Finch gets naked: A 1994 XJ600S conversion project.

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Siper2
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What else would I use as a title? :clap: :thumbsup:

So, after owning my '94 Seca II, which I lovingly dubbed "Finch", for three years I've finally gotten around to kicking off my naked conversion. Here's a "before" photo from a few weeks ago, when I took a spin through Pine Grove Furnace state park near the Appalachian Trail Museum, here in southcentral Penn. where I live.

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Definitely a nice ride, and close to home.

https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1 ... 4960220305[/gmap]

And just last weekend, out front of the Carlisle Regional Airport. This "Goose" is on display. Birds of a feather, flock together - Finch was happy.

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After much deliberation, soul-searching and mostly hemming and hawing, plus my 40th birthday a few weeks ago, I set out to order the bits and pieces I would need. I opted to go with the TrailTech Vapor gauge. Some of the analog gauge options are great, and I thought about them all but decided I liked some of the features that the Vapor has, and would prefer to have them.
I traded several emails with one of TT's reps, and was recommended the best unit to use.

- TrailTech Vapor 752-704 (http://www.trailtech.net/752-704)
- TrailTech Indicator Dashboard (http://www.trailtech.net/022-pda)
- TrailTetch 10mm CHT Temp Sensor (http://www.trailtech.net/10mm-cht-sensor - Goes under one sparkplug)

Along with the gauge parts, I also ordered some of radare's headlight brackets a long while ago; they've been sitting tidily in a box in my garage.

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I picked up some graphite grey car wheel paint at AutoZone a couple days ago, I decided that color would look pretty spiffy and also somewhat match the OEM engine color. I didn't want to go full black, so it's worth a shot. Obviously some primer as well.

I also was able to find some of the side filler panels/fillets off of eBay UK back in 2014, and had a nice chat with the seller about Yamahas. If I ever cross the pond, I may look him up. They came to about $30 shipped.

A guy needs to see where he's going, right? The Delkevic 7" round headlight seems popular, so I bought one of those new off of eBay a long while back.

For a bit of cosmetic bling, again off of radare's experience I looked up a UK market finned stator cover. Mine's not perfect, but I scrubbed it up with some Simple Green (I use that stuff for everything) and it's pretty good, save for a few chips. I'll put that on later though, other things take priority.

To update the look of my bike a bit more, a few days ago I decided to swap out mirrors as well. Lots of pilfering through the forum landed me (several times) on radare's suggestion of the Bikemaster Lined Oval (black) mirrors, which I like quite a lot on many of the images I've seen. So those are arriving soon!

Metal > Plastic :thumbsup:

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( - I paid $58/pr. just a few days ago, but the price has shot up. maybe it was a pricing error on the reseller's part, and they caught it. Be sure to shop around, if Amazon doesn't have the best price at the moment!)

Lastly (so far), I figured it was as good a time as any to swap out the plugs. Ordered some new NGK CR8E x4 and they ought to arrive today. Keep that engine happy.


SO! A week ago today, my wife went out of town for Memorial Day weekend, which left me home with my two garage technicians. They were only moderately helpful, but it was nice out so they didn't mind supervising.

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Though I'm a somewhat decent car mechanic, other than an oil change I did last year, this would be my first bike undertaking. I swallowed my pride, held my breath and started at it.

One last set of shots, all dressed up (don't mind the bugs).

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I guess I'll finally be rid of my constant reminder of the day I dropped it. Which was the very first day I took it out...got a grand total of six feet from my driveway; caught my toe on the pavement and dumped it. Yeah, fun.

Also, 5 gallon buckets are great places to sit.

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Butt shot!

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Enough stalling, let's get to it!

Windshield off. Photobomb by "Piglet", my wife's '03 Suzuki Savage. Don't listen to the naysayers, that sucker is fun.

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Sidebar: Cool shot of the Savage that I got, taking a spin a couple weeks ago.

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Hmm, lots of wires... **GULP**

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A couple hours and some head scratchin' later, I got the fairing off. Took my time, not really in a rush here.

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Lots of bracket-y things.

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I can get a static shock walking three feet in my house. I'm more than a little careful, with battery leads.

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...And just in case it gets any funny ideas, tape!

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So that's what it looks like under there! Also, holy crap that OEM healight/bracket assembly is HEAVY!!!

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Pardon the wide-angle shot getting things all wonky, but I wanted a rough idea of what the light would look like. :)

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At this point I started some pre-wiring. I ran the TrailTech speed sensor cable down the left side front fork, and used electrical tape to just hold it in place for now, before I stick it on permanently. One OEM brake rotor bolt is removed, and replaced with a magnetic bolt that trips the sensor to indicate speed. Placement is critical, thus the temporary tape. Rolling the bike back and forth a bit, I'm not sure if it's working as it should, so I may need to tweak.

Next up, I ran the 10mm CHT sensor under sparkplug #2. The cable seems just barely long enough to route up and reach where the gauge is going to go, but I think it'll work. This is when I noticed that my plugs, though not awful, probably should be replaced. Especially since I've no idea when it was done last. Cheap insurance.


For now, that's as far as I've gotten. Mounting the gauge seems to be tricky; I think it'll have to be custom, as the metal triple mount that comes with the Indicator Dashboard doesn't work on our bikes - it is designed for KTMs, per the webpage.
(http://www.trailtech.net/025-oeb2)

They do have a triple tree mount, but I'm not sure if that will work either: http://www.trailtech.net/voyager-top-tr ... mm-spacing

The trick, as most of you with experience also know (but I had to figure out), is that on our bikes, the key is problematic. Most triple mounts would prohibit key access - a small problem!

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This where I *think* the gauge ought to end up, more or less.... could be wrong.

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This is a custom TrailTech Vapor bracket, but won't work with the Seca II. Seems like perhaps something that might be duplicated though....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/111482129784?it ... m=&vxp=mtr


So, I may use the plastic handlebar mounts that came with the gauge for now, just so I can get the bike up and running without too much delay. I found a metal fabricator not far from home, he said he'll take a look and maybe we can come up with something. I'd love some suggestions! :)


TO BE CONTINUED...
Last edited by Siper2 on Fri Jun 03, 2016 8:40 am, edited 2 times in total.

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