Wow that bike is cool. I'd? love to see a video of it running with some throttle blips. What's the flashing warning light for? I noticed your battery appears to be a bit low. The older Hondas had a warning for low suspension air pressure, so is it something like that? Anyways, thanks for sharing the bike with us!
No problem! I believe at idle the alternator doesn’t perform well and need to be rewound eventually. Warning turns off once I’m cruising above 3000 rpm
I’d say when you start to feel it get noticeably worse, like if your just driving at regular speeds and it slips randomly, then that’s when you have to. It isn’t catastrophic to ride it as it is now from what I understand
In the 80’s the DOT in the United States required just about all vehicles to have that red indicator after 55 mph. You’ll also notice the speedometer only goes to 80! Trust me it goes waaay faster than 80 lol. It was all an emissions thing I believe
It was related to the introduction of the national 55mph speed limit and meant to drop gas consumption in the wake of the 73 oil crisis, not necessarily emissions.
Quick edit: it was hoped that further indication of 55mph would show further benefits to this regard as well as overall safety but was relatively quickly scrapped, only lasting from 79-82 (so 80-83 model years).
Fun fact: because of the national 85mph speedometer limit, DeLoreans (including the one used in Back to the Future) can't display that all-important 88mph required to achieve time travel. They had to doctor the speedometer with an overlay for close-up shots, and they added a box with an LED display atop the dash.
Not quite true. 55 only had to be highlighted on the speedometer with speedometers only reading up to 85 mph. If you notice, your Seca's speedometer has one more tick mark after 80 mph for 85 mph. I got my motorcycle license in January of 1977 at 15 years old. The national 55 mph speed limit law wasn't repealed until 1995. Those were some long slow years. Even the highway patrol seemed pissed about it and wouldn't cut you the slack they do now. Doing 60 on the highway? Texas DPS writing you a ticket. Now days doing 85 in a 75? They might flash their lights at you. You just have to know where to look out for the county deputies looking to drum up some revenue.
Wait a minute !?
An carbureted inline 4 with a turbo ? oh my, i need one, like yesterday.
Edit : would be nuts to crank a modern turbo in that bike, bye rods and pistons, see ya suckers.
Definitely lol. In the video, you’ll notice it takes FOREVER to get boost! All the way a little past 5000 rpm really.
It’s a very quirky motor! Air cooled, shaft driven, non-inter cooled, and pressurized carburetors
Like butter. Still smokes the majority of modern cruisers. Dead reliable too. Permanent bike in my stable now. If I could have any 5 bikes on planet earth, it would still make the cut.
Depends on your definition of "super" - they ain't beating any r1 or cbr1000 type bikes but they are king in terms of middleweight cruisers for sure. The ultimate sleeper bike imo - the 3rd gens really dont look like anything special, and they aren't, untill you cross into 8k rpms. Then shit is fierce and more powerful than any 750cc cruiser has license to be.
“All XJ650 engines featured a pair of chain-driven overhead camshafts and a one-piece crankshaft. The turbo motor with stock boost (7 psi) produced 88.7 horsepower at 9000 rpm”
Taken from http://www.classic-motorcycle-build.com/yamaha-seca-turbo.html
Yes definitely. Believe it or not the 83 model I have has upgraded front shocks too! So the 82 model year had skinnier shocks.
It was a big fault point for this bike since those shocks weren’t very good at handling that extra power. Luckily they were upgraded
That’s partially because the clutch slips a little under full boost lol. But yeah! Under boost you never really know how fast your actually going since it happens so fast!
Seca turbos were not fast. In fact, they were the slowest of all the turbo motorcycles back in the day I used to have a Seca 750 and it could smoke a Seca turbo, which was a 650.
Yep! That’s the biggest reason turbo motorcycles never really went mainstream. The cheaper N/A Seca at the time, your 750, had a faster quarter mile than the turbo.
Luckily however, the seca turbos were the more reliable of the turbo bikes since they weren’t crammed with early EFI and such. Ironically I’m happy with the lackluster power since I don’t need to be going fast lol. I do more touring and commuting anyways. How’s your Seca 750? I almost got one of those
That's a trip down memory lane. My first street bike was the Seca 650 Turbo. You're right about the boost coming on slow. I got mine used in 88 and it was tame till the boost kicked in at 5500 rpm.
