[/center]Well, I'm a few months behind on this, but I suppose better late than never.
First of all, I would like to say that I am truly honored to have received the XJ of the Month (August). There are many fantastically beautiful bikes here on the forum, and the fact that mine got this recognition is beyond appreciated. Thanks everyone!!!
Anyway, to start off, many years back when I decided to get back on two wheels, one of the bikes that caught my eye was the Seca II. Although I did not get one back then, I always kept my eye out for one locally and for the right price. Last year it finally happened.
Here is my yellow ray of sunshine the day that I brought it home. It was skinned up a bit, had a few tears in the seat, cracked windscreen, and a few rusty parts, but it was overall in good condition and it ran and handled perfectly fine.
Shortly after I got the bike, I found this forum. Fairly easy since this is the 100% go-to place on the web for XJ's. After reading through so many posts about fixing the bike up, modifications, and how-to's, I decided to start with something simple. I reupholstered the seat.
Once the seat was done, I started to think that with all the help and posts on this forum, I just might be able to restore the bike and maybe make it even better.
With that, I decided to get to work by removing all the plastic bits:
Before you know it, I had it all the way down to the frame and engine.
Next, I decided to use Radare's handy-dandy how-to for pulling dents.
At this point, everything that I'd done was easy-peasy. Now came the time to remove the engine, sand the plastic parts and frame (the frame was the worst of all!!!), prime and paint, clean the engine and paint it, and then do the wheels.
From there, it was all about putting it back together again.
When everything was said and done, Yellow was finally back together again.
Prior to this, I had never attempted to do anything like this before. I would like to thank everyone on the forum who has posted up the amazingly invaluable information and all those who have shared their knowledge on how to work on these bikes. Without this kind of sharing and giving, there is no doubt that I would have even tried to start such a major (for me) undertaking. Without all you great folks on this forum, this would have never happened. And for that, I thank you.