what once was old and crusty(pics)

Hey guys just wanted to put up some pics of the engine on my 550 maxim. This project is almost finished and I will be putting up complete before and after pics in a few weeks

 

nice!....great job...

 

Looks very nice.

XJ4Ever carries these, now...

 

awesome dude! were our bikes originally chromed, or that brushed aluminum look?

 

Brushed aluminum look!

 

Sorta kinda.

More like, "crudely belt-buffed then clearcoated" look. Shinier than brushed, certainly not highly polished.

The clearcoat started to get "not shiny" after a couple-three years, and couldn't be polished. I guess the most honest answer to your question is: "somewhere in between."

The ignition cover in this pic is NOS, original clearcoat intact, the rest of the cases have been stripped and essentially hand polished. The result isn't as chrome-like as machine buffing, intentionally. The starter end cap is as original, painted silver. (The arrows indicate the YICS passage and plug, from a different thread.)



Close up of the cover, they're somewhere in between brushed and highly polished. The "grain" seems to indicate a production belt buffer and a quick production cycle:



**Note to self: clean the bug splat off before you take pics.*** (The yellow smurdge at 9:00 and the obvious booger on the edge of the black trim channel. sorry)

 

looks awesome, im jealous. i need to get new covers (or some that arnet scratched then clean them up, then get the engine guards (i call em case savers) good to know we can get those "YICS" inserts or are they stickers?

 

Fitz, you're more anal than a........ Umm I better not, or I'll get barred... lol those "bug splats" are like dust specks I had to look 3 or 4 times!!!

Also, is it only me who sees the Y in YICS & thinks YMCA? 8O

Sorry [/hijack]

 

The new YICS plates are real, metal, 3D badges like the originals.

RE: the bug splat-- yeah, but it's a closeup. I should have done a better inspection beforehand.

Since we were discussing original finish, look closely at the clear coat around the top of the "Y" and the first "A" and you can see the beginnings of failure. This cover has been in service for a little over three years.

 

ahh gotcha, i can notice those, im like you fitz everything has to be perfect clean and ill inspect my stuff about 5 or 6 times after im done just to "make sure" when i clean my bike i usually take 7 hours or so , the exhaust comes off every time to get all the nooks and crannies.

 

Nice engine work. Everything looks almost new again. Throw a quick coat of black on the forward engine mounts and that should be that?
Did you grab a new set of pipes, or did you rework the ones you had?

 

Fitz... if you're that anal, I'll let you spend a week with my bike....

 

here ya go Fitz, that screw was driving me crazy

 

Hahaha I was wondering about that, didn't want to say anything really but as you've brought it up, how come you haven't fitted new screws Fitz? Couple of those heads have had a screwdriver slip on them once.... or maybe twice :?

You know, I wouldn't have noticed the "bug splats" OR the screws OR the dirty mating face/bad fit/oversize gasket? at top of cover if you hadn't mentioned the bit at 9 o'clock, all I saw was one supremely clean XJ

 

Foolber the ignition cover in the pic had a pretty bad scratch on left just below yics insert. If you have a good polishing guy and scratch aren't to bad they can get them out and level it off so you can hardly see it. The pics don't do the polishing justice crappy cell pics. The guy only charged me $50 he did however have someone else's lower fork tube conveniently laying next to my stuff when I went to pick it up. Guess what I'm doing next winter along with new head bearings?

 

hot dog! i know just the place here in town, same place ima get an estimate on my tank at. LOL "conveniently" yea thatll happen. i could use those gettin done up also. hell the whole motor needs to be done up! but as far as the tank goes, whoever painted it didnt take off the original paint, so i think mine was born red....thinking about goin back to it. Does anyone know offhand where at in the VIN it tells me the color? if so PM me please!

 

It doesn't.

Your bike was either "U.R. Super Red" (I have no idea what that means, it's what Yamaha calls it) or "New Yamaha Black." Nothing in the VIN will tell you which.