I took a couple years off from riding (involuntarily) and I got the itch real hard this summer. Having not much spare cash for such endeavors, I figured I'd buy a cheap basket case and fix it up. That way, I can spend a little at a time on parts as I work on it, and I get to fix up an old bike, which is always a good time (okay maybe not always but it's at least pretty satisfying). I saw a Seca 2 on craigslist and was instantly obsessed (reading radares post about the XJ on advrider may have had something to do with this)
There aren't many of these around here, and most of them are in good condition and priced accordingly. But then I found this one. 24k miles, black, complete, all of the fairing bits intact and relatively undamaged. The bike had been sitting in a shed since 2009, partially disassembled when I got to it.
This is what it looked like in my driveway. On the plus side, it seems to have been well cared for prior to being locked up. Intakes were blocked with plastic, looked untouched, engine turned over smoothly. Something I didn't remember to check was the area underneath the seat. It, along with the inside of the disconnected airbox, was absolutely FULL of vacant mouse nest. Very stinky. I didn't take any pictures of it, but it was a lot. I guess the story is that the guy rode it for a while (second owner), and eventually bought a bunch of harleys, stopped riding it, and put it away. He said he came back about two years later to find it wasn't running very well (hence the disassembly). So he took the carbs off with intent to clean them, but ended up just putting them in a box and forgetting about them. His yard was full of junk and half done projects, so I believe it.
I took it home and first things first set about cleaning the carbs:
Before:
After:
I'm particularly proud of how these came out, nothing but pine sol and elbow grease. I also purchased a rebuild kit and replaced every jet, needle, float valve, and seal in all four carbs (they were as grungy inside as you'd think. Once I'd got those together, I mounted them on the bike, along with the freshly cleaned airbox, new filter, and new ebay fuel pump (20 bucks and it seems to work perfectly!) A buddy brought me a small lawnmower tank (since I hadn't yet cleaned the rust out of the Seca's) and after struggling to prime the carbs/fuel pump, the dang thing started right up! Purred like a kitten after ten years of dormancy, and in less than five minutes was even able to idle on its own. BUT-
I eventually figured out that cylinder 4 was not firing at all. (it ran surprisingly good on three cylinders though!) Spark plug was totally oil fouled. I tried a couple of different ones and they all fouled as well. So I ran through the service manuals steps for troubleshooting the coil packs and plug caps. Everything checks out, and the spark tester indicates that #4 is getting electricity. Next step is compression. Cylinders 1-3 all test between 170 and 180 psi, not bad at all. #4 is only making like 90 psi. Valve clearances were all in spec, and a teaspoon of oil brought the pressure up to around 190. So at this point, I'm looking at bad rings, which is a real bummer for how few miles are on it. I wonder if there was maybe some kind of buildup in the cylinder that caused this?
In any case I did the rational thing and took the whole top end apart. Everything honestly looks fine, barely any marks on the bore, including number 4. You can see the crosshatching and all. No broken rings or otherwise obvious causes for the lost compression. I measured the pistons and bores, and they're in spec. So I figure I'll just hone and replace all of the rings. This is it's current state:
The problem I'm having now is obtaining the dang piston ring sets! They're literally sold out everywhere. Last month I found an Amazon seller that said they had them, so I ordered, and then they notified me that the parts are backordered until September 5th. Then, strangely, today I receive a single set of rings. Upon calling them to find out why they sent me one set (and early?), they tell me they found one set in their warehouse, and also that Yamaha has now backordered their next shipment of them until October tenth? I was really hoping to get to ride this bike this year, so if anyone has any ideas on where I can find sets of piston rings (4BR-11610-00-00) for this damn thing, or if you're in the States and have spares you'd be willing to sell me, I would pay dearly.
Also replacing basically everything rubber on the bike. All new brake lines, rebuilt the calipers with new seals and new pistons in the front. New front master cylinder (from a Ninja), new tires, new chain and sprockets. I scored an FZ6R rear shock and replaced the old and rusted stocker, and I'll be replacing the fork oil when that shows up.
Also big ups to radare and everyone else who's been writing detailed posts on how to fix and maintain these bikes, this place is amazing and has been indispensable in my endeavor to restore this sad, smelly shed bike
Also how do I get permission to view the rest of the forums? I've been logging out to do it since when I logged in I can't see them.