400 Maxim

Hey folks! I've been away for a while, but I've been very busy with my bike.

I freshened up the front forks, still debating progressive springs.. "Spring cleaned" the caliper and changed the brake pads.
I seem to have an issue with the airbox. I think the carbs were flooding and fuel was flowing into the airbox. Is that even possible? In any case we took the airbox off and fired up just to see, and the bike sounded like it was running even better than before. I'm very confused.

Further ahead I've gotten a new seat and tank as the seat I had needed recovering and was all around in very bad shape. The tank was also pretty rusted on the inside. Fixable, but the stock seat and tank gave the bike a much more "cruiser" look than what I was after.

I have a "universal" ~cafe racer~ seat that I'll be fitting and a KZ650 tank that fits as close to stock as one can hope. I just got it back from the shop yesterday and the guy brazed in the fuel valve from the Maxim tank so that the petcock is in the correct area to hook up to the carbs. An aside about the seat.. It seems that it's just by dumb luck that it fits and flows(IMO) with the KZ tank. "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Got some clip-ons, new gauges, signals, rear brakelight/signals, and headlight brackets so the general look that I set out to achieve is slowly coming together. I definitely have some cable rerouting to do and I need to find shortened brake lines and throttle/clutch cables.

Anyone know a good place to get these? I've done some searching, but it didn't yield very many results. Maybe I need to narrow down my search?


Here are some pictures!


I have my heart set on running pods, but I'll take the airbox out "correctly" so I can put it back in should I find it impossible to tune the carbs correctly for pods. The chain needs some loving and I plan to try and clean it, but I very well may have to get a new one. Might look into a 520 or similar conversion at that point. I would like to go with rearsets, but the bike is so small I think it'll make the riding position borderline dangerous.

 

Check your oil for gas.

 

Could that be a cause of it? I'll definitely check it out. Let's hope that isn't it.

Assuming you're talking about the carbs possibly over flowing into the airbox?

 

You probably have a stuck float and or a petcock that needs to be built...

Carbs flood the air box which can ends up in your crankcase. Check your oil level window and see if it's full and take the fill cap off and take a whiff. If it smells like gas then don't run your motor until your problems are fixed. And change your oil.

 

^ what they said. The only way for fuel to get into the airbox is because of a sticking float, or a float needle not sealing against the seat (or bad seat o-rings/washers). The only way for more than a few teaspoons of gas to get there is if he petcock is also leaking.
Do not run the engine until you remedy the problem or you will end up rebuilding the bottom end (or even going to hospital). Change the oil and oil filter. Use the oil/gas mix in your lawnmower, weed trimmer, or older truck.

 

We ran the bike for maybe 15 seconds after taking the airbox out just to see. Beyond that we haven't as we've been trying to figure out how to fix the tank. I didn't think about it getting in my crank case or mixing with the oil. That would really suck. I'll definitely be checking it out when I get home from vacation, and it's probably a good idea to do some more carb work regardless. Thanks for the input guys.

I noticed the smell after draining the gas out of the stock tank to see how the KZ tank would fit (I did this outside and drained it into a gas can). I walked in the garage and it smelled like I dipped my head in a fuel tank. Maybe not that bad, but you get the gist. I was praying it was anything other than the maxim, but when I walked over and smelled the airbox and carbs I took a whiff and the smell was unreal.