XJ 650: hypoid gear inspection

Early morning garage time while the family sleeps. Inspection reveals minimal wear and everything looks good. 2hrs of elbow grease and it looks new. Bag it, shelf it, one more check off this list.

XJ650: Minimalist Battery Holder

Finally we have some warmer weather (hovering just below freezing) which means I can finally get into the garage again. After an all day family outing, I have a few spare hours this evening to fab up a minimalist battery holder I've been thinking about. 

I already welded up a metal box that I was going to install, but I just wasn't feeling it. I found a leather strap that one of our tenants had left behind in the Rockyford house, and that gave me the idea for this battery holder. The perforated metal I found in a scrap bin while cleaning up my uncle's garage. I think it's going to work and it certainly feels better than what I had previously built.

A few months ago I picked up a MIG welder. It's nice to have a decent welder that isn't flux-core, but I need to do a little TLC to it. It works for now, but certainly not laying down the nicest welds I've done.

XJ 650 update

I have a lot of time off over Christmas, and without much in the way of travel plans, I thought I'd be able to get a whole lot done on my XJ 650. It's sadly been sitting idle for a long while. In the past few weeks I've finished striping it down ad grinding off all unnecessary frame bits. It's reduced as far as it needs to go, and now it's time to start mock-up and fabrication for what I'll be adding and altering. The bummer is that it's -24C (-12F) outside right now which makes for a stinking cold attached unheated garage. Combine that with getting over a nasty flu, and the garage isn't an appealing place to be right now.

So instead I'm doing what work I can inside, and started laying out a design for the emblem I'm going to put on the tank. This is based on a sticker that was on the donor tank I picked up for the bike. It was faded almost to the  point of invisible, but I took a picture of it, manipulated a little on the computer and now starting to trace it out and get it ready for a decal shop.

My goal is to have the bike done for spring, so hopefully this deep freeze will let up a bit so I can get back to welding in the garage. Until then, it's bunker down in the house with a steady stream of good coffee and lounging. 

XJ650 progress

Well, it's slow but still moving forward. At the moment: grinding unnecessary bits from the frame and cleaning the engine. Anyone recommend a really good degreaser that requires little elbow grease?

Also, this post was entirely brought to you via my iPhone. Handy-Dandy.

XJ650 update

I've been able to put a little time into my XJ650 project bike lately and it feels good to see some progress. I've sorted out, updated and modified some of the electrical on the bike. Swapped out switches, relocated various electrical components to cleaned up the aesthetic of the bike and removed a few unnecessary electrical components altogether. The rest of the electrical will have to wait until I re-assemble the bike after paint.

I've got everything removed from the engine and it's ready for removal. I'll give it a good clean and polish before re-installing, but won't be touching the engine other than that. It's pretty strong, and I'm not looking to make a performance bike, just a better looking one.

Next step with be a lot of cutting on the frame. I'm removing the tail section, and then let loose on it with an angle grinder to rid all the ugly brackets, tabs and such that I no longer need. It'll be a lot cleaner looking when it's all done.

Wrenching on a motorcycle is very much like wrenching on a bicycle. It's almost a form of therapy when you don't feel like you even need therapy.