1989 FJ1200 “restomod”

[Tourmax]

Just about every vehicle I own eventually ends up under the title “restomod”. I just can’t leave well enough alone, but rather than go crazy building something, I tend to follow the original style/theme of whatever I’m working on and just enhance or refine what is already there. My 1989 FJ1200 is no different....

back in 1984, I was still in high school. Being a typical canadian teenager, I was into motorcycles (as well as machines i general). I raced rd350/400’s out at Shubie and in 1983 I had managed to scrape upenough cash to buy a VF750F Interceptor. In 1983, the 750 Honda Interceptor was top of the “wunderbike” pile. It was all conquering. So much so that literbikes had to be worried about that “little” 750.

well, that was a great year! I had the big dog on the streets and no one dared mess with it.

it was great, until 1984 when Yamaha let loose the FJ1100.
It immediately dominated the drag strip and the street. It was the top of the heap, period and I wanted one....badly.

sadly, it never worked out. I just coukdn’t get the 6+ grand together to buy one, even if I sold the VF. The FJ went on to my bucket list and fadded into my past.

fast forward to age 45. Always looking for the next project, I ran across a 1983 Yamaha Venture. Big old touring bike, which I thought would be better for my rapidly declining health. I had to go to PEI to pick it up.
While browsing PEI kijiji, I ran across an FJ1200. It was old, it was beat and it was 800 bucks! A couple phone calls reveals the Venture and the FJ were only about 20 mins apart. I talk with the missus and she knew how long I’d been vetching for an FJ. She looks at me and says “buy both”.

well, I didn’t even stop to question it. That weekend, we hooked up the trailer and off we went. Came hone the next day and:

the Venture was a 25,000 km one owner bike. Garage kept and pretty much mint for a 1983:

but the FJ was in sad shape. It had gone through several uncaring owners. The current owner had it stored in a shed that was literally 30 feet from the Atlantic ocean. He took it on trade fron a guy in quebec and it had sat for several years. He wasn’t a bike guy. It looked like this when I picked it up:

Pics make it look better than it was. Literally every panel was cracked, battery was stone dead, multiple switches and modules were dead and the paint was, well....lets just say it wasn’t good and leave it at that. But I jump started it and it actually started on the couple year old gas. No smoke and once warmed, it ran and sounded pretty good. The odo said 66,000, but I coukd tell it was probably actually 166,000. Especially since I found an old add from quebec where mileage was listed as 89,000. But, it ran, no smoke, no noises and it sounded healthy.

sold! I finally had my FJ!

to be continued....

 

[Tourmax]

So now I had probably the rattiest FJ I had ever seen in my garage. Time to do something with it.

First off, chucked a battery in it. now it at least starts on its own.

Out comes the oil and filter. Yuck. No missing the fact its been in there for a very long time.

Next up, off came the carbs. Stripped ’em down to nothing and dropped in the ultrasonic. The crap that floated up to the surface was enough to make me gag. But now they were clean, inside and out. Put them back together, did some quick idle mix adjustments and it was ticking over beautifully.

Then I made a new vinyl seat cover since the old one was ripped in several places. While I was at it, I stripped off the rear top rack mount someone had installed:

Bloody buggers punched holes right through the tail fairingand bolted it down. This cracked the tail fairing, in addition to the three big holes.

A quick bit of muffler cement fixes up a hole in the LH muffler and a quick shot of high temp black hides it.

A PO had installed mufflers from a later year on it. This put the mounts in the wrong place and they had just cut a piece of steel pipe to make up the difference between where the mid pipe stopped and the mufflers started. Not such a big deal except they used regular muffler clamps on them, which dented the crap out of the mid pipe. Oh well, at least it worked.

a little more fettling and I drove it for the rest of that season:

Worked great, although you could tell it needed some attention, both cosmetically and mechanically.

So that winter, parts started to flow.

First was a set of new/used side covers. The ones on the bike had cracks and broken tabs

Then came a new/used tail fairing:

Ebay turned up a set of used Kerker slip ons. Yoink! Mine! They werent exactly “cheap”, but are period correct aftermarket parts. they certainly were “well used”:

They were corroded, the packing had all blown out, they were caked solid inside with soot, they had road rash and the rh muff actually had a hole rubbed through it by the swingarm (poor precious installation).

