new guy, and new to motorcycles, where to start?

hey guys,

i am new to motorcycles, but am really big into quads, and have done a lot of work on them so i understand the basics. i can learn just about anything, although sometimes it might take me a while. i am looking forward to your help here to see if i can get this thing up and going and make sure its worth my time...

here is what my sunday consisted of:

i had on craigslist, a lot of suzuki lt250r parts. worth about $200-250
i received an e-mail from a guy a ways from me asking if i wanted to trade a 1982 yamaha maxim 650 for the parts i had. my response? sure!

here is what his ad looked like on craigslist, he had a few ads, they are compiled below:

1: have a 1982 yamaha maxim 650 street bike runs a little rough when first started do to no air box and no air cleaners so will need those and since there is no air box it will need re-jetted to run perfect again. still ride able right now just not the best ride. asking 650 cash

2: have a 1982 Yamaha Maxim 650 for sale or trade. It has 72hp stock gets up and moves. Its a cruiser look not the caffee style Maxim. I have new set of tires that go with it. Bought It over a year ago road for a while then it was rough starting. Had it looked at just needs valve adjustment, new air cleaners, and battery. Has like 13xxx miles.

3: have a 1982 Yamaha Maxim 650. runs and rides has current tags. This was my first street bike and it fly's through gears. does need a little work starts hard, idles rough when started, bad battery, no air box and the valves need to be shimmed.

so if thats " ALL" it needs this would be easy, but we all know thats not all. so i got back late last night, and didnt have much time, as it was past bedtime..... i sprayed some ether, cranked it a bit and it fired up. it quickly shut off again though. i said" at least it runs"

i have read a lot on here the past few hours, and here are the things i know i am going to start on, and if the motor runs good, i will keep it. if not, its not worth my time. here is a list of where i am starting:

check all fluids, as well as brakes.
do a compression test as well as a leakdown test.
r&i the carbs, disassemble and clean (really good from what i read) lol
then reassemble and try to start.
tune from there.
once the motor runs "ok" then disassemble the other components and check them to see what needs to be replaced/ fixed.

the reason i say if the motor is shot, its not worth my time, befor ei fix anything else is because it costs more than what i have, and its not something i can do without paying someone else. all the other stuff i can do for the most part.

after all my ranting, what i am getting at is:

what all should i look for on this bike, and whats going to be the hardest thing to do (besides syncing carbs)

i am not planning on leaving this bike stock, first thing i am switching is the dreaded handlebars, and painting it probably flat black ( i manage a body shop) i dont want a "bobber" but a realy cleaned up bike, not so dated.

thanks,
ken

 

here is a picture of the bike now, off of his ad.

 

this is what i will be going for to start,

 

After running through the list, I would start to look into why the battery is bad.

if its still running rough after the carb clean then that might be the cause of the rough running and idle due to low spark.

definitely pull the battery and charge to its maximum then check voltages to make sure they are in spec. oh and check the spark leads and boots while your at it. maybe pull the sparkers and check the color. light brown is good, black or grey is bad. rich and lean accordingly.

while your doing the fluid renew maybe drop the fuel out and replace as a just incase.

I think the hardest thing to do would be diagnosing the battery issue.. while not being difficult it can be quite time consuming poking prodding and searching all over the bike.

Good luck!

 

Welcome to the site and good luck with your build/restore. Looks like you have most of the possible problems figured out but be sure to check the rear brakes for delamination. :wink:

 

thanks guys!

i am planning but forgot to add to the list, i am oging to just replace the battery. they are only like $40 here so i think i will just replace it.