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Thanks Slice. The way I see it is "every job done is one less to do" ha ha.

Hi Noise, looks like you've had a fair go at all the right things here. I have a 1992 XJ900F so my experience might not apply to your model. Check that the starter gear has not engaged and is stuck there. If you have a couple of helpers, can you try a bump-start? That will confirm the engine's ability to run (especially if it turns by hand - not seized). My model has a daft wee switch at the side-stand to prevent the engine starting if the side stand is down, but if that's duff, I don't think you would get a click at the relay - and this might not be fitted to your model. Although very unusual, you might have just been given a dud battery (I had one in a brand new car!) What about jump leads from another battery? Definitely a beard-scratcher.

Hi everyone, here's an update of my progress this summer. I know it's slow but I'm also building a dry-stone wall and deep into other DIY stuff. Anyway, I've now got the swinging arm (new bearings), rear suspension, steering head (new bearings) and both wheels (new oil seals) all fitted and she is standing on her wheels again. Next jobs on the list are grinding in the valves and rebuilding the rear brake callipers and system.

Hi Marshall, before I give you my thoughts, let me say that I have a 1992 XJ900F (32,000 miles) in the process of restoration (you can see my - slow - progress if you follow my thread). Anyway, your 1994 model is newer than mine so there might be some differences. So, I'm not convinced this is an electrical issue, although it'll do no harm changing the plugs. When you take them out, check the colour of the electrodes against the, very useful, colour chart in the Haynes manual (or online). That will show you if there are any fuel issues - as a minimum, they should all be the same colour. If not, then you could have carburettor balancing work to do. Also, with the plugs out turn the engine over and check for a spark - you are looking for a nice bright blue spark, and they should all be the same colour too. On my model, there are two coils, each firing two cylinders so if you get two good sparks and two duds, that could point to one of the coils. It would be unusual for both coils to die so if you get no spark, check all the way back to the switch - but first check the side-stand switch as they can be problematic, especially if water gets into the switch - it's low down so is prone to water ingress. If you have let the fuel level drop too low, there could be debris from the bottom of the tank and this can sometimes clog the carb jets, and that will cause balancing issues, which can be shown up by the plug colours, as mentioned above. My model has the YICS (Yamaha Induction Control System) and this can often lead to fuel/carburettor issues, although if left alone they are normally fine. It's only when they get "checked" that problems arise. This is a port that runs across the engine between the carburettors and the main block. This port links all four cylinders and is designed to overcome minor carburettor imbalance by allowing fuel from one carb to cross feed its neighbour. Hope this helps, check those plugs first then the side-stand switch before you tackle a full blown electrics strip-down. Good luck

Hi, I have been browsing another site and spotted a vague reference to an electrode heated ratchet socket set used to heat specific areas of nuts/bolts to aid removal. I've done the usual Google/YouTube searches but can't find anything. I'm doing a restoration of an XJ900F (see projects section) and, although I don't need one of these heated thingies at the moment, I think it could be a useful tool to have. Has anyone seen or heard of anything like this? Thanks

No idea Drewpy. They have just appeared with my last photos and seem to go with all my posts now. I can't even edit and delete them away. I think I have followed the normal procedure to post images - after an earlier "senior moment", but not sure what's causing these. I've updated my iPad to iOS 9 so there might be a bug in there somewhere.

Thanks Kev. Progress is slow but great fun and, hopefully, I'm saving this old girl from the breakers yard.

Hiya Rembrant and welcome to the forum. I am restoring a 1991/2 XJ900F - check out the projects section if you are interested in seeing what I'm doing. Look for XJ900F - Getting a new home. Good luck with your own XJ.

Thanks Slice, next job is to fit the hub to the swinging arm and then get the rear wheel on.

Earlier readers may remember that I was having a problem with multi-coats of lacquer on the final drive hub, so here's an update... I slapped on some Nitromores then used a plastic scraper to remove the bubbled up lacquer (Health & Safety precautions - blah blah blah). I used one of those black nylon scrubbing/scouring pads lubricated with WD40 to remove the dried excess on the large flat areas. This worked well but I needed to use my Dremmel to get into those tight corners. I bought a couple of Dremmel scouring wheels (2 in a pack for around £5) but these were soon worn out so I sourced a pack of 40 from Hong Kong for around £10. These wore out just as quickly but at least I had a large stock of them. As the grunge was removed, I saw that there were lots of spanner/hammer dings so I decided that a mirror finish would not be possible without removing a fair amount of alluminium. A final clean with some alloy cleaner and a buff up seems to have produced an acceptable finish.

Hi Jimmy, tried via Photoshop but although it goes through the motions the image doesn't appear. I use an iPad and have just upgraded to ios9 so there might be something needs tweaking in there.

OK, thanks Jimmy - I'll give that a go.

I was just about to post an update with a couple of photos but I'm getting a message saying I am limited to 190k for attachments. Is there any way to increase this or do I need to remove earlier photos? cheers

Just a quick update... I heated the exhaust collector box with a small propane burner then, with the assistance of my neighbour, we gently rotated each pipe and they eventually came out. Good advice not to use a vice or clamp so as not to damage the pipes - thanks guys. I noticed that the collector box is not in a good condition but that's fairly small item if it needs to be replaced. For earlier readers, you'll remember that I had a broken exhaust stud-hole in my cylinder head. I took it to a bike friendly alloy wheel repair man and he filled it, drilled and tapped it and fitted a new exhaust stud - all for £30. A brilliant job and I am now getting ready to overhaul the head and grind the valves. Happy Days

Thanks guys, I've got a small propane blow lamp so I'll try that in the next few days. I wonder why only one of the inlet pipes to the collector box is split and clamped - why not all four? Hey Ho...

