New project for the winter

[jetfan8753]

Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and I'm from northeast pa. Last weekend I bought a 1982 XJ1100 Maxim. It's no gem, but it should be soon (hopefully by late spring). When I picked the bike up it had two flat tires, the carb bank was hanging on via only one carb boot, and the front right brake caliper was hanging on by the brake line. I was worried about the condition of the engine initially but pulling the head today gave me some relief. There was the traditional carbon build up but everything moved freely and out of all four cylinders only one had a slight bit of corrosion(light light rust). As of now, I'm thinking I'll clean that up, reassemble, and give the engine a nice coat of high heat black paint. I don't think the engine needs a total rebuild if it does I'd probably do a big bore kit... opinions? Any other suggestions for stuff I should do while the head is off?

In the end I'm hoping to make a nice bobber out of this bike. Lots of flat black For now I've been getting most of my information from searching and from reading the the repair manual posted on one of the member's websites (sorry I can't remember which person). I do have one question though : Where would you recommend I get a head gasket? I see them for xs's online but are they the same for the xj? Anyway, thanks for reading and sorry for the longish post
-Ryan

[bikerphil]

The XJ head gasket has extra holes in it for the YICS system. If you eliminate the YICS system, then you can use the XS head gasket. This thread has some useful info.....

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...lug+yics+ports

You can buy a complete gasket set from this supplier for the XJ or the XS motors....

http://partsnmore.net/

HTH, welcome to the board.

[DGXSER]

Hey Ryan,

Welcome to Channel 11, it is the best source of info for these bikes.

For future post, it would be very helpful if you were to put your bike model/year in your signature and perhaps your city/state in your profile. It will be helpful for others if you have questions in the future.

[Bigfoot]

Welcome to the site and good luck with the bike. I don't think I have seen an XJ bobber before. Should be interesting.

[jetfan8753]

Thanks for the site recommendation, I will be ordering a bunch of parts next week along with a sandblaster from harbor freight. I am however, thinking about getting a YICS eliminator. It seems practical for my project since I'm not concerned about keeping things original and from what I've read around the forums, it makes tuning the carbs a heck of a lot easier. I took a quick picture of the bike (with my cell sorry for quality) as it sits now with the head pulled and everything..as you can see I won't be bored over the winter.

[Incubus]

Do not use a sand blaster on any parts of your engine. The sand will destroy the aluminum alloy. I am sitting here contemplating where you could safely use sand on any bike. Perhaps the frame, but I can't think of any place else right now. If you really want a media blaster, go with something much softer, like walnut shells or maybe glass beads.

Patrick

[tarzan]

How will sand blasting destroy aluminum?It will only strip any paint or coating off.A lot of companies sand blast aluminum,it can erode it if you aren't careful though.You can use walnut shell or some other soft form of media if you are really worried about it.
The biggest worry should be getting sand inside the engine.
JAT.Rick

[tomatao]

Yeah Jetfan your project is a little bigger than mine!!

It does look like you have your work cut out for you but hey, that's half the fun right.....

[Incubus]

The engine cases are soft. Sand blasting will pit the hell out of them. And if you do it with the cases apart you will be astounded at what happens to your mating surfaces. DAMHIK.

Aluminum is very hard, but our cases are not pure aluminum. They are an alloy and it is softer than straight aluminum.

Patrick

[jetfan8753]

Thanks for the advice about sandblasting the engine. I was actually planning on using a soft bristle wire wheel on the engine and transmission case. I have a flexible shaft that accepts wire wheels hooked up to a 3/4 hp motor, I was thinking that would do the trick. The sandblaster is for the frame which is almost bare now, the gas tank, and the wheels for their paint job. I also imagine it might work well on other small parts that have nooks and crannies that need refurbishing. Do you guys think the wire wheel would be alright on the engine? If not what about the soda blasters that shoot baking soda material instead of more traditional media?

[rpgoerlich]

Agreed that the blast media has to be softer than the aluminum or your going to pit it badly...Then you'll really have some winter workcut out .
Wire wheel is going to do some damage as well.

I used an aluminum cleaner on my 80G today to clean up the fins and side covers. Worked well with a stiff poly brush. The engine block on my 80G appeared to have a paint coating on it as there were a few areas that it was scratched off. I got a bottle of aluminum etching cleaner for cast wheels and a bottle for anodized/clear coated mag wheels. Then I broke out the HF polishing kit I picked up for $3.99 and got busy on the right side engine covers.

A before


And after

[dbeardslee]

Richard - those covers look great! I assume you used the etching cleaner on the covers? What was the brand you used?

[xs11bobber]

Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and I'm from northeast pa. Last weekend I bought a 1982 XJ1100 Maxim. It's no gem, but it should be soon (hopefully by late spring). When I picked the bike up it had two flat tires, the carb bank was hanging on via only one carb boot, and the front right brake caliper was hanging on by the brake line. I was worried about the condition of the engine initially but pulling the head today gave me some relief. There was the traditional carbon build up but everything moved freely and out of all four cylinders only one had a slight bit of corrosion(light light rust). As of now, I'm thinking I'll clean that up, reassemble, and give the engine a nice coat of high heat black paint. I don't think the engine needs a total rebuild if it does I'd probably do a big bore kit... opinions? Any other suggestions for stuff I should do while the head is off?

In the end I'm hoping to make a nice bobber out of this bike. Lots of flat black For now I've been getting most of my information from searching and from reading the the repair manual posted on one of the member's websites (sorry I can't remember which person). I do have one question though : Where would you recommend I get a head gasket? I see them for xs's online but are they the same for the xj? Anyway, thanks for reading and sorry for the longish post
-Ryan

Hey Jetfan, good to see a new face. I have a site that's an in progress sort of thing that may help you a bit along with this site from member tbishop11. We both used XS's, but there isn't much of a difference other than I wish I had an XJ tank, lol. Feel free to ask any question and either of us will be willing to help you out. I'm pretty sure Shop is still overseas (military), but I can help you out to the best of my abilities. Good luck with your project as I too am continuing my build through winter with my new "harbor freight special" garage (portable car garage - 8' x 16') and the propane radiant heater. It's gonna be a cold winter

As far as the blasting goes, my powder coater recommended glass beading as well and we were talking about my wheels. The guy has to know his stuff being in the powder coating business for 20+ years.