What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Degreased and cleaned the Maxim mag wheels in preparation for new tires.
Degreased the engine and other visible/easy to reach areas.

Had a high of 70*F here so naturally the bike and I went scooting the backroads for ~30mi.

Bit the bullet and ordered a euro model XJ550 Seca rear wheel (18" swirly rear)!!

 

now you need to find the forks to get dual disc

 

What happened to the chain guard?

 

it is with his right sidecover

 

Ugh. The roads around here were just about clear... and now guess what? Frikkin snowing again! Maybe next month.

 

Here too. Thursday it cleared up, snow was off the roads, then it dumped another foot of snow. All sunny again, but... Well, my back yard:

Stupid Calgary.

 

Peeled it off the bike for chain cleaning and conveniently placed it on the shelf. It seems to be in decent enough condition - just not for me.

That's on the bike for the time being. Not a fan of plastic, but also not a fan of rectifiers either.



All day misting/light rain here so no outdoor funsies on the XJ

 

Another 8 inches here in South Dakota just when it was beginning to dry up. Sigh...moved my snowblower past my XJ again. Hard to believe last year I was riding it to work in February. Hasn't even been uncovered yet this "spring."

 

Rumour has it we'll have temps above freezing next week, and the roads have been cleared (despite an easy 2 feet of snow elsewhere) so I'm hoping to be riding to work next week.

 

looking at 18 inches of snow over next 2 days

 

Uggghhhh. A nor’easter for ya xj550h!!

I went big this morning and picked up another p.o.s.

No seat. All wiring connections are brittle. Carb is waaaaayyyyy stuck. Bought it for the glorious engine guards tho so I’m cool.

Still trying to decide if he used house paint on it all too. But hey. The trip meter works!!

 

Finally made some time to pull the carbs off both bikes in preparation for going to church which will hopefully be this weekend. Pic not really necessary but what the heck. Took a little bit of determination in my unheated, over crowded, apartment garage but I managed with a little bit of antifreeze...

 

Joe, you have the bug bad.....at least you will get to swap out all the parts to one of those bikes you have and get one good one on the road.

 

Haha. Lol. It’s just so dang hard not to look for them and when they come up cheap it’s more difficult not to go get them
I’ll have enough pieces and parts to last til I’m in the ground. And after that it’s up to my wife to unload it all

 

My neighbor caught me changing the oil in the Mazda a few weeks ago. He immediately came over and asked me why there is a car in my motorcycle garage.

 

Haha. He said antifreeze!!

 

3/7/18 - Took 30 min over lunch to get some readings from the carburetor vacuum/sync ports in preparation of carburetor synchronization.

Leveraged my existing tools and components: brake bleed/vacuum pump (Link: http://a.co/4D2NwjM ), a Mister Landscaper 1/4" on/off valve to stabilize a fluctuating gauge, and a couple feet of the Mister Landscaper 1/4" tubing to get me in the right area, and a Mister Landscaper 1/4" tee fitting for the fuel petcock (cyl #2).

Additionally, my ill-fitted vacuum nipples were replaced for a much tighter fitting nipple, and a pipe clamp added to the vacuum tube leading to the petcock.

The aforementioned nipples and clamp dropped my idle from just under~1,500 RPM to right around +/- 1,300 RPM. Sweet. Idle screw/speed is not something I have addressed during my tenure as owner - don't need to now!

Guessing that might be something the PO's had done correctly - sync the carbs. Everything was right around 6 to 7 inches of mercury per the valve-stabilized-gauge. However, this is certainly something that will be revisited after carb rebuild + new boots.


Attached image = Cylinder #1

 

Dumped the clubman style bars and went with some aluminum flat black low rise Superbike bars. Way more comfortable on the back.
*Note*Mounting bar end accessories can be a bitch due to the wall thickness on aluminum bars. They don't accept the normal expansion hardware that comes with most bar end accessories. I ended up tapping them out with a 5/8" tap then putting a 5/8"x 1/4" x 3/4" long threaded insert in to pull the mirrors snug. Drilled through the end of the insert and put a 3/16 roll pin in for insurance.

 

Installed a new tail light and trimmed rear fender on the 81 650 maxim. Turned out alright. As long as the girlfriend is happy that's all that matter I guess haha

 

put her blanket back on her 18" of snow

 

I tried one of those, but found the brake/turn signals to be way to dim to be safe in daylight. Big problem is that looking right at it, it looks bright, but from an angle (such as being in a taller truck) it looks way dimmer. The LED's and lens design is too directional. Maybe mine was just junk, though.

