If your carbs are still connected to the throttle i don't know how tore down your bike is.
But if its still connected there is the throttle bar that is connected to all 4 carbs right in front of the carbs try moving it with you hand up and down. if it moves up then its stuck down and if it moves down your stuck open.

The bike is in the same state you see it in the photos on page one.

The old throttle cable was connected to the carbs and no Right side controls were present.

Got the new throttle handle and hooked it up and there is litterally no play in it. The cable is taught within 2-3mm of travel in the throttle handle. I will take a look and grab some pictures here for us in a second.

Hey Everyone,

There is definitely something stuck about the throttle. The cable moves freely but the part where it attaches near the carbs is locked. I tried to take some meaningful pictures but I dont know how helpful they will be.







Any ideas?

I ordered the wrong screws for the ignition switch. I was looking for the mounting bolts that go up through the black piece you put the key in. I ordered the larger bolts just behind it holding the metal bracket together.



Also got some new drag bars




Thanks everyone! More to come soon.

The throttle cable connects to a semi circular guide which opens the carb butterflies, 90 degrees. The linkage should shut and open freely (Against spring pressure). Disconnect the throttle and see if the linkage closes. There could be a mechanical reason - something like a stone or dropped washer mechanically preventing the throttles from closing.

More likely the throttle quadrant got caught under the fins on the back of the head when the rack went back on. Easy to do, even easier to do on the 550s (don't ask.)

Either that or the stub cable is not seated in its groove in the semi-circular guide and is caught on somethng instead.

Look under there carefully from the right; you should be able to see what's going on.

You'll need a shorter clutch cable for those bars; get a Seca 750 cable from Len it'll work great. You can re-route the extra throttle cable to go over the frame crosspiece there and have a straight shot down to the bracket.

"Quadrant", good word, I like it..........

chacal wrote:

"Quadrant", good word, I like it..........

Quadrant is a good word but brings back bad memories of a UK model Ford called a "Cortina".

The quadrant was a self adjusting plastic ratchet on the clutch pedal cable. They were cheap but a B1tch to change (Laying upside down, swearing,with a torch in your mouth and your head in the footwell)

Quadrant: From Websters: ...an arc of 90 degrees that is one quarter of a circle; a device or mechanical part shaped like or suggestive of the quadrant of a circle.

I was going for the latter...

The sun had come down on my face.. It was finally warm enough out to do some paint stripping in this part of the country... so I hopped to it





Rolled her out on the driveway and dug deep finally. Getting ready to check valve clearances I took out the original spark plugs to see how it was running before it sat for 10 years. Here they are :

Plug 1



Plug 2



Plug 3



Plug 4




One was pretty oily. Two and four were about the same. Dark electrode and reddish core. Three was very clean. It looked like oil and gas poured out of the bike at some point based on the buildup on the swingarm and saturated air filter / box. Lets look at the carburetor now.

Of the four the first three have frozen diaphragm assemblies and the fourth moves freely.

Front

[img]Carb numbers ^(4,3,2,1)

On the inside of three there is a very solid pool of something that is rock hard and dark like oil but not liquid. Number two is by far the dirtiest on the outside.

Back

Carb numbers^(1,2,3,4)


I have about 4 of these solenoid holders that are broken that need replacement. Any ideas? Are they standard at auto stores? I am looking at a parts bike on craigslist too that will probably be profitable in the end because of the variety of small parts I need.




Do you think cracked coils is a problem? I am getting my ohmmeter back from a friend tomorrow so I will test them out and let you know.






Thats all for now. Will post more details tomorrow.

-B$
re. XJ550 Maxim Project - Carbs finally off!-#PictureHeavy#-

Re: Coils-- not good, especially if the cracks go all the way through to the core. You can try flushing them out with some contact cleaner and then packing the cracks with black RTV, but I'd replace.

Re: Relay holders-- Not commonly available anywhere; never sold separately by MamaYama either. Ask chacal; or do what I do: wrap a small black zip tie around it, trim neatly and call it a day. I would say that between two bikes about half of mine are zip-tie "reinforced."

Re: Carbs-- Get your "eBay-fu" working and find another rack. Then you will have plenty of spare parts especially for the big stuff like bowls or a carb body. Be aware: The 550 Seca and 550 Maxim carbs, while the same, ARE different. They use a different needle and pilot jet but everything else is interchangeable. I got a nearly perfect set from the 'bay for $55.

I soaked the carbs and the diaphragms are all free now
Still looking at getting a new set or a rebuild able one. This bike really needs to come together next week so I will be ordering a pile of parts this weekend. I also have my workspace back now as well Updates soon.