Reviving my 81 xj 550 maxim

I introduced myself a while back in general chat but didn't have my bike at my house at the time. I purchased my maxim 14 years ago, rode it for 3 or 4 years, then stored it when I got a newer bike due to it running like crap (of course it wasn't my fault). I was young & didn't maintain it the way an older bike should be. I sold my Intruder years ago & recently got the bug to ride again since many of my friends now finally have bikes (they were a little late to the game ). So, time to get this bike going again.

This thread will be heavy with pics mainly for my own reference and for anyone else that may catch something I miss or to chime in if they want to call shenanigans. I've got mechanical knowledge and fab skills but not much experience with the YICS bikes. With research and a little help from the great minds on this site, I strongly feel I can turn this bike into what I'm lookin for. And I do mean great minds on this site. I've been reading thread after thread on this site for about 3 months now and the vast information on such a specific group of cycles, the XJ's, blows my mind.

I'm not planning on riding this bike for a while. This first phase will be to get the bike to fire and at the very least run very poorly. I want to make sure it is worth putting the money into. I'll then check valve shims & resync the carbs with the YICS tool, replace front brake line and check rear drum for delamination. The front tire also needs replaced.

So here is the bike. After being stored in a farm shed for 6 years and various other places for years before, it's not in bad shape. We loaded it up on the trailer to be brought 3.5 hrs out to my house next time dad came out here.





My dad makes a great workhorse :lol:




The tank looks a bit goofy. I used it as a test piece when I repainted a truck years ago. A friend of mine tried getting the maxim going years ago, and in his efforts, sanded down the tank.


Yesterday it arrived at my house and today I started tearing into it.
First, I washed it to remove dust & grime so i don't get filthy every time I touch it.












The seat doesn't look too bad. I thought for sure the the field mice would get to it or the skunks that laid claim to it under the tarp. It really stank when I uncovered it.




Then I removed the seat, tank & battery. I filled the battery back up & set it on the charger just for the hell of it. I also removed the gas cap and petcock from the tank.







I then disassembled the petcock and left several parts to soak in some Lysol overnight along with the rubber boots from the carbs. Which means I pulled the carbs next.






It looks like my friend had the rack apart since he numbered the carbs.




He also unfortunately used silicone cauk on several things when he reassemled so who knows what he did in there.










I also noticed the choke pulls (?) are not set equally either so I would gather a bench set wasn't done. I guess he thought he'd just slap them back together and...viola!

The clutch arm spring has a tab broken off so I will need to get one.





I'm gonna have to clean out the inside of the tank since it has quite a bit of rust. I'll research that. Tomorrow, I'm gonna pull apart those carbs & start investigating.


A different friend gave me his old Honda CB 400T Hawk. When we graduated college, he had no where to put it so he gave it to me since I had the means to store it. I'm gonna have to do some major work to it though. It either has a blown piston or rod. The last ride we went on it limped back to the house sounding like someone rattling a wrench in a coffee can. Otherwise, a very clean platform to build from. It's gonna have to wait though.

 

The Maxim's actually in remarkably good shape.

The little bits and pieces that you'll need are easy, get ahold of chacal. Stick to your game plan and you'll have a nice rideable bike in no time.

 

Actually with as long as it has been parked BOTH tires need to be replaced.

Looks like you have a good list going, and Fitz is right, the bike looks to be in VERY good shape. Shouldn't take long at all to get her back on the road.

And that 400 project looks like a fun one too, keep us posted on that one also!

 

I started disassembling the carbs today.

The guy that tried to get this bike going a few years ago didn't go easy on the silicone. It's everywhere; the fuel channels between the carbs, the caps on top of the carbs and slide diaphram, the fuel bowl. The inside bottom of the fuel bowl is a mixture of varnish and dissolved silicone.

I've fully disassembled carb 4 EXCEPT for the throttle shafts. I can not get the screws for the buttlerfly to come loose. I'm using a screw driver that fits perfectly but will not budge. I don't want to strip the screws. Does anyone know a good solvent I can use to soak the carb body (with throttle shafts & gasket in) to break up the vanish but not the throttle shaft gaskets?