 

I have the same reservation. Plan is to try it out and see. I have the complete, unmolested rear fender and factory tail light to put back on if necessary. It was her idea, that's what she wanted, I have to let her see/figure out that it's not the ideal solution so I'm not just "telling her what to do with her bike" (that I bought her)

 

A middle ground, if you've got the original tail but she doesn't like it (god knows I hated it):

1:Cut off the fender at the end of the seat
2:Take the lens/light assembly off the fender.
3:Cut light assembly and lens to remove everything behind the bulb mounts (I used a Dremel, went through the plastic like butter)
4:Use the lens to trace and cut a hole in the rear of the box behind the seat.
5:reassemble (now shorter) tail light, put into box.

Voila! Seca inspired tail on a Maxim, and no more ugly read fender. My license plate as it is fulfills wet riding fender duty, so I don't get a racing stripe up my back.

 

Currently in church. One rack all apart and soaking. 2nd rack waiting for the first to be reassembled before cracking it open. With deluxe rebuild kits from Len at XJ4Ever, I am very eager to get these back on the bikes and tuned it

 

Brought my carbs to church but the priest didn't know what to do with them. I'm thinking of converting to Lutheran and trying my luck there.

 

Hmm, still looking for a set, maybe measure up my kawasaki set to see if they'll fit, itching to hear this 650 running.

 

looking for dirty or cleaned carbs?

 

She has not been out since October of last year, so today I rolled her out the door, set the enrichment lever, put the petcock on prime, turned on the ignition, and thumbed the starter button twice.
After a short warmup I proceded to hit the highway.
Midway through the first of the two decent corners in this part of the world, the warning lamp flashed at me. Low fuel?!
Apparently I forgot to fill the tank after the last ride (a post-winterizing spin). Oops.
So back into town I went. A fillup, and it was back onto the road, where I proceeded to do "pop-a-wheeley," fiirt with 100 MPH, and assorted other hooliganism.
I generally frown on such nonsense, but the weight of the world has been upon my shoulders lo these many months, and now I feel as light as a feather.

 

I call that Almond Joy ride because sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't.....

 

I went up by Chi-town to pick up a cpl more items today. I’m stoked. Not perfect shape at all but I’m happy with the purchase

Mo n betta picz 2moro

Night y’all

 

Ah, sussed how to do the quote. Dirty are fine, uk is a must otherwise the price doubles (delivery, import tax, vat on everything).
However. Last night found a rough looking set on ebay UK, then found another, better looking. So I bought both!
They are listed as off an xj 600 pre div, this is the later xj, so hopefully should fit ok.

 

that is a photo of mikuni carb
xj600 is more like an xj550

 

Damn it - you're right of course xj550. So do I need to appologise and back out of the deal? Will they fit? Will they work?

 

that would be a 28mm mikuni carb you need 32mm hatachi carbs from a 650 or 750. you would have to rejet the 750 carbs wont fit.

 

More photos of last nights picking

 

According to everything I can find the xj/fj600 had 32mm mikunis? I will take a risk on them I think.

 

mmm

 

Stripped the tank today. Going for a fresh coat of paint. And maybe an oil change tonight .

 

What color ya going to?

 

Keeping it orginal. Burgundy

 

3/15/18
Have quite literally applied to a part-time position to churn-and-earn coin for my XJObsession. My wife knows. She agreed. The Maxima'am also agreed.

 

Stripped and started cleaning two sets of Mikunis, one set gummed up with smally fuel, the other gummed up with water and rust - nice...

 

3/16/18
Picked up a pair of Kenda K761 tires from Chaparral Racing (Front 100/90-19 & Rear 120/80-18).
Euro Swirly Seca 18" wheel delivered today and have began cleanup process on that.

 

Nuttin. Didn’t do nuttin today to the bike. Work gets in the way. I did however tho receive my pkg from Len in the utmost of quickest fashions. As always Len. Thanks

 

In church for the 2nd time in 2 weeks with the carbs off the 81 650 maxim. The 82 got done last weekend. Unfortunately the p.o. did a number on parts of these...

 

Pulled bike out temp almost 50 ...went to gas station filled up and rode about 8 miles not much of a ride but was a little brisk . Put my "new " seat on . I had ordered some Yamaha handle bar markings for an RD400 not exactly xj750 but looks good will try to take some picture of controls. Only thing I don't have is a markings for the Aux headlight .rest of week only in low 40's just waiting for spring..

 

minus 6 last night got to 19F . Had coffee and donuts with the bikes this morning

 

Built up the "rough" set of catbs, need to do a wet set, but gave up today - too bloomin cold.
Anyone know the setting for xj 600 mikunis? And why did they go for innie float drains?

 

Finally getting the X back together. Just waiting to get the tank back this week.

 

What do you think of controls ...the stickers were for a Yamaha RD400 but alot better than the worn off markings that were lacking.