My toasty winter project

Nows the time to be Knit-picky.
Bringing back a bike from the Dead is an ambitious project.
There's no rush.
Every additional hour you put into making it a Dream Bike ... pays-off on the other end when you are riding it and turning heads because you did it right!

 

Anyone know how to get a screw out that has the head stripped out? I was trying to get the old petcock out and rounded it out.

And I really, really need to find my sanding block. I just know that if I go buy one the old one will turn up.

 

The first thing to try is cutting a slot in the head of the screw with a dremmel.
if that doesn't work, try vice grips.
Last chance is a e-z-out.
after that it goes to thread repair :cry:

Whatever you do, make sure to soak it in penetrating oil before twisting too much.

 

Well, been looking around a different flame paint concepts. I think I've found two that I like.

 

darker

 

Sears sells a great screw removal tool, I think it is mentioned in the "How to remove carb bowl screws" sticky at the top of the Chat forum.

 

Got the gauges and petcock in today while I was in Memphis, and man they look almost brand new. I'll try to get pictures of them up soon.

 

I agree... darker

 

Got the ingition coils in today.


Worked on the tank a bit. Found two holes that someone in the past has attempted a repair. However, instead of doing it right, they just bondo'd them up very poorly. One hole is about the size of a medium ball point pen tip. It's toward the front on the bottom left side near the seam. The other I can fit my regular screwdriver into. It's on the bottom also, but on the right side at the back. I'm trying to find someone to weld them up for me since I can't solder or weld to save my life.

Another problem that either I created or was just hidden to me is that the petcock mating surface isn't flat. One of the screw holes has been bugered in a bit. The hole itself is fine, but the surface is just kinda warped into the tank a little and I'm afraid it'll not seal with the new petcock assembly. So I'll have to get that fixed too.

 

I can weld those holes up for you, but it won't be this week.
nine o eight- 4910.
I've got new problems with the Vmax, so I'm somewhat occupied with Christmas stuff and getting mine back on the road, but I can probably get that thing plugged up after Thursday.

 

Thanks, I'm waiting to hear back from a friend who has a friend that might be able to do it. But if I don't hear back from him I'll give you a shout.

Oh and what's "nine o eight- 4910"?

 

Perhaps it's a telephone number?

 

ahh, that makes sense. He's in my area and that's not a prefix I would recognize for around here so a phone number didn't click in my head. But with cells phones getting all sorts of number now it's hard to keep straight anymore.

 

Another good parts day. Got the carbs, wiring harness, battery box, and rectifier/regulator in. Fixed a few rough spots in the harness, and the carbs are amazingly clean. Or maybe I'm just biased against the ones I had.

Now as far as the carbs go. This set is from a 750 J. What all would I need to change over to make this set work on my bike?

No actual bike work though, too much rain.


Eatatjoz: I'm sending a PM regarding the tank and TCI.

 

I believe your going to have to swap the jets...

 

Fuel jets should be #110 mains and #40 pilots for a 650 Max.

Air jets should be #195 pilot and #50 main for 650 Max.

Jet needles should be Y-10 for a 650 Max.

Those are the changes needed to convert a set of 750 carbs to a set for a 650 Maxim. The 750 carbs should already have the #40 pilot fuel jets in them; all of the other items (jets and needles) would be different.

 

Okay, just a minor update. Working on getting the new carbs cleaned up and out. Started cleaning up the top hats a little. First step was wet sanding with 400 wet/dry. Gonna work up through 1200 then start polishing.

Before:


After:


Sorry for the grainy pics, I'm still using my cellphone since my wife got me a blue tooth dongle for my laptop for christmas. I'll get a proper camera when my excess aid comes in though.

 

Get them Clear Coated ASAP. I did that to mine and just waxed then and after a couple of months the Oxidation cane back and I'll have to pull them and redo them to get them shining again.

I may abandon the idea of doing them that way if I can find an Industrial Coating that will look good and take being washed and left outside for dew to form on them without deteriorating again.

 

Oh yeah, they'll definately get clear coated. I'm just getting them all cleaned up and nice looking first. I may even paint them, I don't know yet.

 

Ok, I've got the carbs all torn down and ready to be cleaned. I had little trouble at all getting the mixture screws out and they looked like they'd never been touched. The No.1 carb hat was kind of a pain to get off because the screw were ate up quite a bit. I'll have to find some good ones.