 

Oh, and I was wanting to compression test the cylinders. BUT I was going to put some mystery oil in the cylinders to keep from scoring the walls when I turn it over. That will skew my compression #'s. What do you all think?

 

Mikuni butterfly screws are peened over on the backside to keep them from unscrewing. You need to open the butterflies and hold them there (a half-moon lengthwise slice from an appropriate diameter dowel works well) and VERY CAREFULLY file the back end off the screws before trying to remove them. If you got the others out already it's a miracle.

You'll need to use new screws and Loctite on reassembly.

It's not a good idea to soak the carbs in anything if the throttle shaft seals are still in them.

Put some MMO in, roll the motor over a few, then wait before doing the compression test. Might want to get the valves in spec before worrying too much about the compression numbers; a couple of too-tight valves can give you wonky readings.

 

I started on carb 4 (don't know why). The right screw on the butterfly broke free (I did not remove it to keep it tight while trying to loosen the other) but the left screw would not even budge. I stopped there before stripped it. I think I will just skip the throttle shaft seals & hope they're not hashed. I know my friend wasn't in there since those screws were not stripped like everything else.

Good point on the compression test. That will come after valve clearances.

 

This is what happens when silicone cauk is used for carb assembly. It turns into a jelly and then gets everywhere.









Carb 4 went well. Disassembled, cleaned all parts and reassembled greasing the float bowl gasket and other things. PB blaster wet sanded the slide bore with 800 then 1000 grit and polished the slide and jet needle. Clunk test perfect. I will need a float bowl drain screw (will wait to from chacal until I disassemble all 4).


Carb 3 did not go as planned. Popped the fuel bowl to find this...



A broken float pin tower. At least the tower that is broken is not the one for the press fit of the float pin. The pin actually holds the float just as tight so i'm not too sore about it.

The PO almost had the pilot jet stripped. Knowing its brass, I dug in a bit with a sharper screw driver & was able to remove. Will need a new one but no big deal.



I FUBAR'd the drain screw on carb 3 though...
It was already fully stripped, so I drilled a small hole down, switched to a few bigger bits, and tried to chizal it loose. The head twisted off down to the O ring. Looks like I'll just set the float to match one of the others and JB weld the drain closed. I do not have extraction bits that small

 

Just swap float bowls (with one with a good drain screw) to set the float height on the one with the buggered drain screw.

You might want to pick up a "parts rack" of carbs off eBay. I got mine for under $20; all it takes is a float bowl or carb body replacement to make it worth your investment.

I would fix the broken float pin tower so you can be sure that one float won't always have "issues."

 

I also had a broken float tower when I pulled the crabs on my latest Xj, had to use carbs of the parts bike. Its not fixable the float pin might hold it but once the carbs are on the float will not work properly.
The bike looks great and keeps up the good work.
Al

 

Well, the pilot jet on carb 2 is stripped. So, I guess a different set of carbs is in order. (considering micro extractor bits)

Are the 550's the only ones that came with these Mikunis?

 

The 650 and 750 have Hitachi’s im not sure about the 700 and 750 x, I think the 900 have Mikunis to but would not fit a 550 because there to big, so there are no other carbs that will fit(with out modifications).
Keep up the great work.
Al

 

My last post was just frustration and desperation. :? I was still hoping this was just gonna be a take apart/clean/reassemble job. I was only fooling myself. I'm serious about getting these carbs perfectly clean!

So, I did find a very small Easy Out here at work that I will try tonight. Gonna also apply some Olive Oil and heat to help penetrate the threads.

I was also having issues removing the float valve seat & was able to remove one. I scuffed up the outside of the exposed portion with some needle nose pliers but I don't believe it will effect anything. I'll file smooth the shards as not to allow any deposits to take hold.

