Newbie from Dallas/College Station

Howdy folks,

I just joined the forum and am excited to be a new member and get expert opinions from you guys. I just bought a 1985 Maxim X XJ700X and plan on "bobbing" it out. It still has a little ways to go, but is coming along nicely. I am just waiting on the carbs to get in so I can finely get her up and running!

 

Welcome! I recently picked up a xj700n. Where did you send your carbs? I would like to see pics of your project.

 

Welcome, you're in the right place anyway While you're waiting on carbs it'd be a good idea to go over your brakes & tyres as our bikes being about 30 years old they can hold a few surprises for the unwary. There's some links in my signature to good info on all this.

 

Welcome!

Throw up some pics of the new steed!

Chris

 

I didn't send them off, I just happened to find a good bank on eBay for a good price since one of the float pin posts was snapped off on the carbs that came with my bike.

So far I have:

Cleaned the new (to me) carbs
Cleaned/rebuilt front brakes
Painted side covers and gas tank
Sealed gas tank with red kote
Installed drag bars and removed windshield
Installed pod filters
Changed all fluids
Removed stock mufflers
Replaced front hand controls
Changed spark plugs
Ordered lowering shocks and new grips
Removed highway pegs, passenger pegs, and passenger seat


I plan on:

Chopping rear end soon
Putting white walls on
Painting headlight housing
Removing instrument gauge cluster
Replacing turn signals/brake light with LEDs
Ordering shortie mufflers
Re-jetting (obviously)
Wrapping exhaust with white exhaust wrap
GETTING HER RUNNING!

This is what she looks like now.

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This is what she started as.

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Not sure if those pictures will be viewable or not since I posted this from my phone so let me know if they're not!

Thanks guys,

Dylan

 

nope pictures dont work, img would be" blue" if they would
stu

 

Welcome to the site. I am not that far from you, and there's two other active members near me, mabey we can hook up and ride.

 

Dang phone! Ill try and get some up tonight. Razz-that would be great. Just need to get her up and running first!

 

Whoaaa whoa whoa.

Easyyyy there on the aesthetics.

Change oil. And filter

Adjust valves and re-shim as needed to bring into spec.

Clean and sync carbs

New strong batt.

Check date code on tires, anything over 5 yrs or is worn/damaged, replace

Rebuild master cylinder and calipers

New ss brake lines

New shoes in the rear

New pads in front

Test charging system.

Replace fusebox with blade style

Replace final drive gear lube

Check wheel bearings and especially the head tube/steering headtube for notches

 

also new, thanks for a solid to do list!

 

Welcome! My brother went to A&M back in the 90s. I visited him once there and we went to Toms bbq. I guess its closed, but I remember the meal, and still compare any bbq I eat to it. I guess it was the Aggie special.

You prob got great weather still compared to a lot of the members on here.

Oh, and do check the rear brakes - that's a big safety issue on these bikes.

 

Almost all of that list was done while I was searching and waiting on my carbs to be shipped to me which took a long time. Oil and filter have been changed along with front calipers being rebuilt. Gear oil has been changed already along with a brand new battery. I will be purchasing new white walls very soon and I plan on installing the carbs this weekend. I will replace the fuse box soon as well. Checking valve clearances kind of scares me though because I've never done that before...

Dan-the weather down here is still very nice so I hope to get her up and running soon so I can actually enjoy it!

 

Checking your valve clearances is easy, I think Fitz even made a lovely pictorial how-to guide for it. Put it this way, it might seem scary now but it's a lot easier & less scary than replacing burnt out valves somewhere down the road I'll have a look see if that how-to is around

EDIT-: That was easy 8) http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=14827.html this is just one of the reasons why this is the best place ever!

 

Here's a couple of site links that will help you understand what's involved in performing a valve clearance check and shim swap for the X model:

http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=16298.html
and
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=29661.html

You'll want to check them before you put the carbs back on.

While you're at it, you'll also want to check the intake o-rings (where they mount on the heads) to make sure they don't look like this:



I know the pics are a bit blurry, but I think you get the point. You'll want to make sure you have no vacuum leaks that could lead to major headaches when trying to tune your bike.

Tony

 

I think my report card would read "must pay more attention"! I thought it was an N for some reason :?

 

...........I didn't want to say anything :wink:

 

lol you could hardly stop yourself! I have my excuse fully formulated now though, someone else DID say "I picked up a 700N" at the top of the thread, I *must* have been thrown off by that lol ahh well, we got there in the end & if nothing else Fitz's air cooled guide IS lovely to look at

 

Fitz's guide is awesome, and it's nice to have it to work off of.

Kudos to 85MaximXX for putting up a valve clearance how-to for us Maxim X owners that I referenced earlier in the post.

Tony