Poor mans StreetFighter/Bobber project. '82 XJ650 Maxim

I'll post some pics in a bit (at work and no time atm), but I visited my local vintage bike gold mine yesterday..

 

Alpha Heaven in Aniwa, WI. One of my favorite places to go and just browse around, could spend hours and not see everything.

Their main business is doing frame off restos and sales of retired military vehicles, but they also do vintage Japanese bikes and Alpha Romeo cars.

I am not exactly anti Harley, but it is really nice to have a place like this to go where you don't have to walk to the back to get to the import stuff. lol

The wall of tanks!

 

More of the bike warehouse.



These are just the Yamaha forks...

 

They had plenty of rear wheels if I decide to do the rear-to-front conversion..
Decent prices here too, rim and tire with brakes and axle $50.

 

Clutch cables.


Enduro wheels and forks.


Bins of carbs and what-nots

 

They had four 650's.


Levers, petcocks, turn signals, etc.


And a final longer shot of the wall of tanks. LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

 

Wow, wish we had a place like that near here.

Kind of reminds me of this wallpaper I saw

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cseward/4817294228/

 

Oh nice, that's a keeper.

 

what a heavenly place!!

 

I was at a place here in Houston yesterday, (Union Cycle Salvage) and was amazed that they still had a few XJ's to pick from. It's been over twenty years since I was there last, nice they're still in business. They even had a 90ish SECA II turbo out front for sale. pretty cool...

Personally speaking I would never go Bobber, I prefer Stock for comfort and would maybe consider a Cafe'. BUT...I do like the looks of a well done Bobber and yours is coming along rather nicely

Ride Safe...
John

 

Thx for the kind words man. I actually want to pick up a decent shape stocker too, for longer rides. I have my CBR, but its gettin to be about time to get something comfy too.

So did the Seca go home with ya? Lol

 

Nice build man! I'll have to cruise up and check it out in person one of these days, As i live in point during the school year. Where abouts is that parts place, i NEED to go check that out!! :O

 

No, I left the SECA for the next guy. I've learned to be practical (sad to say) in my old age...It was still tempting though...

 

Yeah, a meet would be awesome! Maybe we could round up a couple other Cheeseheads too

The shop is called Alpha Heaven and Motorama. About 30miles east of Wausau on Hwy 52. Tiny town called Aniwa. We could take the bikes! Lots of nice country roads to take ya there

 

Lol I feel ya

 

I didn't get pics of everything, but new grips are on, and possibly might be reusing the stock side covers, kinda brainstorming a combo of those and sheet metal, we'll see.
This winter she's gonna get a lot of attention. New headlights(still shopping around), bar end turn signals, and more!

Snapped a pic of her last night in my buddys shop, she looks and sounds good! New shocks are a hair stiff, but I think once those springs are broken in it will be perfect. Front forks(as opposed to back forks? lol) are a lil spongy. You can feel it dive some when you downshift or brake. What kind of pressure should I be looking for when adding air???


And today I got my new half helmet! Flat black to match the bike of course.

 

I love that shop i might be worth a ride up to check it out

 

Absolutely!! Brad lives down in Appleton, perhaps he would be up for the voyage as well!


Shoot me an email sometime, and that way I can contact you when im back in point! - chrisharrison@tds.net

 

Did you replace the fork springs?

The combination of new progressive springs and 15w fork oil made it feel like a whole new bike. Simply awesome.

Plus they were only 70 bucks or so, a breeze to install, and only 10 or so for the fork oil.

 

Sounds good! I will!

 

Those are my kind of prices! Lol. All I have some with the forks is paint, haven't been inside em. I'll look into it, thanks for the suggestion!!

 

Roughly 300 smooth miles put on! Mind has been going nuts thinking of side cover, headlight, and gauge options. Still waiting for all that as a winter project, ridin the hell out of her while I still have decent Wisconsin weather. lol

My cheapo taillight and license plate bracket is not lookin good. After a longer highway trip I found it to be a lil bent out of shape from the wind. Understandable since it is so thin of metal. I had hoped it would hold up tho.

It was bent back and down like 30degrees each from where it is in this pic. I bent it back where it belongs, but found it the same way when I got back home. So something has to be done. You can only bend metal so many times before it cracks and breaks ya know.
I picked up a piece of steel stock today, gonna hit my buddys shop after work to see what we can make that will be nice and solid.

Also on this longer trip, I noticed just a bit of rattle from where the center stand contacts the exhaust when in the up position. It is damn solid, both the exhaust and the stand, but when ya downshift every now and then they would chatter together. I had a buddy put a couple spot welds on the stand near it's hinge point, then ground them down till they were even. So now the stand stops like ¼ inch from the exhaust pipe. Then he fabbed up some pretty slick exhaust mounts to tighten up the pipes. They are as solid as the frame now. Turned out awesome.
The flash on my phone kinda gave everything a grey look, everything is still flat and semi-gloss black. lol

 

I'll get a pic up soon, but the new taillight/plate bracket turned out awesome. Dropped the bike and some steel off at my buddys house, the next day it was done! Damn it's good to know ppl. lol

Took her out again this past weekend for another 175ish miles of comfy curvy country roads. Bike is rock solid and running great!!