Emulsion tube was a lot easier to remove than I first thought. The hardest part was removing the main jet washer. Then, I used a large punch that matched the diameter perfectly to get it started (small light taps) then used a pencil to get it the rest of the way down (the pencil cleared the locating pin). After it was out, I swabbed the bore with a copper brush from my gun cleaning kit wetting it with carb cleaner to get the deposits off. Worked like a charm.
Still have to polish the emulsion tubes.

The screws on the butterflies are another story. I can only break free one of the screws on each butterfly. I'm seriously considering just drilling a hole in each of the other ones to hopefully relieve some of the pressure. Those throttle shafts need to come out.

I ran across a thread someone post a while back with a pdf writeup on replacing the throttle shaft seals. I can't seem to find it with search. Anyone have a link to that?
thanks

 

The plot thickens with a broken easy off stuck in there.... ugh....I'll never be able to drill it out. Back to cussing in the garage...

 

I filed down one of the screws for the butterfly.





I used some small metal files that I had. It took a while but I was careful not to damage the butterfly or the main bore.

Unfortunately, the screw will still not budge. Applied heat with no help. I don't think that screw can take much more. Any Ideas?


The offending pilot jet with broken Easy Out lodged in...

 

So, I've been creating some polished carb parts porn the last couple of days. Each carb has all of it's parts polished to this degree.










If you ever run across this stuff, Noxon, purchase it. It will polish pretty much every metal you put it on. Just pouring it on brass starts the polishing. Takes rust off very well also. Don't remember where I got it 14 years ago to polish some aluminum parts on this bike.




I'm also compiling a list of parts to order through xj4ever. Then I can get these carbs buttoned up.

I was able to get the throttle shaft out on carb #2 without damaging the butterfly screws. It's my test carb so I don't think I'll do that to the other carbs. It also didn't move as freely as the other carbs, something was binding it up. The plastic washer was missing on the spring side which was causing the aluminum spacer to dig into the carb body a bit. Polished all the parts.



CLEAN YOU ENRICHMENT TUBE PORT on the float bowl. This port gets easily clogged (being that it is down in the float bowl). From what I understand, having this port nice and clean greatly helps starting ability.

I purchased these little dental brushes at walmart for about 3 bucks for a pack of 30.




Spray some carb cleaner in both the holes (wear safety glasses, these little clogged ports will easily back spray you in the face) and work at it with the dental brush. Don't push hard (they easily bend) just keep spinning it and adding carb cleaner. Let the brush do the work. Work at it from both holes.






when you make it through, check with a little pen light to see the hole.



After I get the old varnished cleaned out, I polish the port with some Noxon and the little brushes and Q-tips for the larger portion of the port. Just make sure to get all the polish out. Follow up with swabbing out with carb cleaner to get all polish out.

 

Also, I used that Noxon as a wet sanding agent on the slide port. With 1200 grit it came out almost as a mirror finish. I'm so excited about the throttle response I will gain from the polished slide ports. They never went clunk before.

 

I was able to save a float bowl! Finally got the drain screw with the ripped off head to come out with an easy out. I'm 1 for 1 with easy outs on this carb.

 

While waiting on a line on some carbs to pan out, I Inspected my exhaust & noticed some holes that needed to be patched on my mufflers. I tried to take off the mufflers with the exhaust on the bike but it wasn't working so I pull the whole exhaust off.




The collector is actually in pretty good shape




Some of the muffler holes to patch. They are bigger than they look.









And all patched up. Definitely gonna have to paint them now so it's not noticable. Not gonna win any contests but should help keep the pressure right. Still have to weld a pipe in each tip. It easily burned through in a few spots due to weak rusted mufflers so I had to patch the burn throughs also.






Anyone have a rack of 550 carbs they wanna sell? Or even the #2 carb?

 

Still had to weld up the tips of the mufflers. The exhaust was rusted all of the way around. The drilled exhaust I did when I was young and didn't know better.





I found some galvanized conduit to sleeve the exhaust and then welded it in.



