Trokel's XJ900 thread - and other bike stuff

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Possibly a dumb question, but how do you achieve the exhaust temp graph. Is that part of the Carbtune Pro Kit?

Forget that, I just reread the post and found th answer!!!!

Real sweet looking bike

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Cheers,
Thanks for that. I noticed the 2 screws and plate in the slide when I cleaned the carbs but didn't bother undoing them at that time as I didn't see any need for it. I just assumed that the needle in these wasn't adjustable.
As I mentioned earlier this motor uses the BS36 carbs which have a 107.5 main jet as standard. Out of curiosity I opened up the BS35 carbs from the original motor which I can only assume had been set up for that exhaust and found that they had 114 main jets fitted which is a big jump from the 102.5 that was standard for them. The old motor ran really well (apart from the oil use) but it did seem to be a bit rich when I checked the plugs however those carbs had been flooding as well so I just put it down to that being the problem.

I just want to make sure that I get it right as I don't want to damage this motor as a result of being to lean.

 

Progress report

It's been a while so I thought it was time for an update. (to be honest I have been busy working on my project boat)

Since my last post I have raised the jet needle one notch and upped the main jet to 110 but still can't seem to get a plug colour that I am happy with. I have also done a colourtune to set the pilot screws which as it turned out needed to be wound out quite a lot to get a satisfactory mixture.
I think I still might have to play around with the float levels as per my other thread here - http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=40285.html

However it does seem to be running reasonably well at the moment so I have taken on a couple of decent rides to test it out in a range of conditions to gauge the overall performance and fuel economy.

Here are a few ride pics

At the Eastenders Rally for the Griffith Classic Motorcycle club



These next ones are from a 2 day ride where I took the missus away for our Anniversary. This was a really good test for it as it was 2up through the mountains with extra luggage on board.

On Mt Hotham


And Falls Creek




I was quite happy with how the bike performed although it seemed a bit down on power once at altitude. Guessing it may have been running a bit rich with the thinner air in the mountains.

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Trokel,

Nice. Very nice indeed.

Gary

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Love this thread.

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Thanks
Its good to see that other people are enjoying it.

I must say that for the money I have now spent I was beginning to think that I should have bought a newer bike and just gone riding. But now that my hard work is beginning to pay off I am really glad that I didn't. I feel so much more attached to this bike because of the work that I have put into it and it is a great feeling when other people take an interest and comment on how nice the bike is.
It has given me a greater appreciation for the other bikes that I have seen at the classic rally. Unfortunately there weren't any XJ's there but one of the bikes that impressed me were the 6 cylinder Honda's.



I can only imagine what it would be like to rebuild and balance 6 carbies.



Here in NSW a bike has to be 30years old to be eligible for classic rego so mine is close but not quite there yet. But who knows maybe in a few more years I will get to see a few other XJ's at the rallies.
Now that I am hooked on these bikes I am on the lookout for another XJ if I can get it cheap enough. One that I can try and restore as an original looking bike.

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Trokel,

Nice thread and....yeah, somebody was bound to ask. Doesn't having that sticker there prevent headlight illumination?

Gary

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Yeah,
I thought it was a bit of an odd thing to do but it was only temporary and I guess I didn't have to stick it on the headlight but I just copied everyone else. We took them off once the ride was over. Some of the stickers had different color dots on them which was use to define the bike categories for judging at the end of the ride.

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Doesn't present any problem if you only ride during the day......

dave

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

After getting home from a 3 day ride on the KLR last weekend while I was parking it in the shed I noticed that the XJ was leaking oil from the left fork leg. It was quite a bit of oil which seemed strange as there had been no signs of weeping prior to this but either way it looked like I was going to have to replace the fork seals so I decided to strip down one of the spare fork legs i had to have a look at what type of seals they used.
As it turns out I also have a set of forks of an 85 model so I started thinking that I might use them instead and do away with the antidive and air adjust so while I was at it i pulled one of them apart and began to compare the 2.




There are a number of significant differences one of which is that the 85 model forks are 15mm shorter in overall length but use a heavier spring. With the heavier spring they wouldn't have as much static sag so I doubt that the height difference would matter but i was wondering if anyone else has tried this on their 900 and if so how well did they work?

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Have been really busy with my project boat but that doesn't mean the bike is getting left out so I thought it was time to update what has been going on.

