82 XJ 1100 "Naked Boy" project - Finished

[thecamelman79]

Ok Guys,
Me and Lugnut (My Father) have been tinkering around with "Naked boy" a 82 XJ1100 Texas bike with 23K on the clock. For the longest time it sat in the garage with nothing done to it. When we first brought it home we pulled the carbs, cleaned them, installed a fresh battery, rebuilt the fuse box, and fired him up.
Ran ok but we had the low spark problem and only wanted to start when you let off the button. So back to basics, from the plugs all the way back to the TCI cleaned ever connection and ground up and coated everything with di-electric grease, and tried again. (Still weak but better) It was rideable.
So with a 1 gallon gas can hung from the bars and no seat on the bike Lug nut heads down the drive way and first gear it screwed. (Rat-a-tat-tat) like a machine gun going off. So shifting up into second he continued the ride. Pulled like a frieght train! But with with first gear gone and 6 other bikes in the stable it seams like the naked boy might end up and a parts bike do to the lack of confidenece in the first and second gear fix, and the lack of willingness to part with an a hundred buck for a new gear.
She sat in the corner for a couple of months (actually behind the buffing wheel) (OMG that thing got covered) put it out of our heads for a while. Then over many cups of coffee and a few beers we decided to attack 1st gear with the dremel fix. We flipped her over, followed the instructions on the XS11.com tech tips, and slapped her back together. Much to are surprise it didn't just work, it worked Fantastic!, and best of all "No more Russian tractor" 1st gear slips in just as quite as 5th.
Although we still had a weak spark issued to deal with. So we went after the harness again. We swaped out a known working set of coils and TCI from the "Naked Boy's" sister "The Fat girl" or her full name "Black Betty the Fat bitch" (A full fairing with bags 82 xj1100) Double checked all the connections and tried again. The TCI an coils didn't fix it but going through the wires again did slightly increase the spark. not enough though to call it fixed. During our rebuild process I plann to completely reconditon the wiring harness, as i'm sure its just a matter of a connection needing to be fixed that I couldn't get to while on the bike, an we also are serouisly thinking of new after market coils as the stockers weren't all that great to begin with.
So first gear fixed and spark solutions well set in our minds, the bike sat again with us wondering what we wanted to do. Tune it and leave it dirty and ride the hell out of it next summer (Free & little time) , Fluff & buff? ( a winters worth of detailing and cleaning and not really acheiving a beutiful bike- pretty cheap) or a completely tear down cleaning, scrubing, buffing, polishing, painting, & wiring down to frame and back up in which we would be proud of ever detail. After which we would truely have a naked clasic beast that would not only be amazing to ride, but would draw attention from every one we run acrossed in are travels? (Lost of time, Lots of Coffee, and more money then we really want to spend)
Below you will find a short video of what we decided to do, it's only the start and I will post pictures occasionally for you all to follow along with, but we have deffinatly took our first steps.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hepIzxiRkI

We started at 12:30 and were drinking coffee by 4:30. and as you can see we took are time doing it. I even installed some new grips on the fat girl!
_________________
My bikes.
82 xj650j Maxim 23K mile and climbing
82 XJ 1100 with vetter fairing bags and trunck 18K (no second gear problem) (The Fat Girl)
Father/Son Project
82 XJ1100 (SECOND GEAR SHOT) (Naked boy)
Dads bikes
79 XS 750 (tripple)
82 XJ 750 -(Star wars speeder)
Friend's bikes "David's"
79 XS 1100
81 XJ 650 (John Doe)
His brother's "Dougs"
82 XJ 650 (Jane Doe)
Brother inlaws bike "Rob"
81 XS 400 "the scooter"

[thecamelman79]

FYI my dads hadles on this site it Salty Dog, Lug nut is his e-bay name

[CatatonicBug]

Welcome aboard! Looks like you had fun there. You forgot a few pieces on the front and rear ends that still need to come off though...

[thecamelman79]

Right. Those will come off in the next couple of days but we decided that it would be easier to balance with the tires on untill we pulled the motor out (we laid it over remembering all the posts sugesting it. No go. PITA. Stood it back up and between the two of us it easily lefted right out of the frame.) Good news it ever thing seems to be in pretty good shape though. I know this may be premature but I think this is a close to "clean it up and put it back together" project as you can get with a 28 year old bike.

[thecamelman79]

Hey guys,
I decide to start with something small Yesterday. The rear Fender. I only got one before shot of the under side so I'm kind annoyed by that, Just gotta learn to be quicker with the Black Berry I guess.



Before - Underside of fender.



