Trokel's XJ900 thread - and other bike stuff

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

Thanks a lot, Trokel!

 

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

I'd say double check the cable adjustment, and then if not, spring for a new set of friction discs and springs.

http://www.powersportsuperstore.com/EBC ... lick=35177

http://www.powersportsuperstore.com/EBC ... 104837.htm

Worth it - my 750 maxim was slipping a bit 2-up as well as at higher rpms - then bought the discs and springs, and after a couple days of them getting all situated, its like a whole new bike, no slipping at all

 

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

How did I miss this thread? that tank & side panel mods are a class act. What are you going to with the latest 900, I found all you could do was put it back pretty much as it was.

 

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

Thanks for the links
I have some time off in March and plan to spend a bit of time working on the bike to get it ready for the Bike Bonanza at Easter. The main thing I was planning to do was fine tune the jetting as it is a bit rich at the moment. Looks like I might add the clutch to the list as well.

 

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

If you are like me you are probably too busy working on projects and don't have enough time to keep track of what is going on here. Which is why I sometimes ask specific questions in other areas of the forum in the hope that they will attract more attention.
However I still like to keep it all tied together so that people can get the full picture so here is a link to one of those threads

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=3 ... tml#363239

As for what I am going to do with XJ2 - Not Sure yet - It's Early days
But whatever I do I will continue to document it on here for anyone who is interested.

 

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

You'll be glad you did for sure-

It's actually a really easy job - start by putting the new friction plates in oil to soak, then just pop the clutch cover, scrape the old gasket material off (the hardest/most time consuming part of the whole process imho) take out the plates, scrub the plain plates with a scotchbrite pad, then re assemble with the new friction plates and springs. Then, i just used a bead of ultra black RTV sealant when i re-installed the clutch cover.

New clutch spring bolts are also recommended, and available for just a dollar or so at your local yamaha dealer.


Fitz did a great write-up here:

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=29541.html

I also installed a new clutch cable at the same time, and here's Rick's cable adjustment procedure:

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2 ... cable.html

 

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

Have found a bit of spare time recently to work on the bikes so here's how things are going.

I finished rebuilding my spare 85' forks and have fitted them into the 83' bike (XJ900 no.1). They fitted up without any problems and look good but as I have only done a few short rides I can't really comment on whether they are an improvement or not.



I have also started working on XJ900 no.2
The bloke I bought it from didn't know much about it's history, all he could tell me was that it had been sitting for a couple of years. He said when he tried to start it, it fired up OK but fuel was pouring out from around the carbies so he shut it off and left it at that.
So I decided the best plan of attack was to pull the carbies and see what I could find and here's how they looked.



Once I opened them up it was instantly apparent what the problem was. All the floats were stuck solid with the needles in the open position. This would explain why the oil level in the sump was so high, fuel had obviously leaked into the sump a well.

This time rather than trying to punch the float pins out like I did on the other bike I used some multi grips and a small piece of tube to press the pin out enough that I could grab it with some small side cutters and then lever them out. I found that this worked really well.





Here's an idea of how dirty they were. Look at the blocked emulsion tubes.



But with a bit of work they cleaned up OK. Here I have cleaned the carb bodies and am about to start on the jets etc.

 

Progress Update

Here's what I have been up to lately.

After cleaning the Carbies on the 85' XJ900(XJ No.2) I stuck them back in, changed the oil and tried starting it and too my surprise it fired up and idled quite well. I was also very surprised to see that it didn't blow any great clouds of smoke. It did however lack throttle response and further investigation revealed that it wasn't firing on all 4 so i metered out the ignition coils and found it had 2 faulty plug caps and also had a mixture of spark plugs some of which were the wrong type. So I replaced the plugs and caps and tried t again and it ran very well so it looks like I might start fixing it up rather than striping it for parts.
I did however have a problem with the standard fuse box and although I had read here on the forum that they could be a problem it was only after working on this one that I saw how bad they are so I decided it was time to replace the one on my 83' as it is getting a lot of use at the moment and I need it to be reliable.

Here's how it turned out

 

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

Nice, was that fourth fuse area melted from bad connections heating up in the old fuse block or is that just the crap left by powdered connectors? Looks like it got a bit warm :?

