James306 Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 So it's finally time to get my project thread live! After two months of searching for a suitable sub £300 steed I managed to find this XJ600S that has spent about 16 years sat in someone's shed awaiting a restoration! After a bit of bartering and explaining the use of the bike I managed to get it for £275, leaving me £25 to get it ready for the challenge! The new higher budget is definitely going to make this more easily achievable, however I'm going to try my hardest to keep the budget as low as possible in the spirit of the challenge! As she was delivered to me, with a bag of miscellaneous odds and sods! Already mostly held together with cable ties, hopes and dreams! Into the (Currently messy) garage with her for a closer inspection! Most of the fastenings are missing from the fairings and she has no tank mounts, so I will be digging around in my box of old bolts to try and get that all secured again. All the paint has been removed from the tank and an attempt made to repair a dent, this will mostly be staying exactly how it is, although I'll probably wax it to stop it getting too much more orange! The fairing had a fair old crack in it, but 10 minutes with a drill and a few cable ties has fixed that! After this I decided to try and see if I can fire her into life, oil questionable but present, battery robbed from one of my other bikes and half a liter of fuel in a fuel bottle and off we go! Put a squirt of WD40 in each bore and turned her over without the plugs, nothing too scary blew out, then plugs back in and managed to fire her into life! Idled on 3/4 cylinders on idle and after a good, looooong and choke heavy warming through session, just about fired on 4 when rev'd up above 5000rpm. Carbs will be coming off for a full strip/clean in the ultrasonic bath. She's a lot tattier with her clothes off! An attempt to test the brakes had the rear wheel locked up, so rear caliper had to be removed to get her freed up, brakes will certainly need some attention! Lovely bit of 16y/o + gritty brake fluid! With a bit of heat, pen oil and a lot of patience I managed to free off the slide pins and both bleed nipples without breaking anything! That's all I managed to get done in the few days before I had to go back to work, the story shall continue start of January! Overall she's not a bad starting point, just waiting for the hidden surprised to jump out and bite me on the arse! I mean where would be the fun in something being a simple fix?! Looking forward to seeing others projects/progress and also the journey to the start line at Lands End and onwards with you all! 😁 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toosmooth Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 Nice start! Looks like exactly the kind of "abused old crap" with "caring new owner potential" that £300 should buy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbolt Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 Great stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastfreddybikes Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 Loving the Frankenstein cross stitch on the fairing. Visible lovingly laced cable ties rule. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkati Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 Excellent project! This is the kind of thing we like to see - half the challenge is getting these old shitters going again. Pretty please with sugar on top - leave the tank as it is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted December 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 3 hours ago, hawkati said: Excellent project! This is the kind of thing we like to see - half the challenge is getting these old shitters going again. Pretty please with sugar on top - leave the tank as it is? 7 hours ago, James306 said: All the paint has been removed from the tank and an attempt made to repair a dent, this will mostly be staying exactly how it is, although I'll probably wax it to stop it getting too much more orange! Oh it will be 😈 Just need to mount the damn thing and get a filler cap in it to keep the MOT tester happy 🙄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkati Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 Oh - another thing. You've got bt35 tyres on it. They were last made in 1873 and are fucking awful. I'll see what sizes that bike has and what's good thar fits.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbolt Posted December 22, 2021 Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 1 minute ago, hawkati said: Oh - another thing. You've got bt35 tyres on it. They were last made in 1873 and are fucking awful. I'll see what sizes that bike has and what's good thar fits.... Quiet. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted December 22, 2021 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2021 40 minutes ago, hawkati said: Oh - another thing. You've got bt35 tyres on it. They were last made in 1873 and are fucking awful. I'll see what sizes that bike has and what's good thar fits.... TBH the tyres seems to have held up pretty well considering how long the bike has supposedly been sat, although I don't see the point in risking not putting some fresh rubber on given that these are probably at least 16 years old! She currently has 110/80-17 and 130/70-18 on it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted December 23, 2021 Report Share Posted December 23, 2021 That looks nice and lethal, good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toosmooth Posted December 23, 2021 Report Share Posted December 23, 2021 19 hours ago, James306 said: TBH the tyres seems to have held up pretty well considering how long the bike has supposedly been sat, although I don't see the point in