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First Cafe Racer Mod! 1983 XJ750 Maxim

Discussion in 'XJ Modifications' started by May_J_Aaron, Jun 24, 2018.

  1. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    Oil drain plug is leaking.... I installed a brand new aluminum crush washer that was a good fit, am I suppose to use something else? The one I took off the bolt looked odd, figured it was extremely smashed up from reusing too much.

    What type of oil drain plug crush washer am I suppose to be using.

    Current leaking Aluminum washer :
    OD: 21mm
    ID: 14mm
    thickness: 1.7mm
     
  2. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    aluminum or copper work. did you torque the drain plug.
    the oem crush washers firt tight on id to the bolt
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2020
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  3. Polock

    Polock Well-Known Member

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    put some rtv goo stuff on the threads
     
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  4. chacal

    chacal Moderator Moderator Supporting Vendor Premium Member

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    No! Just use a very small straight-blade screwdriver and come in from the front of the connector (not where the wires come out of the back of the shell) and press/pry the little brass "finger" on the terminal "down" (towards the terminal flat spade)......that "finger" catches and latches onto a little recess inside the connector shell and thus locks the terminal in place. Sometimes it really helps if you push on the wire from behind the terminal you are trying to release....i.e push the wire straight into the shell, like you were trying to push the whole terminal and wire straight out of the front of the shell. This will release the tension on that "finger" and make it easier to push the finger "down" and thus release the terminal from the shell.
     
  5. chacal

    chacal Moderator Moderator Supporting Vendor Premium Member

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    What 550H says is exactly right, but there is one other thing to know: one some models......and, perhaps, on different build dates of even a single model bike.......the factory did the "split" on that main brown wire (coming from the ignition switch) in one of two ways:

    a) they "split" that wire (back up inside the taped harness) into 3 brown wires, and one wire is a thicker gauge than the others . This thicker brown wire is either used for the 20A circuit (which varies by bike; see the list below), OR, if all of the accessory circuits are 10A, then it really doesn't matter which circuit the thicker brown wire powers. The REASON that one wire is thicker is because the brown wire coming from the ignition switch is a thick wire (16-gauge), and the way that Yamaha did the "split" of that one main wire into 3 separate wire was to cut off a small section of insulation from this "mainline" wire, and then twist 2 more brown wires into this "stripped section" of the mainline thick brown wire.......in other words, the main brown wire isn't cut where the wires branch off, it's a full run from the key switch all the way to it's final resting place. A small section of insulation is stripped off of this main wire.......about 6" or so "into" the main harness from the point that all 3 fusebox wires exit the harness....and the two additional branch wires are sort-of "grafted" onto this bare section of wire on the "mainline" brown wire.

    b) Of course, that's confusing to the end user, since he sees 3 brown wires exiting the main harness going to the fusebox....which one goes where?........so on most bikes, instead of mashing the two additional smaller-gauge brown wires onto the main brown wire, they did things the correct way........grafting two color-coded wires (red with white tracer and a red with yellow tracer wire) onto that thicker "mainline" brown wire from the key switch. These harness still features the thick brown wire (which is the actual wire from the key switch) as well as the appropriate color-coded wires for the other two circuits. In this manner, there is a 1-to-1 correspondence in wire colors on the input and the output "sides" of the fusebox, which makes non-experienced users more comfortable with the set-up, at least visually (and, it's the logical way to do things). In reality, it makes no difference; on the input side of the fusebox, all 3 accessory circuit wires......no matter if they are all the same color or are 3 different colors.........carry the same current flow from the key switch.