But a bit of refurb work:

And they were back to fighting trim. They sounded absolutely mean too!



Then, builup some proper mid pipes:

Good stuff!

Then I decided I needed a wheel swap.

The front was a 17”-er, but the back was a 16”, like when the fj1100 was originally released in 1984. Well, that won’t do.

16” tires are nearly impossible to find these days. I needed some modern 17” radials. Both for better handling and to allow a wider selection of tire brands/types.

The front was easy. I just hunted up an FZR750R front rim:

Well, maybe I’m selling that a little short. They’re like unobtainium these days. They never made a lot of fzr750R’s, so scoring one was a major stroke of luck. It just bolts right on to an FJ. Same bearings, spacers, discs etc. All of it swaps right over and I went from a 3” wide rim to a 3.5”. Much easier to find a modern radial for a 3.5” width. Some stripping and a bit of machine work and:

The rear was a bit more challenging.

There is no direct swap, unless you wanted to use suzuki gsxr rims (which only need new spacers to fit). Well, I wanted all yammy parts. A fzr1000r rim will go on and is a perfect match for the front, but it needs machine work to fit.

spacers are no big deal, but the real problem is the drive sprockets don’t line up when the wheel is centered in the frame. The FZR1000R rim center is wider than the FJ.

So I cut down the sprocket carrier, shaved down the inside parts of the drive in the rim and spun up some custom spacers:

there we go! 17” rim that takes a 170 radial. Perfect.

About this time, that swingarm was looking kinda spindly (not to mention, the oem fj arm tends to be a bit....”flexible). So I ordered up a used FZ1 swingarm:

That sucker is bigger and since its extruded through a die, it has multiple internal ribs. Its a piece of 100 ton granite stiffness compared to the orginal fj arm.

But as you can see, its longer than the fj arm. Guys do put these on fj’s, but all they do is cut the pivot down to width and accept the 3-4” longer arm length.

Yeah, thats not going to work for me. The fj already has a “luxury liner” sized wheelbase and making it longer is just going to make the handling even more slow and ponderous than it already is.

I’m not a crazy in the twisties, but I raced when I was younger and now a slow turning bike really bugs the crap out of me. When I do want to flick it side to side, I want the bike to work with me, not against me.

So, lets cut that sucker down:

Much better! Well, at least its the proper FJ length.

Next up, the oem rear shock was a mess. Saggy, soft, flat, leaking etc. You name it, it was busted on this shock.

The oem shock is “non-rebuilable” (it’d be wasting your money if it was anyways) and aftermarket gets stupid expensive, stupid fast. But luckily, I have several cbr600rr shocks around and a keen will to build something!



Unlike most oem shocks. The 600rr shocks are actually good units, worthy of rebuilding. Its why I grab ‘em when I find them going cheap. But, theres no way a 600re shock is going to fit the fj. The integrated reservoir is in the wrong place, thw clevis ends are wrong and its just overall not sprung for the eight of the fj.

I think we all know by now I can fix that:

I wasn’t looking forward to loosing the fj’s stock remote preload adjuster, so I broke down a kawi zg1400 shock to pirate its hydraulic preload adjuster:

Then some welding and I make the shock reservoir remote, along with the zg adjuster:

i slip the dj spring on the shock and mount it all:

Thats great! Modern shock, fully adjustable and remote spring preload. I still have to fine tune the shim stack, but I need to get some seat time for that.

some old dot calipers front and rear:

Along with an FJR1300 master:

Thats actually the clutch master (i straightened the lever afterwards) to match the fjr brake master.

to be con’t.....

 

[Tourmax]

Reserved for future posts.

 

[Tourmax]

Last one: reserved for future posts.

 

[AxeZ06]

Roughly 46 hours ago, I got me some FJR.

 

[AndrewJ]

damn..brings back memories...got my bike lic in 1984...by 1990 bought my first of 3 FJ11s and 12s..amazing bikes..years later had a couple of FJR1300s...recently sold my 2018 Goldwing...might pick up a cheap FJR

 

[Ron C]

Wow great story. I also had an 83 750 interceptor 83 venture royale ( also an 89) an 89 fj1200 (great bike) Then went to ducati. Current ride is a 2012 multistrada 1200S. Also have a 76 stingray with a 2020 on order. Cheers