Poor mans StreetFighter/Bobber project. '82 XJ650 Maxim

Any chrome that is left will be sanded. Took an 80 grit sanding sponge to the gas cap, it turned out good! Just have to keep in mind which way ya want the grain to go. It is on a dented and scratched tank that will be sprayed flat black, but damn that cap looks good! lol

 

Tail/brake light is gonna be mounted off of the lower shock mount on the right side. I picked up a light made for a boat trailer, it has a clear section on the bottom for lighting up your license plate. While at the store I also found this plate bracket for like $2. It will need to be modified a bit to fit a motorcycle plate, but should work good!

 

Some other items I picked up. The pipes off of the head will be wrapped (I like that look), and the pipes will be painted. Grabbed a cleaner, primer, and high heat header paint for the pipes.

 

As I mentioned, the valve cover was leaking a bit of oil. Got a new gastket that I used along with some copper Permatex. While valve cover was off it got cleaned and primed along with the tank and pipes. Somehow I forgot to take a pic of the pipes primed tho.

 

Got my brother to come over and weld up the pipe to mount the seat for me.

The bracket for the seat fits tightly on either end of this pipe, I then have a bolt and wingnut to feed thru there to hold it in place. Ghetto mounting system, but that seat is rock solid when mounted.

 

The start of the pan for under the seat. My design worked, but looks VERY crude, at a later time this will be redone much more carefully with rolled smooth edges and everything.

front corners pounded round.

The side sections of the frame that had the plastic covers will be done in this sheet metal also, then some sort of graphic painted onto those.

 

reallyinterested to see how your cover for under the seat turns out. might have to steal or piggyback your idea!

 

I'll get some more pics up in just a lil bit here. It turned out functional lol. I am going to be redoing it for sure, but I will be following the same design. Just being a lot more careful with my measurements and cuts lol

 

Trimming down to size. I measured the width between the frame rails, thinking that this piece I am making would sit nicely between them. It was a good idea, but not the reality lol.

 

Besides how it looks in a couple of the pics, the sides of this piece are indeed cut straight.. lol.
Once I had it bolted back in place, I used a hammer to pound down and locate the ends of the pipe underneath that I had welded on for the seat mount. I will need to cut the hole big enough for my fat sausage fingers to get in there easily to put on and take off the wingnut for the seat.

 

See the gap between the plate I made and the frame? Yeah, I don't like it either.. When I remake this piece I will cut it an inch wider on each side, and then have those sides curve down and disappear behind the frame rail. So when remade it will look alot cleaner and finsihed.
But for a first timer playin with sheet steel, it didn't turn out too bad and functions exactly as hoped, so I guess that's what counts!! lol Should look a lot better once it is painted too.

 

Valve cover painted and drying.

Took the same 80 grit sanding sponge that I used on the gas cap and hit all the raised areas on the valve cover.

 

Pan for under the seat painted and hang drying. When I redo it I will be curving down the sides the same way I did the back.

 

Valve cover, tank, seat pan, and seat all installed. Rear fender is just mocked into place, still need to figure exactly where I want it and then trim down the sides and back. Don't look at the messy garage.

 

Tail/brake light wired and mounted up. It doesn't look as big and bulbous in person lol. You can see the miserable looking stock pegs in this pic. When cash allows I plan to hit eBay or something and buy some all metal dirtbike pegs.


Then the exhaust was bolted up, it looks good! The header paint I used on the pipes turned into a real unique black once they were heated and cooled a few times. Almost the color of charcol briquettes, looks like if you touch them you will have that black on your hands, which of course you don't, but I like how they turned out. The bracket for the taillight and license plate works well, no plate on it in this pic tho.

 

And yesterday, 7.22, she was out for her first long ride! Went all over town, hit the highway for a few stretches. The pipes are loud, but not pull-me-over loud. Lots of looks from Harley guys, kinda threw me off, I usually ride a rocket and they don't even glance in your direction then lol.
This pic is at a park not far from my house. I forgot to take pics of the rear fender trimdown and install, but you can see the finished result in this shot. And my RFY eBay shocks should be here later this week. Coming from China so shipping takes a while.


To do list:
- Need to make new side covers yet. I have the steel, so this will most likely be done in the next week or so, depending on how tired I am after work, this is a busy month.
- Need a new set of grips.
- I am going to paint the wheels with a satin black, and keep the outter rings silver.
- Automotive foglights to replace the big headlight
- Remove as much electronics as possible and rewire the rest of the bike. This most likely will not happen until I have the new headlights.

After the ride and going over the bike again in the garage, I decided I didn't like the chrome on top of the carbs. Pulled those out to go thru and clean em and will spray the tops black. Check out all that dirt and grime that carbs were hiding! I will be doing some engine block cleaning too it seems lol


On a side note, I had a buddy of mine stop over yesterday. He is a Harley specific MMI grad, who works at our local Harley dealer. We step into the garage and the very first thing he says when seeing the Maxim was, "You should lose the airbox and throw some cool lookin pod filters on there.". I responded with, "Dude, I have read alot about them being fitted onto these bikes, and I really don't want the headache.". The conversation went back and forth for a while and then was just redirected to talking about my exhaust. lol
pssh, Harley guys.... lol

 

I would avoid the pods buddy. At least until re jetting carbs is something your up for. It's coming along though. Keep me posted.

 

the pods are working just have to look up possible pod fix im working on a proto type doing another mod to proto type now...

 

When someone figures out for sure a flawless way to make pods work, I will be sending them a PM and my carbs in the mail to mod lol, until then I'm fine with the airbox.

 

Shocks came yesterday, they look good!! Should have them on tonight or tomorrow.