Brian's '95 XJ600S Seca II

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bsw
Lookin' Around
Lookin' Around
Posts: 57
Joined: Tue Dec 17, 2013 2:50 pm
Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Hi,

This is the start of my restore/build thread. It's going to be slow going...

Here she is today:
Image
Image

When I bought it I rode just over 2 hours on it to get home. The engine feels nice and tight and quiet, but is not running smooth at all - lots of hesitation and surges through the midrange. Idle and top end seem OK.

Long term plan is naked conversion, upside down forks, clip-ons and rearsets. Ideally I'd like (wire) spoke wheels as well, but that's way off.

Short term plan is getting it to a state where I can ride it comfortably. First issue (other than the engine) is the mirrors. The plastic ball socket is worn out on both side and they will not stay in place. I bought some bar end mirrors on eBay assuming I could just loosen the existing bar end weights, give them a bit of a tap to dislodge the quill (or similar) device that was keeping them in place and pull them out. Wrong. The thread they screw into seems to be a permanent part of the bars. So, first bit of fabricating coming up - over to dad's place to use his lathe to turn down the bar ends a bit so my bar end mirrors will clamp on.

I've got a few days off work coming up and am really tempted to take the covers off and check the valves (as the pre-requisite to cleaning and adjusting the carbs) , but at this time of year the shops might not be open and I might have trouble getting shims if I need them. Oh for screw adjusted rockers :-) Have to make a few phone calls.

The other obvious issue I have is the front forks - they are sooo soft. There is also rust pitting in the seal travel area, but strangely they are not leaking - maybe there's no oil left in them :-) Also strangely the extreme softness kinda feels right on the highway - I guess the chassis geometry is designed to work with them. As I said above, my long term plan is some newer forks. For now I will probably just put some fresh oil in them and see how they go.

I'll update as I make progress - don't hold your breath waiting for me...
My bikes:
  • '82 CB250RS - Cafe Racer project
  • '89 K100RT - Cafe Racer project
  • '95 XJ600 Seca II - Cafe Racer project
  • '98 GSX250F - Needs work to get on road
  • '05 XVS650A - Wife's
  • '07 VL250 Intruder - was cheap...

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