What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Fat front tire and skinny rear tires?

 

Still three wheels, just joking.

 

Sad day last night I sold the Johnny Cash bike, it has been fun but I guess it was time to move it on . Still have my favorite yellow seca . Might buy another project some time , but I don't think winter will give up 32 degrees for a high . I still have a maxim bobber I'm trying to get to run right for another guy , but it is to damn cold to mess with .

 

Might be sad day for you, but you rebuilt (or built) something that wasn't going anywhere otherwise - turned it into cash. Result I'd say.

 

For a change I bought something cheap and made a profit , not as much as I would have but still gives me a good amount so that is positive. Looking at bikes for sale locally, he got a bargain many without titles, not running, or needs work. Lol . Might have found another project 83 Maxim disassembled for 650$ hmm .

 

I ran across a new old stock brake master cylinder and a pair of caliper rebuild kits on Ebay so the hydraulics on the front brakes are like new again. Also, I made an adapter plate for the master cylinder and was able to use my Motion Products power bleeder to fill the system. It worked great.

 

You’re still gonna stick around though, right??

 

Yep still have my yellow seca, found a maxim that is fully disassembled I might buy, I'm jealous of all the bikes you have

 

Well, if you ever need another xj, you know where are a few

 

OK, yesterday was nice so I finished assembling the cams on the engine on the Maxim X, and checked clearances again. I found a couple that still needed changing around and when I was removing the cam caps, one of the hollow dowels flipped out of the hole and disappeared down the chain well! Oh great! Got out the endoscope and finally located the part. No way to rescue it though. I needed a small magnet on something flexible because the frame directly above blocks a straight down access and also I needed to be able to adjust angles as I go. I finally came up with a scriber with a magnet on one end with the scriber tip removed and solder inserted. It took a long time using both the scope and magnet but I finally retrieved the dowel.

 

I think that’s why the emphasis on stuffing a rag into the cam-chain well is so often mentioned......

Glad you got it out

 

Ordered front tire, grips, and new gas cap. Extended some wiring to rearrange unit locations. Reinstalled the rear bodywork and tossed the seat on for a pic.

 

Getting there

 

Paint!

 

Made frame covers out of electric knock out covers, pulled my front wheel for a new tire this week, cleaned and painted the front caliper bracket, and installed new grips.

 

Then went back and masked off and painted the caliper semi gloss black

 

Put on my Vista cruise control, will make riding a little more pleasant .

 

Did a little pre-season walk around. Last year we did a ride where a car pulled out to beat the line of bikes, which as you can guess caused a mess. The bike behind me went down and slid into my rear wheel. Noticed today that it did connect a bit more than my tire. Guess it is time for a new push rod, might as well do brakes and rear wheel bearings too. I don't really trust just straightening it out.

 

Straighten out that rod. The bend will not affect any future performance. Remember, it is pulling, not pushing. No strength loss.

 

^^^+1 as stated by Huntchuks straiten rod out .

 

Good to know thanks. Still need to do the pads and bearings probably. checked them last year and they weren't delaminating but a bit worn and the bearing have probably never been done.

 

There is no easy way to get that off the bike. That I can see anyway. Really don't want to remove the swing arm to get to it, geez.

 

Can you put a tube over the brake lever rod to straighten it on the bike. Just put tape on the threads to protect them first.

 

Got a new tire put on, wheel cleaned up and black paint touched up "good enough"

 

Installed wheel and front fender, gas tank, seat, etc. Rear brake rod is FUBAR'd so I went and got a bolt to weld on the rod to fix the adjuster. Should be able to ride tomorrow at some point.

 

pull the inner fender to get access. if you undo the adjuster bolt it should pull out of the lever

you could pull the lever off just mark its position on the shaft

 

Rode it today. Whew! Needs massive carb tuning. Plugs are black after 2 mins. Brake rod fix was a bust so need to locate one ASAP.

 

What did you do to repair brake rod?
your hub lever is way off of where it should be

 

I knew something looked "off" in the rear... literally, the shocks are "off"!

 

Temperature was better today rode two miles to gas station , was no fun gusts to 25 miles an hour the bridge over the lake was litterly almost blown over . So now have full tank first fill up on the year .

 

Cut off the bent part and welded on threaded M6x1.0 rod. It actually works now as I redid it but also won an ebay auction for a used rod too. The lever is way off, yes. I watched some vids on adjustment last night and will try again.

 

It's a monoshock design. It's there...

 

Today 1 year ago I picked up something I thought I would wrench on for a few hours and probably lose interest in
..& then I found these forums.

 

very nice transformation

 

So, I replaced the final shim, reassembled the cams with all 40 screws, reassembled the chain tensioner and checked clearances again. Now I have 4 that are slightly out of spec large gap wise. One more time, maybe Wednesday. Oh well, gotta love all the screws!

 

Have a old XS400 given to me, got the carbs cleaned and back on. Had a AUX gas tank on her and checked the oil lever. Had oil all the way up...I should have known better. Started the bike and noticed a little liquid coming out of the crank vent, as it was not connected to the air box. Well, the RPM's went up and the crank case must have been full of gas and oil...that was a hell of a mess....lol.

Drained the old oil/gas mix, new oil and the little 400 runs very well. Lots of work to do on the bike yet to include clutch adjustment. Free so had to take it.

 

Stuck floats are awesome!

 

Finished my carb jig.

 

Opened up my carburetors for the first time and found the float valves were rusted solid and there were no pull clips attached to the floats.

 

Wow, but that will be only the beginning of your issues. May as well start the complete disassembly for cleaning and repair right now.

 

Some float needles do not have clips .

 

Turns out replacements I bought with clips were not only wrong, but they don't fit.

 

Nothing high tech...frustratingly trying to strip old paint off the frame. Used the hardware store gel type stripper which hardly even makes a dent in it. Ordered some Aircraft Remover and hoping it will work as well as the videos I watched.

 

Methylene chloride can still be used for "commercial" purposes. You might be able to find a shop to do it for you. Or maybe you start a business in your garage, who am I to say? Or media blast it. It's a tough job without methylene chloride.

 

Good to know! A quick search says you can get it from McMaster Carr unless you live in a handful of states that don't allow it. I'm going to attempt the Aircraft Remover and then probably media blast, but it's good to have a backup plan. Also waiting to get a replacement VIN tag before I totally destroy the original.

 

Sold my Maxim400 yesterday for a healthy profit.

 

The question for me today is what have I NOT done with my XJ550. It has been so cold and crappy weather in the midwest, I still haven't got my XJ out from the back of the garage and got it running yet.

Often I am driving in February from time to time. Not this year.....

 

Area around Chicago weather has sucked only rode a few times and it has been windy on top of cold . Although they claim 70's by Saturday fingers crossed and hopefully no 35 miles an hour wind gusts .

 

I finally did this got a RTV casting kit and resin and made a copy of the dash pad emblem the Unobtainium made two one is thin the other is thicker , just needs painted , I'm very happy how it turned out. This looks great covering the screws .