    Notice the thicker brown wire must go to the accessory circuit that is 20A on the bikes down below; on other models, it makes no difference (functionally), but visually, you want the thicker brown wire to be directly opposed to the brown wire on the "output" side of the fusebox:

    HCP393 Aftermarket fusebox 6-CIRCUIT ID DECAL, with labeling for 20A main fuse and 10A headlight, ignition, and signal circuits, for all XJ550, all XJ650, and 1983 XJ750 Maxim and XJ750 Midnight Maxim models.
    $

    HCP20241 Aftermarket fusebox 6-CIRCUIT ID DECAL, with labeling for 30A main fuse, 20A headlight circuit, and 10A ignition and signal circuits, for all 1984-85 FJ600 models.
    $

    HCP7152 Aftermarket fusebox 6-CIRCUIT ID DECAL, with labeling for 30A main fuse and 10A headlight, ignition, and signal circuits, for all XJ750 Seca, 1982 XJ750 Maxim, and XJ900RK, RL, N/FN, and F models.
    $

    HCP26951 Aftermarket fusebox 6-CIRCUIT ID DECAL, with labeling for 30A main fuse, 10A headlight circuit, 20A signal circuit, and 10A ignition circuit. For all 1978-79 XS1100 models.
    $

    HCP13475 Aftermarket fusebox 6-CIRCUIT ID DECAL, with labeling for 10A taillight fuse, 10A headlight circuit, 20A signal circuit, and 10A ignition circuit. For all XJ1100 and 1980-81 XS1100 models in the stock configuration (with the main fuse circuit remaining external to the fusebox).
    $


    If I recall correctly, it's only the XJ750 Seca/Euro models, and the 1978-79 XS1100 models, that use the "3 brown wires" on the input side of the fusebox; all of the others should have 3 distinct colors for the fusebox input, corresponding to the fusebox output side wire colors.
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2020
  6. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    I thought I had it pretty snug but I guess this new washer had more “crush” to it than I’m used to! Use a Torque wrench and it appears to have stopped so far!
     
  7. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    Update!

    so I did trim back about 1’ - 1 1/2’ feet of wire (a lot more than in the photo), unwrapped most of it, untangled them since the were horrendously wrapped and tangled with little sense to them aside to just get to where they need to go, redirected a few of them for better allocation.

    Added sequential turn signals in the front, other options didn’t work

    upgraded fuse box

    wrapped everything up with high heat insulating electrical toe and for some of the exposed wiring I wrapped in “Alex wrap” to protect and give them a clean look!

    Now I’m getting a proper petcock from Len since my amazon purchase years ago is no where close to a logical proper fit!

    then I can finally tune it!

    Afterwards chop off that tail end, weld a hoop, and build a new seat!
    03AFE20F-7F43-46C2-856A-87E92A10B24B.jpeg 0FB5F698-7630-4021-84AB-DFD71CC1AAAF.jpeg E6EB5692-B9E7-44A5-B29E-0D5DC0D35237.jpeg 7A7EA861-618D-4979-9A00-561E95091C55.jpeg
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2020
  8. Brandon Spencer

    Brandon Spencer Member

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    What did you use for your front brake setup? Specifically referring to the lines and master cylinder.

    I have my front end to work on soon and have the OEM 750 Seca brake union. Looking to use a MC on the handlebars down to the union then to each caliper.
     
  9. PavelK313

    PavelK313 Active Member

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    I tried using those exact same brackets for headlight but they were way too long for my bike.
     
  10. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    I got it off Amazon, at first it looked funky sticking off the bars but after converting to the Acewell gauge, I had an open mount so I just moved the master cylinder bracket over to keep it symmetrical, it’s different but I think it ended up looking great!
    Previously I had a rectangular master cylinder lever setup but the downward angle of the cafe bars could potentially cause braking issues AND I broke the clutch wire connectors...
    Here’s the mounting comparison:
    AFD350B8-C0CB-416C-91D8-39B6ADFB3B92.jpeg 713589E3-AE10-42AE-AF23-43A13FC209FF.jpeg 881A8E9A-4238-43E6-8FAE-ACFAD43C16AA.jpeg

    They’re not showing as available on Amazon anymore but I’m sure there’s plenty available, they did come with a few of those funky army green bolts and clutch adjusters, I swapped out with chrome bolts and nickel plated the clutch adjusters.

