82 maxim chopped,lowered and much much more..

Whats up guys im new to this forum ive been so busy workin on the xj i havent had a chance to join, figured id post a couple pics of my progress im roughly 250-300 into it and now its just electrical such as the tailight and headlight. Ive been having issues as far as the tailight its an aftermarket cateye license plate mount i hooked it up and all im getting is a bright lit tailight, no running light and when i hit the brake pedal it dims and blows the ten amp fuse. If anyone here is really good with electrical and could give me a hand id really appreciate it.

 

There are folks here that are good with electrics. Sadly, I'm not one of 'em . Just wanted to say, scooter looks NICE...

skillet

 

what kind of light is it? did you replace the electrical? did you replace the fusebox?

 

I love the exhaust!! Need more pics and lot more details of what you did. What shocks are those?? Lookin' pretty schweeet!

 

I'm just now realizing you're in RI...that's great! Because I'm in mansfield, ma, about 30 minutes from providence. I did LED's on my bike and was able to get them to function properly. If you wanna take a ride down here I'd be more than happy to take a look.

 

All my build pictures are on my phone i would snap one here and there to show my progress but surprisingly the quality isnt too bad, ive done some frame modifying i brought the seat bar down so the angle of it would line up with the back bone of the bike, ive converted the three bars under the tank to one single bar so i could properly fit a king sportster tank, the back was lowered using honda rebel 250 shocks (picked them up brand new on ebay for about 100 dollars), the whole exhaust is custom two into one at the headers then 1 3/4 mendrel piping all the way back with honda goldwing tips lol, the bars are custom about 2 inch rise maybe an inch or two of pullback, the airbox was chopped for more room i made a restrictor plate and used a briggs and stratton air filter im going to post some more pictures for you guys later im actually on my lunch break so im a little short of time, thanks for looking ill keep you guys updated

 

I had the same taillight issue...
I had to make my own taillight out of the stock internals and my cateye housing... Just switch out the components if you still have your stock light.
I was effen pissed when I found out that their taillight wasnt wired correctly. Check my post under taillight issues all fixed. It doesn't get into detail about the switch but it talks about the issues I had because of the taillight. You need any help PM me.

Thats the wiring before the taillight was good. It kept blowing my fuse as well.
Thats after I switch internals.
The craddle for the light isn't the same but I used the two long screws that hold the face plate and some gasket cement to keep it in place. It worked out really good.
Holds on strong.

 

Notice how the wires coming from the taillight are the same colors as our wiring harness..
Here's a pic of the inside of the housing.

I used the two long srews that hold the face plate to hold the internals.
I got two of the small screws from my other light to replace those.

Hope this helps.

 

nice looking bike.

If you need a stock tail light to chop up I got one I can sell.

 

First XJ I've seen with a sporty tank that looks good. :wink:

 

Ill have to try that with my tailight to see if i can get something to work out once i pic up some more fuses i keep poping them trying to figure this issue out, if i cant get it to work ill take some pictures of my harness how its ran and whatnot. So anyways here is some pictures of my build enjoy!


the bars i made from scratch


the two top bars in this picture were chopped next to the shock and brought down on an angle


here you can see the seat bars bent down and re welded, the battry tray i made and the chopped airbox with the lawnmower air filter haha


mocking up the seat pan


painting the frame after everything was finished( Notice the single bar backbone)


the first look at all the pipes tacked together


grinding all the welds and then started to finish the front collectors


walk around and start up the first day i took it for a ride

 

Damn After doing all you've done I'm sure you can handle that lil taillight issue. Just don't bother istaling it like that again it will keep blowing those fuses untill you change it.
Stupid Honk Kong!!!
That were I got my light from...lol

 

i can work with anything i can see, electrical current i cant see and it confuses the hell out of me

 

Dont worry too much about the current. If you do the swap with the stock light it should match colors with your wires so wiring shouldn't be an issue at all. A good way to test it is with a 9v battery it won't be as bright but you wont burn out you fuses if its wrong.
Your blue wire is your running light. This will also serve as you licence plate light.
Yellow wire is the brake light.
Black wire is ground.
The bulb has two filiments check to see the each wire turns one of the filliments on.
Any Q's feel free to ask.

 

alright sounds good i appreciate the help man im gonna get to it as soon as i get home from work, one other thing not sure if youd know i have a single red wire coming out of the wiring harness that was in the headlight its has power all the time do you know what it goes to? i cant find a spot for it

 

just plain red or red on another color?

plain red should go from your battery's poz out to the reg-rec and also into the ignition. out from the ignition it's not plain red anymore. should explain why it always has power

 

Yeah if it's just red it might be to your ignition.
I have a wiring diagram if you need it.
Just pm me your email address..

 

The exhaust is so SEXY!!

 

dude i love what you did with the exhaust. do you have baffles in there?