risking not putting some fresh rubber on given that these are probably at least 16 years old! She currently has 110/80-17 and 130/70-18 on it! Check the date codes on the sidewall! If they're really old, you might even see a triangle and need this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Lindsay Posted December 24, 2021 Report Share Posted December 24, 2021 On 12/22/2021 at 1:53 PM, James306 said: So it's finally time to get my project thread live! After two months of searching for a suitable sub £300 steed I managed to find this XJ600S that has spent about 16 years sat in someone's shed awaiting a restoration! After a bit of bartering and explaining the use of the bike I managed to get it for £275, leaving me £25 to get it ready for the challenge! The new higher budget is definitely going to make this more easily achievable, however I'm going to try my hardest to keep the budget as low as possible in the spirit of the challenge! As she was delivered to me, with a bag of miscellaneous odds and sods! Already mostly held together with cable ties, hopes and dreams! Into the (Currently messy) garage with her for a closer inspection! Most of the fastenings are missing from the fairings and she has no tank mounts, so I will be digging around in my box of old bolts to try and get that all secured again. All the paint has been removed from the tank and an attempt made to repair a dent, this will mostly be staying exactly how it is, although I'll probably wax it to stop it getting too much more orange! The fairing had a fair old crack in it, but 10 minutes with a drill and a few cable ties has fixed that! After this I decided to try and see if I can fire her into life, oil questionable but present, battery robbed from one of my other bikes and half a liter of fuel in a fuel bottle and off we go! Put a squirt of WD40 in each bore and turned her over without the plugs, nothing too scary blew out, then plugs back in and managed to fire her into life! Idled on 3/4 cylinders on idle and after a good, looooong and choke heavy warming through session, just about fired on 4 when rev'd up above 5000rpm. Carbs will be coming off for a full strip/clean in the ultrasonic bath. She's a lot tattier with her clothes off! An attempt to test the brakes had the rear wheel locked up, so rear caliper had to be removed to get her freed up, brakes will certainly need some attention! Lovely bit of 16y/o + gritty brake fluid! With a bit of heat, pen oil and a lot of patience I managed to free off the slide pins and both bleed nipples without breaking anything! That's all I managed to get done in the few days before I had to go back to work, the story shall continue start of January! Overall she's not a bad starting point, just waiting for the hidden surprised to jump out and bite me on the arse! I mean where would be the fun in something being a simple fix?! Looking forward to seeing others projects/progress and also the journey to the start line at Lands End and onwards with you all! 😁 What I used last ldu, ran great only issue I found was a low screen so a lot of wind blast, vibes through the foot pegs, not something you notice on normal riding and couldn't quite hit 3 figures. I've got something even slower for the next one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted January 8, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2022 Back in the UK now and ready to start getting the old girl ready! On 12/23/2021 at 7:27 PM, toosmooth said: Check the date codes on the sidewall! If they're really old, you might even see a triangle and need this... Couldn't resist having a look into this! Rear - 29th Week of 97 Front - Front 50th week of 96 It was back when these were still made in Japan! So being 24 and 25 years old, it's probably time to treat her to a new pair of shoes! 🤣 Although I must say, they've held up far better than I'd have thought they would've! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkati Posted January 8, 2022 Report Share Posted January 8, 2022 Jaysus! Gettem changed. BT46 or Avon roadriders... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted January 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2022 (edited) Bit of a delayed update! Unfortunately various other jobs/vehicles, dad duties and a bout of Covid wiped the entire family out and got in the way! So first I wanted to get her fired up and running on all four cylinders and make sure there were no serious issues waiting for me on the other side, so the carbs came off for a strip down and clean! Pretty grubby but not too bad on the exterior Good bit of Varnish and gunk in the float bowls, but not too much in the way of blocked jets etc. Into the ultrasonic bath and left for half hour to do it's thing! This process took quite a while as I did it across a few evenings as I wanted to separate all the bits to keep it where it belongs. Apparently the baby doesn't approve of my air compressor cutting in and out in the evenings once she's been put down for the night... In hindsight I should have just stripped the smaller bits and thrown the entire carb bank into the cleaner in one go! Only issue I really found was a split in one of the gaskets on #2, this later proved to be an issue. I was tempted to use a small dab of RTV to fill the gap in the spirit of things, however I didn't want to find it fails half way ip the country and have to ride it running like a sack of sh1t! One cleaned set of carbs ready to re-fit to the bike and test to see where I stood! Unfortunately this left me only running on two cylinders, #1 & 2 were both giving me grief and being a tad temperamental. I decided to look into getting a seal kit to overhaul the carb, however in my hunt to find the cheapest kit I dare buy, I managed to find a complete carb from a running bike for less than