Valve Adjustment HORROR STORY

So I have not gotten my Maxim x 'Marie' running correctly. I had her running (barely and not well), but as my past topics can show you, I have been fraught with difficulty at nearly every turn. By the end of this summer, I had a very annoying clicking sound from cylinder 4, the bike would not hardly keep running at idle without throttle and I kept experiencing both pop backs and backfires. So this winter, decided to tackle the valve shims... upon opening the valve cover, I found, not only was I not able to get a single feeler in (.05mm) ANY intake valve in the first three cylinders, but on cylinder 4, the middle lobe was marred, the cam retainer literally had a piece of some mystery metal sticking out of it, there is carnage from a broken valve bucket everywhere, and the outer two valve buckets on cyl. 4 are stuck down! At this point, I contemplated giving up and scrapping her. Upon a stroke of pure unadulterated luck, I scored a new head off of ebay for 35 bones (http://www.ebay.com/itm/280211761279?ss ... 914wt_1139), and am on my way to resurrection. I now plead with the readers of xjbikes, I am an unemployed college student, and i need help. Does anyone have extra valves, springs, retainers, buckets, and pads for the #4 cylinder? I need a starting point so that i can do a valve adjustment...


here is some good ol' fashioned valve carnage...


here are some pieces of valve bucket that i pulled out of various locations, my thumb, the head, the cam retainer.... you get the idea...


Here is the piece i pulled from the retainer.... you can see the hole in the background.... yeah i was not in a pleasant mood....

any advice on how to proceed would also be appreciated.... I have worked on engines before, but this is my first bike....

 

pm me if you do, i can pay i just cant pay dealer and most new prices

 

The Maxim X differed from the air head engine in that they don't use the same shim design; there is what's referred to as a "button" under the bucket. And it is these buttons which are the actual shims. It appears from the pic that some moron put the wrong shims in and when the cam came down it pushed the bucket too far and it caused the valves to bind up. If there is no damage to your cam you should be ok to re-use it. Install your replacement head, and get the correct shims and buckets then re-assemble. If you have a shop manual just follow the text, if you don't have a manual, get one.

 

More like a valve burnt, got stuck, and the camshaft "ate" the "loose" bucket.

What does the intake cam look like?

Did your replacement head come "naked?"

 

While you regroup, ... You need to have the Cam Inspected.
The pictures are scary.
It's hard to imagine a Cam coming through that situation unscathed.

If Cam Lobes were damaged; you'll have to replace them or have yours resurfaced.

You need LIFTERS ...
NOT Buckets.
You need ADJUSTER PADS
NOT Shims.
(The Pads look like Hearing Aid Batteries. Small)

This Ebay offering seems like a good deal.
ALL these NEW would be BIG Bucks.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-XJ-XJ7 ... 0642359419

What came-along with the Head you found on Ebay?

http://www.demoscams.com/

http://www.iskycams.com/contactus.php

 

@bigfitz: the 'new' head comes with nothing else... i figured that with a few minutes of grinding i could smooth out the cam retainer insides and reuse them.

@rick which would be more cost effective? getting the lobe reground or replacing the cam with an fleabay cam? the intake cam is all good other than one lobe that has scratches. i am going to post a picture of the scarred lobe today, i just forgot to take a picture and didnt want to go out to the garage and wake someone up last night.

@lvsteve&bigfitz: my PO wasnt big on the whole maintenance side of bike ownership... i figure the bike is in alright shape for sitting outside uncovered and with next to no oil in it for three years.... granted i did ALOT of painting grinding and cleanup, but i wouldnt put it past him to do something incredibly dumb, i saw some of his other projects.....

thank you for all of your responses. more updates will be forth coming.

 

Sorry about my broken terminoligy... i know the parts, and i could of sworn that someone here termed the lifters buckets due to their shape...

 

You need a service manual.

Cam caps CAN be re-used, but there is a cam-to-cap clearance spec that you'll need to use PlastiGauge to check; the process is covered in the service manual.

The same check would need to be done with a replacement cam and whatever caps you decided to use with it.

And "buckets" is fine; yes, they're "lifters" but we tend to call them buckets.

 

is there a link to another manual? mine doesn't have procedures like that...

 

Aren't the cam caps and head all "align-honed" from the factory, and swapping your old caps onto your new head after "dressing" them (by hand?) doesn't sound so good to me.

 

I have access to a full machine shop. its gonna be dressed by a full bird machinist who happens to be my best friend

 

It's covered in my factory 650 and 550 books; I don't have a factory "X" manual and it's likely slightly different; at least in terms of the specs.

 

ok.. ill have to look.... anyone got a good link to where i could buy one?

 

I have a Yamaha Factory Book for Max-X you can borrow to get-through this nightmare.

Don't buy the used Cams UNLESS they are warranted to be OK.
Hunt-down some used Cams.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1985-xj700-xj-7 ... 14&vxp=mtr

 

I can hook you up with everything you need.

PM sent.

SO, the head came naked? Did it include the cam housing too? (they are two different parts on the X)

That is PRECISELY why I always pull the head from an engine I try to resurrect that has been sitting out or open. It is too easy for a ring to be stuck or a valve to get jammed and it takes but a couple seconds to destroy seized parts that were perfectly good before you push the start button.
Yep, costs me at a minimum a head gasket and couple others but I know I'm not wasting my time working on a basket case.

 

Thank you guys so much for your responses, you guys have been a god-send!!!!!