New member in central Nebraska, asking opinions

New member as of tonight.

Looking at buying this bike, an '82 XJ1100 for $550.

Isn't running right now, but engine is free (turned it over with rear wheel in 5th gear).

Kid said he is second person to try and work on it. Previous owner was supposed "bike builder", but didn't do electrics. Thought coil(s) or CDI box was bad, but not verified. So who knows what kind of electrical mess there actually is.

Has new tires, new battery, new headlight. Engine was partially running (2 out of 4 cylinders, that was reason to suspect coil) at one point with first previous owner, but this kid hasn't had it running. Gas tank has a little flash rust, but nothing major. Carbs look in cherry shape on outside, who know on inside. Front brakes either need bled or MC rebuilt, no pressure at all.

Looks nice, just leary of what might be underneath, but price is very tempting.

Will have to chase down title, kid was going to chop it, then custom title it.
Maybe that will be a negotiating point.

I have a '82 KZ750 twin I can ride while I work on this, but want to get it up as soon as possible.

ANY advice/parts links would be greatly appreciated by this future owner.

Planning on pulling the trigger probably Monday after DMV titile search/check.

 

Since it has a new battery I would show up with a compression tester and see if the motor is in need of serious work or not. If it blows good numbers then by all means it's worth the asking price. If not then you could still recoup your money by either parting it out (sad and to be avoided at all costs), or fixing it and you would just break even doing the work yourself (except for the rebore).

Often these bikes are sorely neglected in needed maintenance and otherwise they are still solid. More times than not members have scored really nice deals on XJ's that the PO just didn't know how to work on. No matter what your looking at putting no less than $600 into it to make it fully 'road worthy.' That model is slightly rare compared to the less than a liter XJ's so in good shape its a nice find. I would offer $400 and go from there with a good dose of 'look it's going need to have this...and this done so it will cost me this much and this is what it's worth to me.'

Coils are a possibility if the two down are 1&4 or 2&3, dirty carbs are also good possibility, and finally (let's hope not) bad compression in the down two. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Would love to try a compression test, but something one of the PO did to the wiring has messed up the starter circuit and I get no response from the starter button at all.

I think I am going to take the gamble and buy it anyway.

I am a computer geek/ electronics tech by trade and I have rescued worse bike than this, just not this model line. Spent a couple weeks re-wiring a Goldwing for a buddy several years back. That was a harness from Hades. Had an engine fire, then removing all the dry chem from the extinguishers.