a seal kit, so thought what the hell! (It also came with some rubber boots that were marginally better nick than mine, another £20 I didn't want to spend) 3 days later I unboxed the carbs, threw them on, primed the bowls and turned her over... Fired on two, then three... then after a bit of fiddling and warming up, she was running on all four, sort of! 16 years of shite and fogging oil burning out the exhaust had be a tad concerned initially, bit once she was up to temperature she stopped smoking and sat quite happily idling at 1200rpm 😄 Tyres and Brake pads have been ordered and I spent a bit of time making a shopping list to get her ready for the MOT. I will be getting my arse into gear with all the little bits and pieces that need to sort prior to that and posting some more frequent updates! Edited January 28, 2022 by James306 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaycee Posted January 28, 2022 Report Share Posted January 28, 2022 6 hours ago, James306 said: Bit of a delayed update! Unfortunately various other jobs/vehicles, dad duties and a bout of Covid wiped the entire family out and got in the way! So first I wanted to get her fired up and running on all four cylinders and make sure there were no serious issues waiting for me on the other side, so the carbs came off for a strip down and clean! Pretty grubby but not too bad on the exterior Good bit of Varnish and gunk in the float bowls, but not too much in the way of blocked jets etc. Into the ultrasonic bath and left for half hour to do it's thing! This process took quite a while as I did it across a few evenings as I wanted to separate all the bits to keep it where it belongs. Apparently the baby doesn't approve of my air compressor cutting in and out in the evenings once she's been put down for the night... In hindsight I should have just stripped the smaller bits and thrown the entire carb bank into the cleaner in one go! Only issue I really found was a split in one of the gaskets on #2, this later proved to be an issue. I was tempted to use a small dab of RTV to fill the gap in the spirit of things, however I didn't want to find it fails half way ip the country and have to ride it running like a sack of sh1t! One cleaned set of carbs ready to re-fit to the bike and test to see where I stood! Unfortunately this left me only running on two cylinders, #1 & 2 were both giving me grief and being a tad temperamental. I decided to look into getting a seal kit to overhaul the carb, however in my hunt to find the cheapest kit I dare buy, I managed to find a complete carb from a running bike for less than a seal kit, so thought what the hell! (It also came with some rubber boots that were marginally better nick than mine, another £20 I didn't want to spend) 3 days later I unboxed the carbs, threw them on, primed the bowls and turned her over... Fired on two, then three... then after a bit of fiddling and warming up, she was running on all four, sort of! 16 years of shite and fogging oil burning out the exhaust had be a tad concerned initially, bit once she was up to temperature she stopped smoking and sat quite happily idling at 1200rpm 😄 Tyres and Brake pads have been ordered and I spent a bit of time making a shopping list to get her ready for the MOT. I will be getting my arse into gear with all the little bits and pieces that need to sort prior to that and posting some more frequent updates! The salvage operation is coming along nicely. Carb rebuilds are over-rated. What I did was buy a rebuild kit, run the bike to the end of the block and back, then think, "Nah! It'll be fine" and left it. The bike then proceeded to lurch, surge, and run-on for the entire LDD😄. I see an original Fazer 600, epic bike 👍 I'm curious as to what lurks under the red cover. An estate of some type? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretch Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 On 1/28/2022 at 2:39 AM, jaycee said: The salvage operation is coming along nicely. Carb rebuilds are over-rated. What I did was buy a rebuild kit, run the bike to the end of the block and back, then think, "Nah! It'll be fine" and left it. The bike then proceeded to lurch, surge, and run-on for the entire LDD😄. I see an original Fazer 600, epic bike 👍 I'm curious as to what lurks under the red cover. An estate of some type? I'm curious too! Let us know Mr.!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted February 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2022 So I'm a fair bit later than I'd intended to be with an update, but I've been busy helping a friend get some work done on his yank tank! I've been chipping away at some jobs in the evenings slowly but surely. Addressing the lighting that doesn't work, still a work in progress! Trying to get my clutch cable smooth enough that I'm not expecting it to snap mid way up the country Removing all the rust from all the threads where the fairings will be going back on Removing all the surplus bits! Painting the bits of the tank that you can't see with some old paint, to prevent it rusting out Also, now I know the engine isn't a dead end, ordered some bits to get it MOT ready! And for those wondering what's lurking under that cover...... It's my 205 1.9 gti, the project I would have been working on if LDU hadn't come up! It's slowly getting stripped ready for a full respray Hopefully there will be more updates in the next week! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkati Posted February 11, 2022 Report Share Posted February 11, 2022 Excellent work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted March 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2022 It's about time I did an update, although it's not as much as I'd hoped to have achieved by now! After a four days turning into 7 working on my friends Chevelle I have to spend the following week catching up on some serious dad time and start doing some decorating... So, while working on the car one of my neighbours came by and got to asking how the bike was going, asked what still needed doing and kindly donated me some bulbs from his garage to get the dash illuminated once again! A massive £5 saving and another job ticked off! I then set about digging through my boxes of bolts and after a bit of hacksaw and file time, had the petrol cap refitted! Now the top of the tank is ready, time to get the underside protected from any potential rust issues where you can't see. So after wrapping it up like an averagely packed Ebay item, I've started coating it in whatever black hammerite my mate left me after spraying over his freshly welded up patches! Between coats, I started cleaning up the front calliper, which seems in decent enough condition, if a little grubby! More to follow when I can get back in the garage to continue, between catching up on all the WhatsApp groups messages!! Still a LOT to get done before she's ready!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkati Posted March 2, 2022 Report Share Posted March 2, 2022 Excellent work. Gutted I'm not allowed to do it this year but hoping to catch you at a a scottish pitstop- get your orders in early for irn bru! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted March 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2022 25 minutes ago, hawkati said: Excellent work. Gutted I'm not allowed to do it this year but hoping to catch you at a a scottish pitstop- get your orders in early for irn bru! All over that! Can't beat a bit of Irn Bru!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkati Posted March 2, 2022 Report Share Posted March 2, 2022 32 minutes ago, James306 said: All over that! Can't beat a bit of Irn Bru!! One crate coming up for you then!😈 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leesey Posted March 2, 2022 Report Share Posted March 2, 2022 6 hours ago, hawkati said: Excellent work. Gutted I'm not allowed to do it this year but hoping to catch you at a a scottish pitstop- get your orders in early for irn bru! Irn Bru is the drink of champions. Sounds awesome 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srad34 Posted March 2, 2022 Report Share Posted March 2, 2022 Top work, perfect shitter for the LDU 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted March 7, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2022 Time for another update! So no photos for the process, but I put the wheels on my toilet seat stand of doom and went at the tyres with my bead breaker and big mofo tyre lever! Unfortunately the 25 year effect on the tyres seems to be the beads were extremely stiff, after trying to drag my work bench across the workshop a bit and starting to mar the paint on the rim (Because this build is clearly all about aesthetic perfection ) I decided to just take the wheels down the road and pay £20 for someone else to stick the new ones on, including new valves which were in very poor condition! Wheels back on, complete with Battleaxe BT46's following Hawkati's recommendation! Next I decided to address the rear indicators as sorting them is the only thing stopping me getting the rear fairing on. The right indicator didn't work, and the rubbers were perished where the encapsulated screw comes out, time to buts out the LDU tool kit! Cable break found, along with a fair amount of corrosion... Bit of old speaker wire and some solder and that's the cables replaced, wire brush on a drill cleaned out all the shite inside the lamp holder. Cable ties.... Tape! As good as... errr, well. Attached! I'm not convinced they're going to make it to Lands End, but if I can avoid spending £20 on a new pair I will! I should note, as the budget has now doubled to £600 my intention is to try my hardest to stick to the original £300 budget (will be over if I can't scrounge a battery soon) and then the difference between my total cost and the new budget, I will be putting back into my fundraiser pot! This gives me good incentive to not just go out and buy flashy new things (Like indicators) just because I can! On that note, if anyone has any old indicators knocking about from an LED upgrade they'd like to donate to the cause While the brakes are off, I set about cleaning them up! Front brake was thick with grease and grime! Bit of time with some brake cleaner and a tooth brush and they're grease free! Took a while, but cleaned all the grime off the pistons without having to pop them out! One of the slide pins was a tad rough thanks to a perished seal, Hopefully this will suffice, new seal ordered at an extortionate cost of £2.40 or so! Fluid resivoir was pretty crusty... Resorted to cutting up bits of this bad boy to scrape some stubborn bits out! Good as new will do Still LOADS more to get done! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mac Posted March 7, 2022 Report Share Posted March 7, 2022 @James306 PM me your address and i'll send you some indicators. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkati Posted March 7, 2022 Report Share Posted March 7, 2022 @James306- excellent work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James306 Posted March 7, 2022 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2022 3 hours ago, Tom Mac said: @James306 PM me your address and i'll send you some indicators. You sir, are a legend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mac Posted March 7, 2022 Report Share Posted March 7, 2022 13 minutes ago, James306 said: You sir, are a legend! I'd wait to see what arrives in the post before making statements like that 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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