 

I too must hear about that exaust how does it sound? Did you make it yourself?

 

I fabricated the exhaust myself its pretty straight forward if you can get hold of a mig welder,grinder,and a sawsall. First i cut all the pipes about ten inches down from where they come out of the motor, i loosened all the studs and brought the right two pipes together and the left two pipes together like a Y shape. I then bought some mandrel bent tubing from summit racing 1 3/4 diameter they call it a j bend basically you can cut it up and use it for individual bends so i just kinda pieced it all together like a puzzle tack welded it up, made some brackets, took it off and welded it for good. Theres no baffles in it i cant work myself up to drilling or cutting the pipe now thats its finished lol but i did get the idea and i kinda started to make some, if you wanna hear it the last picture on the first page is actually a video click on it and itll bring you to my photobucket profile enjoy!!

 

Your E-mail didn't work for me..
I have the whole manual for you..

 

Nice sounding bike. Love those pipes

MN

 

Jap, did you run into any interference issues with the center stand mount brackets with that exhaust? I had to eliminate them for my custom exhaust.

 

Your Idle sounds like the beginning of a Metalica song

Nice Bike!

 

So i got all my wiring situated!! my brother in law is pretty good with wiring he went at it with a "power probe" and figured out my tail light issue and why i kept blowing fuses, i also needed to order up a brake switch for the pedal apparently mine went bad. I appreciate the help though with trying to get me a wiring diagram i think at this point ill no longer be needing one. As far as the question about the exhaust i did end up cutting one of the brackets off, to be specific the one on the right side and the left one i used as a mounting point for the pipes. Btw bohemian your pipes are looking pretty badass man nice job i also see you modified your frame do you have a build page of your bike? if not keep us updated and thanks for the comments everyone on the bike hopefully itll be screamin down the road within the next couple weeks!!

 

Thanks JapRatXJ. The build thread ishere...

 

Hey i was wondering if you could give me a little detialed explination of how you modded the frame in the rear to get it to sit like that i really like how it looks.

 

i really dig your pipes... do you have any more pics of how the headers connect to the rest of it... i wanna make some of my own.. i've only got 2 pipes on my 400 so a 2 into 1 and i picked up 2 harley pipes for 25 bucks..and they're a lot wider of a pipe..

 

Hey barefoot sorry for the late response man havent been on the forum in awhile, i can get some pictures for you of my exhaust soon. Basically though to make 2 into one i slit a 1 3/4 pipe down the middle and heated it up enough to the point where i could bend the two halfs out like a y shape. I welded that up to the pipes coming out of the motor which i also angled towards each other like a y, once you get it welded up your gonna have a triangle shaped gap from where you split the pipe apart your gonna have to make peice of metal to go there. Hope this helps a little bit let me know how you make out.

 

Made this real quick to give you an idea, i couldnt find any pics of mine other than what i already have posted its a simple concept hope this helps! good luck

 

Re: 82 maxim with backbone

Hi JapRat, your bike mod is radical, congrats!
I read you modified it to have a single backbone. I never saw a "naked" Maxim 82, so do you mean it previously had two curved pipes running around the gas tank seams? I ask because my xj400 (93) is like I just described, too "modern" for my old-school taste.
Can you write a little about it? I mean, which pipe you used, which steel, diameter. I am considering making the same mod on my bike after I finishi "ressurrecting" the engine!
Aharon

 

Hey aharon whats up man thanks for looking!, basically on the maxims theres three pipes the main center one which only goes down to about where the carbs are, then theres two that follow that main one parallel which dont allow you many options for a gas tank unless you want it sticking up like level with the handlebars haha. I chopped the two side pipes off and used one single bar going from the headseat to the seatpan, honestly i looked everywhere for a pipe and its a very odd size i had no luck with any local metal supply. My dad actually came across a pipe in my basement just laying around it slipped over my frame it fit alright slightly larger but i welded it up and dropped the tank on. Make sure when you chop the center pipe out you brace the frame so it doesnt tweak or twist.

 

Everything with a red line i removed, the black line on the backbone is where i cut it



Excuse my "paint" skills im trying to use it like adobe photoshop but this is what the frame should look like after, just a single pipe (or one slid over the other) welded down next to where the front of the seat is

 

nice blast job man

 

You did it real nice, congrats. My frame is much too "modern" though. I will post a picture just to illustrate my point.
Really good job!

