My XJ650 Maxim Project

I picked up this bike the other day for $100 and im really excited to start working on it! It seems like I just need to clean the carbs, put them back on, and replace the spark plugs to get the bike running. After that I plan to tear the bike down to the frame and do a complete restoration/ customization. I have only done this once before with a Suzuki ls650 Savage and I hope I can use what I learned from that to build an even better bike this time!

 

Here are some pics

 

just need to clean the carbs... lol famous last words! Good luck with the project!

 

If you're gonna go the custom route, think outside the box. There's a lot you can do with these bikes. Here's my 750 before/after for some inspiration

Before (it was a lot rougher than it looks...)



After



build thread Good luck...and post lots of pics!!

 

That looks amazing! And yes, I am definately an outside of the box type of thinker. I plan to do a cafe' style build with a unique twist. I will post a lot of pics for sure and look forward to everyons' feed back!!

 

Its the end of day one and everything is good so far. I put the carbs on my work bench and started taking them apart to clean them. I immedietely noticed that the screws were kind of loose and when I got the first bowl off I was delighted to see that it was perfectly clean on the inside!! I removed the other bowls to see if they were the same and sure enough they were! I was worried at first because there was a lot of grime on the outside of the carbs and I assumed that it would be the same on the inside. Anyway, I changed the oil, put the carbs back on the bike, and hooked up a test battery. The motor turned over good but then my starter solenoid went out so I had to jump it. After a couple seconds the bike almost started but then my test battery died! Darn!

 

All righty; since my battery charged overnight I went out to my shop today and tried starting the bike again. I realized last night in my sleep that I had forgotten to hook up the vacuum line from the carb to my test tank. As soon as I did that I got a screwdriver and jumped my trashed starter solenoid and after a few seconds it started!!

 

Day 2 Updates

Pic of my test tank

 

why do you need a vacuum line on a test tank?
where does that blue hose go?

 

After I let the bike run for a bit, did a few revs, and messed around with the gears some; I thought it would be safe to start tearing the bike down! I have decided to take my time for this process because I want to see what parts I can utilize for the project, and what parts I want to leave out. I thought that The first thing to go would be the ugly rusted rear fender and sissy bar.

 

With the fender off I decided to examine the tail end of the frame. I knew that the fender mount had to go because it would not work into my plan. A few weeks ago I found a brand new rear seat in someone's trash and I thought it would be perfect for this project, so I cut the frame right in front of the fender mount so that I could see how the seat would fit. I plan to weld a hoop onto the back that the seat can fit onto nicely.

 

when I was done messing with the seat I decided to rip out the old air box. The set up wass missing the parts that connect the carbs to the box so I have no choice but to go with pod filters, LOL! When I pulled off the cover to access the filter saw that at some point this part of the bike was used to house a family of rodents! There was a bunch of grass and leaves with peanut shells and little seed casings.

 

The blue hose connects to the fitting that comes out before the carbs. My guess is that the suction from the cylinders pressurizes the gastank and lets fuel get to the engine easier. Im not for sure if thats how it works I could be wrong, all I know is that the bike runs now

 

Next I move to the front of the bike and I started taking apart the gauges and headlight. The headlight bucket is pretty rusty on the inside so I think I might replace it; as for the gauges, I think I want to go for a more modern look so I micht swap them out for a single digital speedo/tach. One thing that I really like about this bike is that it seems like all of the connectors are different. The last bike I worked on had them almost all the same so it made re-assembly difficult even though I labeled everything.

 

Since I want to put some cafe bars on this bike I thought that I might as well just remove the old rusty ones now. The controls on the bars are pretty messed up. The choke switch hardly moves, the horn button is jammed, the starter button hardly works, and you have to wiggle the turn signal switch around so that the turn signal lights turn off. By the way, are the turn signals supposed to blink? They just stay on normal when I hit the switch, is there a way to fix this?? Anyone let me know please!
Anyway, I am definetly going to get a new set of controls, maybe even a new master cylinder Im not sure yet. I think it might be cool to get one off of a newer Yamaha.