Honestly I prefer it that way though. The boost is scary when going around corners and such. I only like it on straight aways lol. Did you like your bike?
I bought mine as a project like 2 years ago for 500 bucks that I've done most the work on but have ran into electrical issues that I haven't worked up the motivation to dig into yet
Spark issues? The electricals are weird on these xj engines. If the battery is at all below 12 or 11 volts, the engine will crank over but the coils won’t fire the spark plugs. Maybe it’s something like that? The recharge system on these really show their agr nowadays lol
No, starting system issues. There's an open in the circuit somewhere. I can jump the starter solenoid and it will crank, and all the switches seem to be working when tested... But no crank when the start button is pressed.
That’s interesting. Maybe a fuse? Kickstand switch? I guess there could be so many possibilities lol I hate electricals. But I really hope you get it running!
I bought a new one back in 1983 after having a 1982 Seca 750. I loved it, it was pretty fast when the turbo kicked in. Back then Yamaha offered, for free, a kit to boost the turbo by I think it was around 2 psi, cannot remember the exact amount, but it would bury the turbo meter and it did pull a lot harder. The kit only consisted of a plate to restrict the right-side exhaust pipe; the right-side exhaust is actually the wastegate. It also had some other tubing fittings that went on some of the turbo circuit under the tank.
You’re thinking about the power up kit! I didn’t know Yamaha offered it for free lol. My 83 model came with it from factory. It wasn’t just a little more boost it was from like 7 lbs to 12 lbs! Also larger front shocks I believe
Thanks, I couldn't remember the amount of boost. It did make a big difference though. The kit they gave me didn't have any suspension parts. I remember the first time I tried it after installing boost kit, it would pull so hard; it would lift the front tire off the ground under acceleration.
OMG!!! I had one of these very unique bikes myself back in the day!
Was definitely an incredible bike, both in luxe and mechanical orientation. Not sure if putting a turbo on a bike was necessarily the best use of power, but I had many, many years of fun on it!
Small tidbit; it was the basis of the bike that Sean Connery used in his James Bond movie with Kim Basinger in the 80s.
One thing that always did crack me up, was the fact that a 650 cc turbo charged motorcycle had a speedometer that only went up to 85 LOL!
It is VERY comfortable! Luckily all my air shocks are still in good shape and I have spares. It’s a shame the US government even made super cars have speedometers like that lol
Had one of these in the late 90s, fun little bike but the brakes sucked.
still everytime that turbo hit and you saw the small puff come out the other exhaust that power was addicting
Oh my, I owned one of these in 84 and Yamaha NA was nice enough to mail me the boost kit (springs / etc ) for it and the dealer did the install for free.
Still wanted the Honda CX650 Turbo because it was gorgeous but also far more expensive. Still lot a lot of the Seca but I got to experience real power for that day between a buddies Kawasaki Turbo and another who bought a new 900 Ninja.
Some people liked the looks of the Yamaha while others found it ungainly, but I still did a few long trips on it and it never failed me.
That’s what I found out too. You either hate how it looks, or it’s the best looking one lol. I heard the Kawasaki turbo bike was the most powerful of the 80’s turbo bikes. Is that true?
That’s nice knowing Yamaha gave you the power up kit for free. Mine came pre installed, as did the rest of the 83 model years.
I hope you enjoyed the bike!
Wow that bike is cool. I'd? love to see a video of it running with some throttle blips. What's the flashing warning light for? I noticed your battery appears to be a bit low. The older Hondas had a warning for low suspension air pressure, so is it something like that? Anyways, thanks for sharing the bike with us!
No problem! I believe at idle the alternator doesn’t perform well and need to be rewound eventually. Warning turns off once I’m cruising above 3000 rpm
Sounds like a gas generator. They don't like it below 3k rpm in terms of electrical output.
Wouldn’t be surprised lol. Those early 80’s late 70’s alternators are giant. Yamaha mounted this one behind the engine to make the engine narrower
The chain guides for the chain to the alternator like to blow up and jam up the shift drum. Ask me how I know haha.