One of the bowl gasket came apart, but the others are still intact. And you can see one of the hats that I'm trying to get the chrome off of.


If I understood Rick's guide, there's supposed to be a spring, o-ring, and washer in the mixture screw hole, but all I got out was the washer and spring. Did I just miss the o-rings?

Edit: nevermind I got em out. They were just WAY down in there.

 

your definitely going to have to post pics when this project is all said and done.....

 

Here's the above carb hat hit up with 800 then 2000. Looks pretty good I think. Just need to work on it some more though, then polsih it out and coat it.

 

I made a tool out of a Very Large Safety Pin ... heating-up the end and putting a slight right-angle at the end to reach down in there and extract that O-ring.

Its a SMALL O-ring ... actually about the size of this font [ O ] .

You need to hook it and bring it up and out. Keep an eye on it ... if it gets away on you ... wave Bye-bye!

 

Yeah, I got them out. There safe and sound in a little zip lock bag with the other too small to see on the floor parts. Carbs and bowls and innards are soaking in carb cleaner now.

I did find out that I'm going to need a pilot fuel jet, the air jet that goes in the middle hole (not the one that closer to the motor), and a needle. The ones in the 2nd original carb were trashed.

 

Ryan, I should have all those item, let me all the items you need and we can put together a care package for you!

 

Thanks, I got your last email about the brushes and what not. I'm just trying to see what else I'm gonna need so I can make as few orders as possible.

 

Don't soak the Body's in a harsh Carb Cleaner that might do damage to the Throttle Shaft Seals. It won't take long for those Seals to swell-up and become useless in there if the Carb Cleaner isn't rated safe to rubber parts.

 

They're not, I just sprayed them down real good. Got in all the passages and holes. It got dark on me, but I'll go more into depth on it tomorrow.

 

I see you've unbolted the carbs from the mounting rails ("breaking the rack" I think they call it). I seem to remember reading that it was something to avoid, if possible, as getting the carbs back together with the same spacing was difficult.

Is that the case, or is there little to no play in the mounting holes, making it easier for the carb bodies to line back up? I've got mine off the bike and disassembled (polishing up the piston bores), and if it's not too difficult, I'd consider breaking mine apart. That way, it'd be easier to check all my throttle shaft seals, or at least clean up the outside of the carb bodies.

 

Over the years I've tried a few things to prevent losing a C-clip or a Sync Screw Spring.

My latest and possibly my best idea yet is to use a Kitchen, white, plastic garbage pail liner.

Slip the Carbs in the bag and undo the Clips and Springs.
If they get away on you ... you ain't got far to look.

"It's in the bag!"

 

You're making sense. Stop it.

I take it, then, that "breaking the rack" isn't as difficult as I've been led to believe?

 

Breaking the rack apart means taking off the 8 upper and 8 lower rack screws, and then gently "prising" (as the Haynes manual likes to say) the carb bodies apart from each other.......once the rack bracket screws (upper & lower) are removed, the only thing holding the bodies together are:

* the fuel supply rail connectors (they have o-rings on their ends and fit into their fuel supply bores in the carb bodies).

* the "overlap/interplay" of the throttle shaft arms between one carb and the next.....look carefully at an assembled rack (where the SYNCH ADJUSTING SCREWS are) and you'll see how the lever arm of one carb's throttle shaft intercourses with the corresponding one on the next carb (one carb does not have this overlap).

The overlap between the throttle arm brackets is not a "mechanical" connection, it is just that, an overlap. You "disconnect" one carb from the other by gently pulling apart, with some twisting action normally required to get fuel rail connector to break loose from one or the other carb body fuel line bore.

That's it! Takes about 3 minutes total additional time to do. Be aware that the factory used some type of thread locking compound on the rack screws so they may need some persuasion to get them moving.