That ought to help with back pressure. I'll probably plug the holes with JB weld. I would just weld the 1/4" holes shut but I can't get a piece of copper behind the hole to weld against.

I bought some exhaust paint and painted the mufflers. It felt weird sanding them down and not polishing the crap out of them. I'll have to be careful with them until I get the bike started to cure the paint. The wife won't let me use the oven to cure them. Something about the smell in the house blah blah blah.
Over all they turned out good







Gonna paint the collector next but it needs cleaned up more before I do.

 

Nice work so far. Isn't it fun welding anything galvanized? :lol:
Gotta ask, why all the work on the mufflers when you could just buy some aftermarket ones for 30 to 60 bucks or some uesd Sportster mufflers on Ebay?

 

Thanks.

Couple reasons:
1. I'm cheap
2. I've got the welder so why not put it to good use?
3. I just want to return it close to stock back pressure.
4. Would rather spend the money on carb and valve shims/tools.

I will eventually get some different muffs further into the build. Don't want to dump money into a bike if I can't get it going.

It has 29,744 miles on it. I never did the valve clearances & I put 9,000 of those miles on. Chances are, neither did the other owners. My valves could be hashed.

 

I have side panels ill sell you for ten bucks plus shipping, seeingthat you don't have them

 

Thanks for the offer, MotoMat, but I do still have mine. They're not going back on though. Do you happen to have an extra #2 carb body? I'd gladly buy that from u.

 

I picked up a cb 750 tank while hitting the salvage yards this weekend. Only cost me 10 bucks so if I ruin it, oh well. It probably sat there for at least 10 years. I heard liquid sloshing around in there & when I took off the petcock it was all varnish. Good sign. No water = no leaks (hopefully). Don't know yet if I'll modify the tank or the frame to fit it up. That will come once I get it running. Some picks of the mock-up. It still needs to move about 2" down and 2-2.5" forward. The front tank mounts are holding it up. They either need cut off the frame & skinnier ones welded on or the front inside of the tank will need to be cut out & patched.

+ my yamaha key opens the tank cap! Must be a simple lock.

 

I hope you do modify that tank to fit the bike, I think it would be a nice look. I am also curious as to how you would go about that. I would be interested for future projects of mine. Do you mod the frame or tank?

 

Don't know. Could go either way. If i did the tank, I would need to braze over my welds after. I'm still in the planning phase but that original tank will not be what I end up with.

 

I am just unsure of how moding a tank would be done. I could weld up a tank, but I am afraid I would have a bunch of poris holes, I guess brazing would fill them in. If only I could affored a tig.

 

Someone put a Honda tank on an XJ before with little mods. I think it was Schooter, look through the threads. I'm sure you'll find something helpful in there somewhere, best of luck.

 

@ Haysersys: a tig would be mighty nice. I think my dad has one at work he can use so I may do all of the fitting and tack it all in then have him finish it off. I've had a hard time dialing in my Hobart 187 handler mig for thinner guage metal. Even very quick tacks I can blast right thru if I'm not extremely careful. I got it for working on the thicker metal on my jeep.


@OnB: I'll look for that thread. I'll definitely have to pound in some of the bottom of the tank to clear the 2 frame rails in front of the seat. As for the front mounts of the tank, it may just be easier to drill the spot welds on the frame mount to pop thos off.

I'll still look for other tanks. I really dig the boxyness of XS500, RD 400, SR2 or the old Honda dream 50 cc tanks.

 

Got my carb parts on order so I need to get my exhaust back on this weekend before the parts come in next week.

Does any know what material the header pipe to collector gasket is? 1 of them disintigrated during tear down. Was thinking I would use some fiber glass wrap or some cork paper (for making your own gaskets).

 

You can't really make your own.

They're metal rings, filled with an asbestos-like material. There are two "styles" and I included pics of both styles here, toward the end of the article: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=29356.html

You really need to replace them with the correct parts.

 

Oh, I'm sorry, you said "header pipe to collector."

Those are a similar composite part made of special material; again something you really can't make yourself.

