new member intro from western NY

hello all, my name is robert, I reside near buffalo, ny.
a few days ago i purchased the bike i learned to ride on. Same bike, Same owner that lent it to me to learn on.
It is supposedly a 1982 yamaha seca xj650rj "euro". I question the truth behind the whole "european" model being this bike but what ever.

It currently has drag bars, it HAD screamin' eagle pipes on it but they were way to loud to ride comfortably for to long so i asked for the stock muffler to be reinstalled before purchase.
currently as it sits it needs work, all of which will be done before next season. heres a list if anyone has anything i may need.
Front right side caliper
front brake handle and master cylinder
brake lines
battery
rear tire (P.O's little brother smoked it before he put it up for winter (( dick move, i know))
cam chain guide?? P.O states that the chain needs to be adjusted every so often otherwise it "taps"
[ going with the cam chain guide, he also says that there is a nylon/plastic peice in the case somewhere that needs to be taken out with long needle nose pliers which will cure the hard shifting issue] < this i believe because it seemed like something was getting in the way of the shift lever when i rode it last
Bike still runs and "drives" fine outside of these issues. And i fully understand that its kind of a mess but this was the bike i fell for when i first got my permit many years ago and i had no choice but to track it down and buy it.

theres my waste of your day speech, if anyone has any suggestions other then "scrap it", please feel free to post or PM me any advice you see fit. i want to be riding this machine come spring of 2016.
thank you all in advance.
p.s. sorry for the giant photo.

 

Welcome to the forum Robert, you have found the best place for XJ knowledge. A good place to start looking for information on your particular bike is in the XJ4EVER supporting vendor forum. Look for the "Information Overload" section and there is a break down of all the XJ models to see if you indeed have a euro model. I believe all the 650 models that came to North America were single disc front brakes, so it may indeed be from another country. Or somebody may have swapped the forks from a 750.

Be prepared to spend some money, make sure you completly rebuild the hydraulic brake system including both calipers and check the rear brake shoes for delamination. Checking valve clearance should also be high on the list, along with taking the carburetors to the "Church of Clean"

As for the chain guide coming apart and jamming the gears up, pull the left side cover where the shifter attached and check in there for pieces of plastic. You can usually remove them from that side if they are in the shifter mechanism.

Be prepared though, if that chain guide is coming apart, plan to remove the engine in the near future and split the cases to replace that part. It is a rather involved process that takes a good bit of time and money.

Hopefully I have answered some of your questions and I would suggest posting additional questions in the "XJ Technical" forum as that forum gets the majority of traffic and people more knowledge than myself will be happy to answer them.

Good Luck and welcome again!

 

Then, be ready to attend the 9th annual Central New York Carb Clinic next June.

Dave Fox, Host
CNYCC#9
June 2016

 

Hi Robert, the VIN will positively identify the bike, but just from a glance, it appears to be a North American XJ650RJ Seca model, only imported into the North American markets in 1982. US versions will have speedo's measuring in MPH, Canadian versions measure in KPH. Other than that they're basically identical. Euro versions of that version bike had no "RJ" suffix, as there was only a single XJ650 model in the rest of the world (for the most part), and they were all what we call the "RJ Seca" type.

http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/tech-topic-model-id-and-vins.14577/

 

You've come to the right place. Nobody here will scrap an XJ if it has even the FAINTEST chance of running again!

 

Awesome getting the bike you first learned to love!
And what a bike.
Good luck

 

Welcome Robert
The fact that it was running your 1/2 way there and appears to be stock US model other than bars.
All the parts and info is right here.

 

Hi Robert. Looks like you have a learning experience in the making. Hopefully you have someplace warm to do the work over the winter. I deployed with a unit from Buffalo. It was beyond cold over there. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

I can see the U.S. Speedo and someone cut off the long rear fender, but nice OE exhaust, don't see many of them now on older bikes.
Good bike to start from... Good luck

 

That's in a WHOLE lot better condition than my 650rj was when I got it.... Good snag!!

You do have your work cut out for you if the chain guide is breaking up. But, it's curable.

Start your reading here, but don't let it scare you:

http://www.xjcd.org/emergency_guidectomy

After you get a complete rear fender on (they do show up now and then on eBay.... Took awhile til I snagged mine), and a good seat cover, your bike will look so much better. Next thing to do will be to find some good gauges wil nice deep red again, rather than the faded out ones. I may have a correct handlebars for you.....

Dave Fox

 

Now you're set. You've got the Dave Fox parts horde at you're disposal. He's got like one of everything!