motor swap time

Has anyone ever done this? It doesnt appear to be to difficult, just wondering if there were any out of the ordinary type things to watch out for?

 

I'm swapping the motor in my 750 Seca because the old ones has bad main bearings. It's not very hard except when it comes to lifting the motor out since it's very heavy.

 

Two of us swapped one in about 3 hours. Not hard at all, especially if you have two people. It can get pretty tricky if you try to pull the motor by yourself though.

 

It's not too bad. Just make sure to keep track of where things go like hoses and wiring. I would try to take as many pictures as possible and obviously a repair manual comes in awfully handy.

Not sure of the bike that you're working with. There are some differences in some of the XJ engines. YICS vs Non YICS. Some have oil coolers etc. Should be pretty obvious if there are differences.

Greg

 

Engines usually come out the right side of the bike.

Thanks,
Chris

 

Yeah, and make sure to go ahead and pull the oil filter off before you swap motors, we struggled with that one for a bit, I think it might even be impossible to get the complete motor out without pulling the filter.

 

There are things to look out for. But since you didn't post your bike of the bike the engine is coming out of we can't help much.

 

82 maxim650 sorry for the memory lapse, but its been my experience when on a forum that is tittled xj bikes and 90% of its members ride own or have entertained either of the above mentioned choices that what model yr are not that key to mention first and foremost. not to mention the service manual covers almost a decade of bikes of all the models covered by this forum. i do however realize that each of them carry there own idiosyncresis and figured we coudl deal with those later. but thanks for the responce blue, your my boy...

 

Cool! Now I can help. If you are staying with the 650 engine there's no problems. Note that the 80 model 650 (XJ 650H Maxim or XJ650RH Seca) doesn't have YICS. So you could get rid of that if you want. The 650's have a manual driven tach. So the engine must have the gear housing which is cast in the cylinder head. The 750's don't, so if you go to a larger engine displacement you will have to get an electric tach. Also if you go with a 750 the oil level sending switch will have to be compatible with your analog system. The sending switch on your 650 is analog and on the 750's "With the computer instrumentation" will not be compatible.
I got to ride around all last year with my oil light on! I really enjoyed that. I got my engine out of an 82 Seca and my 83 Maxim has analog gauges. And the 750 engine will need the 750 exhaust. This is the one with the collector under the engine.
Don't know exactly what will interchange there. May be able to use your headers with the collector. Bolting it up underneath I don't know about. Someone here should though. Changing out the engine should be a fairly nice job. I highly suggest you label and code every electrical connection there is. I used a simple system. T3 on one connector and T3 on it's mate. T meaning terminal and the 3 just the number I was on after having started with T1 then T2 and so on. I used B1 and such for bullet connectors. Easy and quick.
That's all I can think of now.

 

both motors are out, i am swapping like displacments out of identical yr models purchased at the same time and place... this was extremely easy and i cant believe i entertained the thought of having someone do this forme... tommorow when dad get home the new motor will go in and hopefully be running by supper! wow i am starting to realy like these old bikes there were only a few electrical connections needing to be undone.
1horn
2starter
3distributor
4oil sensor
5plug wires
6ground strapps
i think that was about it i havent seen were the tach connects to the motor yet(on the new motor) i will do that tomorrow morning. happy riding and keep the rubber side down.

 

Definetly double check the tach connection. Even on the 650's, they went to an electronic tach in the later years. 80-81's were mechanical, 82 went to YICS and also an electronic tach (at least on the bike that I have).

 

still am unsure of the tach connection and were it is...?i have reconnected everything that was unhooked with the exception of one blue wire that i will splice tonight. should be running within the hour.

 

Is there a cable coming out of the back of your tach? If not then it is an electric tach.

 

no worries, no worries, went out tonight after putting fluids in it and man it a new bike again... fired right up, smoked breifly then i went on the test ride, beutiful. Idles great runs great shifts great its all good till the next time something takes a dump on it... then ill be ablt o fixit cause ive got spare everything. thanks all you guys for you help and heads up. ill get pics up tomorrow.

 

well its been a week or so now and i cant believe the damn bike is still running so good... man, thanks to rick who helped get my carbs set up even without the motor that they were on before running they were spot on when i put them on the new motor and havent messed withthem since may however back out the pilot screw 1/4 turn and see if that helps the acceleration at all just feels a little slugish... also going to do another oil and tranny flush with seafoam and man this bad girl will be good to go thanks again to all of you you have offered experiences and knowledge. this is my first bike and man i dont think i will ever not own at least one (ive got two right now).