Max-xj700x Refurb

Figured, while the coils and bracket were out of the way, I'd take the valve cover off, spray it and polish the hold-down bolts. Also took the petcock from the parts bike and disassembled for cleaning. The one on this bike was a non-vacuum replacement and one of the previous owners ran a screw down the number 2 intake vacuum cap.

 

Personally, I DONT like the look of pods.

 

I'm not a big fan of the generic designs but, in my opinion, the K&N or DNA oval filters (when clean) look good.

I have considered velocity stacks with a RAMAIR filter to promote laminar flow to the carb inlet, but I'll probably stick with the airbox.

 

Just a progress pic. Reinstalled the painted rear fender with new brake light and blinkers added, I two-toned the side grab bars to highlight the Maxim name. Grabbed the side cover from my parts bike and painted it to match the metallic grey/black theme. Exhaust outlet has been prepped, sprayed with high temp paint and I'll attempt a wrinkle finish top coat. After that, reinstalling the coils and plugs.

 

I try to keep mine as stock as possible but must admit that grab bars look pretty slick.

 

Thanks 866, I bought the bike earlier this year and someone had spray-bombed a lot of it black at some point. It left a lot to be desired...the only part that had any color was the radiator cover which was sprayed with, what I can only call, 'zombie green'!

I really like the look of the bike, so I won't be doing anything drastic. However I can see some opportunity for small aesthetic improvements and the silver and metallic grey compliments well.

 

Looking real nice!

 

paint is removable

 

True!

 

It's alive! After many hours of troubleshooting, rebuilding plug caps, replacing coils and addressing the carbs, the X fired up today and ran on its own. I still need to fine tune the carbs, address the charging issue, adjust the clutch cable etc.....but definitely progress.

 

Congrats and enjoy!

 

Thanks, still have a ways to go but it was a nice day for a picture. (it's come a long way in a short time)

 

I like the black concept, thought about doing this to one of my previous X's. Actually 2 part bikes that I wanted to merge into one good bike. Never got it of the ground due to lack of time and ended op selling them... Seeing your project makes me regret

 

Thanks for the compliments, mine didn't have original paint left, so it made the decision easy to paint it the color I liked.

 

Now that I got the carbs reinstalled and the engine running, I m trying to tackle the non-charging issue. I swapped out the rectifier, hoping for a quick win, but no such luck.

A previous owner attached each wire into the rectifier harness using spade connectors. I have a total of seven wires from the bike going into the rectifier harness (four on one side, and three on the other). Since swapping rectifiers didn't work, I decided to pull the stator cover off. The attached picture shows what I have. As you can see, it's been tinkered with before. The brushes inside look fairly new and its harness looks decent, but the three white wires (going to the rectifier harness) need troubleshooting.

First, is there a way to check these white wires to see if good?

Secondly, does anyone have a diagram of the wiring harness that plugs into the rectifier so I can see if a previous owner even had them wired correctly?

-So far, nothing has been an easy fix. Thanks

 

Hope this can help.

 

Forgot those.

 

I hope I'm not violating any law or forum rules by posting these pages...

 

Great information 866, the testing procedures and specs were very helpful.

So I removed the wire extension someone added to the stator coil, cut back to good wire on all white wires and added new connectors and shrink tubing. I then retested and got the following readings:

W1 - W2=.4 Ohms
W1 - W3=.5 Ohms
W2 - W3=.4 Ohms

Later today I will clean and test the field coil. Thanks again!!

 

Glad I could help you!

 

It certainly did, it even provided the way for me to test the diodes in the original rectifier....which tested good. Hopefully the fix is either a bad connection/loose wire somewhere. I still need to clean/test the field coil....

 

Field coil cleaned and tested good at 3.9 - 4.0 Ohms, however while looking at the wires going to the battery, I found a brown wire attached to the negative terminal but just hanging loose on the other end.

Things that make you go "hmmm"

 

Doesn't make you happy... Electronics aren't really my thing, looks like someone has been messing around...

 

Victory! After disassembly, cleaning, wiring repair, testing and reassembly, I having a working charging system on Max.

The bike has been starting well, all cylinders are firing, and I'm no longer working just off the battery. Now I need to lubricate the clutch cable and adjust accordingly.

 

I also want to look into the fan switch upgrade that turns it on sooner.

 

Congrats, must be a good feeling!

 

So after getting the charging system operational again, I got the battery box, battery and wires all neatly back in place. Let the bike run to get some temp in the engine and tested voltage again; all good. However, up until now I always turned the bike off before the temp gauge got to the red, but after reading some past threads it appears the fan doesn't cut on until the needle is in the red zone.

Well, my fan didn't come on, so now I'm troubleshooting this fan issue. I found both wires to the thermoswitch (brown and blue) and tested. With the key on, I don't have voltage to the brown wire. Fuses in the dash look good however.

Question: anyone know which fuse the brown wire gets voltage from?

(I'm guessing a break or bad connection between the fuse to the brown wire?)

 

Your manual and wiring diagrams...

https://www.xjcd.org/service-manuals

 

Found the wiring diagram. A bad connection looks to have caused the issue. Brown wire going to thermoswitch now has voltage.

To test the fan, would I jumper the blue & brown wires? Where is the fan motor ground wire?

 

Yes. The positive "brown" will be used to jump the blue wire with the key on.
The ground "black" follows the harness and is through the mounting bolt of the thermostat housing, which is bolted to the frames main downtube (under the fuel tank).

Here's an old thread on the mod:
https://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/maxim-x-radiator-fan-switch-modification-update.40133/page-2

Tony

 

Thanks xHondaHack, someone before me relocated the ignition cylinder and it appears tried their hand at some "custom wiring" to the fan (which wasn't working).

I disconnected their wiring and tried to power the fan directly to see if the motor even worked. I got it to run but it's loud. Either the blades are lightly making contact with something or bearing(s). I'll dig into it more this week.