'82 XJ750 Maxim Build Summary + Links to Tech threads

Thank you my good man!

 

Finished the stator cover. The process has been the same with all of the covers. They were in extremely poor shape and so I needed to clean them up. Wasn't looking for perfect (IE complete mirror with no scratches) , just some shine. I strip the stock clearcoat with aircraft remover, then wetsand using 220 grit, followed by 500, followed by 1000. Then I use a buffing wheel to use red tripoli compound, and finally I use mothers mag on a buffing wheel. again, not perfect, but worlds better than they were.



Also, I was surprised when I took the smaller right side cover off (The one that says "Yamaha YICS). There was nothing behind it! Cosmetic only I suppose. Anyway, it had no gasket, and there was some kind of fine poweder inside of the cover. Almost looked like sawdust. Is that just mold I wonder?




I have two more covers to go: The clutch/gearbox and sump covers. Screw placement will be important im sure which is why I have cardboard templates to keep the screws in order. I'll go ahead and drain the oil before I do this as well. I'll also need to order gaskets from Len when I get a new parts list together.

Is there anything I need to know about taking these things off? Are parts going to come flying out? Do I need to perfactly rotate certain parts to get everything to fit back together? Please advise if you've done this before, I could use the reassurance.

 

here's a good read on aluminum polishing
http://www.finishing.com/0800-0999/800.shtml
bolt length, take a bolt out that you know is the right length, then slide it back in, notice that distance it needs to be screwed in, it's going to be the same on all the cover screws. so if you get them mixed up, that's how you tell. a 6mm bolt needs that much engagement to be torqued to 7.2 ft/lbs. into aluminum
there's a seal where the shifter shaft goes through the cover, their cheap, get one.

 

Solid advice, thanks Polock. In an attempt to clean up my wiring, I purchased the one and only switch that will be on my handlebars, which is this three position (blinker) switch with two momentary buttons. It was around 20 dollars which is very cheap, but it's just a switch and the internals look ok. It only has four wires coming from it, which doesn't seen like enough, but who knows! Maybe it is.

 

Currently installing the legendary cycles universal cafe seat mount. I am using this to make a straight line from the new tank back to the tail. The dip in the frame is something that really makes achieving that line difficult, and I believe it to be necessary for the look I'm going for. This was the solution I had in my mind.

I'm going for a "brat" seat and so my plan is to get the hoop welded on, then use blue painters tape to make a platform onto which I can lay fiberglass for a pan. The very bottom edge of the fiberglass will cover the back part of the frame where it dips back up, but will run along the very top edge of the recessed frame piece. Therefore, the "recessed" part of the frame will be slightly visible, but the raised part in the back will not.

Also, do you guys think that aircraft remover will remove the rubber ring around the clutch cover? I already had some on for 20 minutes to get the oxidation/clearcoat off for polishing, but for some reason it didn't eat the rubber ring like it did on the other three covers. Suggestions? (I'd just leave it but I got a little carried away trying to carve it with an exacto knife)


Happy Friday!

 

STOP that ring comes out !
flip it over, there's 2 screws with big washers, take them out and it comes apart, that's a gasket

 

after a closer look.......Len will have them

 

Oops. That's embarrassing. You see, I've been using aircraft remover on all of the covers before I polish them. They've taken off all of the rubber "surrounds" on the covers. I figured the same for this one (though I DID wonder what the two screws/washers were inside of the cover). I blocked off the sight glass just in case, and I also made sure not to get any aircraft remover on the rubber gasket where the rod enters the cover. Figured the remover would eat it right up.

No wonder that thing was so tough. Add it to the list of things...

 

Some high tech renditions of what I'm going for. Pan will be made from fiberglass, and I can't figure out if I want to cover the entire pan in fabric (leather) as seen here:



Or if I'd like to paint part of the fiberglass to match the tank. Obviously this is going to be more time consuming, but I can't ride yet so I'm not opposed to it:

 

what goes behind the seat? a cafe bump or just a loop, you need something to take the yellow stripe to. i like the stripe but it can't just end, the yellow needs balanced, f/r.
maybe make the seat black and paint that frame rail under it yellow
on the other hand, i just painted everything blue so what do i know

 

This was just a quick example. I'm going to have a tail hoop mounted in (Not sure if it will be upswept 20* or running flat. There will be no cafe hump.

 

Well, on Monday I ordered engine cover gaskets for all of the pieces I polished, and today I received them thanks to the exceptional service from Chacal at xj4ever.

Currently mocking up the tail hoop for welding this weekend. It's a little long as is. Being that I'd like to be able to have a passenger, I'm not going to cut it TOO short. I think id like the end to be about two inches past the axle.

 

And this is where I'm leaving off for the night. A little CAD work for the seat. (Cardboard Assisted Design). I think I'm going to bring it in an inch and a half.