    I ordered the brake lines from Galfer, I think it was eBay where they had our specific bikes, if you reach out to them they can customize them for you.
    I should have went with a 45 degree angle on the top brake mount and not the 90 degree as I have.
    The line from Banjo to Banjo centers is about 11.5 - 12 inches but with a better angle, 11 inches would have been slightly more perfect.
    8608CEE6-A5C9-43F8-964C-DFBB636DC55A.jpeg 8E709496-059C-4969-BB10-2485B9007959.jpeg

    Ive recently seen some videos where they show you how to make your own stainless steel brake lines and honestly, it looks really easy!
     
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  11. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    Luckily with the larger bucket and flipping them they turned out looking pretty good on my set up!
    I thought the same thing at first so I moved it as high as I could, now it sits in there nicely.
    36D0B67C-2F85-4AFF-82CB-C7179FA2230F.jpeg
     
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  12. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    Do yourself a favor, get an Acewell gauge!
    They also have an adapter to convert the speedometer cable to a digital display
     
  13. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    I’m currently getting 12.2 volts at the headlight connector, does that sound about right?
    Is it still worth redirecting the headlight wiring?
    I’ve been searching the forum but I can’t find any details on that setup.
     
  14. Polock

    Polock Well-Known Member

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    start it up and measure volts at the battery, then at the headlight. the difference is what you would gain.
    kind of hard to tell with numbers, just make a temporary jumper and go from the battery to the light. leave the original wires in place and touch the jumper in there. notice any change?
     
  15. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    13.62 at the battery, tender attached, engine off.
    12.60 at the headlight, no load
    11.30 at the headlight with load

    with 14* wire from battery to headlight:
    - No changes with Low Beam.
    - Very minimal difference on High Beam, nowhere near enough to motivate me to make changes.

    If I need more light, then add more lights!
    Which has me thinking... :rolleyes:

    What has anyone done for auxiliary lights?
    Fork mounted or LED Bars?
    Something in this area...
    5A2DFF41-3D0D-48F1-A9F7-09A23F1598FE.jpeg
     
  16. Brandon Spencer

    Brandon Spencer Member

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    Is that brake union OEM? It's super clean looking

    Seems I need to send a message to Galfer when it's time for the lines. Their eBay kit does not make sense to me, looking to move to only 3 lines just as you have done
     
  17. chacal

    chacal Moderator Moderator Supporting Vendor Premium Member

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    We have a kit using 2 x hi-output 3.5" round LED lights mounted on the ends of a custom-formed bracket that bolts into the threaded holes in the frame cross-brace (i.e. truly bolt-on). Comes with hardware, wiring, handlebar-mounted switch. Available with either "fog" light beam pattern (wide spread) or "driving" light beam pattern (long-distance pencil beam). Contact us for more details.......


    Actually, with the differences in voltages that you noted, you'll significantly increase the light output from your factory headlight by direct-wiring and using a relay system (we have those, too!). You're losing close to 2VDC at the headlight due to wiring, connectors (any of them oxidized? and how about the frame and battery grounds), and the switch, and light output from incandescent bulbs is not a linear function, i.e. a 20% reduction in voltage does not equal a 20% reduction in light output, it's more like 40% reduction in light output! This is why a relay system is a great idea for any vehicle (many modern cars/bikes already use such a system). The stock wiring use 18-gauge wire for some of the headlight runs, and that's just way too small in reality.

    P.S. combining a headlight relay system along with auxiliary lights will make you a force to be reckoned with out on the roads, day or night...........
     
  18. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    Yes it is OEM, their posting is confusing and doesn’t come with that part. It was actually my first test of stripping paint, learned a lot on that tiny piece! :p
     
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  19. May_J_Aaron

    May_J_Aaron Josh May

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    I think it would have made a huge difference if I was still using incandescent but not on the LED headlights, I had to keep touching the wire to the connector to see the change it was so slight.

    can you send some pictures of those auxiliary lights?
     
  20. chacal

    chacal Moderator Moderator Supporting Vendor Premium Member

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    Oh, okay, if you have an LED headlight, then a small voltage difference will have almost no effect.

    I'll try and get pictures to you (via e-mail) later today or tomorrow.
     

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