 

i got those fry shocks. they are awesome!

but can you tell me how much psi they take? or how much you run?

it said to check the manual for adjustment but there wasn't one haha

 

I'll check em when I get home, can't remember the reading. They are nitrogen filled, so don't just add air. I checked mine when I got em to make sure they were both at the same pressure and they were, don't remember what that reading was tho. I am liking them!

 

Hmmm... what did Konoc paint??


Engine cover rings! lol Stole the idea from another build on here. Small detail, but I think it tied into the black and silver scheme I have goin on.


Hit the gauges and headlight basket and bracket also. Gauges I left on the bike, just detached, sanded the hell out of em, used some of the womans old tank tops to mask off the bars and controls, and game em a few coats of flat black.

For those of you in warm weather climates, that odd looking orange machine in the background is a snowblower.

 

Turned out pretty good.



The outter ring on the headlight was sanded to a dull silver instead of painted. After sanding the whole basket I liked the brushed silver look (like I did to the gas cap earlier in build). I am liking the end result!

 

Cut the lever nubs off and filed the ends round and smooth, and hit em with black paint of course.

 

Sanded the crap out of the stock side covers, then primed and painted. Still exploring my options, but I think I am gonna use them and do some sort of steel or black diamond plate above.. still not sure tho..

Obviously I need to fill/cover the top area, but those stock covers still look pretty damn schnazzy, no??

 

Grips! They have been on for a while, just kept forgettin to get a good pic of em. Cheapo $14 ebay superbike grips. They are black, my phone flash made em look gray. After I ordered them I had a brief panic that they were gonna be the same size and not one larger for the throttle, but a quick email to the seller settled me down. Don't wanna waste $14 ya know!!! lol


Had to trim off a half inch or so on the throttle side, but no-one notices. But I need to sharpie that white stripe before someone does haha That's my dog Murphy and my lady's feet in the corner.

 

Happy Sweet Sixteen!!

 

A huge load of thanks for documenting all this...i know you saw my vision for my bike in the other thread...you've answered a lotta questions I had, and gave me some great ideas.

Nice when someone else drops on the grenade first

It's coming along great, you've done wonderful things here.

Couple of comments...I believe that valve cover gasket is the channeled o-ring section type? Just wanted to say that in general, you should not use any kind of sealer (RTV or silicone but especially silicone) on this type...it acts as a lubricant as it outgasses and cures, and makes the gasket prone to trying to migrate out of place once put in compression....and in the case of silicone sealer, the half-life of the effect is nearly endless...so it can cause problems long after you'd think it was cured up.

And besides, an o-ring section gasket in a channel requires no additional sealant.

If this is not that type of gasket, disregard and you can smack me for being stupid.

Second, that VHT is badass stuff...I've used it alot. If you didn't read the full instructions, keep in mind that it will not fully cure until "fired" and run hot for 15 minutes or so...so even when it looks dry, if it hasn't been torched, it can peel or leave impressions where you touch it....

Once properly cured, it is AMAZINGLY hard...my old 650 Max's header was completely shot...I buzzed the rough rust off with a wire wheel and then scuffed 'em completely with 220 grit I think it was, then hung 'em up and sprayed with the VHT, 4 coats, 15 mins between coats. Let them dry overnight, then re-installed and let 'em cook for 20 minutes while it ran.

The finish was sO tough, I actually caught a piece of concrete the size of my fist that popped away from a truck tire as he passed me, smacked the header and put a half inch deep dent in one of the pipes...and didn't break the paint! Unbelievable. I sold on the stuff.

I used the Aluminum silver color after much indecision...I thought about black but felt like it would "hide" the header too much against an already black bike...they had a blue that was similar in hue to the blue jet-coated header that Buell used on the Lightning....I was really liking that, but decided it was just too radical for this type of bike...and of course the orange...voted down for the same reason, even though I really liked the color.

Neat thing about the silver....whereas I had been afraid it was gonna look like a cheezy finish butted up to the nice chrome cans, the actual result, like you noticed, was a very powdery matte finish that looked remarkably like cast aluminum...so much so that I had several people ask where I found a cast header for it before they realized what they were looking at...I was pleasantly surprised by the whole result, and liked the look.

After two years, it did get some very small chips up near where the tire throws things at it, but just covered everything behind it with aluminum foil and a quick once-over coat had it looking like new again.

I think there's still a pic of that bike in my profile...I'll have to look...

Anyway, nice job, man! Thanks for taking the time to document and share!

 

http://xjbikes.com/modules/coppermine/a ... 82/003.jpg

Yeah here it is, with that header painted...

 

o then i should probably empty my shocks out cause i just filled them with air last night -_-. will it damage them?

and where would i find nitrogen to put into them?