Don't have a pic of one handy.

 

Iii don't have just the number two, buut I do have have a completely dissaasembled and freshly cleaned and machine boilded carb rack, guranteed to have all the piieces minus gaskets

 

Ok, I'm ready to fire it up.

As of now I have, COMPLETELY (except for throttle shafts) disassembled/cleaned/polished/reassembled carbs. Polished slide bores, cleaned all passages, emulsion tubes, Replaced all 4 pilot jets, Replaced all 4 needle valves & needle valve seat o-rings, added all 4 washers and o-rings to the pilot mixture screws (they were missing when removed) and reset to 2.5 turns out, checked diaphrams for pin holes (all good), replacement #2 carb body from chacal (thanks), floats set, all 4 carbs bench synced with business card strips, Marvel Mystery oil in each cylinder for over a week (turning engine over manually every day), bike had new plugs already (from PO who couldn't get it running), cam chain adjustment set, all exhaust holes patched, rust cleaned out of gas tank with the electrolysis process (worked great!), petcock rebuilt/cleaned/polished, replaced fuses/cleaned fuse box & have been charging the battery every other day (hope it has enough to start it up).

So, does it sound like I got most everything covered for a fire up?

I am DEFINITELY going to do a valve adjustment as I'm certain it needs it. With 29,000+ miles I hope it didn't ruin anything.

Again, I just want to hear it fire up and at least run rough before I dump the money into it that needs to be dumped to make it road worthy (valve shims/valve shim tool, tires, rear brakes, front brake line, YICS tool & such)

 

Pretty much. Have you run a compression test yet? Might want to do that first, just in case. It would be a good idea to at least be sure all 4 cylinders can do their basic function before trying to fire it.

You can also CHECK the valve clearances with nothing more than a feeler gauge. Yes, the tool is preferred for re-shimming, but you can at least check clearances. If you've got a dead-tight valve or two, it could keep it from running.

If you get wonky compression test results, checking valve clearances will be the next step. I'd do it first myself.

 

I can do a compression test. My feeler gauges got rusty, I don't trust them giving me a correct reading with the surface rust. I need to get new ones. + donuts & probably a valve cover starts running me up in parts again (before I even know the shape of the engine). I understand the extreme importance of proper vacuum & valve clearances with cv carbs so valves will not go undone. Just gotta tool up first.

Compression test should yield more info. If my battery is weak will that scew my #'s?

 

You don't need donuts and a valve cover gasket if you're not planning on actually riding the bike; it's not gonna leak that bad.

The valve clearances are important to more than just vacuum for the carbs-- they can throw off your compression test results, as can a weak or low battery.

Go ahead and run a compression test; but if you get seriously low numbers on a couple of cylinders, then check the valves before jumping to conclusions. (I would still check the valves first to avoid possible consternation if you get uneven results, but that's me.)

A new set of metric feeler gauges, like K-D Tools' 2274, runs less than $10.

I've gotta add "my feeler gauges are rusty" to the ever-growing list of excuses I've heard for not checking valve clearances. At least it's not as bad as "a fat disgruntled old guy told me they'd be ok."

 

Now my curiosity has been piqued......with everything you did to the carbs, why did you stop shy of taking that last two steps and doing the fuel rail o-rings and the throttle shaft seals? Geez Louise.........now you're gonna have to take everything apart AGAIN. Hmmmmmm.....that sounds like a lot of US who have taken them apart too many times LOL

Dave F

 

Checking your valve clearances on these airheads is not hard. Really it's easy-you can check them in a matter of minutes. The write up on here from bigfitz is well done and the pictures make it simple. Now re-shimming is a little harder and requires patience and more time, but still not hard.

If your battery is strong enough to turn it over quickly and not begin to slow after several revolutions (meaning voltage is quickly dropping) then good to go. Watch your compression gauge and make sure it's not still creeping up before you quit turning it over. It took me about 4 or 5 needle jumps before I maxed out.

 

Revised plan.

