Western Massachusetts new guy

[John322]

Hi my name is John.  I'm from the Springfield area of Massachusetts.  I've been looking to buy an FJ for a while now.  I've spent some time looking around the site and reading up on maintenance and typically safety mods.  Recently I found an FJ for sale around me for $1900.  It's listed as an 87 FJ1200.  Taking a quick look at the pictures is there anything you guys can point out that I should mention?  I noticed the paint scheme for the fairing doesn't match the rest.  Do you all think it would be worth the $1900 or should I try to talk him down and maybe hold onto my money if he is firm on the price?

Also he mentioned there are some dents in the tank which you can see in the pictures.  Thanks for any advice you guys can provide.  Hopefully I'll be riding my own FJ soon!

[aviationfred]

Welcome to the group. 

The photos look like the FJ is in fairly good shape. The one thing that glaringly sticks out to me is the missing paint/corrosion at the Clutch slave cylinder. Indication that the Clutch slave cylinder leaks. A must fix for smooth clutch action and beware of brake fluid seeping from the clutch slave onto the belling cowling and eating away the ABS plastic.

The main fairing paint scheme is from an 86' while the rest of the body work is painted as an 87'.

Fred

[Joe Sull]

I don't know much about price. I traded a expensive rifle for my FJ. It was worth 2k used. I know one thing though, Thats a lot of motorcycle for $1900. I've owned a couple of big jap screamers in the 80's. New Suzuki's from a friend/ dealer. If I had known that the FJ was out there, he would have lost my business. Theres some thing about these bikes. I guess maybe an elegance. These guys know a lot more about FJ bikes than I do so I'll step aside.

[FJmonkey]

The clutch slave is easy to fix, the plastic in the wrong color suggests a crash or damage, but the 86' plastic is the same as the 87' so the colors can be fixed. In 10 more years, the OEM plastic might be worth that much. But fiberglass from over seas might be the ticket.... Find an FJ owner near you to help diagnose and price the old girl...

[movenon]

For me the price is a bit high.  Be prepared to spend a few $$$ to fix her up. Chain 150.00 , sprockets 70.00, clutch slave $$, tires $$$?, plus how is second gear ?  I see the photo with the tach idling high and no fuel reading in the cluster ?  Very unusual to find an older FJ that doesn't need carb's cleaned and tuned up. When was the last time the swing arm bearing were serviced ? Head bearings? Valves adjusted ?  Just giving you things to think about.  Around here that bike would be around 1000 to 1200.00 tops.  Good advice to locate someone local that knows FJ's.
George

[John322]

Hello again,

Thanks for the welcome and all of the advice.  I did end up purchasing this FJ.  I was able to talk the seller down to $1500 and I'm pretty happy with what I have so far.  The clutch cylinder definitely needs a rebuild.  We were able to get it to bleed and pump up enough to check that the clutch works but it does leak.  Chain and sprockets look good.  Unfortunately the left mirror was broken off at some point.

So at this point I'm starting to go through and do general maintenance to get the bike in good riding shape.  So far I'm looking at the following:

Spin on oil filter conversion
Oil filter/oil
Clutch slave rebuild kit
Spark plugs
RPM dual pod filters
Finding welder to fix left mirror or purchasing one somewhere

Anything obvious I'm missing or other recommendations?  Thanks again for all the help.  Can't wait to get this thing on the road!

[movenon]

Congratulations! Glad you got the price down.  Sounds like you are on the right track.  Do some reading on mirrors..  I wouldn't wast time with a stock mirror. They don't work very well.  All you can see is the ends of your elbows.
George

[FJmonkey]

Finding welder to fix left mirror or purchasing one somewhere

Don't pay to fix it, CBR mirrors are better on my 86. You need to keep your FJ mirror bases and swap the stems over. Then place a wedge (Phillips hex bit) to get the angle proper. If you need more info I will search for my original post...

[Pat Conlon]

Yep, listen to them,  oem Yamaha mirrors suck. My '84's sucked. My '92's sucked.

I wonder what they were thinking? I mean, such a well engineered motorcycle with mirrors that look at your shoulders....wtf?

And not just on one model FJ....all models from '84 thru '93 have the same issue.

Perhaps in The FJ's home country, folks are more diminutive in stature....?

[Dan Filetti]

Perhaps in The FJ's home country, folks are more diminutive in stature....?

From whee I sit, that idea used to be more true than it is today.  I'm 5'11" (average height) that is to say, while I've never considered myself short, nor am I particularly tall. I took a trip to China/ Japan/ Singapore last year and was fully expecting (looking forward to -truth be told) to be a a giant among men.  I was a bit disappointed. six weeks traveling to nine cities in China, two in Japan, and one on Singapore showed me that Asian people are not appreciably shorter than those in the US, maybe a bit, but certainly did not find myself feeling taller than most, as I had expected.  Further, the frequency with which I ran into folks that were appreciably taller than me was similar to that in the US.

I theorize that nutrition/ socioeconomic factors are responsible for multi-generational-scale, stunted growth.  given the incredible economic growth in Asia, I believe this has largely been eradicated.  Interestingly, western China, in the Sichuan Province, had the shortest people of all the places I went, it also happened the poorest.

Now, to explore your point a bit Pat, factoring in that the FJ was designed in 80's, I'd be willing to bet that 30 years ago there WAS a significant height difference between US and, in this case, Japanese folks.

Food for thought.

Dan 



   

[John322]

I did some reading on mirrors and the CBR mirrors look like they will work out well.  Is this the post you were referring to FJmonkey:

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=1562.msg34868#msg34868

The install seems pretty straight forward so now the only thing I'm left with is where to get the mirrors.  I saw this site listed (http://www.zillion8.com/motorcycle-mirror/honda-motorcycle-mirror/black-honda-cbr1000rr-mirror-2005-2006) and I believe one of the members here said these mirrors are decent quality.  Is there any other place where you guys are picking these up?  I saw some discussion that OEM Honda mirrors are better but looking online it seemed like they would be $40+ each.  Given these were only $40 for the set they seem to be a more attractive deal.

Last night I was pulling off the tank (noticed a bit of fuel gathering under the carbs) and when I pulled the line that goes to the carbs the petcock started pouring out fuel.  In my quick search I wasn't able to find a rebuild kit so it looks like I have to pick up a new one from RPM.  Are there any other options besides the manual petcock?

Thanks again for everyones time and help.

[Joe Sull]

Your petcock might be set to "prime".

You are now a superbike operator. It's very cool, you can be going a 40 and in the time it takes for you to say "I wanna go 70", your doing 80.
It's like telepathy

[FJmonkey]

Your petcock might be set to "prime".

The 86/87 petcock has no settings. The 84/85 has On and Prime. When my petcock failed I switched over the 84/85. It costs less, but you lose the electricky reserve function. I have only used it once in the 16 years of riding my FJ. I am religious with knowing how many miles I have on the tank. And when I has having fuel delivery issues the "Prime" function really saved my ass. Every time my tank vapor locked I pulled over, pulled the set and side panel, set to prime. Wait a few minutes and the bowls are full and off I went.

[FJmonkey]

Is this the post you were referring to FJmonkey:

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=1562.msg34868#msg34868

Yes, I love it when the FNG uses the search function. Awesome  So far you are good fit here...

[Joe Sull]

There might be something causing the diaphragm valve not to close.

While were on petcocks, what would it take to set this petcock up.

http://www.rpmracingca.com/proddetail.asp?prod=M%2FC%3A89-93petcock&cat=34