Getting the carbs back together IN ALIGNMENT with each other is the trick, and it isn't tricky to do, at all. The key is to simply hook all four carbs back up to each other (meaning the fuel rail connectors and the "overlap" between the synch screw arms-----trust me, easy to do) BEFORE you start to install the upper or lower rack brackets. Take this un-bracketed "rack" of carbs and put them, intake-manifold "throat" down, onto a FLAT piece of something.....the factory manual recommends using a piece of plate glass. I went to the Home Depot "scrap pile" in the glass department and got a piece about 12" x 20". 1/4" thick (the thicker, the better, not for carb alignment purposes, but just so that you don't break it!). The flat surface of the glass insures accurate alignment of the carbs bodies as you are attaching and tightening the rack brackets onto the carb bodies. Like any other multi-fastener installation, I recommend tightening each screw a bit at a time, maybe in an odd-even pattern, first the top bracket screws, then the bottom bracket screws, then back to the top, etc.

You'll find that putting a board (1 x 2, etc.) across the top of the carbs intake ports (the airbox "throat", which will be facing straight towards the ceiling since the intake-manifold throats are against the plate of glass) will allow you to put some hand pressure on the carbs top necessary to keep the carb throats in contact with the plate glass as you are installing and tightening the screws. KEEPING THE CARB INTAKE-MANIFOLD THROATS IN FLAT, CONSTANT CONTACT WITH THE PLATE GLASS IS WHAT "INSURING PROPER CARB ALIGNMENT" when re-assembling the rack is all about. Believe me, it's not rocket science! The individual carbs will automatically align themselves properly/perfectly in the side-to-side dimesnion as the rack bracket screws are introduced---that is insured by the drilled holes in the carb bodies aligning with the drilled holes in the rack bracket It's the perfect front-to-back alignment or slight "twisitng" of the carb throttle shaft overplay that might cause the front (or rear) spatial mis-alignment, and that's the purpose of the flat piece of glass....to make sure that the carbs stay aligned in that dimensions as their brackets are re-installed.

Use some semi-permanent thread locking compound on the screws, or, if you want to be all fancy-smanshee, use anti-seize on the lower part of the screws and just a dab of thread locker on the upper part (by the head).

This rack re-assembly process takes about 20 minutes and $5.00 for the plate glass.

If you're saying to yourself by now----"gee, that sounds pretty simple"----well, you're right. The devil is in the little details as mentioned elsewhere, mostly pre-prep work and the marking of the component pieces. The "re-alignment of the carbs in the "rack" is easy-cheesy! Believe me, the mechanical "nuts and bolts" aaspects of breaking the rack apart are SIMPLE; it's the attention to the small details BEFOREHAND that holds the trap for those who rush or are sloppy. And about 10-20 minutes of inspection and notation before you break the rack or the individual carbs apart takes care of that issue....things like, note the way the throttle arm brackets overlap. Note the way the throttle return springs are located on their stop pegs. Note where the hose and cable clips are located, and in which direction they are oriented, etc. Thoise kind of details.

P.S. while the carbs are this far apart, please! don't just inspect the throttle shaft seals, replace them. Same for the fuel connector pipe o-rings. And you'll possibly want to replace the butterfly valve screws with some new ones (p.s. use thread locker on these screws, too, when re-installing). AND BEFORE YOU TAKE THE BUTTERFLY VALVES OFF to begin the carb dis-assembly, MARK EACH ONE as to which carb number (1,2,3,4) it's from and some type of directional (which way is up or down) ON THE BUTTERFLY VALVE. I simply take a screwdriver tip or a scrawl pen and inscribe 1, 2, 3, 4 on the appropriate valve face, below the level of the throttle shaft, and then I know that they go back in the with number marks below the throttle shaft. I do the same for the throttle SHAFTS---mark them with their carb body number. And also for the throttle arm BRACKET ARMS.....they're very similar looking but different!---so mark them, too.

Did I mention how handy an electric engraving pen ($10 or so at Wally World) is when working on these carbs?

P.S. some carb bodies seem to be marked from the factory with their number (i.e. 1,2,3,4) stamped into a flat flange surface on the body. If not, you'll need to mark them with some method to insure that you get it right, since:

a) the butterfly shafts and valves need to be returned to their original bodies, and.....

b) although you can tell bodies 1 and 4 apart from each other physically even if they are not marked (LOOK: a 10% DISCOUNT on your next order to the first person who can tell me HOW you can tell bodies #1 and #4 apart from each other, even without marking them!), but carb bodies #2 and #3 are identical to each other but their throttle shafts and valves need to go back into their correct bodies...this is why you mark the carb bodies 1, 2, 3, 4.

You can mark them a punch dot (1 dot per carb body number), or the electric engraving pen, or I bought a set of number punches and just whack them on the flat surface near the lower rack mount boss.


