Prized XJ650 Bobber 82'

I took several of these photos measuring different angles and such before cutting in case I needed reference points later on.

 

And snipped the back frame. A sawzall works great at medium speed and pressure!

 

I guess the process of welding the rear frame together was to intense and I did not remember to take progress photos, also I ran down to northern tool and equipment and picked up a trailer fender that matched the rear tire dimensions.

 

The rear frame is made of 1" Drawn over mandrel 11 gauge steel tubing that I purchased from Discount Steel, There are no bends in the new steel, I did heat and slightly bend the two up facing cut tubes on the original frame to give them a more supportive angle. All the new steel tubing was fitted by first sawzall cutting, then grinding to perfect fit. A long and intense process of perfection. I custom made the mounts that allow the rear frame to be mounted by bolts to the swingarm and those mounts have internal bushings to absorb vibration. All was welded with a 110v MIG welder. (note: This pic the fender is just sitting there, there is a fab later that makes it mounted and removable)

 

The seat process: mocked up the seat, then custom made all of the seat mounting and a lower under seat diamond plate pan, also cut off the back of the gas tank right at the weld and re-welded my own tab on it to secure the tank and have it match the diamond plate section with minimal gap and good fitment. ( would not want a gap to pinch thighs or anything sharp to snag the bag on.

 

Here it is starting to look like a bike! I don't do body work but I have a friend who does, the tank has no more dents and he left it primer because I needed to take alot more time to figure out paint scheme and colors.

 

And you can see I switched out those bee hive seat springs for scissor springs (I like them better) They are 2" springs.

 

Also the rear fender is mounted by welding it to thick eyelets that fit right over the two seat mount studs, Simply unbolting the scissor springs for the seat allows for fender removal.

 

Welded on some brackets to bolt the new side covers to (aluminum diamond plate)

 

And made a set of covers for the front to box it in. (These covers also help hold the battery down with extra fabricating that was done)

 

Back end together

 

Eyeball Bullet Projection Headlight. need I say more? .... Actually I do, The fact that all the wiring runs through the headlight on the XJ is terrible, In my opinion the original headlight is dating the bike and if the goal is to update the bike then it needs to get replaced with something else. To do this requires some guts to go thru and reduce the bulk of the wires and tuck them into the frame.
Also the headlight is mounted to that steel bar that goes across the forks, welded steel to the back of that and attached it there.

 

As a side note the turn signal bulbs are also bullets, and they are regular light bulbs in there. LED's might be inexpensive and tempting, but there is a reason why the grand majority of all manufacturers in the world keep bulbs. They are visible, safe and reliable. also they offer resistance! my turn signals work fine I just took some advice from here and used an automotive flasher (2prong) and it's good to go.

 

pic removed for file upload restrictions

 

This is better and the engine in for a mock up. P.S. NONE OF THOSE GUYS ARE ME! if you wanna see me go to my youtube www.youtube.com/xxtech50xx

 

So the rear light is just a trailer tail/brake light and has a clear window under it which shines light right on the license plate! perfect and simple. mounting the plate and rear light was looking like a nightmare until I was at Fleet Farm and found this $6 solution

 

Remember How I said this bike was re-engineered, here is the frame .. all by itself with the swingarm removed! how many hardtail conversions out there can claim this?!
This is just after getting the frame back from having it dipped in phosphoric acid to remove 100% of all the paint and rust before painting, that's the same ingredient as Coke a cola ... kinda scary right?

 

Aaand a NEW reason I don't drink Coke. Ick. Nice job on the bike! Keep the photos comin'!

 

Thanks! And here is the base coat of bare metal primer, normally it is best to use self etching primer but because of the acid dip the metal is already etched
Oh I guess this site has an upload quota More pics as soon as I can upload then ....

 

I found a way around the upload quota!!! just had to reduce every single pic and re upload them, PICS AND STORY CONTINUES!!!