XJ700 22 year Barn find questions and update

After 22 years in a barn she is running again.

Carbs are back on and air mixture screw covers removed.
Will NOT start with choke. As soon as I pull it she dies. I drilled out the tubes in the bowls at the bottom. Probably made the hole too big.
But she starts anyway with a little throttle and then idles fine.
Synced the carbs. She still blows a little white, even after a few minutes.
Tried to adjust the air mixture screws but cannot notice anything unless they are turned all the way in. The she bogs down. So I turned them about 3.5 turns out. All of them.
Out = More air or more fuel. Always get that mixed up.
After 22 years , I want to change all the fluids. How much ATF should the front forks have? I do not plan on taken them apart, just draining what is in there. I do not have a service manual. Can;t find a cheap one on eBay right now.
Should I even try to ride this bike on 22 year old tires? Tread is great and they do feel soft. I don;t think I should, but with so much work already into the bike, the last thing I want to do is pull the wheels now that is is nice out.
Also, getting some condensation/water dripping out the lowest point on the pipes. I am pretty sure it is not gas. Bike was stored indoors until I parked her outside under a cover the last few days...Weird.
Doing brake fluid and rear diff tomorrow. Mounting my Kremed tank after a week of drying tomorrow.
As always, thanks for all the friendly advice.

 

Hey there - lucky find!
Front forks - my XJCD sayd you should have 363cc's of 10wt oil.
Tires - don't even THINK of riding on those - that's as good as asking to die. Get new rubber.
Condensation in the pipes is pretty common - once they warm up it'll all get cleaned out.

Since you need new rubber, now is a really good time to take the wheels off for a few things:
- check and grease the wheel bearings
- re-lube the drive splines
- check front brake pads
- ** CHECK REAR SHOES for delamination ** VERY important!!!

 

Is this a wet head or an air head. White smoke in the exhaust is usually indicative of an infiltration of coolant into the combustion chamber.
How long did you run it before doing any fluid changes? Post some pics and be prepared to do a lot of work to get things properly set up and lubricated or you could have major problems later on.
Good luck and nice find, hope it all comes together for you.
Keep the updates coming.

 

This is an air head.
I changed the oil before I even fired the bike up.
Just running some 10W40 normal oil right now since I will change it again before I hit the road with it.
Will order the rubber this week I guess and work on the brakes and stuff as listed. Headers are all rusty and pipes are pretty bad too. Frame has some rust spots. Nothing a little rattle can can't fix.
This will be my money pit for sure.
But with 1400 original miles, I don't mind.
I am a hobby MC picker/flipper and this is how I found her:
https://picasaweb.google.com/roehlerich ... 5rb_eTqQA#

 

Might want to consider hitting Chacal up for a colortune plug.

Out = more fuel.

From what I was just reading on the ebay forums, "cheap" might not exist there anymore. Apparently they're tacking on another 9% "Final Value Fee"... on the shipping. Sellers are NOT amused.

 

WOW! If only the people that bury these things had a little fore thought and sprayed the whole bike down with WD40 how things would be different.
Looks like a fair bit of cleaning ahead, but that's the fun of putting old bikes back to running.
I've heard that a little SeaFoam down the plug holes can help reduce the crud that has accumulated around the rings. Pour some in, let it sit for a while, check the oil level and then fire it up again. The oil will have to be changed again, but if you're using cheap MOTORCYCLE oil (not automotive) Then it may help clean up the combuston chamber a bit. Just sayin'.

 

I hate to be such a pain, but now that she is on the road, I have another question:
At quick hard throttle, she hesitates and really never revs up all the way.
If I gradually increase the throttle she runs better and the rpm increase a little better. With my tach not working right, I can;t tell where the rpms are, but I would assume around 4000 when she doesn;t want to go any higher.
Also, how high up the glass should the oil level be? I have it all the way at the top.
Thanks.

 

Oil level at the top of the sight glass should be perfect.

In the original post you'd mentioned drilling the carbs - assuming you meant that literally, I'm going to have to go with malfunctioning carbs are causing the hesitation.

What's the issue with the tach?

