I traveled 895 miles one way. For an fj1100 with 7000 miles on it. It was free though. Has electrical problems.

My FJ1100 runs on Pirelli Sport Demons.  Bias ply, matched, good grip; I really like them.

It's not a bad idea to check valve clearances. Loose valves, no problem, but look for the tight valves.

 While you have the valve cover off, replace the grommets that seal the valve cover bolts.



http://www.rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=2GH-1111G-00-00&cat=39

Those little fuckers always seem to dry out and leak. Be very careful in torquing on those valve cover bolts. They have a stepped shoulder, so if you over tighten them you will break them off.

Cheers

Thanks for the advice! If it's not a concern maybe I'll wait until this winter to take on that effort.

Checking the valve clearances is an easy job on the FJ.

Once you've got the petrol tank off (or turned around on the rear subframe) you can take the rocker cover off easily (and take the spark plugs out) and following the instructions in the manual for ensuring the appropriate TDC's (rotate the crank to line up the timing marks) you can check (and record) the actual clearances with a set of feeler gauges.

Putting in different shims to correct any out of tolerance valve clearances that you find, can be a difficult task for someone not experienced/confident in working on bike engines and you'll need the little adjusting tool to remove the old shims and put the new ones in.

The thing is, my FJ has only ever had clearances that I felt I needed to change/rectify by being too tight. I've not found any yet where the clearances were too large.

With these shim valve clearance adjusted engines, since people say "a ticky valve is a happy valve" - and then again, FJ engines are naturally a little tickier than modern liquid cooled engines.

as usual thanks Pat. This was driving me crazy, I just wanted to make sure I didn't have an oil issue. I know I didn't have a leak and there is no way the bike could burn that much oil that quickly. I'll just keep an eye on the oil level and gradually top it off to the top line...just really weird to me that it was at the top line (cold) when I drained it, I filled it with cold oil and let it idle for a few mins and then half the oil in the sight glass is gone which I would estimate to be worth about half a quart of oil or so. Only thing I could think of is maybe when draining the pan it pulls some oil from the oil cooler lines which then gets pumped backed into the oil cooler lines upon start up causing the oil level to be lower?

Is checking valve shim clearance a task a regular person (me) can do while the engine is in the bike or does it need to be done by somebody with some decent knowledge/experience and does engine need to come out? I hear a slight tap from the right intake area under the valve cover that I assume may be a valve or something...it's faint but there. There is 20,000 miles on the bike and I don't know the history if valves were ever serviced before. Am I at risk to keep riding the bike this season if I take it easy for another 500 miles or so? Anyone know of any shops in the New Jersey area that work on FJ's / Legends if it's not a task I feel confident in taking on?

Well I bit the bullet, it is not like we really have any options at this point in time.

(Side note: I really DNGAF if someone got a better deal. Dennis Kirk used to mail us kids these big thick catalogs, "dream books", way back in the last century. Now I give them all the business I can, within reason. If they're a little higher, I think about it for a moment, and realize, that it is probably legal in their state as well.)

Quote from: jimfj1314 on June 12, 2025, 08:46:33 PMi'm in south bend indiana. i can ship for around $50 i think.
thanks,

jim

I'll take it if no one else bought it - I would like to see a picture of inside the collector though

Quote from: Bozo on June 14, 2025, 07:36:09 PMAgain, thanks for clearing this up, we don't have vacuum advance but we do have a sidestand kill switch by law.

Vacuum advance on the early models and NO side stand switches on the '84 or '85 1100's in Australia John.

No affiliation, just popped up on Craigslist. 
https://jxn.craigslist.org/mcy/d/parma-1986-yamaha-fj1200/7858351073.html
Safety out of Dan's range, but not by much.