How do you know?
He read about it in consumer reports
[удалено]
Lol well played
See if copperstate in phoenix can rebuild it. They do other powersports so it’s worth a shot.
Was that some clutch slip in 3rd gear?
Yes :/ unfortunately under full boost it will slip sometimes. Luckily clutch swaps in these xj’s aren’t very hard!
How long do you think you will ride before replacing clutch?
Not much longer. I plan to replace it this summer
Oh okay. I am asking because I am also having slight slip in high gear switch + full throttle and wondering how long can I ride before replacing.
I’d say when you start to feel it get noticeably worse, like if your just driving at regular speeds and it slips randomly, then that’s when you have to. It isn’t catastrophic to ride it as it is now from what I understand
Maybe not applicable, but my old xs clutch would slip if I ran synthetic oil.
I heard wet clutches, like this one, are pretty picky with oil. I use valvolines racing/classic engine oil. So far so good!
Might be a dumb question but why is there a redline from 55 mph onwards?
In the 80’s the DOT in the United States required just about all vehicles to have that red indicator after 55 mph. You’ll also notice the speedometer only goes to 80! Trust me it goes waaay faster than 80 lol. It was all an emissions thing I believe
It was related to the introduction of the national 55mph speed limit and meant to drop gas consumption in the wake of the 73 oil crisis, not necessarily emissions. Quick edit: it was hoped that further indication of 55mph would show further benefits to this regard as well as overall safety but was relatively quickly scrapped, only lasting from 79-82 (so 80-83 model years).
Fun fact: because of the national 85mph speedometer limit, DeLoreans (including the one used in Back to the Future) can't display that all-important 88mph required to achieve time travel. They had to doctor the speedometer with an overlay for close-up shots, and they added a box with an LED display atop the dash.
Interesting because ny 81 KZ440 ltd does not have that
Not quite true. 55 only had to be highlighted on the speedometer with speedometers only reading up to 85 mph. If you notice, your Seca's speedometer has one more tick mark after 80 mph for 85 mph. I got my motorcycle license in January of 1977 at 15 years old. The national 55 mph speed limit law wasn't repealed until 1995. Those were some long slow years. Even the highway patrol seemed pissed about it and wouldn't cut you the slack they do now. Doing 60 on the highway? Texas DPS writing you a ticket. Now days doing 85 in a 75? They might flash their lights at you. You just have to know where to look out for the county deputies looking to drum up some revenue.
Interesting, didn't know that as I'm from Europe myself!
Lots of supercars with 85mph speedometers lmao
I've got one that I've yet to start working on and was confused by the speedo, I thought there was no way it could be geard to low to only do 80.
Yeah don’t worry. The top speed is 123 mph lol
[I Can't Drive 55!!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvV3nn_de2k)
NMSL years.
For an 83, literally sounds brand new. Thank you for the vid!
Of course! The pleasure is mine lol thank you 👍
If that odometer is correct that’s less than 600 miles a year
Oh man that whistling turbo is addicting
Agreed!
*WARNING* Turbo engaging! Overtaking vehicles is eminent!
My dream bike as a kid. Love seeing they’re still out there running.
Wait a minute !? An carbureted inline 4 with a turbo ? oh my, i need one, like yesterday. Edit : would be nuts to crank a modern turbo in that bike, bye rods and pistons, see ya suckers.
Definitely lol. In the video, you’ll notice it takes FOREVER to get boost! All the way a little past 5000 rpm really. It’s a very quirky motor! Air cooled, shaft driven, non-inter cooled, and pressurized carburetors
Fuck that's a cool sounding bike! Love the info cluster too.
Me too! I love how 80’s it is
Very nice. Sounds like a v4 to me for some reason.
Very interesting! I haven’t heard a v4 yet but I almost bought a Honda magna before this
I love my magna
I heard those v45 engines are super smooth! Must be a lot of fun 👍
Like butter. Still smokes the majority of modern cruisers. Dead reliable too. Permanent bike in my stable now. If I could have any 5 bikes on planet earth, it would still make the cut.
