Noobie would like advice.

I just joined your site after a couple of days of reading and you guys have me excited as hell to go pick up my bike. I bought a 1981 maxim 650 the other day and plan on driving the two hours north to tacoma to get it on friday. It is bruised and abused but I was able to pick it up for $250. It has been sitting outside for six months since the PO blew the rear tire. This will be my first four stroke so any general advice would be appreciated as I assume most the lessons learned working on my old dt1 wont apply here.
-Tiny

 

Let me be the first to welcome you to the site. Is the bike running? If so, I would change the oil and filter, fresh gas and a new battery. Also if it is running try to do a compression test on it. We also have a resident parts guru named Chacal who has everything under the sun for our bikes and is fast with service. Also make sure to change your signature so we all know what bike you have. Welcome again and good luck with your new bike

 

Thanks,
The bike is suppose to run but the most I've heard is the engine turn over. I have a parts bike with a good engine if the worst should happen and the one in the bike needs a rebuild.

 

I suppose I should mention that as soon as I get it home friday I'll be replacing all fluids and cables and seeing what happens. And then I assume I'll run into a couple major problems to trouble shoot.

 

Cool! Yet ANOTHER XJ soon to be back on the road. We've had a few successful resurrections in the past couple months, here's hoping yours goes well!

Basics: Get a service manual, factory if possible. Go through the ENTIRE "maintenance" section, LEAVING NOTHING OUT. Most of these procedures will probably have never been done.

This will include valve lash check and adjustment and carb cleaning and sync; neither of these are simple processes but well within the range of most shade-tree mechanics. Valve clearances were often neglected by previous owners but are critical to longevity; carbs can and will drive you crazy unless religiously clean. The strange brand of alloy in the original fuse box tends to crystallize and the fuse holders simply break apart for no apparent reason; an in-line fuel filter is an immediate MUST.

Our parts guru, chacal, has written a couple of interesting overviews of the XJ Yamaha; you can read those here: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewforum/f=23.html as well as his on-line (well, on-forum anyway) parts catalog.

Once you've gone through the bike from front to back and top to bottom and simply reversed the years of neglect and unperformed maintenance you will be amazed at the results. These things are VERY well engineered and were built to last if only you take care of them.

Doing everything necessary to put an XJ Yamaha back in operation is a LOT more feasible than with many of its contemporaries that weren't as well made. It's well worth the time, effort and money (in my more than slightly biased opinion.)

 

Don't forget tires. Do both of them.

 

bigfitz, thank you very much for the link. I look forward to reading it tomorrow, and I have a clymer manual on the way. I'm still looking for a factory manual so if anyone knows where I can find it please let me know.

MiCarl, I will definatly need to replace the rear tire as it is bald and badly deteriorating. The PO says that the front tire is about a year old and the tread looks decent. I know tires deteriorate after a while but I'm not sure how long they tend to be good for, so I am curious if you think I should replace it.

 

Chacal has the factory manual for your bike.

My advice? Wear rain gear. Or is the rain supposed to hold off til the weekend??????


I live in Vancouver, USA and enjoy the bejeebers out of my Maxim and this forum. Great bikes, great guys, sniff sniff.............. here's to good friends, tonight is kind of special........ You get the idea. There are a number of real XJ brainiacs in the crowd. It never ceases to amaze me the knowledge that lurks within the minds of the folks on this forum.



See you on the I5 corridor or one of the Cascade passes.

Wamaxim

 

As mentioned, chacal has the factory manual for your bike or if you're CHEAP you can lurk eBay for a week or two and find one. The Clymer is "OK" but there are a lot of omissions and it glosses over things that are covered better in the factory book. I struggled with just the Clymer for a while, the factory book was a breath of fresh air.

"The PO says" Unless you are sleeping with the PO I wouldn't necessarily believe a word... I should go back and resurrect the "my PO said" thread if you want a hoot.

As for the tires: Find out for yourself. Tires have date codes, and I wouldn't trust one that's more than 3-4 years old especially if the bike has been sitting. If you want to go ahead and pop a tube in and run it for a while ok, but as it sits these are tubeless tires and you shouldn't take chances. Losing a tubeless front tire at speed is NOT something you want to do.

 

wamaxim, I live right near you in Battle Ground so we definatly need to hook up when I get this beast on the road.
bigfitz, Thank you for the date code, it will definatly put my mind at ease when I'm deciding weather or not to keep the tire.

 

I recently put new Bridgestone S11's on my bike and was curious to see how old the front tire was.
(I'll snap a pic if I can)
This tire was a Continental tour tire, it had cracks in the side.
When I pulled it off there was water inside the tire. 8O
I put 3000 miles on this tire last year with water in the wheel, cracks in the sidewall.
*shakes head at own stupidity*

So, drum roll please:
If your tire only has three digits in the date code it was made before 2000.
oow, not good already.
Mine reads 3EY127, so it was made in the 12th week of 1997, '87, '77? 8O
Best case it is nearly 12 years old.
My new sneakers read PCD2508, so July of last year.
Very cool. 8)
Check those sneaks folks.
:wink:

 

Most folks only look at the amount of tread remaining, or for severe weather checking/cracking. These are TUBELESS tires, five years should be the OUTSIDE limit to replace even if not worn out. Three years is better yet.

Twelve (maybe 22) year old tires are a kind of scary prospect aren't they?

 

Welcome to the forum, Tiny!
You get the new project home yet? Do post up some pics ASAP!
There are a handfull of us up here in the Seattle area. I'm hoping someday we can put together a western Wa. meetup.
Good luck with the 650!

 

Check your plugs
When I brought my 750 home it wouldn't run. So I thought Hey I'll change the plugs. The plugs in the bike were champions and I thought I should switch to NGK. After I got my new plugs I saw that the champion plugs were almost 1/4 inch longer than the NGk plugs. This might have been a bad thing as the champion plugs might have been sticking out into the compression chamber and might have damaged the pistons. I might sound paranoid but these engines were designed to run with NGK plugs in the first place. Always ere on the side of caution.