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?
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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:
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Nice. You must know what your doing to be able to turn that box of pieces back into an engine.
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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. :)
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Thank you. :) The thread is now much easier to read, so I read it all again. ;) You did a very nice job. :tup:
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Much better. Thanks!
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