 

UPDATE:

Tach is alive and well now that we have 70 degrees out
Hesitation is almost gone after new airfilter and everything buttoned up properly.
I did drill out the feeder tubes for the fuel enrichers (choke) in the bowl, but only the tubes from the top, not the little hole coming from the inside angle. Starts without choke and idles just fine now that it is warm.

Painted the fenders and installed new tires. This is as clean as she will get unless I start pulling the engine covers.

https://picasaweb.google.com/roehlerich ... m5rb_eTqQA

WHAT A DIFFERENCE !

 

Man, that hardly looks like the same bike! Nice job on the clean up. How many hours you figure you got into getting to look like that?

 

6 hours today. Pulled the wheels yesterday.
Today:
Pulled the fenders and rattle caned them.
Then put everything back on.
Can't believe how clean the header got.
LOTS of WD40 and steel wool and chrome polish
Buffed the tank and side covers.
Rubbed down all the plastic chrome pieces with chrome polish.
No idea what I will do with the engine covers yet. Time to ride soon.
Looks good from far away. That is all that matters right now.
Have not done fork oil or rear diff fluid yet.

 

I think that this post and supporting pictures are proof enough to be considered an "Urban Legend".
This is the stuff car and bike and pretty much any mechanical collector occasionally here's about, but can't be proved.
Well roehlerich you've got the proof. How about a bit more background on how you came by the bike etc. I know I'd be interested in hearing more!
Once again, nice find!

 

You could try some mother’s mag polish. I won’t make them perfect but might take some of the oxidation away until you can do a prober polish next winter.

 

I will try to keep it brief. Here is the History:

I run ads in local papers in rural areas where the Internet and digital pictures and cell phones are still cutting edge technology.

So I received a call from an elderly gentleman last year about these two bikes in his barn. He does woodwork now and the bikes had been parked in his woodshop for over 20 years. It was a dirt floor garage close to New Hope, PA. The CB750 Super Sport was his that he bought NEW in 1980 and had the bags and windhshield installed at a Honda dealer. My friend is turing that one into a cafe racer.

The Yamaha was his friend's bike. The man had since moved to the West Coast but was nice enough to leave him with the signed title.

I paid $ 300.00 for the bike.

Tank had 2 hands full of rust in it and the lock would not open until I took a screw driver to it. Used KREME for the first time. So far so good.
I flip bikes (a lot) most I don't even bother fixing up but with this mileage and the fact that I had a 82 650 Maxim in 1985 when I moved here from Germany made me want to fix this one up.

I am not a mechanic. I am a McGuyver. I figure stuff out. But after bringing back about 20 bikes in the last 3 years, I had a plan.

I finally got some carb dip to bring the carbs back. Installed 4 new rebuild kits. That took the longest. Compression was good (140 +/- 10), engine was free so I was off to the races. Messed up the choke somehow. She will not start with choke. She floods. I did not drill out the air mix covers until the carbs were back on the bike. So I did not do that right. For now, she runs.

New battery and all the electricals worked including the horn. I did a double take. This is a Yamaha and not a Honda and I expected the worse.

Drained the oil ASAP and once she was running, changed it again.

Rest was easy actually. Tires, air filter (mouse issue with old one) plugs. Oil filter. Bled the front calipers and MCylinder. They were not even stuck !

I think what saved the bike was the moisture in the dirt floor garage. The rubber feels like new on the bike. Never saw the sun in 25 years.

Not to go into too many stories, but last year I bought a 87 Venture Royale with less than 10,000 original mikes. Previous owner (now dead) put 500 (YES 500) miles on the bike in 15 years. Pulled it out of the garage, got it inspected, cleaned it and parked it again. Didn't have to do a thing except new tires. EVERYTHING worked. Sold it at the end of the season last year. BEST cruiser I ever had.

 

I tip my hat to you, YOU LUCKY BASTID!!!!! :roll: :roll:
The stuff you just described is for me, the stuff that dreams are made of.
Keeping the old and not so old iron on the road is a credit to your "McGuyuver" skills, keep us posted on how this goes and any other "Treasures" you unearth.

Sign me, Envious!


Cheers, Graham

 

I live in the city, not many barns around and even fewer with an old bike in them.... wish i could be so lucky!!!