In for the long haul. 88 FJ1200 restoration

[Tarsier79]

I originally purchased this bike with the plan to polish it and flip it. At some stage, I fell in love with her. I had a few minor problems getting her going to start with, but , I have really enjoyed riding this big, powerful and thirsty bike with her custom paint job.

Not long after I had her on the road, I dropped it in a tired blond moment. I stupidly tried to pull her up on to the center stand while in gear and damaged the paint job I spent so long getting just so.

I put in the largest front sprocket, and smallest rear I could find to fit. She now is a little slow off the mark, and I have to ride the clutch a little, but I love the long legs, and she can take most bikes once moving. Just to see what she would do, I redlined it in 1st, and she came mighty close to 100km/hr. I mostly let her purr around at 2500rpm, until I hit those mountain roads.

Ive clocked up around 7000 km, so thought I had better give her an oil change, since I am heading on a 2000km round trip next week from Brissy to Mackay and back. The oil was fairly clean considering, and still slightly opaque.

When I return, I am planning to pull her down, and paint and polish her from the ground up, probably do the timing chain, valves and carbs, repair the damaged fairings, and I am planning on finding and installing some Honda hard saddlebags on custom mounts.

[X-Ray]

Can't wait to see some in the build photos. Whereabouts in Brissie are you?

[ribbert]

I put in the largest front sprocket, and smallest rear I could find to fit. She now is a little slow off the mark, and I have to ride the clutch a little, but I love the long legs, and she can take most bikes once moving. Just to see what she would do, I redlined it in 1st, and she came mighty close to 100km/hr.

Not sure what's going on here but I think 100kph in 1st gear is about normal on standard gearing, that's why they're faster than a Hyabusa to that speed. With those gearing changes maybe there's still a bit more to unleash.


Noel

[Tarsier79]

Im up in Petrie, but moving to Kallangur into a house we purchased, where my FJ "workshop" will be.

Re the sprockets: I purchased the bike secondhand, so don't know if they were still original, and can't remember exactly what ratio they were. Before the change, in top gear she would run at around 4K cruising at 100km/hr, now she runs around 3300 rpm.

Since the FJ is my daily, I will have to get my other bike back up and running first also. (2003 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 putt putt).

[The General]

Dunno how I missed the fact you`re a Brissie Bloke, but (very) belated welcome Kaine. You`ve got a lot of FJ mates nearby. (Check out zeemaps in intro section). Funny how so many fall in luv with these things....they just seem to fit!

I`ll let you know the next time there`s a ride or a mancave on locally.
If you have no prob with the Mackay run, you should really stretch her legs and come to Harrietville March 19th. 

[Tarsier79]

I grew up on the Sunny Coast, but had to move to Brissy for work. I have enjoyed a few trips through the Sunny Coast Hinterland, but haven't done a decent ride through there on the FJ.

Harrietville might be a bit too far too soon I think, but I'd enjoy meeting up with a few of the guys for a ride at some stage a bit closer to home.

I do expect the strip down and rebuild to take 3-6 months depending, so will be mostly out of action over that time. I don't think the enfield will be able to keep up.

[oz.fj]

I grew up on the Sunny Coast, but had to move to Brissy for work. I have enjoyed a few trips through the Sunny Coast Hinterland, but haven't done a decent ride through there on the FJ.

Harrietville might be a bit too far too soon I think, but I'd enjoy meeting up with a few of the guys for a ride at some stage a bit closer to home.

I do expect the strip down and rebuild to take 3-6 months depending, so will be mostly out of action over that time. I don't think the enfield will be able to keep up.

Well that should have the rebuild done in plenty of time for the annual Mapleton Muster in October.
Be sure to keep an eye on the down under section for local events.
Cheers
Darran

[Tarsier79]

As usual, running further behind than I would like. As the FJ is my daily, I can't take her off the road till my dusty little putt-putt is back on the road (pictured). My wife's little CBR would be OK too, but it also needs some work, and I plan to work on it in parallel to the FJ.

While I continue to use her, I have had something odd happen a few times now while under hard acceleration, but I think it is only in first or second gear. As it only happens so rarely, I haven't been able to pin it down fully. Once the revs get up to maybe 4.5K, it seems to slip out of gear. Im pretty sure it isn't the clutch slipping, but not 100%. When it happens, my immediate automatic reaction is usually to back off, pull in the clutch and change gear. This doesn't help with diagnosing the problem, and I am unable to reproduce it at will. Could it be anything to do with the oil I am using?

Also, I have seen a few of these bikes for sale at around 75,000km, stating a recent timing chain change. When do they usually require replacing?

[4everFJ]

You are most likely seeing the early symptoms of the infamous 2nd gear problem haunting so many of the old FJ's, especially the FJ1100's, but also seen on the early 1200's.

2nd gear dogs are worn and the shift fork is bent. Only fix is to take the engine apart and replace gears and shift forks  

This happens due to too many missed shifts from 1st to 2nd at high revs. Search the forum, lots of info on this.

[FJmonkey]

If you felt it jump out of gear like a sudden change then it may be a bent shift fork. A slipping clutch is rise in revs but no acceleration. The early FJs did have this problem, my '86 would jump out of gear under hard acceleration in 2nd gear. I learned to short shift 2nd (before 6K). The later years got stronger shift forks and were less prone this problem but not immune. You can now get even stronger shift forks but to fix the problem requires splitting the case. And once you are that far down the rabbit hole you might as well get the gears under-cut to better protect your investment. The good news is you can live with it if you don't keep pushing it. The problem will get worse every time you push it till it jumps out of gear. It will begin to jump out at lower and lower revs. It sucks not having that Kookaloo in 2nd gear but there is always 3rd gear....

[Tarsier79]

That is a bit nasty, and I love second. I will check out the relevant threads and make a decision. At the moment, I am leaning towards doing it, as I wanted to remove the engine to paint the frame properly anyway. At least I found out about it before I pulled it all apart and reassembled.

Thanks for the info guys!

[4everFJ]

Here you go:

http://www.fj1100.com/pages/2ndgear.htm

[Tarsier79]

Took her out for what should be its last ride before the teardown.... months later than I was hoping to. I was giving her bit of a thrashing out at Somerset dam, then up Mt Glorious when I lost power, gradually but quickly. I thought it was an overheating problem, so left if for a few minutes (not too long as it was in a dangerous curve in the road). When I powered her back on, the fuel pump sounded like it went for a substantial time. I took it easy, and didn't have another problem on the way home.

Do the fuel pumps overheat? or does the computer shut it off under certain conditions? Just want to know if I should be looking for something when I disassemble.

[Tarsier79]

And it begins.

[Davo231481]

And it begins.

Been a while so what's happened with this bike?