I hope this makes my previous seat posts a little easier to understand. I could a.) make a flat fiberglass seat pan that mimics the current lines of the cardboard (with padding and leather on top), but leaves a large gap between the seat and the recessed part of the frame

Or b.) drape the fiberglass cloth over the sides in a way that it covers the gap (and somehow maintains a good line as it curves up with the rear).

Good thing I've got other things to do, and time until riding season, because I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that part.

 

why fiberglass and not aluminum ?

 

Well if I use fiberglass, I feel that I can more easily hide the gap if I choose to go that route. Also, I need to make a clean transition from the seat to tank, and I think the fiberglass will be most efficient time wise.

 

this is going to be interesting, i wouldn't know where to start

 

It sure is. I ended up going out of town for the weekend so didn't get any work done.

To be quite honest I like the line from the front of the tank to the rear of the seat and would prefer to leave it flow like that, I'm just not sure how clean it will look with the gap at the bottom where the frame is recessed. I don't want the bike to look janky and have done everything in my power to do the work slowly and methodically.

 

I cut off another inch of the hoop, and then placed slugs into the frame and hoop for structural strength. I drilled into each side and weldedinto it to keep them in place, then welded the hoop into place


Now I've got some grinding and filling to do.

 

oooooooo, real nice!

 

Alrighty,

I welded up a new tank mount that is completely different from what is pictured, which I forgot to take pics of before I started taping up the seat for fiberglass. This is my first time working with the stuff so here goes nothin!

 

I laid the first two layers of mat on Tuesday, and will be sanding/fixing spots that got air beneath them tonight. I will then lay the final two layers of cloth, and hopefully pulling the set off around 11. After that it's cut, sand, fill, and prime.

 

Ok so I've learned that it's very important to stick around during the drying process to dab parts of the fiberglass that get air under them.

I didn't do this and it left me with some large air bubbles that I had to sand/cut down before I put the third layer of glass MAT. Down. Emphasis on mat, because it is the thick messy fiber-y stuff. After sanding and cutting I did some trimming and laid one more layer of mat.

It will be dry shortly and I will lay the final layer of woven cloth, which should provide a bit of a smoother surface to lay the final top coat of epoxy resin on.

 

fun stuff! thanks for the great and informative thread. that tank looks like it adds to the fuel capacity.

FU

 

Unfortunately it isn't. It is 3.43 gallons, or 13 liters, which is the same as the stock 750 maxim tank. It does give that impression though, Which I believe is due to the fact that it sits up a bit higher and tracks straight instead of hugging the downward slope of the frame.

 

Trimmed up just a hair. This will not be the final shape, but it's nice to know I don't have to add anymore fiberglass to it.

 

What would you say the average thickness is ?
3 ? Mats and a cloth ?

 

3 mats and one cloth has turned out to be about 1/8 thick. I'm still trimming very slowly a little each day to figure out exactly where I want the line to be, and how I want it to flow with the tank.

I was thinking of color matching it with the tins when I paint, but I may just paint it gloss black, still TBD.


Then will come a ton of sanding and filling of any imperfections.

I will then tape over it once more and lay two sheets of cloth to make a perfect fitting seat pan. This has been and will be a long process but it's still freezing outside, and it will finally be the last of the fabrication aside from the seat foam, a few quick exhaust welds, and a battery box/electronic tray (I will be having the seat professionally upholstered). The rest will be painting, wiring, bolt ons (tail light, gauges, cables/controls, rear shocks) and finally tuning. I really do think she'll be complete by mid may.

 

mid May, i'll be over

 

Be my guest sir! Door's open.

 

Before I smoothed the sides and top of the seat. I think I like the way it just meets the horizontal frame rails while leaving them visible.



I Forgot to take pictures of the final result, but I have sanded the crap out of the seat, and filled any imperfections with epoxy and/or Bondo Glass (fiberglass body filler). The seat is smoothed (though not perfectly straight on the bottom. I need to do some precision sanding, but it's basically finished).

I then wrapped it in blue tape, and fiberglassed the seat pan (which is currently drying). I used two sheets of mat, then a layer of cloth. I let that dry, and then added two more sheets of mat, with a final layer of cloth.



Everything looks good and the fit is perfect. It needs trimmed so I'll post pictures afterwards.

Let's talk rear shocks for a second: I don't want to lower the bike at all (I have the CB for that) but I would like to get different rear shocks. I'd love to spend some money on an upgrade but that's not in the cards right now, as I have too much to do to get it ready for spring. Were there any XJ's that used shocks having the same dimensions as the ones I have now, except with an open design (visible spring). I would like to do a swap because I'm not a fan of the closed design that came stock with this bike. Will gladly trade or purchase a set if anyone has some laying around.

 

I'm sure Len can speak to the compatibility, but I've got a set of open spring shocks with minor rusting on them from my XJ650. I'll send you pictures if you're interested sometime this weekend. (I owe someone else some pictures, too.)