Threw the battery on last night, after charging, to see if it will turn the bike over. Nothing. Only a dimly lit neutral light. So, first off, gonna need a new battery. Since I'm on a budget, the battery will have to wait awhile.

In the mean time, gonna check those valves this weekend. I'll see If I can get some metric feelers for a good deal locally. I do have some standard feelers that aren't rusty. I'll post my #'s.

Hogfiddles - Have you filed off the threads on those tiny peened in screws? It's no fun. I did it on my spare #2 carb body & unless I have issues once the bike is up and running the other 4 will have to stay that way. Having to buy a #2 carb body ruined my carb budget otherwise I would have bought more parts. It's not like we're talking just a couple bucks worth of parts, it all adds up. This is just a partial list of parts I couldn't get

HCP3458SET8 OEM Mikuni fuel line Tube O-RINGS, set of 8:
$ 26.50
HCP7120SET8 Aftermarket Mikuni butterfly valve MOUNTING SCREWS, flat-head 18-8 stainless steel socket head cap screw with a 2mm hex-drive, set of 8:
$ 5.50
HCP38BSET8 Aftermarket Mikuni throttle shaft V-SEALS, set of 8:
$ 28.95
HCP39CSET8 Aftermarket Mikuni throttle shaft seal SHIM WASHERS, eight shims:
$ 14.00
HCP863SET4 Aftermarket Mikuni carb FLOAT BOWL GASKETS, set of 4:
$ 13.00

I don't mind taking things apart more than once if it saves me money and helps me learn the mechanics. It's a high probability that we're all gonna be in our carbs more than twice. Hope that quenches your curiosity.

 

Ok, so just to keep all my progress in one thread. Here is a link to my valve clearance thread:

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=34860.html

My measurements and replacement shims are as follows:

Cyl ~ Intake ~ Exhaust
1 ~ .09, Y260 ~ .10, Y260
2 ~ .09, Y265 ~ .16, Y265
3 ~ .08, Y260 ~ .11, Y260
4 ~ .06, Y260 ~ .06, Y265

1 out of the 8 is within spec (the minimum at that)
After consulting the chart, I should replace them with these shims giving me the new clearance of:

Cyl ~ Intake ~ Exhaust
1 ~ Y255, .14 ~ Y250, .20
2 ~ Y260, .14 ~ GOOD, .16
3 ~ Y255, .13 ~ Y255, .16
4 ~ Y255, .11 ~ Y255, .16


I also gapped all my new spark plugs to .63 and .65 mm.

I've got an order in with chacal on new shims and a new air filter. So close to firing this bad boy up. Unless I run across electrical issues (bad coils, alternator & such) I think this thing will run.

 

I finally ordered my shims & filter over the weekend. Had to pay off that Christmas debt before moving forward. Shame, I wish had ordered them back in November. With all the warm days, I could have easily had it back together. Oh well. Everything should be in next week & installed.

 

Got my parts yesterday. Confirmed what I suspected. The air filter that was in my bike was the wrong filter. It was stuffed in there tight enough to warp the airbox. With the airbox side cover on, the box bubbles out a bit at the top leaving a gap. The air box has been open for a few months and it hasn't went back to shape yet, it may be permanently damaged. I'll try heating it with a heat gun and push it back down. If not, I'll have to make a gasket or something. I'll post pics of the 2 in comparison later.

 

All of my shims are installed! Everything went swimmingly except of course the #4 intake. The bucket tool just would not hug the cam enough to hold it down. So I had to use the wire method again on that one. I triple checked all my clearances before I swapped them. All my new clearance #s came out as expected except #4 exhaust ended up .18 instead of .16, still within spec though.

I would like to get it all back together this week to test fire this weekend. It started getting cold in the garage this evening & cold weather expected for the rest of the week. We'll see what I can get done.

 

Everything put back together this week, new battery charged and installed, gas in the tank and after around 10 years of lying dormant . . .

IT STARTED RIGHT UP!!!!

