head job?

[WSL91]

Yes, and the purpose was noise reduction. The idea was to prevent the fins from acting as 'sounding boards' (magnifying engine noise) and had a small but measurable effect on how noisy they were. But 30+ years down the road the rubber is pretty much rock hard and not so effective, so if they're missing it won't make much diffence....

My 81 Virago had them too. I remember pulling them out and painting the jugs black in back in 82. I think they are still in a parts box somewhere and the bike is long gone.

[brownford]

i have had my xj 1100 for about 13 days i have done a few things to her oil changes and stuff. the po i think was trying to use her as a dirtbike as she is mud covered.

Did you buy the XJ that was on craigslist in Indiana? The pic showed it on a dirt road and it looked pretty dirty.

[XJfan1]

Did you buy the XJ that was on craigslist in Indiana? The pic showed it on a dirt road and it looked pretty dirty.

I'm not sure the guy that owned it contacted me he wanted the quad I had for sale. He lived in hicksville ohio. I'm not sure if he had it listed or not. Its a nice bike except for a large tank dent. He said someone pushed it over while it was in the parking lot where it worked. The dent is on the kickstand side so who knows.

[XJfan1]

just a little update. i changed the clutch springs and fixed my problem. no more slip. the factory spring were between 1/16 and a 1/8 shorter than the new ones. thanks for the info fellas

[ViperRon]

Before you go threw buying new springs for the clutch you may want to take out and check your plates in the clutch. My bike had set for 10 years and the oil had drained off everything. At first when I put it back together everything worked well then I started having clutch issues. I found there was corrosion on the plates and build up. All I needed to do was lightly clean the disks soak them in clean oil and clean the surface corrosion off the plates. My slip and erratic clutch behavior is gone now. If you search the repairs and maintenace there are great write ups on dissasembly and cleanup as well as some other tips.

[trbig]

Before you go threw buying new springs for the clutch you may want to take out and check your plates in the clutch. My bike had set for 10 years and the oil had drained off everything. At first when I put it back together everything worked well then I started having clutch issues. I found there was corrosion on the plates and build up. All I needed to do was lightly clean the disks soak them in clean oil and clean the surface corrosion off the plates. My slip and erratic clutch behavior is gone now. If you search the repairs and maintenace there are great write ups on dissasembly and cleanup as well as some other tips.

If someone is going into a clutch for WHATEVER reason that has 30+ year old clutch springs in it, go ahead and do whatever you were planning on doing, but spend the measley $25 to help keep you from having to go right back in there. Your option is "Maybe this will work, or maybe I'll have to turn around and go right back in there and put springs on anyway". I'll GLADLY give $25 to guarantee I won't have to be back in there for a long time. You can find them cheaper than that, but I've learned that you get what you pay for with those springs.