The XJ 550R got back on the road in late February. It was a relatively easy project. Since this was intended to be a commuter/beater bike I didn't do anything too drastic yet.

I put the carbs together, got rid of the vacuum assist petcock, put on new tires, flushed the fluids and chased down a few gremlins. It passed emissions on the first try and has not given me any problems in 1500 miles.

The first 800 of those miles were commuting to my office about 20 miles away. The next 700 were on trips over 150 miles.

TUCSON

The first trip was down to Tucson by way of Superior, Winkelman and Oracle. Then I returned by way of I-10 to Eloy and through the reservation to Chandler. The bike had a steady 50mpg down to tucson but had a terrible 30mpg on the way back up. I-10 required that I keep the bike at 75mph or above into a headwind. This kept the bike revved over 7k almost the whole way back to Phoenix. I thought I would get there with no problems, but misjudged the distance and fuel economy and ended up rolling into Chandler on reserve. I didn't let my passenger know until we were getting close. :)

PAYSON

Another trip that this bike has been on was up to Payson. After the Tucson trip went so well (no breakdowns) I thought I would try the mountains. As good as this bike is in foothills, it can't handle mountain grades with 2 riders very well. I kept her up at 8000 rpm to keep up with traffic. This really isn't much of a problem, I just didn't want to repeat the near miss from the Tucson trip related to fuel.

NEXT

There are a couple of issues I want to work on with this bike. First, I don't think I got the hex bolt in the right fork tube torqued properly. There is no torque spec in the manual so I used the Goodentite method, which obviously wasn't Goodentite enough.

Second, the chain seems to be stretching faster than it should. I think a new chain may be in order. In that case, I'll mess with the gear ratios to see if I can get a little bit better response in the lower RPM range.

Third, it's time for an oil change. I used regular old dino motor oil to get her going, but maybe I should experiment with a semi synthetic.

Fourth, the suspension is not suitable for twisties with a pillon. So, I may respring the front and find some aftermarket adjustable shocks for the rear.

Fifth, I want to find a better set of brake pads or swap out the front wheel with a set up that has dual disks. The brakes feel like they are wooden blocks. Using the rear in conjunction with the front will adequately stop the bike, but I want more stopping power in the front. 

As I thought about this problem. I considered a few things.

#1. There are only 4000 miles on this bike, so the starter can't be that messed up.

#2. When I first started the bike it didn't make this sound

#3. The only thing that changed since it first started was that fuel made it's way to the crankcase.

#4. The starter clutch is sitting up high, so contaminated oil won't be lubricating very well up there.

So I changed the oil out with some Castrol 10w30 and sure enough. After the bike ran for about a minute, that terrible whirring sound went away!

As much as I don't like to shop at wal-mart I must say that their 24hr. shopping and wide variety of cheap oil made me very happy that night!

This means I'll have to change out that petcock and not just rebuild the vacuum one.

So, i got the carbs all back together and mounted properly. I got my carb sync tool set up and ready to balance. Then I hear a nasty sound.

wwwwWWWWWHHHHHHIIIIIRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

It sounded like the starter was about to take off and shoot through the roof. The bike would run for a few seconds, then slowly the starter would start turning until it would catch up to the speed of the engine!

Now, I don't know much about starters but I did a little Googleresearch. These bikes are a little tricky in that the starter engages an idler gear which somehow or another engages with a clutch via some roller and pins. I've got no clue right now exactly how it works, but I could only find out that a replacement means that I have to pull the whole engine and split the case!!

No, I'm not interested in opening this engine up. . This was going to be my cheap commuter.

Now, there is one other possibility. I used 20w-50 synthetic oil rather than 10w-40 for the first oil change (because that's what I could find). Also, I know some gasoline flooded the cylinders because when I went to check the oil level it was way over and smelled like a gas can. Considering all of that, I'm hoping that maybe the contaminated 20w-50 might be causing the problem and may be fixed with an oil change and a few squirts of dino oil through the hole for the starter.

If you have any experience with this. . . PLEASE SEND A MESSAGE!!

This is a fairly simple replacement for stock handlebars that recreates the positioning of using clip-ons. Basically, all you have to do is remove the levers and throttle from the stock bars and slip them on to the new bars and tighten the yokes back down.