 

Japratxj, you might want to add a single pipe under the backbone from the down tube (where the 2 existing rails were attached) to the center support rails attach to the backbone. The 2 rails you removed offered a lot of frame strength. :wink:

 

Thanks for the comments guys but this isnt my frame its just a random pic i found on google the best picture i could find of a bare frame. Orange and black... i hear where your coming from on supporting the center bar more i just couldnt really find a way to do that with the sportster tank. It seems to be holding up well ive been welding for 4/5 years now i layed some good beads on there i dont think ill have an issue, i have been called crazy for riding this bike with no fenders,signals,front brake (the first week of riding it),straight pipes lol

 

japratxj, I really appreciated your effort to illustrate how you did the backbone, thank you for being such a cool friend.
Orange-n-black's comment certainly comes out of concern for your safety - and that's what friends are for ; good to know though that you have experience and ran the beads as they are supposed to be - not like "duck droppings", as the pros say back in brazil :lol: .

 

I was thinking about the frame tweaking due to stress. Thought that a single pipe under the other and down a bit wouldn't interfere with the tank, have thought about doing this mod myself. If that won't work maybe a couple of triangular gussets at each end of the backbone would work. Was just offering an idea, like your build and update with pics, we like pics around here. :lol:

 

Ill keep the pics coming guys i really do appreciate the input and i have no problem with helping anyone that needs it, orange and black thanks for looking out man i see what your saying as far as gussets one thing i never accounted for was that this bike is shaft driven meaning its gonna tend to twist..safety should always be first with this kinda stuff do it right the first time if you do a single bar.. I have some plans for the xj for this summer was thinking a whitewall in the rear,fork boots, have to finish the handlebars and rebuild the forks. Was just messin around on paint and came up with this...

 

JapRatJX, you do not seem to run out of ideas - good for you!
Whe white stripe on the rear tire is instant character - I like the vintage look it adds to the bike. I got the image attached at motorcycle philippines.com. "Paint" is all I got, and the forum's size limitations forced me to chop the front well. go to http://www.motorcyclephilippines.com/fo ... p?t=239000 to see the original.
Adding an "accordion" black rubber pant to the forks seems to go in the same general direction of the bike's personality, I mean, matte black. Good thinking.
Is that a harley tank? It looks like the Sportster's.
Dude, I say! Your bobber looks real cool. Just keep the safety issue on your mind. Your comment on shafties tending to twist the frame under revving makes sense, but collapsing under weight/stress is more fearsome - I guess that is what Orange-n-black had in mind. Go easy on it at first, check the backbone integrity after every few rides, or - gusset or no gusset - beef it up right from the start!
Keep'em pitches a-coming, buddy!
Aharon

 

aharon man people like you are really what keeps me motivated in building stuff like this. Ive got more projects/ideas brewing in my head i dont even know how i live a normal life lol anywhere from the shifter cart project in my basement, to my 240sx track/street car, to my lifted jeep cherokee offroading/ daily driver, and my latest project is a bike im building for my friend its a 73 cb350 twin im extending it 5 inches and lowering it ill be sure to snap some pics even though it isnt an xj! As far as a whitewall im not sure exactly what tire to go with still have some research to do that one you posted looks nice id like the stripe to be a bit wider i think.

 

Well i have a couple pictures of my bike that i took for a member of the forum to show how i modified the seat bars, notice my unfinished airbox with the briggs and stratton air filter haha works great and is space saving! at the same time i snapped a pic of my other project which ive only started stripping down and began simplifying the wiring, o and btw i am using a king size sportster tank aharon! enjoy the pics hope everyone can benefit from them...





The cb350t this bike is gonna be cool

 

Love that custom Air filter!!!

 

Since you lowered yours did you just use an aftermarket coils that were shorter or did you do alter the frame and make some bends as well? I'm new to this and just bought one I want to lower and have been trying to find either aftermarket struts or new springs as I have no welding experience to really alter the frame and hardtail it myself.

 

There's another post going on now on the "CHAT" forum. I put Suzuki Savage (10 1/2") on my bike. It dropped the rear right at 2 1/2". No problems (for me) with handling or bottoming out...

skillet

 

SBSTebbe, is this your first bike ever, or do you have previous riding experience? Believe me, there is a reason for my asking - it has to do with modding and safety.

 

How well does the bike run with the modified air box? Did you rejet? I like the idea of your air box vs pods esp. after reading the many threads on here about pods. This looks like a good compromise that allows some restriction and smoothing of the air flow before hitting the carbs.

I am thinking of doing something similar and wanted to get your opinion. Thanks.

 

I'm pretty sure I read this thread some time ago, back when it was alive. Anyhow, I really like your build. More precisely, what you've done with the airbox to allow the room for lowering the seat rails!

I've always wondered if doing something like you did would work. I'd LOVE to be able to lower my seat rails. I have not done it yet because the cost/befit of using pods wasn't worth the hassle and loss of power.

I see that you also altered your exhaust system which usually results in subsequent carb tuning/jetting. Like the Professor before me, I'd really like to know how your airbox mod worked for you, preferably pre-exhaust mod?

I am slightly apprehensive about cutting the airbox too. Anyone know how well an XS airbox will mate up?