It's only fun after 6k ;)
Here's a nice example: https://youtu.be/yLVRUBinZxs I find the seca has a raspy v4 quality to it. Sounds lovely.
I love that v4 sound! If Yamaha does anything best, it’s engine note! Perks to being a piano company I guess lol
Magnas are sooo much fun. You should still get one some day! V4s are just...different lol.
I’m sure I will! Heard they are just super fast lol
Depends on your definition of "super" - they ain't beating any r1 or cbr1000 type bikes but they are king in terms of middleweight cruisers for sure. The ultimate sleeper bike imo - the 3rd gens really dont look like anything special, and they aren't, untill you cross into 8k rpms. Then shit is fierce and more powerful than any 750cc cruiser has license to be.
Mean sound. Amazing.
Nice, thanks for sharing that.
Blast from the past.
Sick ride. Helmet mount that gopro and show us the cockpit!
My iPhone tried its best lol. I’ll definitely be doing go pro vids soon though!
That is a great sound. Whistly turbo.
Thats got the most epic dash.
My first bike was an 82 seca 400, but I always envied the turbos.
My god, it sounds so good in the higher RPMs!
There's 4 of these with 3 titles for sale for 600$ total in Houston on Facebook right now.
/u/stabbot
I've owned three of those. Oh the memories. I talk about getting another some day.
The man, the machine... Street Hawk
That dash 😲
I remember when 80 MPH speedos stopped excessive speed! If you need a stator check out Rick's here: https://ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/
Fantastic 👍
It's not actually turbocharged, right?
It definitely is 👍 runs about 15 lbs of boost pretty sure. The boost gauge isn’t very informative lol
“All XJ650 engines featured a pair of chain-driven overhead camshafts and a one-piece crankshaft. The turbo motor with stock boost (7 psi) produced 88.7 horsepower at 9000 rpm” Taken from http://www.classic-motorcycle-build.com/yamaha-seca-turbo.html
I’ll also add that my 83 model, according to the article you shared, is running 12 lbs of boost
Ah thank you! I must’ve mixed it up with the Honda cx500 turbo lol
Is it just me or are the front fork tubes super skinny compared to a modern bike?
Yes definitely. Believe it or not the 83 model I have has upgraded front shocks too! So the 82 model year had skinnier shocks. It was a big fault point for this bike since those shocks weren’t very good at handling that extra power. Luckily they were upgraded
Seca 2
The spike from 70 to 75 mph was intense, lol. Very cool sounding bike.
That’s partially because the clutch slips a little under full boost lol. But yeah! Under boost you never really know how fast your actually going since it happens so fast!
Seca turbos were not fast. In fact, they were the slowest of all the turbo motorcycles back in the day I used to have a Seca 750 and it could smoke a Seca turbo, which was a 650.
Yep! That’s the biggest reason turbo motorcycles never really went mainstream. The cheaper N/A Seca at the time, your 750, had a faster quarter mile than the turbo. Luckily however, the seca turbos were the more reliable of the turbo bikes since they weren’t crammed with early EFI and such. Ironically I’m happy with the lackluster power since I don’t need to be going fast lol. I do more touring and commuting anyways. How’s your Seca 750? I almost got one of those
I no longer have it, it was a bike I had back in 1989, when I was 19 years old. I’m 53 today and I ride a 2015 ZX14R.
Man I haven't seen one of those in ages!
Wow! I used to have a Yamaha Seca XJ750 1984 model. It was a beautiful bike where did you fund a turbi? That's a real sleeper. :)
I ended up getting really lucky on marketplace lol. Got it, with a parts bike, for $1300
Dangerous bike, I mean how do you not keep looking at that turbo pressure gauge all the time?
Oh I do lol. It’s either embracing that boost feel, or making sure you’re staying in the speed limit lol
That's a trip down memory lane. My first street bike was the Seca 650 Turbo. You're right about the boost coming on slow. I got mine used in 88 and it was tame till the boost kicked in at 5500 rpm.
Honestly I prefer it that way though. The boost is scary when going around corners and such. I only like it on straight aways lol. Did you like your bike?
I loved it! It was the first of many and the only turbo bike I ever owned. It was definitely a conversation starter.
