtube and shock studs, those shouldn't have any paint on them at all? What about corrosion resistance?

 

Could use a thin smear of grease I guess, although by rights there shouldn't be a whole lot of water able to get into the head tube once the bike's built up. Not sure on the shock studs, would guess they're a little less sensitive to the diameter being altered by paint layers but the head bearing races are as you know, a tight fit & you want that area as clean as possible to make sure the races seat easier, and squarely all the way in.

 

Yeah I was more thinking the shock mounts, as ik the bearing cups should be pretty well sealed/protected by both the tight fit of the race as well as the seals

 

You know what I'd do on the shock mounts actually? Seeing as they're an outside diameter & only 2 off, I'd mask the threads and paint the rest and then if the shocks are a tight fit just sand the paint down in that area & apply a little grease too :wink:

 

this sounds good - i will also run a die over the threads after paint as well.

i'm going to pick some cork plugs up too, thats a good idea.

 

Sorry its been so long guys, school got real hectic for a bit and then i went on a road trip out west for break and came back to a long list of stuff to do, lol.

but progress should start back up here shortly, i decided tonight that im just going to pony up the money and get the engine soda blasted, and hopefully the wheels as well, depending on the cost. i was going to sand the spoke faces and edge anyways, so i may as well re-paint them. but blasting them is a must as otherwise i could never sand the current paint off with how tight the crevasses are.

Suggestions on what i should leave on/remove prior to blasting? i was thinking about just leaving on all the engine covers as well as valve cover, good idead/bad idea/why?

thought about just using aircraft remover on the wheels - still a viable option depending on what it would cost to blast them. The place i called said it would be 40-50 to blast the engine, so if i could get the wheels done for 20-30 for the pair i would just do it as a quart of aircraft remover is 15 bucks or so and im sure it would take a bit of time to do it.

OR, walnut shell would look beautiful on the engine, but to how much it may cost, im not too sure if i could afford it.

I should pick up the seats from the upholstery shop one of these days, im excited to see how they turned out!

 

So I'm not the only one with those damnable A380's and 747's stuck all over my wheels?

If you get everything you want blasted all together & have it done at the same time it'll work out a lot cheaper than doing it separately...

I'd say leave all the ancillaries on the motor except the rubber inlet boots (careful of the chocolate bolts if removing though!) because that way there's less chance of medium getting inside the motor & you have less holes to block to start with.

 

Lol.

And yeah I know with the blasting being cheaper if I wait for everything at the sane time but then ill never get anything done, so hopefully just two trips max.

First the engine and wheels, the a second small batch of stuff if I HAVE to.

But yeah the intake boots are already off

 

Cool that's one less thing to worry about, and can use nice proper steel bolts & anti seize to refit them.

Oh, and is that a Cessna I see next to the valve on that bike wheel?

 

Cessna? I'm confused, lol.

But yeah a stainless bolt kit will be in order

 

You need some aircraft remover on it (Cessna make light aircraft)

Sorry...

 

Covet thy right side cover. I lost one on a ride due to worn out rubber. I paid dearly for a replacement. There was someone making replacements but iirc they weren't cheap.