Dub's 89 FJ1200 Mish Mosh

[Dub]

So I bought my first Yammie. Also never really had a sporty touring bike like this either. Been through a lot of dirt and a variety of street. My prior fav inline four was an 86 Kawasaki
ZL600 Eliminator. That bike was a lot of fun when I was a younger buck and also fit into my M.O. Buy other peoples projects for cheap, fix them up and enjoy the ride.

Pretty excited about cleaning the FJ up and putting her back into service. Bike is pretty clean and the plan is to keep her fairly stock outside of maybe some minimal mods/upgrades.
Looking to make this an interactive thread and will photo bomb as I tear into her and build her back up. So feel free to chime in with comments, advise, ideas, or whatever.

So here she is after a short 10 minute cross town drive to her new home followed by a before diggin in pic. Waiting on some stuff to come in but sill start working on her this week.

[Millietant]

Ha ha Dub, I see you've already been bitten by the Moditis bug 

Your first post on the forum said you'd rather do a resto than any mods.......now you're talking about "minimal mods/upgrades".............pretty soon it'll be "a bit of modernisation" ...............and then...................oh dear, full blown Moditis 

Welcome to the mad house !!!

[Dub]

Yeah.....about that.  hahaha

The plan is still the same and to primarily to bring it back to a basically stock bike. I think minor mods and upgrades such as shocks etc can still be done without impeding on the bikes purity and can easily be put back to stock so I really dont consider those to be drastic changes and still fit within my original vision.

My thoughts go like this. If a bike is a basket case and needs a ton of work, the paint is mucked, etc, then it is no holds barred on mods and custom stuff. If a bike is sound and can easily be brought back to factory + basic wear and tear condition, then that is the route I would go. The FJ is pretty sound. As the years go by, there will be less and less original condition bikes to be found. 

When I bought my 78 Beemer my brother was like I would totally tear that thing down, cut the frame and turn it into a cafe project and I thought that while the concept was cool for the right bike, I thought it was total blasphemy for my specimen. Even though it is a nothing special /7, it is a low mileage super clean example of a lost era that my brother thought should be hacked up.

[Flynt]

I bought a very stock and pretty '84 and tried for about a year to just make it work well while staying fully stock...  the 84/85 forks even had the Anti-Dive units and mine appeared to work to some extent.  Anyway, after sticking with this program for while and having more than one OH SHIT moment (hard braking into bumpy corners mainly), I went about getting suspension and braking up to a more useable standard...  RPM front and rear shocks, fork brace, EBC rotors and pads, and braided brake lines bypassing the A/D valves... after that it inspires confidence and can be ridden at my full capability without drama.

I've also taken up the electrical system, mainly changing out lights to LED, to reduce the overall load and make things brighter.  Otherwise, the "stock" bike is as much fun to ride as my highly modified '92...  lesson being you don't need to go crazy with mods, but you will probably benefit hugely from suspension and braking improvements...

my $0.02 FWIW...

Frank

[Millietant]

Funnily enough Dub, I agree with you totally on that. My FJ has a lot of mods, but I haven't hacked about with anything that was originally on the bike, so I can actually put it back to totally stock (wheels, suspension, brakes etc) - barring the exhaust, with the parts I took off, or have available.

I love the basic bike Yamaha built, but just wanted it to be a bit more modern, as I believe Yamaha should have updated it in around 1991/1992 (the way Flynn mentions too). But, I also realise that one day, it might be worth a lot of money to my descendants if it can be put back to standar!

[Waiex191]

Modern blue spot calipers and an FZ1 master was an awesome bolt on upgrade to my '89.  I'm crazy about keeping things stock too.

[Dub]

Thanks for everyone's input. I appreciate it all and to be honest, I am pretty ignorant as to the shortcomings of the bike other than the numerous threads I have read here so even though I have a vision, nothing is really outside the realms of possibility.

@ Dean ~
That is a clean looking bike. The white/silver looks sharp. I also like the red/silver combo's I have seen. The bike has such great lines and the factory paint schemes really enhance the overall look.

I think I might have (wrongly) implied that I was looking to to a bone stock 100% factory resto.

I think I will just dig in and choose my roads as the situation warrants. Think I will start doing some tear down after lunch today.  

Dub

[Dub]

Carbs are a mess and really gummed up. Soaking for 2 days and some parts are just not going to free up. Gonna do a complete rebuild with fresh and clean to eliminate the potential for more problems. Busted a float post on top of it even while being super gentle/careful but have a fix in mind for it already.