 

i think maybe those covers come off

 

Hmmm ill have to check on that.

Tank mount is welded and cleaned up. My skills aren't great so the welds aren't pretty, but they're solid, and that's nothing a grinder and some filler can't fix. I'm also making a battery box just because.

 

Before I order my connectors/crimpers/new wires from vintageconnections.com To start my full rewire, I figured id take a stab at using the minimum wiring diagram to get an idea of what needs to go where before I add the new auto style ignition, kill, and headlight mounted on/off/lo switches, as well as the new speedo/tach. I think it's also easier to "mock up" using the stock wiring/connections, rather than starting from scratch

It's tedious but now that I have everything in front of me it's a little easier to grasp. I'm using the diagram above, by the way.

 

Just wanted to check in and confirm that the diagram I used works like it should! Picking up some oil and gasoline today and I'm going to fire the old girl up tonight. It'll be running on open headers since I don't have the exhaust setup yet, so I know it won't run great but I need to get it ready to drive up the steps in the basement, and would like to do that next week so that I can paint the engine/frame/Tins.

I also ordered the 2.5 inch speedo/tach from Dime City Cycles, as well as a basic left clutch perch with a short lever. Also picked up a basic throttle assembly, since the right side of the bars will not have any switches (I have done away with the Sidestand/Clutch safety switches for the time being, but will rewire them back in this summer).

So in my quest to finish the cockpit, I would like to get a flat sitting MC/Reservoir. Last fall I had no problems with the slanted one, but I'd like to go flat for peace of mind. What do you guys think of this one? It has a 16mm piston so I should be good to go. Hopefully the stock brake light switch will fit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/28125450076...em=&sspagename=ADME:X:RTQ:MOTORS:1123&vxp=mtr

 

Woooohooo! I hope it runs excellent for ya.

 

Thanks! Battery's on the charger, throwing the headers on to see if she'll start tonight. Fingers crossed!

 

And if course it's never easy. Charged the battery all the way and hooked it up. I hit the starter button and it's just turning and turning and turning.

Valves are in spec, carbs were rebuilt and synced before I broke down the wiring.

I have no idea where to start because I followed the wiring diagram exactly and all of the lights/switches work. I guess it's time to buy a multimeter

 

Multimeters save hours of frustration.

 

it's possible you have the wrong type of kill switch. you need one that's closed all the time and opens when you push it.
you could just try to push it in when your cranking it

 

Hmm I'm notnsure. When the kill is "on" the engine/starter turn. When it's "off" and the red is showing, nothing happens when I hit the starter.

I took all the plugs out. None of them seem to be getting spark (I'm holding them to the fins and cranking and there's no spark)

They're all wet and black

 

Oops...I had one wire hooked up improperly. We are running!

 

niiiiiiiiiiiiice! Which wire was it?

 

It was the power wire from the coils to the starter solenoid. Sigh...

Anyway, despite the obvious lean condition there's no hanging idle or throttle at all. I'm very very pleased.

I'm going to go up two sizes on the jets and shim the needles a washer or two (per teddytedted's recommendations) and we might have ourselves a solid runner.

 

Brought my seat/pan in to the upholsterer this evening to let him know what I was going after. When I told him I needed to go buy foam first he threw me this nice piece for free! It's very comfortable, but I'll be slimming it down a bit


We decided on black vinyl with piping around the edges, and a diamond cross stitch pattern. I need to decide my paint scheme by next week when I take it back in, because I'd like to have matching stitching. If not I'll go with white.

Also, I went ahead and used this valvoline motorcycle oil that I found at autozone:

It's JASO certified and specifically mentions wet clutch protection, which leads me to believe it is not synthetic. When I got the bike in September and didn't know any better I let the yamaha parts guy sell me on synthetic Yamalube, so I'm hoping that this stuff will make for smoother shifts. The valvoline oil was also pretty cheap. Anyone have good experiences with this stuff?

 

Yea, you won't notice a difference. The Yamalube is waaaaay overpriced.

 

Indeed it is. I was hoping to notice a difference in the smoothness of my shifts/clutch action. I have been reading that synthetics (A la yamalube) aren't great for the wet clutches. Time will tell if this stuff is better.

 

After doing the initial minimum rewire to get it up the ramp out of the basement, I learned that it'll be 4 weeks before I get my wiring diagram. Being that I plan on having the bike on the road before then, and going with the theme of mocking everything up for a full rewire, I decided to build a battery box. After being fed up with fiberglass, I decided on this quality, American Made bread pan for the low low price of 5.99. Took a bit of trimming to work, but it does just that.

Cut the rolled edges to keep it "flush" and I'll use the big one when I rewire.


I'll paint it black and call it a day for now.



I want to mount the battery right there but need to figure out a secure way to do so.

 

LOL oh man, that's great!

 

Nice. Then you can park it next to my grease dispenser from WalMart that I turned into my electronics container.