New Winter Project

[rpgoerlich]

Picked up an 82 XJ550 Maxim with 7,505mi, New Tires, Recent carb clean and plugs for $300, PO said it had been running bad and just quit. Here is a pic of it:


And part of what was wrong with it, #2


And another #4:


Carbs were not in the boots properly and ran lean for some time:

[tarzan]

That looks like you will be busy.
So are you rebuilding the top end or the whole motor,or gonna try and find a different motor?
I am refurbishing an 82 Virago I picked up this summer.It is a plie of parts right now.

[rpgoerlich]

He ran it about 2 weeks running bad. Valves all look good, will probably pull and lap them. Need to flush out crankcase. Haven't found any signs of aluminum yet... I expect it will show up in the filter housing and the flush. The cylinders are to spec top to bottom and a good honing will do. Got 2 pistons, head gasket and cylinder base gasket coming. Will reuse the rings off those 2 pistons. So yea, just a top end re-condition if you will.

[latexeses]

Tarzan...

That d@#^d digital dash on that virago is the reason I don't still have mine. Pulled like a freight train. Ran like a top but the dash started blinking at 1000 miles. Tried everything except an priest to get the demons out. Nothing worked. Checked all of the grounds, every wire... Take a working dash off of another Virago and it would blink too. Yamaha playbook said the module is bad when it blinks. Traded mine to a working bike and mine worked just fine. Sold the thing for a thousand bucks with 2k miles just to get away from the electronics. Here is hopng you don't have to go through that with yours.
Rodger

[rpgoerlich]

Not to mention the Box a Rocks sound when you hit that starter!
Had an 85 XV700 Virago, only problems I had were the carbs and that dam starter. Did a #2 idler gear fix along with the shims. It sounded alot better when you went to start it and as long as it was tuned up it would pop right off. If it missfired you got the grind. Sold it a little over a year ago for $1250 with 38k on it.

Well I found a set of xj550 standard pistons/rings and pins for $30 deliverd off a bike with 11k mi on it. Gaskets/O'rings coming. Just need to finished up honing the cylinders and lapping the valves.
Found very little aluminum from those holes in the pistons. Flushed out the crankcase, changed oil and filter.

[tarzan]

Yea my Virago had the starter issue.I had the flywheel gear ground along with #2 idler and got a new 4 brush starter.It starts fine now ,like you stated ,as long its running good.

[prometheus578]

"Holy piston, Batman!"

[fredintoon]

Mice in the prodders

Hi Richard,
teardown & new pistons at the least, right.
An unscrupulous fellow could leave the barrels in place, TIG weld the holes shut, button the motor back up and flog it to a stranger.
Betcha it'd run for quite a while like that, too.

[rpgoerlich]

I'm building this one for the wife so she can start to ride. It's small enough and will have enough power for a 100mi ride down to our fish camp on the coast. Now If I could get my 17year old son to ride or even drive some where would be an achievement! Maybe after He see's Mom on one, he'll jump on one of the other ones I have in the garage...

Already picked up 4 used (11kmi) pistons/rings for $30 delivered out of Austin. Gaskets and air filter from Ebay for $80. New sprockets and o'ring chain for $100. Only thing left is to replace the broken signal stays which will run me $70 for the 4. Bike already has new metzlers front / rear and new battery. So I'll be into it for just over $600 after title transfer and all.

Honed out the cylinders, which didn't take much at all. De-carboned the head and pistons. Got pistons back on rods. I'm going to repaint the cylinders and re-assemble.

[fredintoon]

Motivation

Now If I could get my 17year old son to ride or even drive some where would be an achievement!

Hi Richard,
how in the world do you STOP a normal teenager from wanting to ride?
Back when my step-sons were only pre-teens my new wife would have loved to know how to do that.
Your kid's all right in his head and physically fit, I trust?
I have an e-friend who's grown son has the mind of a 5 year old and he just loves to ride in dad's sidecar, they go on rallies and tours together.
Now there's a suggestion, perhaps the humiliation of being seen riding in the sidecar of the rig his mom was operating would be motivation enough to get his arse on his own saddle?

[rpgoerlich]

He a senior and he's pretty well focused on finishing school, then college. He's pretty proficient with Autocad and will probably be going for an engineering degree. I don't get it either. I had him on a cub 90, then 4 wheelers from 8-14 and then he lost interest. We fish together alot and bring along his friends. I taught him and he got his drivers license. I try and at least get him to drive when ever we go places.

I grew up in the motorcity and a car at 16 was a must! Had my first cycle at 12 and licensed at 15. A job at 12, Dad had me paying Mom 25% of whatever I made weekly for food and laundry! Times change things for sure!

[rpgoerlich]

Got the XJ550 back together and running! Just finished colortuning it and syncing the carbs. Runs Great! The Mufflers had a bunch of oil that had been pumped into them...Needless to say I had to heat them up with a good ride to clean them out.

This Video was just before I Synced the Carbs:XJ550

[petejw]

Really nice work Richard.

[DGXSER]

awesome, sounds nice and throaty!