Meet Roxanne the 2007 XJR

[WestOzFJXJR]

I found her beat up and bleeding layin' in the gutter on flea-bay street in Warnambool Victoria and had her shipped over for urgent medical attention...

Like all damaged gals she has her issues, but with some TLC she'll be returned to her former glory and then some over the next few months.



For the piddly sum I paid for her I have enough left in my budget to have ordered most of the repair bits I need out of Europe and the UK over the past couple of week to give her a boob job (twin hid headlights), fix her hemeroids (damaged exhaust) and a bit of a nip and tuck here and there with an aftermarket dash, some billet bits and braided lines....

Biggest issue is repairing the fuel tank which dealers here want $2300+ for a new one which ain't gonna happen (purely on principal) although I've seen one from a dealer in Germany at 930 euros (which slashes the landed price by $500). But I got chatting with a custom bike painter in Ozzy Park who says he can repair the tank to "as new" for a lot less. Although you all know how it is - the tank's the one thing that has to be right or it just isn't gonna be satisfying if it doesn't turn out the way you'd hoped. I'll probably end up taking a chance with him on his word though - I got the vibe from his shop he knows what he's doing and if it's not quite perfect I've got a design in mind for an airbrushed mural...

And into next year when she's back to looking smart I'll start on engine/injection mods to a spare motor I've had for while to slot in when done...

Will post back later with pics and things as they progress...'

[WestOzFJXJR]

Well it's taken me a lot longer than I thought it would to get her looking respectable again but finally here she is...



Besides the obvious cosmetic repairs to damage and changes from standard with parts both new and used brought in from all over the world, additional not so obvious mods to this stage include air/fuel ratio data logger and home baked mods to the ECU...

Next is further planned mods are happening with parts on their way here for the engine project...

[chief wiggum]

looks a lot nicer than she used to. why not include some prices so all those playing at home have an idea of what they might be spending in a similar situation?

[WestOzFJXJR]

G'day Chief W,

I originally bought the bike out of Victoria for 2800 + 600 to get it here...

The prices (including shipping) for the bits I had to replace were:

45 - bar end mirrors (out of an ebay store somewhere in Asia)
50 - clutch and brake lever set (ditto)
30 - handlebars (Two Wheel wreckers - Ozzy Park)
10 - clutch lever switch (same)
60 - front fender (Classic m/c parts - UK)
70 - 2 x indicators - (out of Sydney - another ebay store)
40 - 2 x clear indicator lenses as the above came with orange (out of Germany, ebay again)
75 - stainless headlight brackets (out of a UK ebay store)
100 - twin headlights (same ebay store)
120 - front wheel - (from a guy in Qld through ebay)
400 - top muffler (from Lazer in Holland)
2100 - new fuel tank out of Yamaha dealer over east (Perth stealers quoted higher).

Could have had the fuel tank repaired but decided I didn't want to take a $1000 risk the result would disappoint... plus now the old tank is in the process of being cut down into a dyno tank - shorter so I can trial and dial some different cam combinations without pulling the tank on and off...

Other stuff I added (but didn't need to fix her up):
150 - full set Hel braided lines (out of Bulgaria - ebay)
550 - Zeitronix air fuel ratio data logger/digital dispay (out of the US)

At the time I was looking in Perth bike shops, 07 XJR's were selling for about 10.5 to 11k... So I think it was worth the effort plus I got myself the mild custom I wanted.

Victor.