I have a rather long, scary write-up in another forum that explains all the "gotch-ya's" to be aware of if you're going to take the rack apart (which I recommend that you do). But in reality, it's not scary, it just helps to keep you out of trouble, and gives you all the details that Yamaha and Haynes left out of the somewhat non-specific "assembly is the reverse of dis-assembly" type of instruction when it comes to the carb rack.

When you're just taking the carbs partially apart, the carb hats, screws, bowls, floats, jets, etc. are all interchangeable parts, and although it's a great habit to keep them separated by carb number anyway, it's not critical (because those pieces ARE interchangeable). When you get down to taking the individual carbs apart, there are some parts that are NOT interchangeable between carbs....and if you don't take note of them BEFORE you take the individual carbs apart, then you will get confused upon re-assembly (actually, you'll eventually figure it out, but trust me, it's easier to do the 10 minutes of advance prep, study, and making notes beforehand).

BTW, all of the above instructions apply specifically to the Hitachi carbs, but the Mikunis are similar.

 

#1 has the fuel inlet blocked on the left side, #4 has it blocked on the right.

And I've read your carb guide, and pretty much following it and Rick's as I do this.

 

You, my friend, are not just a winner, you are THE winner!

Congrats....remind me on your next order!!

Then you will be unbelievably successful, and report back to the rest of the troops here and afar on your experiences.......

 

Hey I knew the answer too and I'm just a newbie!

 

Well, I just found out the slides aren't made of brass afterall.

 

Oooh....bad dog, bad dog!

Replacements are available.....in the original, faux-brass finish.

 

It was a spare I was practicing on. No worries. BTW, why exactly is it bad?

 

For that matter, what exactly *is* it made of?

 

Aluminum I think.

 

What did you do to get the Diaphragm Piston to look like that. You must have introduced a Chemical or an Abrasive of some kind ... huh?

If that area that lost its coating is Aluminum ... it doesn't necessarily mean that Piston is ruined. You probably relieved it only ten-thousandths or less.

Buff it up and give it a try. I imagine it will Pass a Clunk Test; now!

 

Just plain 400 sand paper and a lack of attention to what I was doing (wife and kids were distracting me). I looked down and saw that I'd worn the coating off in a small area. Since it was a slide from the burnt carbs, I went down to 100 grit worked on it a bit longer to see what it might look like if I took all the coating off. Then moved up to 400 to 800 to 1000 and then 2000. But I didn't want to do that to my working set in case it was a bad thing.

 

Okay, this semester was much harder and more time consuming than I thought it would be. But I'm out for the summer and will be picking this project back up. I'll keep you all updated as I make progress.

 

How did you do in school?
Passed everything, we hope?

 

I did well enough. I got mostly A's & B's. My Japanese class I'll probably get a C in though.

 

I wish I had taken Japanese back when I was in College.

It would be very nice to be able to talk to my Bike and have it understand me!

 

You know, I didn't even think of that.

Anyway, Chacal, if you're still around I'm probably going to be hitting you up for some goodies after I head up to Romance to see what I can pick off the bones up there. I do know that I'm gonna need a few gaskets, carb parts, and whatnot.

Anyway, I worked on the motor itself today trying to get it all cleaned up. I had to turn it over a few times manually cause it'd gotten itself stuck (not quite seized though. Then I hooked up the starter to some tempory power and let it spin over a few times. Doesn't seem to be anything wrong internally. Here's to hoping I can get it back in the frame and fired up within the month.

 

Hey Ryan, let me know. I don't speak Japanese either, but I'm okay with English part numbers for their bikes.............

 

Anyone know how to restore discolored chrome? I tried to polished up my handlebars yesterday and the right riser is badly discolored from the heat and won't rub out.

 

Hmm, the discoloration is typically in the oxide layer of the metal and is often used by blacksmiths to judge how much they have tempered a tool. All metals almost immediately form an oxide layer when exposed to the atmosphere with Aluminum and Chromium (among others) that form a protective oxidation layer preventing further oxidation preserving the base metal. Oxides are particularily hard and may be more stubborn to remove since you will have to remove the outer surface of the metal finish. If it doesn't come off, you could always take them in to be re-chromed by a professional. The process isn't usually too cost prohibative to rechrome.