Just bought an 87.......

[FJWizard]

.....with 3,850 original miles.  First post here, look forward to contribute.

Bike is bone stock and literally as new with the exception of various hardened/cracked rubber parts, original dry rotted tires (with a mfg date code 426 - October 1986), cracked brake/clutch lines, gunked carbs, light rust in the tank, etc.  It's been under a tarp in the back of a garage, and unridden since 1995 when the original owner died.  I had a 1987 FJ-1200 while in College back in the late 80's and sold it because I needed the money......loved that bike.  I have 4 other motorcycles and saw this bike and......well I am a sucker for "barn finds" and it came home with me much to the wife's chagrin. I pulled the plugs and looked in the cylinders with a fiber optic camera and they are rust free with some sort of red colored fogging oil. Cylinders look to be in perfect condition and a compression test was right at 150 PSI on all of them. The oil I drained out was clean......looks like the original owner must have prepped it for storage and then something happened during the winter.  I cleaned and soaked the gas tank in 5-gallons of Evapo-Rust (@$20/gallon) for 4 days and the inside now looks new. Good stuff and I put it right back in the jugs for re-use.  Purchased a crapload of odds and ends from Randy at RPM, eBay, and the local Yamaha dealer.

It's been a nice project thus far "restoring" it to showroom new condition.....a lot of little odds and end needed replaced due to age.  I had forgotten how easy FJ's are to work on......unlike my ZX-14R. It's awesome that there are vendors like RPM that specialize in FJ-1200's.  Randy is a helpful guy with lightning fast shipping.  I will post pics when I get it on the road in the next couple of weeks.....just in time for end-of-season storage here in the midwest.

I'm still waiting on a couple of misc parts, but, so far:

Parts:

New Avon ST radials, installed and balanced myself
EBC HH brake pads front and rear (saved original Sumitomo pads)
Cross-drilled stainless rotors front and rear (saved originals)
Stainless front brake (3-line), rear brake, clutch lines (original lines were toast)
Barnett Coil spring clutch conversion (stock clutch plates look new)
FJR Clutch and Brake master cylinders
Progressive fork springs
New sprockets (original 530 chain still looks new)
RPM Oil Cooler kit
RPM Fork Brace
Various seals, gaskets, o rings, etc from RPM
Uni-Pod Foam Filters
Dyno-Jet Kit, stage-3 configuration
Digital TCI/Pickup/Rotor from 1992 FJ (original analog vaccum TCI had a leak)
Accel Super-Coils/wires (3-ohm)
NGK Iridium plugs .050 gap
99-07 Hayabusa Yoshimura RS-3 slip ons with custom fabbed, TIG welded stainless head pipes, stock header pipes/collector box (saved mint condition, no-rust factory mufflers)
Stainless allen bolts on everything I could find
New clutch slave cylinder
HID D2R Headlight bulb with machined H4 adapter....nice sharp low beam cut-off, but no high beam (I don't ride much at night)
BikeMaster ZX mirrors (original mirrors saved)

Labor (my own):

Checked valve clearance (2 shims)
Rebuilt carbs
Synced carbs
Cleaned fuel tank with Evapo-Rust
Cleaned, cleaned, scrubbed everything
Cleaned/polished engine cases/wheels/suspension with compound and a toothbrush
Bled lines, new DOT4 fluid
Repacked wheel bearings (bearings good) with synthetic grease (you should have seen the original grease after 20 years of sitting)
New wheel axle seals
Change fork oil
Rear shock seems fine with spring pre-load set on 4
Powder coat metallic silver - cam cover and carb caps
Powder coat gloss black - clip-ons, top triple clamp, oil filter housing (original clutch slave leaked), sprocket cover
Changed all the bulbs in instrument cluster

[aviationfred]

It appears that you have found a gem of an FJ. There have been a few FJ's that have been found lately with extremely low miles. A couple have been up for sale at prices in the 5 to 6K range. Your write up on getting your extremely low mileage barn find road worthy is very interesting. It shows a lot of my thoughts on the added expense of taking a pristine bike that has sat for 15-25 years and getting it back in shape to safely be ridden.

What part of the Mid-West are you located? There are a few of us sprinkled into Fly-Over country.

Click on the link and you can pin yourself on the map. Also you can see some of the other forum members that may be near by.

https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=724879#

[FJWizard]

Ya, its been quite a project thus far....lots of nickel/dime items to replace.  eBay is a godsend on this type of stuff....at dealer prices and labor rates, I would have $5k in it by now.  Just dropped another $190 into Randy's bank account at RPM for a new fuel petcock.  The membrane in the original was dried out and weeping fuel.

Appearance wise, the bike was pretty much a mess sitting all those years. Caked in dust, crud, mouse nest back by the tail light, etc. Reflected in the low price.  When I saw the mileage and date code on the tires, I knew the bike was original and had potential as long as the engine was sound. I could tell the paint and plastics would be pristine after a thorough wash and wax.

After looking around a bit, I could tell the original owner was an enthusiast and took care of the old FJ.....nice cover (just old), old dusty cans of chain lube, late 80's vintage quarts of YamaLube 10W-40, old cans of wax and polish, a spare air filter still in the dusty Yamaha package, Shoei RF-200 helmet, a pristine service manual came with the bike along with some other odds and ends.  There were a couple of nice classic cars for sale in tip top shape.  Everything was like it was frozen in time from 1995.  The guy died in 1995 and whatever it was, was sudden......a bit spooky actually. The widow had been in a nursing home for the past several years before she died, and you could tell the daughter just wanted to be rid of the motorcycle, cars, and the lot.  

So I rolled the dice a bit, and on the drive home, I pulled the truck over for fuel and checked the internet on my phone for prices of used FJ motors....lol.  
Long drive home wondering if the engine was siezed/broken.  When I stuck the bore scope down in the first cylinder and saw nice shiny oily bores, I bowed my head in a moment of prayer.  

Anyway, like you said, safety is the #1 priority, and on an old barn bike that has sat for years, if I'm in doubt even .0000001% about something, it gets replaced....the cost adds up quick!!  I have more than $1500 in parts on it thus far.  The slip-ons, oil cooler, and forkbrace were nearly $1000, so those were a big part of the bill....but a myriad of little odds and ends to be dealt with.

Like an idiot, I forgot to take before pictures, but, when I post the after pics, the results of my efforts will be evident.

Cheers!