Thanks Slice and Drewpy, are we talking oxy-accetelene hot or just hot air gun hot (I have a paint stripper HOT gun)? Appreciate the health and safety advice too guys. cheers

Been busy with house type DIY over the last few months so progress continues to be slow. I lifted the cylinder head and removed the cams, shims and valves (note the different storage boxes for each pot). Early readers may remember that one of my exhaust stud holes needs to be welded and re-tapped for a new stud but I need to take one of the exhaust flanges with me to ensure the correct pitch between the studs (the flange gets used as a jig/clamp to ensure straight holes etc). My new problem is that my bike has those four into one exhaust jobbies and I need to remove the pipes from the collector box before I can slip off one of the flanges. Guess what - those pipes are well and truly stuck in the collector box. I have a plan to restore the pipes so I am not keen to cut them off just yet. The pipes are soaking in WD40 but I suspect they might need another approach. Has anyone got experience of removing these things?

Thanks neversaydie, I've found some Strypit on e-bay for a couple of quid. Order placed. I had been trying Nitromores but it looks like there's been laquer and paint put on there over the years! I'll give your stuff a try though. Thanks again.

Decided to push ahead with the front end and have fitted the forks and the bars. The forks have only been cleaned as there were no signs of leakage and the last service record, albeit a couple of years ago, showed that new seals had been fitted. I polished up the aluminium handlebars and was pleased that they matched the aluminium of the top yoke - easy decision, keep the yoke as it is, not going to paint it. The fork gaiters look sound but I think they are too soft and almost look bent. I know it's only cosmetic but I'm going to investigate stiffer gaiters to see if they retain their straight shape - easier to do that before I torque everything up. The last photo shows the final drive hub after a liberal dose of paint stripper. I suspect this is going to be more difficult than I thought - in fact, I nearly stripped down the whole final drive assembly but decided to check the manual first. Guess what? The manual says NOT to do this, it should only be undertaken by a Yam dealer. I suspect it's the pulling out of gears and bearings that would be the problem. So it's down to some cleaning and polishing to see if I can get back to a good quality aluminium finish.

Thanks Blackhat, slow progress but enjoying the glass blasting results.

If you have read the previous posts you will see that I have been considering options for those shear-bolts in my ignition switch. Well, I decided to tape up the switch and wiring and glass blast the yoke myself. It turned out quite good and I might lacquer it, rather than paint it black. The jury is still out on that one. Anyway, I have greased the new roller bearings and fitted the steering stem to the frame. It's easy enough to take out if I decide to paint the top yoke in the same black as the bottom yoke.

Whilst mulling over the problem about those pesky shear-bolts, I decided to work on the swinging arm. The roller bearing races were fitted to the swinging arm a few weeks ago so next up were the roller cages (greased), the grease seals then the spacers. Before lifting the swinging arm into place, I decided to dry-run the pivot bolts and it's just as well I did, as the final 10mm of the threads in the frame were clogged with powder coating (I suspect they only fitted silicon plugs to the outside of the hole), and needed a Dremel wire brush inside the hole to gently clean away the powder coating. Another dry-run confirmed that the threads were clean all the way through. I removed the pivot bolts, greased the threads and screwed them back and, this time, into the lined up swinging arm, adjusting each one to make sure the swinging arm was central in the frame. After tightening to the correct torque settings, the lock washer tabs on the left pivot bolt were bent into place and the locknut at the other side tightened. A final check on the gaps between the edges of the swinging arm confirmed that the difference between the two was well within tolerance of 1.6mm. I fitted the single rear shock to the swinging arm (the other shock fits onto the drive shaft hub). Now back to those shear-bolts...

Re my earlier mention on the ignition switch riveted to the top yoke - well, guess what, these are not rivets, these are shear-bolts and, if they are the original factory fit, they will have been loctited in - aargh! So, I am now considering my options - but I would really like to put in a nice new ignition switch - after I have stripped the yoke down, blasted and painted it. Hmmm, decisions decisions ...

Some more (slow) progress to report. The photos have captions... The centre stand spring and bolts were rusted and the locknuts were shot so I gave the bolts and the spring a quick bead blast in my cabinet and replaced the locknuts with nice new Stainless Nylock nuts. After greasing the bolt shafts and fitting the centre stand (I had the frame upside down to make this easier) I painted them with Hamerite satin black, and I am happy with the results, although I might give them a second coat bearing in mind where they are and likely to pick up road grime. I also fitted the steering head bearing races, after the usual couple of days in the freezer. The next job is the top and bottom yokes and I'll probably blast these too but the ignition switch has been riveted into the yoke (although the manual suggests that this is screwed into the yoke, not riveted?). I am considering drilling out the rivets and drilling/tapping for new studs - although I am not convinced. Any ideas or experience with these folks?

Stiff back wheel? How does it turn with the driveshaft disconnected? If it's OK without the shaft, and it's tight with the shaft connected then it might be still in gear or perhaps you could have some transmission problems. Don't over tighten (torque to the correct settings) the rear axle, check that the spacers are in the right way round and make sure everything is aligned. I assume your rear brake isn't binding? It could be the bearings but they usually fail when the wheel is turning, not when it's been standing for a couple of years (unless it has been allowed to dry out and rust). Let us know how you get on.