What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Okay so I added some bugs to the lenses and dust to the underside... this brings me to a question of what is the best way to repaint the black part of the rims without making a mess of the bright aluminum? I really don't want to make a mess of this but the castings are really showing their age.

Thanks in advance.
Brhat

 

Does the machined aluminum parts still have clear on them? That often starts to look yellow and crusty and needs to be removed before you start painting, in my opinion.

Then it’s just a bunch of tedious masking.

 

Clear is long gone, confirmed this with an ohmmeter... not looking forward to the masking

I see you're from Mpls, might have to get together and check out bikes

 

Was pulling things apart to change stem bearings in the 650 and found this creative bit of wiring. The kill switch has been turned into a headlight OFF switch with some cross connected wire nuts. I guess the PO really didn't like having the headlight on. Gotta say, it works though!

Didn't really notice before because I never use the kill switch on any of my bikes, just the key switch. Yah, probably a bad habit. I have many.

 

No fixing stupid that's for sure.

 

I used an artist's brush and applied a layer of soap on the unpainted ally bits, before hitting the black bits with a spraycan. It worked better than I hoped, after curing and washing.

 

Rolled past 40k miles on the way home from work this morning (speedo runs about 4 miles less than GPS on a 26 mile commute).

 

Yeah man that's what I'm talkin' about, an XJ owner with a big s*it eatin' grin on his face under the bucket on his pride & joy. I say this because I did a marathon trip today having nothing better to do and all day to do it.

 

We should organize a get together. Any ideas for a venue?

 

Good question. I know the cities quite well having lived and worked there over the years, maybe something like the falls or one of the lakes? I assume we would want to keep this one family friendly and I'd be good with something inclusive of both cities at a common point.

 

Looking at pulling my swingarm out and doing a blast & prime/paint along with checking the bushings and driveshaft U-joint. Unfortunately I ran over a wild turkey (bad timing) and now the bike feels a little squirrelly so I'm going to check things over, I did some hard quick jockeying trying to miss the bird and almost wiped out and now the back feels loose. Wheel bearings seem good but under hard throttle the bike doesn't feel like like it's running straight & true and it's not consistent between the shifts like the back end is pivoting from loading to unload. Should be an adventure.

 

When for a fantastic ride! The xj650lj clicked over 10000 miles on the way home...

 

Update on my 750 SECA.

Pulled the rear apart this evening and found the bearing preload locking nut loose and the adjusting screw had backed itself out over time giving me roughly a 1/4 inch of total play, I had never really pushed the bike before the bird incident so I never noticed the excess play until then... just one of those things I guess. I've blasted the paint off and checked all the welds and they look good, some minor pitting from previous battery pukes so it's going to get scrubbed with some 320 on the DA then a good prime & paint before going back together.
The locking tab on the LH side doesn't look like it's ever been disturbed since it was installed so my question is: how much assembly is done at the dealership when the bike comes out of the crate? Personally I can't see the swingarm being something the dealer would install as it's tucked under the frame and nothing is gained packing it separate and even so the dealership it was bought from, W.I.W. had a stellar reputation.
Engine & electrical problems I can deal with as they come up but when it comes to suspension, steering and safety related that's when I get concerned. Starting to wonder what other surprises are lurking from deep within.

 

From my brief time working in a dealer and PDI-ing various Hondas, etc. The front wheel is usually off and stowed next to the forks, the bars might be un-affixed and laid lengthwise.
Usually, the rear wheel was on and only needed the bolts checked for tightness, along with all the others. It was a fairly minimal strip for crating, just enough to keep within the crate dimensions.

 

Sounds about right, guess the adjustment never had a final torque or had worked itself loose over the past 40+ years. The races don't look distressed so they're all going back together tonight once the paint hardens. I used an industrial type medium gloss that sets with heat so I made a rack for my drier. Yes my arm is swingin' !

 

Your swingarm is getting an MRI! Note: hope you didn't get too much paint where the races are fitted, or, you'll be scraping paint away from those areas tomorrow.........

 

It also got a cat scan before assembly and the only thing that got me cussin' was getting the splines into the U-joint while it was flopping around. The U-joint is good with no play at all and the bearing races & pockets got a good cleaning with acetone before the grease. Everything went together well and I took the bike on a 25 mile shakedown ride, straight & true it rides like an easy chair with a twist grip. The plan this weekend is to finish the fuel system on my buddy's VTX-1800 and take a ride up to the north shore via the back roads, plenty of good curves along the way.

Okay so he was sleeping on the job again...

 

Got my mitts on some paint today and made a few swatches on a chunk of steel according to the paint mix directions. Going with a DuPont light toreador red which has a slight metallic iridescent mix, not exactly the factory brilliant red but not $199 for a pint either. This is a 3-part HVLP solvent mix that will work good on the side panels over the existing paint and being I already have most of what I need already it saves me some serious coin.
This is the swatch of the actual finished color against the lower part of the tank, a smartphone camera doesn't do it justice. I also have a shade lighter that I will swatch tomorrow when the light is better but I'm thinking this is the color I'm going with.

 

Tried to do an edit and ended up with a new post... Any ideas on how to blow this dent out without making a big production of it? The smaller dents will get lead filled but this guy needs more finesse than I have.

 

Decided to try vinyl wrapping my gas tank emblem. Looks good from far away but the cuts up close aren't clean and the previous owner's spray can paint job has an uneven surface.