Hi everyone... (restauration pics)

EDIT: after pics are to be found on the bottom!


I just started posting, and didn't realise it wasn't exactly kind without introducing myself .

Well, hello everyone! My name is Thijs, I am from the Netherlands, I got introduced to this site trough the Dutch Motor-forum.nl, because I was in search of a few interchangable parts between the Virago and the Maxim.

Anyway, the story with my (ex) Maxim is quite a long one. The Maxim I got for free from my aunt, which moved from the Netherlands to France. She took the Maxim with her to France, but since the USA model was never approved in France she couldn't ride it over there. I owned a Suzuki GSX 550 at the time (which I still have ) and she offered me the bike. The only drawback was that I had to get it back to the Netherlands. (which was about a 1000 mile drive) Luckily for me, she could sell her house here in the Netherlands and she had to pick up her last stuff here. So she had to come with a trailer to the Netherlands and took the bike back to me . This was in 2006 if I remember it correctly.

It was quite a rustbucket to be honest, but since I am always up to a challange it deceided to restore it respectfully, since it had only driven 17.000 miles.




I always had been busy with mopeds (which all ran around 55 mph ) and cars this was somehow a new challenge to me. The only thing was the bike stood at my parents place, and at the time I was busy with my bacholer of automotive engineering and lived elsewhere in NL.

Anyhow, everything was stuck and rotten on the thing, and I really mean EVERYTHING. The carbs were stuck, the front brakes were stuck, the electrical system was one big heap of corrosion. The bike always stood outside in the mountains at my aunts place in France, so it really had a tough time... The tank was all rusted on the inside etc. etc..

First started out with sorting the electrical system in 2007, bought a new battery and started cleaning the connectors one by one. After a few hours of elbow grease the bike came back to somekind of life again.

Next up were the carbs, took them all apart and cleaned them thouroughly. The carbs and airbox seemed to host a few new lifeforms which had to be relocated elsewhere . After that it was time for a try if she would run. Hooked up a loose tank (since the original was pretty rusty inside) and gave it a go...

She ran for the first time, except she wouldn't idle at all. About 3 liters of rustwater sprayed out the exhaust . But I driven it around the block anyway. I deceided to take the carbs apart again to see if I had missed something. Since corrosion was bliss it appeared the air jets had clogged up somehow with the colouring agent in the fuel which had dried out. I somehow missed it the first time. Took carbs completely apart again and cleaned the jets with a wire from a wire brush. Put it all back together again and gave it a go again. It ran perfectly after that! This was in 2008, and the same year I had bought my Suzuki RF900 for driving to my work.

Then it was time to make a little testdrive (with the auxilary tank strapped to the mirror ) and noticed the front brakes where really, really stuck, and the rear brake sometimes didn't brake or lock up immediatly. It felt like the rear wheel was hopping when the rear brake was used... Later investigation learned me the glue between the lining and brakeshoe came loose. So the lining was spinning loose in the drum, which gave the hopping sensation . A new set of brake shoes were fitted, the drums sanded with some abrasive sanding paper and it was as good as new again.

Since it didn't have a Dutch registration anymore at the time I had to make sure that everything was in good working order before I went to the registration office where it would be technically checked before it can get registered again.

So then it was time for the front brakes. I pumped out the brake pistons one by one, lightly sanded it with scotchbrite, greased them up and stuffed them back in again. The brake pads were resurfaced and everything was mounted back together. Yeey, the front wheel could spin freely again. One brake line had deceased due to the age and I bought a couple of meters of goodridge braided hose with some rosejoints. Fixed myself two new brake hoses and mounted them, bled the brakes and it was good to go.

Next up was the exhaust. It was more or less a swiss cheese than an exhaust. Took the whole thing to a friend of mine and we welded it shut so that it would be ok for the registration office. One thing was pretty clear, the welds were definately not gonna hold forever .

Mounted the thing back again and ran it to check for air leaks while closing the exits with a cloth when the engine was running. It was air tight, awesome.

Now for the last big problem. The rusted tank... I did some searching on the internet which learned me there was a nice product called tank-cure. It was a three step process which would clear the tank of rust, degrease it and than coat it with epoxy. Since it was quite some work but not a real funny story to tell if anyone wants to know more about it, just post or send me a PM. It worked perfectly.

Finally being able to use the original tank again was the next step heading to the registration office. I've obtained an one day-registration (temporary) so that I could insure the bike and drive it to the registration office. Braking performance was pretty poor, but it was good enough for the Dutch road laws. (The laws of 1985 applied to the bike, because that was the year it was made) It wasn't good it enough for me, but that was a care for later.

It passed perfectly , and one week later I got the registration papers sent to my parents house. After that I was able to finally take it on the road for some serious driving to see if there were other things which would break. I deceided that when the bike was ready I would give it to my little sister because she was in the process of getting her motorbike driving license.

Since I didn't want strange things to happen with the bike when my sis was going to drive it, I deceided to use the bike during the winter for driving it to my work. (about a 45 mile drive back and forth) It ran really really good, and I thought the bike was quite fast for a cruiser. It ran 120 mph with ease. It was quite a bitch to hold on to at that speed without a windscreen and that upright position .