After - Underside of fender - Salty Dog (Dad) had done some research on the net about using electrolysis to remove rust from steel. So after scrubbing with Dawn dish soap (note Dawn dish soap is the single most useful thing in the garage) for some time there was still allot of rust and gunk that would not let loose. 10 mins in the tank and a little scrubbing and OMG 95% of the remaining material let loose. (freaking neato)



Left Hand side of fender



Right Hand side of fender



Rear view shot of fender - Every thing came down to parade rest. Ever bolt was soaked and scrubbed, ever piece of rubber was soaked with back to black, electrical connections were cleaned and die-electric applied. and everything got a nice coat of wax before re-assembling.



Top side of Rear plastic half



Bottom side of Rear plastic half - Washed {Dawn dish soap it Great stuff) Back to black was brushed in - Buff - And the Black colored turtle wax was applied to seal it all in (neat stuff)

I also decide the day before the tear down to Restore the YICS emblems on the side of the Cases



Before and on the bike - This was one of the better looking ones.



Why only do one, when you can do them all and get a rhythm going.
(I could kick myself this morning though as I remember there is one more set on the parts bike in the trailer that needs to be done. - oh well)



I also decided to go ahead install a pair on the Fat Girl because her side covers were oh so shiny.



And of course "Naked Boy" less tank and seat before we started the tear down.

Hope you guys enjoy,
Now time to pour another cup of coffee, fire up the heater, and pick another random part to play with.

[natemoen]

Ya want to come polish my aluminum for me?
Looks amazing!

[Kit]

Nice work. Also, the tip on using electrolysis to remove rust looks very interesting, so thanks for the heads-up on that (not much of a chemistry guy, so that would never have occured to me).

[thecamelman79]

Just be sure to be careful with it. 10 mins-check it- 5 mins- check it- 5mins-check it- 5- more and it it off it aint coming off. Scrub the loose stuff off between dips to help it along, And be careful on thin crome becuase it will finish pulling it off. And it take paint off like crazy, but I doubt your gonna dip something you aren't willing to paint. I'll find the link and post it up.

[natemoen]

That would be great if ya had a link. I gotta clean my genders and I am getting sick of naval jelly.

[DGXSER]

I gotta clean my genders and I am getting sick of naval jelly.

Ok, admittedly a typist I am not. But that right there is funny, I don't care who you are!!! And no, I do not want to know ANY more details!!!

[natemoen]

Very true! That is quite funny!

[thecamelman79]

Well we continued on picking two more small parts to clean up and degreased and pressure washed the engine and frame.

I started with the tool box and license plate holders. In an Attempt not to lose any nuts and bolts. I am leaving and cleaning up pieces in chunks as they were removed from the bike. It makes it allot easier to remember how everything goes back together.

Before Shots on tool box.
When I split the plate holder apart it was covered in light rust. Chrome polish and a tooth brush made short work of the clean up.







All shined up. Mother's Back to Black brushed up and sealed with Black Turtle wax really does a nice job on these plastic pieces. The metal Bracket got a soaked in the electrolysis tank and a couple of coats of paint applied. the License plate bracket cleaned up great with Chrome polish and a dip in the tank.









Air Box before Shots - It was heavily scratched and gouged on the top and bottom. and discolored pretty good.







Even though it was just an air box I couldn't resist myself and had to strip it apart and clean and ever little nook and cranny.
I am less the excited with the results on the clean up of this, but hey its just and air box that only 2 little stops are visible when assembled.

Air box after clean up









Mean while Salty Dog took advantage of the warm 42' day and used gel engine degreaser on the motor and frame.







He soaked, with degreaser, scrub, and washed, then did it again, and got some amazing results. most of the engine Gray paint was in great shape, except for what was on the fins.









Now after cleaning He found something weird. A whole in the rear casing. Its not perfectly round so it doesn't look like it was drilled or done on purpose. Any body have any ideas what it might be from? A flaw in the casting?





Here are some good link on rust removal through electrolysis.

http://www.rickswoodshopcreations.co...st_Removal.htm

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/ru..._derusting.htm

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...t=Electrolysis

Till next time -Camel

[James England]

That is excellent information re electrolytic rust removal. I'm definitely going to do this! Brilliant, thanks

[thecamelman79]

With Christmas so close and last minute shopping to do. I really did have much time to work on the naked boy today, I did remove the rear swing arm, tires and shocks though. I couldn't stand it and had to go after one of these shocks. Its worth noteing that while the upper casings are still aluminum they are very hard, much like the XJ's side covers. Polishing on these are very slow and tedious. Hence the fact I only got one finished.
Before Shot


After Shot


L8R - and Merry Christmas guys -Camel

[DGXSER]

One of these days I will learn the technique and or patience to get those results in polishing this stuff. Very impressive!!