 

Tore down the bike a little bit more today. Removed front and rear wheels, removed the front forks and they are trashed, rear shocks are trashed also. Pulled off the wiring harness and labeled the plugs, and removed the exhaust. Looks like tomorrow the engine is coming out! Will post pics of progress later.

 

Anyone know if a front fender from a 92 seca will fit my 82 650 Maxim?

 

The past couple days have been pretty easy. I was happy to complete the disassembly of the bike without having to cut off any rusted parts!

 

Removing the engine from the frame seemed to be a lot harder for me than it should have been. I used the method of putting the frame and engine on its side and wiggling the frame from the engine. After a lot of wiggling I realized that I sort of drifted to the other side of my work shop...

 

The other day I gave the motor a very good cleaning. It took me about 4 hours to get done but it looks pretty decent, I will have to give it a good sanding and polishing before it gets paint.

 

Today I started doing some mods to the frame, nothing really special I just started cutting off the little tabs and mounting brackets that Im not using for the project to clean up the frame a bit.

After I cut a few:

 

After some grinding and polishing:

 

Right now I have a delima; I really like the center stand on these bikes because it gives a good display but I realized that since I want to lower the bike this will pretty much render the stand useless. When I got the bike the front forks were completely colapsed and I needed assistance getting the bike up on the stand. Is there any way that I could shorten the stand? If I decided to leave it off and I cut the mounting brackets would this compromise the integrity of the frame? Everyone's thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

 

You could shorten the legs to the (feet) and continue using the center stand. Also, you'll need to shorten or bend the side stand as well.
How much are you planning to lower the bike? I wouldn't recommend lowering too much,the universal joint on the shaft could kink.

 

Thanks for the info! I was planning on lowering the bike maybe 1" to 1.5" with some stiffer progressives in the rear.

 

A couple of guys have used Suzuki Savage 650 rear shocks on their bikes which lowers it about 2 inches. They are good as long as your not carrying a lot of weight.

 

This just got in today, its my new front fender off of a 94 seca. It will fit with a mild modification because the caliper mount gets in the way but you wouldnt even be able to notice the cut!

 

My excitement was short live after I went out to my shop to double check the fitment of the new fender. I realized that this fender mounts lower on these forks than the other one does, Im still going to use it but I will have to do some modifications... 8O

 

Hello everyone, it has been awhile since I was able to work on my bike but things are picking up now and I hope to be getting a lot of work done!

I got a rear seat hoop for the back end and I cut it to size and fit it on.

 

After I fit the hoop I did a mock up for the seat; I modified the orginal seat pan and foam, I think I like how its going. Any comments?

 

looking pretty good man.. the seats should give it a nice profile!

 

Hello everyone, it's been a while since the last update. Everything is going well; the tank, frame, swing arm, and other parts have been painted.

 

Frame

 

Picture wouldn't post

 

I have actually decided to go a different route with this project. I want to go for the naked look and the passenger seat in the back would force me to build a fake oil tank and that is not the look I want so I just decided to fabricate a rear seat bump to house the battery and other electronics.

 

I wanted to make the rear seat hump myself to get some practice on my metal fabrication skills. This also allowed me to get the look I desired.

 

I have to do some grinding and then paint it but I think it's going to look pretty good

 

Did you just butt the 2 pieces together and weld, or did you leave a small gap between the pieces? If you just butted them together, you'll gring away most of the weld and have a weak joint. Weld the inside to strengthen it.

 

Yes I did butt it together, and I also welded the inside

 

Good deal.

 

Looking good brother.. I'm still watching!

 

Finished!

 

Wow, nice bead on the edge!

 

wanna see a picture of this thing finished . i like the baby blue in the frame!

 

Hopefully it will be done by the end of summer! ^^