 

Yeah, I am loving the VHT!! I have an older Yamaha that could use some paint refreshing, after seeing how your silver turned out I think that is what I am going to use for the engine covers, handlebars, and fenders. That stuff is awesome!

 

It does look ceramic coated! lol

 

I'm back!! lol
Absolutely ZERO work was done to the bike during the winter. Cash issues and other obligations kept the Maxim under its tarp in the corner of the garage.

Just pulled it into the center garage spot last night! We have finally had some warmer weather here (WI), so time to get back to work on the bike!

Maintenance items are going to be addressed first, then mods and cosmetics.

The priority list:
Tires
Clutch and clutch cable
Front and rear brakes

I won't type out the 'wants' list, nobody wants to read that much haha.

If anyone has done the clutch job, I could really use some pointers. I created this thread today.. http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=3 ... tml#375163

My automotive foglights used as headlights idea is gone, a friend pointed out that automotive foglights arent designed to shine very far.. duh, why didn't this occur to me?
Anyway, looking at other options. I found a clear lense light online that accepts an h4 bulb that would fit into the stock headlight bucket, but not sure on the wiring aspect of that swap job, so holding off for now.

r.

 

If you're going to convert to an H4, get a proper "motorcycle" lens unit; XJ4Ever carries a Hella kit that works great.

And maybe I missed something, but I see no mention of "checked and adjusted valve clearances" in your thread.

 

Yeah, it was a motorcycle headlight I was lookin at. Once I narrow down my choices I will be puttin links and pics on here so the guru's can guide me the right way.

No valve checks were done, I was SO eager to get the bike on the road that I didn't worry about it cause the thing ran like a top, super smooth. I know from reading on here that that was unwise to not do all the checks, but the urge to ride was too great lol.

It's on my list! She will not be on the road this year for a while, lots to do!

I called a local shop yesterday about rebuilding my forks. Said for a full cleaning, heavier duty oil, and new seals it would run me between $80 and $90 bucks. If I would like to upgrade springs it would be that plus the cost of springs. When I bring them in I am planning to have him check the condition of the springs, and if they are fine to just reuse the stock springs and just do a cleaning and the seals.

 

Ordered a bunch of parts today, The work will begin!!

Couple random garage shots:

 

So this past weekend my brother had a garage sale. Someone inquired about my panel van that I had parked at his place. Met up with the guy to sell the van, I told myself I wouldn't take less than $1,000 for the van. This guy rolls up on a 1981 Honda CM400E that is absolutely SPOTLESS. Less than 9k miles! Offers me 500 plus the Honda, I said make it 700 and we have a deal. He took it.

Slapped that puppy on Craigslist and in less than 24hrs flipped it for $1200!!!!!

 

Damymn, that Honda IS clean. Nice flip no doubt!

I know the list is getting longer, but if you want we can check your valves too, it's about time to do them on my 750 and I'm helping another buddy do his as well, so if you wanted to cruise down here one of these days when we do it feel free, otherwise we could do it when we do the clutch.

 

That would be cool, let me know when you guys tackle it and I'll see if I can run down by ya!

And the list will never end, but that's what keeps it fun lol

 

Nice flip indeed!

 

New items ordered!

Ordered a new pair of gloves, plus these:



After relocating some wiring and fuses I plan to have a small plate welded into place between the frame rails under the seat as a mounting base for the springs. Unless they line up right, might be able to mount them to the frame somehow, we'll see. My seat already has the mounting bolts for the top of the springs.

Ordered these turn signals for the rear of the bike:



They are 1" across and the reviews say they are pretty damn bright. Gonna mount em right on the end of the rear frame rails that I hacked off. Slick right? lol

Then these for the front, gonna put them on the bar ends:



I can't wait!

 

thats what i did with my lights. it is really slick, although getting them wired up right is a pain. but yeah, its sick. where did you get the ones with 3 wires though? i couldnt find dual circuit ones, and had to do all kind of shit

 

used the same springs too, but then took them off because i didnt like how it looked when not sitting on it. i have these rubber bushings that contact the frame rails now. looks much better, and the comfort isnt really sacrificed much, if at all

 

Hmm.. would you mind posting a pic of the bushing setup?? I have been wondering how it will look without me on it. I'm a big guy so I ordered the heavy duty springs. I had that concern tho, that when I'm not on it the seat would sit too high and look goofy..

 

Amazon!! I looked at some different ones on BikeBandit and PowerSportsSuperstore, but I liked these ones. And yes, price was a factor lol. I will be painting the bezel black, or not use it at all, we'll see how things look when they come in the mail.

I never removed the stock turn signal wires, just tucked them out of sight, so I don't think I will have too much trouble. Hopefully... lol

 

One thing to consider.... bright is not the same as visible. I have yet to find a small signal (LED or not) that is visible in direct sunlight from any distance. Our eyes are meant to pick up on potential threats by weighing a combination of size, visibility, and speed. Big, ugly, signals are easy to see. Tiny, bright signals are not.....they look good though