I couldn't let out the choke cause I haven't set the main idle yet, but man did it purr. Sounds strong and fires right up.

2 things though:
1. The petcock leaks. Actually, I think it is coming from the mounting screws for the petcock. I had completely disassembled the petcock, cleaned, polished & greased everything. Gonna try again to seal it up. Not gonna buy any parts for it since I'm (hopefully) not gonna use that tank.

2. It smoked like crazy! Probably a combination of disassembling the exhaust & putting it back together with the same gaskets & such. Plus, some dobbers had built nests in the exhaust while stored. I cleaned out the best I could but I'm sure I didn't get all of it. This exhaust smoking will be addressed in phase 2.

Thanks to so many of you for the help on reviving this bike. This site is great with a lot of knowledge at our fingertips.


I'm gonna start a new build thread on the modifications I'm doing. Phase 2 will encompass the following:

1. Fit the early 70's Honda cb750 tank on. I will accomplish this by removing the current tank mounts from the frame, fabricating new ones to weld onto the frame and bashing in some of the underside of the tank to clear the frame where it needs it.
2. Cut the rear crossmember/frame off behind the shocks and weld on a hoop.
3. Build a fiberglass tail that goes from the back of the tank to the new hoop. I have quite a bit of experience with fiberglass. Repaired boats & PWC's for 2 years when I first moved here to the lake.
4. Build a seat pan (separate from the tail) and upholster a seat. This seat with bolt to the fiberglass tail which in turn will be connected to the frame. Still working out how I want to do that.
5. Lower the front about 1"
6. Install clubman bars & possibly new levers. We'll see on the new levers.
7. With clubmans & levers installed, I'll measure to figure out length of new front brake hoses (probably stainless) & other lines (throttle, choke).
8. Rebuild front caliper.
9. Check for delamination of the rear shoes
10. With both wheels off, will be a perfect time to fit it with new tires
11. Misc. stuff, lights, polish (maybe) & paint/graphics.

That should get me on the road for the summer.

In Phase 3 I'll:
Purchase smaller Mikesxs guages (with indicator lights), Purchase smaller headlight & fork mounting brackets, drop the headlight a bit, possibly swap front fender with a fork stabilizer, & Purchase taller rear shocks (~13").

Heres a photoshop rendering of what I'm shooting for:




I think with a bit of elbow grease, there is no reason my XJ can't look like that.

 

So, I was dead wrong. :?

No phase 2 yet.

I did a compression test after I got it running only to find out I had very low #'s. I've got it all down in this thread:

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... g+oil.html

Looks like i'm replacing the rings & doing a valve job. On to the engine tear down. I had to get some help maneuvering the engine out of the frame but we got it out. A couple observations after getting the head off:








My #1 piston is a bit concaved when compared to the others. All the other three are convexed. Maybe a lean condition that just hadn't made its way through the piston yet? What do you all think? Here is the #1 piston compared to the #4








Should I look for an ebay piston?


Anyway, I can't get the cylinders to break free. How can I break it loose without busting a fin? I've strategically rapped on it with the handle end of a screw driver. I've also tried a mallet with no luck. What's the best leverage?

 

It took me about 10 minutes of tapping with a screwdriver handle, and then just wiggling it front and back. I did not pry anywhere. I don't reccommend prying. Just patience. Also, tip the motor on its front when you seperate or else dirt and crap WILL fall into the case.

 

I had a hard time breaking mine free as well. It took several 'lovely taps' with a huge rubber mallet before I went on to using a soft block of wood as a buffer and a equally huge metal mallet.

It took quite a lot of love from all directions before it gave way. Either way, the impacts from the sides of the engine were softer and the ones that were along the length of the engine (front + back) were pretty intense to get it free. If you go with the hammer/mallet with block of wood as a buffer method make sure you place the block of wood flush with the fins so you don't put too much energy into a single fin, and strike in a slight angle so you transfer some of that energy upwards and away from the main engine base to get it free.

Patience is key. (Mine took 250-300 blows).

Good luck!