1982 400 Maxim

Any love for the DOHC 400 Maxims? I acquired one in pieces a few years back for $0, and it came with a good title. A buddy had decided one day to dissassemble the entire bike because he was going to "restore" it...then he sobered up, saw all the parts scattered about his garage, realized his mistake and gave up. Everything is in little envelopes labeled...he even started to pull the motor apart as well, which is why the bike has just been in the attic waiting for me to be motivated. I have had some trouble finding a gasket kit for it, there has been one on Ebay off and on but its in Europe I think. Does Len carry parts for these? Does anyone have one? Are they fun? The SOHC XS400s are plentiful, but I have never seen another DOHC 400 twin.

It was a good running bike before he attacked it. I have robbed a few bits from it over the years, but nothing that would prevent me from making it into a runner. Worth the time to get it running?

 

Compare/ cross-reference parts for the xs400 special, and for the xs400rj Seca. Yamaha did funny things with the 400's.

They made:
xs400 special (2cyl)
xs400 maxim (2cyl)
xs400r Seca (2cyl)
xj400 maxim ( 4cyl)

Some were SOHC, some were DOHC-----depends on the model, and the XJ400 Maxim was a Japanese-market-only bike

But because of the above models, you do have wider field for parts

 

Prior to getting my seca 550 I rode a maxim 400 for 3 seasons. Put roughly 22'000km on it and it treated me very well, no problem getting parts. Engine always started right up, good power for a 400. Only thing I didn't like was the seating position, it was a bit to much of a cruiser style for me. I'm rebuilding the top end on it right now and I was interested in seeing what the internals of the engine looked like after 72'000km and it was in surprisingly great shape. My brother is taking ownership of it now and I expect it'll do 100'000km no problem.

 

Thanks @hogfiddles . This is a twin, DOHC 400- so not the XS400 special. It is labeled as a Maxim.

On a side note, I would LOVE to get my hands on the 400/4- a guy I used to work for as an FZ400 4cyl racebike from the 80s and I used to drooooool over it.

Regarding parts, the SOHC and DOHC motors are different. He pulled the top end off the motor (for no reason...) and all the side covers, so I need a gasket set just to throw it all together. It only had around 4k miles on it...I robbed the gauge cluster from it for my RD350 some time ago, and @specialk I hate the seating position too so I have raised the forks wayyyy up to drop the front end, and I plan on making a custom seat for it one day. It's so rare to get a project bike like this with a good title, so thats the only reason it hasn't gone to the scrap yard. While my 650RJ Seca is fun, I do miss having something lighter to zip around on by myself.

Maybe I'll pull it down from the attic later this summer and start gathering parts for a winter project.

 

not hard to get a title in NH
20$ vin check dealer insp station or police, reg 25$ and 65$ for the title. can be done for a bare frame.