1982 Yamaha XJ550 Maxim

Sluggy
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Buzz for sale?

Post by Sluggy »

I am contemplating selling Buzz.

I am thinking about selling him for two reasons. First, we have a rather full stable of iron critters and could honestly use the garage space. As he's not on the road, I've not had insurance on him since it last expired, but once back on the road, I would need to insure him again. Second, I have a VW trike that I want to run EFI and I need parts. The two most expensive parts that I need are the MegaSquirt controller and the exhaust oxygen sensor and there is one of each on Buzz, who is not really roadworthy.

The battery is dead at the moment from sitting since April. Once I service or replace the battery, the bike should be in at least a minimally running condition, meaning that it *will* start and run and go down the street. It does not, unfortunately, mean that the bike is in any desirable state of tune. It runs quite rich at idle and has a rather unfriendly throttle response. The throttle bodies I installed are far too large for this bike. In short, the injectors cannot deliver a small enough amount of fuel at idle while the throttle body itself cannot deliver a small enough amount of air hardly anywhere above idle. It runs, but not particularly well. It revs like a banshee, though. :)

I have a couple of ideas to address this problem. To my knowledge, there are no salvage four cylinder individual throttle bodies small enough to work with this engine, though there are several for twins and singles. These all would require a manifold to adapt to a four cylinder and I have in fact secured a potential TB and a spare cylinder head that I intended to use in the fabrication of just such a manifold and have discussed this manifold in previous posts. However, I have plenty of other projects, not the least of which is the afore mentioned VW trike, and that throttle body is nearly a bolt-on for the VW.

There are actually several options available to me, in no particular order....

1. Sell Buzz as is, hoping to recover enough for my EFI parts list. Considering he's only barely a running bike, I would imagine that only someone specifically interested in taking over a MegaSquirt project would be willing to pay anything more than a parts-bike price for him.

2. Part him out. Potentially, this could be the most lucrative, but I really hate to do that to a classic bike with a good title and many miles left to run.

3. Reinstall the stock induction system (all was kept, just in case) and sell him as a working stock bike. This would likely appeal to the largest buying audience, but would also involve the fairly exhaustive list of carburetor tuneup tasks that were actually needed before I took them off, at least if I want any decent money for him.

4. Rob the parts I need off him, put the rest in a corner, put him back together as time permits and maybe sell him then.

I welcome any thoughts, suggestions and comments (or offers)....
Last edited by Sluggy on Wed Dec 30, 2009 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
Sluggy
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Robbing Buzz

Post by Sluggy »

I have elected to keep Buzz for the time being, but rob the parts I need for the trike.

Thus far, I have only removed the ECU itself, but I'm rapidly approaching a point where I will need the injector harness. The O2 sensor will be soon to follow. I intend to dedicate a work day to removing all the EFI hardware and plumbing from Buzz, even if I don't yet take the time to reinstall the carburetors. They really should be rebuilt before I do that, anyway.

I still want to get Buzz on the road on EFI and though I want to get the trike on the road first, I know now what I need to do for Buzz. In the mean time, I will also keep my eyes open for appropriate throttle bodies. Really, there are quite a few that would probably work, though all will need some degree of manifold fabrication because there aren't many 50 horsepower inline fours to rob parts from.

Since I consider this to be a continuing, if delayed, project, I will continue to update this blog as things develop.
Sluggy
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Buzz Robbed

Post by Sluggy »

Well, it took about an hour to remove all but three small traces of the EFI project from Buzz. What's left is the CLT sensor, securely JB Welded to the cylinder head, the FIDLE LED and the O2 sensor bung, plugged with a sparkplug.

The airbox was as much fun to put in as it was to remove. :)

I began cleaning the stock carburetors late this afternoon. By the time I was tired enough to not want to start another, I'd cleaned three of them. The last one has been completely disassembled and the solvent-safe parts are soaking in Berryman's Chem-Dip.

Between the Chem-Dip and just judicious cleaning, they look pretty close to new.

Buzz will need a plug for where the O2 sensor was removed, the fuel petcock reinstalled in the tank, the carburetors reinstalled and a battery to be ready to start. After that, a thorough and serious cleaning is in order and he'll be ready to ride or sell.

If I keep Buzz, I will eventually go back to EFI, but I know now that I will need to use a smaller throttle body and will probably need to built a custom intake manifold. It would probably make more sense to procure a bigger bike and 'squirt that instead.
Sluggy
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Buzz Sold

Post by Sluggy »

Buzz has been sold.

But, Buzz's sale helped finance what I'm sure will eventually be another MegaSquirt project, a 1982 Yamaha Seca Turbo.

In the mean time, I am still working on my VW Trike. I resolved a mechanical issue with the clutch, so I will have it on the road enough to seriously pursue tuning.
24c
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Re: 1982 Yamaha XJ550 Maxim

Post by 24c »

I remember the XJ750 Turbo, it was of a similar style to FJ1100/1200. I bookmarked these pages some time ago for a buddy that wanted a retro turbo.
Might be useful for you... http://pw1.netcom.com/~rvtucker/Seca.html
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