My 82 XJ650 Maxim Complete Rebuild

Unbolt the sprockets from the cams, remove cam retainers, remove cams tie a string cord, or wire, to the chain so you don't lose it down inside and not have a way to retrieve it easily.

 

Very nice!

 

With a FSM of course!!

 

Beautiful machine Jay! And I'm really loving the green. One of these days I'll throw up a pic of my custom moped. At the very least it'll generate some chuckles. Thing goes 60! And the the pedals are still on!! But mainly, its GREEN!!! You have incredible attention to detail, and a little birdie told me this thing isn't a trailer queen either! but...... I couldn't find the m.unit on this one???

 

Not on this one, wanted a stock rebuild. Next project will get one though. Yeah lets see the moped!

 

That is an amazing job on the bike.
Not sure if I am more jealous of the bike or the amount of room you have to work on it.
Either way I sure do like the end job.
Congratulations on A fine Shop

 

Very impressive restoration on your beautiful XJ
I'm a new member, because I am finishing my own project on an 83 XJ 750. I had a 650 that I sold locally to find and purchase the 750 a few years ago.

I would love to know what type of chemicals/cleaners worked the best on your different engine parts. They cleaned up very nice, with a great shine. Also, did you put new headers on, or did you get them to clean up that well. I am trying to decide on trying to clean mine, or using high temp on them.

 

Not sure if this post is to me ? Dowski68-
Yet I will answer as to what I have done to mine xj700X-
First after I had disassembled the valves and jugs I took them to community college and used their parts washer (heated it was)-
Once I got back home I used a large tote filled enough to cover the parts with HOT water and sprayed 1/2 to 3/4 of a can of carb spray and let them soak for about 1/2 hour. I put on some rubber gloves and used a old bristle brush to get anything I may have missed using the parts washer.
I also soaked the pistons- and this helped to loosen up the carbon build up in the ring groves- Did the same thing for the cylinder head-helped to loosen up the carbon-
After all those pieces were done and dried- I placed everything on my fireplace mantel after everyone went to bed (LOL) and being as I am first up I then took them out to garage.
then I just taped everything off and utilized a high temp gloss paint THC is the manufacturer. rattle canned it let dry atop mantel 3x's then did the same with THC Clear coat 3x's-
In between coats I used 2,000 grit paper, wet or dry to remove any runs which I only had two total.
I just took my time with the prep work- this I have found to be the most important-
Exhaust- still working on it
hope this helps

 

Yup. If you skipped this step there's always time to do it right the second time.

On mine I used Simple Green and a stiff brush on all the engine parts. Light scuff after that followed up with VHT primer and paint. For the polished parts, Aircraft Stripper sprayed on to remove the clear coat followed by a lot of work on the buffer wheels. The headers were replaced with good ones, the original ones were way too rusted out to make shiny again. Lots of elbow grease.

 

After all the years this bike has been used there wasn't much original clear coat left. I noticed that when I was using the parts cleaner the paint was coming off in flakes LOL- Good indication to repaint-
Not sure exactly where I seen a article maybe this site or xj4ever? Actually showed a picture of the original paint from the Yamaha factory. Flat gloss black in polyurethane- actually had the part number visible
If I see it again I will take down the numbers and pass it along. have good day.

 

So I found the OEM paint picture HCP7906-SP
Oem color code 98
Low gloss black/ actually a urethane
Chacal has the stuff if you find yourself ever indeed.
Just started to think about doing the front and rear fender-
I only have one bike so I best be just putting back together so I can flippin ride !

 

Thanks for the replies (jayrodoh and dowski68). Even though the bike was running well when I bought it, I went ahead and tore down the carbs and had them cleaned. I agree with the simple green solution also. That stuff just seems to work for everything.

I am going to hit my local Harbor Freight store and get a buffer and some Aircraft Stripper. Obviously, there isn't much clear coat left on many of my parts either, and I would like to try and get some shine like jayrodoh did on his.

I will try and get some pics on here of my project, as soon as I get my tank back from my golf partner, who is doing a vinyl wrap on it. It has been quite the challenge for him and he is a professional, but as we all know an 83 Maxim tank is pretty curvy.

My bike was a fun ride for a couple of years, and then I had the itch to strip it and chop it, which will not make any purists happy, but I am excited to see my final product here shortly, and look forward to sharing it with you all.

 

Look for their coupons, I got everything I needed for under $40. Make sure you get all the clear coat off before buffing. I foolishly thought any little bits would buff off, I was wrong

 

What bars are on this bike?

 

After seeing this bike, I'm not sure I'll ever feel like mine is up to snuff.

 

Daytona Cruiser from Emgo.

http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/handlebar-swap-ditching-the-horns.94195/

 

Thanks

Do the new bars clear the tank at full lock?

In the other post "Keep in mind, the turbo MC has the float switch so you will either need to plug the hole or replace the o-ring for the sensor when you rebuild it. ' - did you opt to plug the hole or is the replacement o-ring to leave the sensor in place unused?

 

Yup, the Euro and Daytona Cruiser bars are completely fine.

I planned on drilling and tapping but ended up just replacing the o-ring in case that MC made it onto another bike in the future.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1smYGtd

 

I have the exact

s

ame bike.I have a few questions

 

I was wondering.You do know miller makes a fullbodied beer, right? Not lite. Second, was that rattle can paint or shopdone by a spray gun automotive grade? How long does it take in clock hours on the polishing. I want to do that. U take a drill with polishing pad and some different colors rouge or what? The bike looks amazing. I figure I might have 2500 in mine when I get through.Where else could i get a new bike with the same power for that? Expense is in the mind of the spender.

 

Yup! Someone had left a near full 12 pack here so I drank it.

Automotive done by a shop, paint was PPG but I can't recall the color.

Probably 8 - 10 hours for all the engine pieces and front fork lowers. I got everything I needed at Harbor Freight for under $40 with a coupon. Once you try a bench buffer you'll never go back to the pads in a drill. The hardest part was removing the clearcoat.

My goal was to rebuild as new or better. I spent a little less than a new bike but put a lot of hours in. I had a bike I liked and really turned heads/got questions wherever I went.

 

a new 650,say a kawasaki 650 s costs over $6,000.I figure you spent half that.Correct?

 

I did track spend for insurance reasons, PM if you are interested in details. I hate publicly posting $$ figures on projects but will share if interested in resto costs. Keep good insurance in mind too if you do go down that path. Mine was totaled last year when some lady decided to make a sudden left without a blinker. Ended up hitting me head on with almost no time to brake. I'm fine after a short recovery period but bike was total loss. PM with questions too, I'm very familiar with that bike

 

how did you get the faces of the instruments to look clean and brighten up like that.and how did you redo the name yamaha on the rear grab rail.a brush and paint?

 

Replacement gauges. Finally nabbed a low mile speedo on eBay that was listed wrong and another member provided the tach. I really tried to get the old gauges apart but getting the needles off without damaging anything was difficult and impossible to reattach reliably and calibrate. I was able to adjust the mileage on the "new" gauge to match the original.

 

thanks for all the information.It helps me a lot.

 

Enjoyed reading this thread. Kudos on keeping it classic. Hoping that I will be able to make a few refinements on mine to give it a fresher look. The paint and chrome is fine but it definitely needs a little detailing.

 

Awesome resto! I'm working towards similar results but perhaps not all at once.