The question is....To re-jet or to not re-jet. Gotta order a parts, now is the time. What say ye all? I thought I read another post that suggested going a size larger on the mains. 

Will post pics/updates as time allows. Had to order a new battery for my camera also.   

Thanks

[Waiex191]

I'm happy with my stock main jets. Next time I'm in the carbs I'd like to go up a size on the pilot jets. Those holes are so small it's easy for them to clog.

[Cat Cracker]

Hey Dub,
You didn't waste much time tearing into it. I shipped my carbs to RPM last week for cleaning / service / rebuild. Currently replacing brake & clutch hoses. And the recommended wiring of the fuel petcock & red/brown wiring  issues mentioned by Pat Conlin for the FJ1100's. Some new tires & fresh brake pads & hopefully an early spring for us here in NJ. So far I'm happy with the stock jets, maybe next teardown.

[Dub]

Hard to believe it's mid March already. I have made some progress on the bike so far. I tore it down and started the process of cleaning parts, buying parts, and fixing my rookie move on the carb float pin post. I came up with a creative solution I have never seen before so that might be interesting.

I added pics to my gallery with titles and hopefully can just post them here without retyping it all but will still allow a progress of the project.

And it begins.....

















And then it happened..... My rookie move that needed a creative solution. I failed to support the carb float pin post and tapped just a little to hard. It was my last one, the other three came out easy enough, but the last one noticed that and like a stubborn stepchild, just wanted to be difficult.    

You will have to stay tuned to see the outcome, but I think it will work, and I have not seen it done anywhere else.





Part of my master solution....



And here are some intake manifold plugs I whipped up in Fusion360 and 3d printed. They snap into the manifold and hold tight. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.




That's it for now. Have a bunch of other pics to post. Was just filling a small time void I had this am.

Be back soon with the the carb solution and other pics.  

[JMR]

 A good friend of mine repairs those float posts with micro welding....it comes out mint.

[Cat Cracker]

Hey Dub,
I have two sets of spare carbs. Well actually a jetted set & a set of spares. You are more than welcome to one of the carb bodies.

Colonia NJ.
Barry

[Dub]

@JMR - Thanks for the heads up. Hope I do not need to go down that road in the end but good to know just in case.

@Barry - Appreciate the offer and may take you up on it if my junkyard repair doesn't hold the mustard. I have faith though. Nice that you are local also. When the weather breaks a bit, we'll get together regardless.



For the carb post repair, I used a brass sleeve. I notched it at the base to match the base of the carb post so it slid down and provided a solid foundation and a hole drilled out to match the float pin and 2 small holes drilled into the body. The top drill is in the upper broken off piece and the lower hole in the bottom solid piece. The sleeve fits snugly over the broken post and has a bit of JB Weld in the sleeve and at the base of the sleeve.

A small piece of 8mm music wire through 4 posts keeps it aligned correctly so the broken part stays at the correct height and keeps the float in level. A small piece of 4mm music wire is bent in a U shape and inserted into the drilled holes and through the upper and lower post bodies. This is soldered to the brass sleeve and trimmed flush. Now the upper body is firmly held in place. The fit in the bowl is snug, but it is constrained within it and looks like the base will seal correctly with the gasket. A small file will remedy if not.

Hopefully the pics make sense.











In the next pic, you can see the inside where the music wires U shape is going through the upper and lower post bosy securing the two firmly in the brass sleeve



This is the tag ends. They get soldered to the brass tube to lock them in place and then flush trimmed. The U shape had to go to the inside to ensure the bowl would fit



The final repair. It is pretty strong and I would be surprised if it doesn't hold. I will know pretty quickly as the whole sleeve would need to let go and the carb would overflow making it a dead giveaway my repair failed. Time will tell. I still have not put the bowls on yet as there is plenty more to do before I get to that.




Oh, the clutch slave was a leaking a tiny bit.




All the pics are in my gallery if one wanted to see them larger.

Dub

[Dub]

It looks like there is a very faint brushed goldish color on the lower forks that seems to be a factory finish rather than a yellow clearcoat. I have a few spots that look to be worn through to the aluminum underneath.
Just wondering what others have done. I was thinking of sanding them down to the base aluminum color and leaving them like that. (Actually, a 0000 steel wool would do it. It comes off pretty easily)

Still looking to preserve a stock look so not thinking paint.

What have you guys done?

Thanks,
Dub