As far as the forks are concerned - This is where I got to.
I decided that if I was going to install the 85 forks I would need to polish them up so that they looked as good as the current ones otherwise I wouldn't be happy with them. As it turns out, it wasn't as hard as I thought.

Here they are showing one before and after it was finished



Then I popped up the dust seal on the leaking fork leg on the bike and cleaned up the excess oil so i could check it out. I pumped them up and down really hard to see if i could get it to leak but it was fine so I decided to keep using it to see how it went.
In the mean time I ordered the necessary parts from Len to rebuild 85' forks so that I could have them on standby.

Shortly after all this I did a 400km loop through the mountains and gave the bike a really good work out. To my surprise it still didn't leak :?
Then a few weeks later on a short ride around town it blew oil out everywhere again so I'm not really sure what is going on. During this time the parts from Len arrived and now the 85' forks are all polished and re-assembled waiting to be fitted. After that I plan to play around with the jetting some more so that I can get it ready for the Honda Broadford Bike Bonanza at Easter time where i intend to give it a run around the race track. :wink:

So that is how the No.1 XJ900 is going. I say No.1 because as of yesterday i now own another one which from here on in will be referred to as No. 2. It is an 85 Model and it's future is yet to be determined. However If I do decide to restore it at least I know that I will can get all the parts i need in one place. Thanks again to XJ4ever.



XJ900 No.2

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

The '84 xj900 that I had 3 years ago came with the non anti-dive forks already fitted .The PO said that they were a big improvement over the original. With the current xj900 project ,I went to the wreckers and bought a set off a xj900N, replaced the top slider shells in the fork leg, (common size at any bike suspension specialist ), replaced the seals and dust caps and used one grade heavier fork oil, much betterer.

cheers , Murray

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Very nice bike!

I'm in the process of designing my own backrest for my '83 Seca 900 and I'm not quite sure if I'd like to make my own rack at the same time. It would help me a lot if you could send me some close pictures of your rack, paying special attention to the mouting points on the frame.

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Hope this helps.

The brackets are a bit rough as they were knocked up in a hurry as a temporary thing but they worked out to be very strong and are hidden by the side covers so i haven't bothered to change them.






[quote = Murray]The '84 xj900 that I had 3 years ago came with the non anti-dive forks already fitted .The PO said that they were a big improvement over the original[/quote]

I am hoping that will be the case. On the last ride i did through the mountains I bottomed out the front end a number of times when coming into the corners under brakes.

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

This is an accurate picture of the side mount, thanks a lot!

Now, I suppose there are two other mounting points on the back, close to the license plate. Could you please take picture of them also, and finally a general view from behind the bike?

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

The other mounting point is also shown in both pictures.
If you look closely on the left hand side of the top picture you will see a silver bracket that comes down from behind the duck tail and connects to the tubing of the rack. Then in the far left of the 2nd picture you can see the top of the bracket where it bolts to an existing mount that was on the frame. These are the only 2 mounting points on each side

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Oops, didn't noticed at first sight ! I would have thought the rack would be bolted to the tail section in the back in any manner, but I was wrong.

I would appreciate a general view of the rack from behind the bike, if possible.

Thanks again.

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Sorry - have been a bit busy so I haven't got around to taking anther photo yet.



My young bloke turned 8 the other day which means he is now old enough to be a pillion and seeing he has shown some interest in the bike i decided to get him a helmet and take him for a spin to see how he likes it. As it turns out he seems to love it and he also makes a really good passenger So it looks like I have another reason to go for a ride. Just need to get him some better riding gear.

However - One thing i noticed while taking him for a ride was when I gassed bike up from a slow rolling start the clutch seemed to slip a bit. This is the second time that I have noticed it but it doesn't seem to do it all the time. Currently I use Castrol 4T motor bike oil and was wondering if my clutch was on it's way out or maybe changing to a different oil might help. Thoughts anyone

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

I found with mine clutch slip shows up when it hit's 6 or 7k revs just as the bike really wants to pick up and fly the clutch gets overwhelmed and slips.
I assume you've checked your cable adjustment ?.

 

Re: Trokel's XJ900 thread - a work in progress

Hope this helps

I haven't checked the manual to see what the recommended setting is but the lever does have a reasonable amount of free play and the cable runs nice and smooth so that shouldn't be a problem.