83 Yamaha XJ900 - Kit
 

I used to have an XJ900 in UK before I moved to the USA, in fact I had to sell it before I moved. I always missed it as it was a fantastic bike, but I just couldn't find them over here.
I discovered the government blocked anything over 750cc to try and bolster the Harley industry, but 1,000 of these bikes were shipped over. Mine is number 71 :) Some guy had used it for racing, so it was set up as a racing bike. Then moved it on and the next guy took it all apart and then decided it was too much trouble to finish and put it up for sale. :tup:
I risked divorce and nabbed it hehe.. No contest.

Trailered it home and showed my buddy.. he thought I was insane. :crazy:

But I saw the potential. Sorry if the pics are too big. Not sure how this will come out.

http://whitham.us/xj900/005.JPG

I guess they are a little on the "big" side. I can't change them from work, but I'll make smaller when I get home.

This is how all the engine parts came... in separate boxes.

http://whitham.us/xj900/007.JPG

I threw it together just to see what I had and what I needed.. Rear setts had to go, it had racing tires, racing shocks, no main stand needed back light assembly, controls and sensors had been bypassed. Not too bad really I picked up a lot of this from US eBay, but had to get a lot from UK because of the scarcity of parts here.

Here is me in England on one of my last rides on my original :)

http://whitham.us/xj900/003.JPG

Here is the assembled bike - nothing really bolted on or functional, just that I wanted to look at what it would look like.

http://whitham.us/xj900/0120.JPG

Great potential!! And after a couple of months and a steep learning curve, I got the engine to fire on my 2nd try. Mainly because the choke wasn't on 1st time. It sounded rough but was a good sign that the beast had life :D

I sprayed it up to the British spec and added the trim. I'm really pleased how it came out. I got about 750 miles on it now.

http://whitham.us/xj900/Cap1.JPG

http://whitham.us/xj900/Cap2.JPG


Unfortunately a clutch stud snapped and destroyed all the clutch side, metal everywhere. I flushed all the bit's out and replaced everything and it's back on the road but as the back wheel locked up I dropped it and still have some cosmetic work to do. I love this thing. It is very quick for a 33 year old bike.
Thanks for getting this far :)

Jeff

Very cool! Thanks for sharing the build with us. Did you spray it yourself?

Yes I did, Thanks :)
Black Granite Metallic.
Standard clear coat on everything but Eastwood 2part epoxy (in a can) on the tank. I found better fuel resistance with that.

:tup:

Nice. You must know what your doing to be able to turn that box of pieces back into an engine.


/

That was my next question. Thanks.

You did a good job. :)

When you have time, please do reduce the size of the photographs. ;)

OK Spud all set.. refresh if still showing huge. Sorry about that. :)

Thank you. :) The thread is now much easier to read, so I read it all again. ;) You did a very nice job. :tup:

Much better. Thanks!