Anyhow, as predicted the exhaust died within a matter of months. Since the bike was going to my sis my parents deceided to invest some money in the bike, all I had to deliver was the elbow grease. My sister and her boyfriend (who rides a 2006 streetbob ) were responsible for the cosmetic appearance of the bike, I was the man for the technical bit. They sanded and painted the frame and had the tank and fenders sprayed.

I bought a new header for the bike (JAMA), and secondhand JAMA mufflers. With those slapped on I insisted the bike would have to be setup at a dyno to make sure the AFR is ok. It costs a little money, but I swear it is worth it! The guy who had tuned my RF when I mounted new emulsion tubes/needles/springs and muffler and had sqeezed out an extra 8 bhp was the man who dared to touch the Maxim.



As you can see, the emulsion tubes are worn out. It is running quite on the rich side, so that is something for the future to take care of. It would have been worse if it would run lean. Since my sis is going to Scotland this summer with the bike I wanted to make sure the AFR is ok, and it is! The red line was after setting the valve play, synchronising the carbs and setting the mixture screws. The blue line is a measurement with the rubber boot removed from the airbox under the saddle. There you can see the AFR is a bit better in the top range.

Since I didn't like the brake performance at all I had optained a pair of second hand calipers of a Virago 700 which I took apart. I also took apart the calipers which were on the bike when I got it, and selected the four best pistons. Bought an overhaul set for the calipers and overhauled them.


If you still haven't fallen asleep already, here are the after pics .



And my first ride in the French Pyrenees when visiting my aunt: (1986 GSX 550 ES with a blown head gasket at the moment)


And my current ride/workhorse: (1996 Suzuki RF900 with an automatic chainoiler and a Garmin 2610.)



For the rest am I quite crazy about the Peugeot 205 GTi, but I guess that car won't mean pretty much in the USA since it was never delivered there. But for the ones who do care: I got a 1991 205 1.9 GTi with 201.000 miles on it (workhorse 2), a 1991 1.9 Rallye (project 1, trackday car), and a 1991 Peugeot 309 1.9 16v (project 2, restauration object).



grz Thijs

 

Re: Hi everyone...

No one liked the bike restauration story ?
Some comments are welcome :wink:


grz Thijs

 

Personally I want to say congrats on your find and excellent job on the restore.

 

Missed the thread - very nice job on her - sure looks nice now.

 

Nice work, the bike dyno is a nice thing to have access to. Wish there was one around here. There was a Harley custom shop that has one but it shut down.

Keep the pics coming.

MN

 

Whoooo-weee that black looks good! I'm loving the whole entire engine is black. D-amn thats sexy
Congrats man!
Nice other rides too

 

Hey thanks for the pics and the story!! bike looks great you do nice work,
love the dyno! must be nice to have a tool like that at your disposal
Shaun

 

Thanks for the response guys!

The dyno is at my disposal for 70 euro's per hour, (first run 42.50 euro, then the hours start to count) so it isn't very cheap. But since I've always learned: to measure is to know. But at least Paul knows what he is doing.

The projects I've seen at his shop, really unbelievable. Suzuki GSXR1000 2006 model with +/- 200 bhp.

Last thing I saw when the Maxim was in was a custom built R1 engine. He had a special cilinderblock casted, special crankshaft forged, custom forged conrods, camshafts and off course custom pistons... It was going to be a 1200cc after that, with 260 bhp (NA) and on top of that a 150 bhp Nos shot... Nice to see all that stuff when I'm visiting. Makes my RF look like a dinky toy .


grz Thijs

 

+1 on the black engine - what did you use for that?

 

POR-15. It smelled for a couple of weeks but it holds on perfectly!


grz Thijs

 

great job on rescuing another yamaha...

i havent been to The Netherlands since 1999...

only spent 3 days in Amsterdam but boy did i put the miles (klicks) on the shoes walking back and forth and again...

keep us updated to any changes or rides!

 

Awsome man! Thanks for the post and welcome aboard!

Hey LtDave... Hope you had a good July 4th. I remember my trip to Amsterdam with some Army buddies... (but that was back in 1973) what a place! sheesh)

 

Looks good in stealth black,Engine looks a 1000 times better than it did.
That 550 of yours looks nice and clean.

 

It is actually my sisters bike now, I gave it to her since there is no point in having three bikes . But if I ask her nicely I may borrow it every once in a while .

I'm still on the lookout for a K&N replacement filter and some new tubes and needles. But the bike is perfectly rideable now, I just want to have the flat spot removed in the torque curve. (and get the AFR right)

Does anyone now if Factory Pro carries emulsion tubes for Hitachi carbs?


grz Thijs

 

Great work on your ride! I just finished re-building my motor all thanks to this forum and many of the contributing members here. Have you tried Chacal for any of your parts? I know that he ships to England and as far away as New Zealand in from what is posted as record times. I have an XJ700N and I was able to find parts through him that no one else had. He has some of the best prices around and I know for a fact that he ships quickly. I live on the West Coast (Oregon) and I get my parts in 2 to 3 days. Chacal ships out of the East Coast (Georgia) I got a K&N air filter from him for around $50. He can be found on the forum at the Sell, Trade, Swap, Wanted area http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2584.html
He's highly reccomended on this forum!!

Cheers
Ken