There are a couple of problems which i need to address before they will be usable and that is that the master cylinder smashes into the back of the turn signal and the clutch line is now way too long. So, it's not exactly a bolt on solution, but I don't expect too much more difficulty.

Here are the pictures as I got started:

Well, there were a ton of little things to take care of on this bike. The first was the leaky petcock. Gasoline ran all over the place when I first got the bike running.

I picked up the petcock rebuild kit from bike bandit for about $25. It was a pretty easy install, but there was one gasket that seals the bottom most cover that has the nipple for the fuel line. I didn't remove it to see exactly what was under it for fear that I might tear the old one and be completely SOL.

The rubber washers that go on the M5 or M6 screws that hold the petcock to the tank were rock hard, but i didn't have any replacements, so I went with an O-ring that was just right to seal the gap between the petcock and the screw.

Here are some hi-res pictures if you are about to do the same project:

Today I roughly put the carburetors together and got them mounted. It was a little tough, so I ended up removing the air filter boots to get everything in place.

With a little gasoline and the flick of a switch and the XJ came to life. It immediately rev'd up to 4k rpm, so I cut the choke. Then started it a few more times using the throttle to keep it between 1.5 and 2k rpm.

There is still quite a bit of work to get it running smooth. First of all, I'll need to get all the gaskets for the petcock and fuel filter replaced so that I don't end up with big puddles of gasoline in the garage again.

So, until next weekend. I think I am done.

So, that luggage rack on the back was bugging me. The first thing I did was yank it off of there. It is now in the stack of random motorcycle parts to be sold or tossed as these projects get finished.

Today this bike got it's first oil and new filter in two decades, new spark plugs with some oil down the cylinders to help the bone dry pistons along, brake fluid in the soon to be replaced rubber hoses and a fresh el cheapo battery from wal-mart.

So, with all of that done I was able to put the bike on the center stand and turn the wheel by hand. The idea here was to slowly get the pistons to move back and forth a little before I hit them with the starter. Then after a little movement I clicked the starter to see if it would even think about going. Luckily, I heard the wonderful sound of the starter motor coming to life. There are no carburetors or fuel, so it wasn't a real shot at starting. I just couldn't resist hitting the button.

No more until it's all together.

The brake caliper moves freely and actually feels quite firm with the fresh fluid. I can see the lines bulge when I pull in the lever. They will certainly not last long. I just want brakes for moving the bike around. If they had been functional last week I probably wouldn't have dropped the bike pulling it off the back of my truck.

Last, I put in about 2.5L of synthetic oil. It will probably lead to a thousand leaks but I'll deal with that when the time comes. Since I wasn't able to run the engine the oil is up past the sight glass. I must remember to top it off after I get it to run the first time.

That's it for now. I need to order fork seals, rear shocks, a 530 140 link chain and carburetor boots before the first test ride. Getting parts is half the trouble!

11/3/2007 - I ran into a few issues regarding title transfer on this bike. After tracking down the original owner and finally getting the title signed I went in to the MVD to get a new title. 

Since it had been so long since the motorcycle had been registered they had to call the records department to look in the archive. Once they found it they had an issue with the VIN. It turns out that in 1981 the government gave several months grace period for compliance to the Japanese manufacturers. This is one of those bikes. So the neck and the frame are stamped with the same 9 digit number and there is a sticker with a 17 digit number. The new title needed to be issued with that new VIN.

Really all it took was an inspection but trying to squeeze it all in to lunch hours during the week stretched out the task.

In any case, the bike is now officially mine and I am ready to get started on it.

Last night when I got home from work I decided to unload the bike from my truck by myself. About half way down the ramp I slipped and the rock hard tires slipped off the side of the ramp and the bike ended up laying on my leg. So, now I feel stupid. :)

9/1/2007- With old bikes, you often run into situations where it was given to somebody as a trade and the title never got sorted out. That is the situation with this bike. It has had three owners, but the title is in the original owners name.

I went to the address on the title and the house was actually bulldozed. A quick run through the white pages found that the original owner lives up in Scottsdale. So I called to see if he knew where his bike was and see if it had ever been stolen or anything. Nope! He knew all about the bike and said he would be happy to meet me to sign it over. So, hopefully this week, I'll get the title sorted out. Then I'll get moving on this new project!