 

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

Also 2 weekends ago I finally got to test out the new forks in the 83' when I took the missus away for a night with some other couples from the Griffith Classic club. It was a great ride through the mountains and to top it off we spent the night up at Jindabyne near Thredbo over looking the lake from the balcony of our unit.




Here are the bikes at Geehi Hut


And a couple more photo's




Thankfully the rebuilt 85' forks performed quite well but with the 2 of us and a bit of gear on the bike I found the rear shocks weren't quite up to the task so that might be the next thing to upgrade.

But that will have to wait as tomorrow i am off to the Honda Broadford Bike Bonanza
For those that want to know more here are a few links to some sites that will explain what it is all about.

The Event -
http://www.ma.org.au/index.php?id=hbbb

The Venue -
http://www.motorcyclingvic.com.au/index.php?id=363

This will be my first camping trip on the XJ and i will also be running it on the track so i should have some great photo's and stories when i return

 

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

It was actually the remains of a dodgy repair that was done by one of the previous owners.

 

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

Got back from Broadford this afternoon and had a fantastic time. Ran the bike on the track for all 4 sessions yesterday but by the last one my clutch was starting to slip quite badly so i decided not to run it today especially considering that I still had to ride it home. Other than that it ran brilliantly. Looks like i might finally have the carbies set about right now I just have to get the clutch sorted.

Here are some pics











And aside from riding on the track there was heaps of other stuff to see as well















It was so great to be able to enjoy the bike the way that nature intended without worrying about vehicle traffic,police and unpredictable road conditions.
I rode it like I stole it and loved every minute.

Hopefully in the near future i will be able to post up some video footage from the event as well.

 

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

Great work. Thanks for sharing. Xj looks goodin all black. Also is a good palette for extra chrome! Looks like a mackintosh suzuki at broadford? Always loved those things!

 

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

Pretty much you name it, it was there.

 

Broadford Video

Here is a link to some video footage from my track run at Broadford.

http://youtu.be/7UIDqNWeBu4

The camera that I was using belonged to a mate of mine and he has put this clip together so thanks very much to him for his work.
The straight sections of the track have been edited out to reduce the running time as we all know anyone can ride fast in a straight line but unfortunately as a result you don't get to see how well the bike performed compared to the other ones in the group. In my opinion the bike handled very well in the corners and held it's own against the smaller/lighter bikes but then when it hit the straight it blew most things in the group away at least until the clutch started to give out. There is no doubt that I could have pushed it even harder in the corners but I tend to be a fairly cautious rider and after all this was not a race. We were just out there to have fun.

Also at the end of the video it says 85' XJ900 but it was actually my 83'. However it now runs an 85' motor and forks as well as the XJR1200 tank so it does suffer from an identity crisis. :lol:

 

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

Now there's a use for a z13... wow :lol: bet it's reassuringly stable to ride too with that wheelbase!

 

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

Made me think of these ultra-long wedding limousines! LOL!

 

Re: Broadford Video

Nice video! Found myself leaning on my office chair while you entered sharp turns!

 

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

Thought it was time I added a bit more to this.
I have been extremely busy since my last post as I have added 4 more bikes to the shed but they are not XJ's.
I bought a Yamaha PW80 for the young bloke and a CT110 Postie to follow him around on then i ended up buying 2 Yamaha AG200's cheap that I am in the process of getting going so that I can ride one of them and the Missus can ride the Postie when we take the young bloke out riding.

Here's a few pic's




Also after my clutch problems with XJ no.1 at Broadford I purchased some new clutch plates and heavier springs when I got back and finally got around to installing them recently which seems to have fixed the problem. One interesting thing that I noticed was that there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the old clutch plates, they still measured as if they were new and the springs were within spec as well but the new springs are definitely heavier and that seems to make a big difference.


Here are a couple more photo's of me and the bike on the track at Broadford









Will be heading down to Winton on the XJ on Sunday to watch the Historic races so should have some interesting photo's to show from there when I get back.

 

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

Good stuff! Check out the width of the motor on the old Honda or whatever it is behind you! :lol: Or is it a Beemer? Good weather this weekend, cool start though. Watch those Vic cops, they'll nail you for just a few kms over te limit. Gundagai and Albury are also hot spots!