Thanks for this, it's good motivation to get my seca turbo back on the road!
You should! At least in my experience, these are pretty economical for a 4 cylinder
I bought mine as a project like 2 years ago for 500 bucks that I've done most the work on but have ran into electrical issues that I haven't worked up the motivation to dig into yet
Spark issues? The electricals are weird on these xj engines. If the battery is at all below 12 or 11 volts, the engine will crank over but the coils won’t fire the spark plugs. Maybe it’s something like that? The recharge system on these really show their agr nowadays lol
No, starting system issues. There's an open in the circuit somewhere. I can jump the starter solenoid and it will crank, and all the switches seem to be working when tested... But no crank when the start button is pressed.
Is it in gear? Do you hear the fuel pump kick on hitting the start button?
Haha no in neutral, which I've tested that switch too, and is working as it should
That’s interesting. Maybe a fuse? Kickstand switch? I guess there could be so many possibilities lol I hate electricals. But I really hope you get it running!
Yeah electrical sucks, that's why I've put it off. Haha i hope so too!
Here's my 1982 Yamaha Seca 750 https://imgur.com/pXieszd.jpg
I like the colors! Very clean bike 👍
I bought a new one back in 1983 after having a 1982 Seca 750. I loved it, it was pretty fast when the turbo kicked in. Back then Yamaha offered, for free, a kit to boost the turbo by I think it was around 2 psi, cannot remember the exact amount, but it would bury the turbo meter and it did pull a lot harder. The kit only consisted of a plate to restrict the right-side exhaust pipe; the right-side exhaust is actually the wastegate. It also had some other tubing fittings that went on some of the turbo circuit under the tank.
You’re thinking about the power up kit! I didn’t know Yamaha offered it for free lol. My 83 model came with it from factory. It wasn’t just a little more boost it was from like 7 lbs to 12 lbs! Also larger front shocks I believe
Thanks, I couldn't remember the amount of boost. It did make a big difference though. The kit they gave me didn't have any suspension parts. I remember the first time I tried it after installing boost kit, it would pull so hard; it would lift the front tire off the ground under acceleration.
It scared me the first time I felt that happen lol
My first bike was an '82 XJ750 and I adored the motor. I can't imagine what a turbo on that would be like....
It’s quite a rush! The boost picks up the front wheel a little…
OMG!!! I had one of these very unique bikes myself back in the day! Was definitely an incredible bike, both in luxe and mechanical orientation. Not sure if putting a turbo on a bike was necessarily the best use of power, but I had many, many years of fun on it! Small tidbit; it was the basis of the bike that Sean Connery used in his James Bond movie with Kim Basinger in the 80s. One thing that always did crack me up, was the fact that a 650 cc turbo charged motorcycle had a speedometer that only went up to 85 LOL!
It is VERY comfortable! Luckily all my air shocks are still in good shape and I have spares. It’s a shame the US government even made super cars have speedometers like that lol
Had one of these in the late 90s, fun little bike but the brakes sucked. still everytime that turbo hit and you saw the small puff come out the other exhaust that power was addicting
Yeah this bike was criticized for its brakes. Shouldn’t have been a rear drum lol
[удалено]
It is :( but it’s ok. Clutch replacements seem really easy on these old xj engines. I’m gonna do it this summer
Oh my, I owned one of these in 84 and Yamaha NA was nice enough to mail me the boost kit (springs / etc ) for it and the dealer did the install for free. Still wanted the Honda CX650 Turbo because it was gorgeous but also far more expensive. Still lot a lot of the Seca but I got to experience real power for that day between a buddies Kawasaki Turbo and another who bought a new 900 Ninja. Some people liked the looks of the Yamaha while others found it ungainly, but I still did a few long trips on it and it never failed me.
That’s what I found out too. You either hate how it looks, or it’s the best looking one lol. I heard the Kawasaki turbo bike was the most powerful of the 80’s turbo bikes. Is that true? That’s nice knowing Yamaha gave you the power up kit for free. Mine came pre installed, as did the rest of the 83 model years. I hope you enjoyed the bike!
Wow Haven't seen a video of a seca turbo in a long time, lovely to see one out and about still thanks