Motorcycle Build

[Gulrok]

Hi! My name is Trevor.. and this is my Bike.

 

 

Bit rusty, a pile of junk, and I only paid $400 for it. 

 

All in all, I could part it out for more than I paid.

 

This is a 1980 XJ650 Maxim.. not a small bike like a ninja 250, but not a big bike like a harley fatboy, or honda goldwing.

 

I bought it in early July, fixed the carb problems, have have ridden it since. It rides like a dream, but has problems starting on cold mornings. Not only that, gas mileage isn't great.. probably 36mpg. 

Reliability, ehh... depends on the day.

 

Did I mention sometimes it backfires through the carbs? 

 

This lead me to my winter project. 

 

As of now, the bike is completely out of commission until further notice. 

 

So what do I want to do with it? 

Well, I want to convert the bike to EFI ( electronic fuel injection ) from the original carburetor set-up. EFI will allow me to get the best performance, and brings the bike into the 90s. ( Throttle body injection, not port or direct. )

 

Here we go.

 

I ordered GXR600 throttle bodies off of ebay. They were priced at $75, I offered $60 and it was accepted. 15 Days later, I messaged the seller about no update on tracking and never got a response, he was mailing it via priority 2 day. 

15 Days later I received it, left negative feedback since I never got a reply, and 15 days? That was 10 more than what his receive by date is. I don't mean to be a sour puss, but I believe if you're a company, or person selling something you need to give adequate customer service. I got none, nothing, zilch, and I'll leave feedback as such. The seller ended up telling me he was away, and the person he hired didn't mail them on time... and that he'd give me 50% of my money back if I changed feedback to positive. Sure did, he explained and I understand, it is still his responsibility, but he fixed it.

-- Became $30 throttle bodies. 

 

 

So I took my old cracked manifold boots off my engine.. luckily I didn't break a hexbolt either.

 

I took a heat gun, heated them up, and stretched them over the throttle bodies.

 

 

I was in business, however the boots do need to stretch to move over since the throttle body ports don't line up to the original carburetor. 

 

My original 34 year old intake manifold boots weren't up to the task, they're hard, and cracked and leak.

 

For me to replace those boots, it costs almost $280 for the correct sized NEW boots. 

 

Therefore I looked into new to me, used boots. None available.

But a 1982 xj650 was available. 

 

I ended up driving 120 miles north, ( and south again.. ugh. ) to pick up a parts bike for me.

( One farthest from me, has the wonkey handle bars on it. ) My bike was blue, but I ended up painting it yellow. 

 

The bike I picked up does have problems though. It needs a new clutch basket, and it leaks from the left crankcase cover. 

 

( Guess what, my bike's 1980's clutch basket is perfect, but needs newer clutch plates and discs, which the 1982 has. )

 

So I'll end up matching the clutch pieces together to make a perfect clutch set. As for gauges, and headlights and such, I can swap those over.

 

The nice thing is, this bike has perfect brand new manifolds too. So instead of spending $300 on new manifolds. I bought a newer, less mileage, more powerful,

but compatible with what I have bike for $120.

 

( 80' on left, 82' on right. )

 

Besides that the frame on my bike is rusty, while the newer bike is almost perfect. Yes, it is missing a lot of

electronics like the pick-up coil, but I had to replace that anyway for my EFI conversion - and the rectifier, and 

the starter, but my original 1980's bike has all of that in working condition. 

 

I'll keep it updated, but I just wanted to share what I have so far. 

 

 

[BrandedUpontheGrave]

This is new and interesting...

[SuperPug]

Yes moar pls!

[techswede]

Nice to see a bike build on here

[Flight1sim]

Hey thats pretty cool!

[Gulrok]

I started pulling bits and pieces off of the bike. I think tonight, or tomorrow I'm going to pull the engine out of the 82'

[Gulrok]

Last night I decided at 11:30pm I'd go outside to the garage and pull the shocks off the 82' project bike.

 

After pulling shocks off.. which the springs will be painted black, and the tophats as well.

 

I thought I would pull the engine. 

 

It has a few things that need to be addressed.

 

1. Nasty, and needs to be painted black.

2. Leak from left crankcase cover.

3. Clutch basket needs to be replaced. 

 

Also, incase you didn't know, a motorcycle's engine and transmission are together. You can't just pull one, you pull both. However, the rear part of the engine is the transmission portion. So the leaking left crankcase holds the

sprockets, while the right crankcase cover holds the clutch plates and basket.

 

Anyway, I ended up doing the 2 person job by myself!

 

 

Oh, and if you ever see my feet on these pictures. Yes I work on my bike in socks.

 

So, I need to get engine dejunker, and spray it all over that puppy. 

 

Last night I also set little clips to paint, but it turned out poorly since it was really cold yesterday.

 

So I scrapped the old paint off, sanded and made it look like polished aluminum.

 

 

Now primer is on it, and they're going from their original dull black, to gloss black.

 

Incase anyone is wondering where these go, they hold the handle bars.

 

 

( They're the same piece, but the ones on the bike are from my original bike. The painted ones are part of the incomplete bike. )