And then things got worse...

Hello all,
New XJ owner here.

I hail from a quaint little town in BFE Tennessee that tests missiles.

So where to begin, I bought this bike from a pawn shops back corner for more than i should have,



and continue the trend by putting even more money into it, it took me a year to pay for it because I am not a rich man and the pawn shop owner is pretty lenient with me in regards to payments.

So the day i paid it off i brought the thing home.


Less than an hour after that i had it apart


The first order of business was to get the basics sorted, The oil change....a simple job for a simple man...

 

Or


so


I


Thought


I have NEVER had this much trouble out of an oil job....NEVER...And I work on BMW's For a living.

Got it all back together though

 

Next up was a good cleaning of the wiring...The previous owner left me a gift to let me know i should REALLY double check all the wiring.
Tell me if you can spot it..


So i tear even further into the bike and discover a "Redneck rat nest" of twist-and-tape connections.



Then i discover he wasn't your average redneck...he ATTEMPTED to solder it...so i guess he can't be THAT bad...right?



Big fat NOPE



Lemme fix that

 

Got that sorted...On to the carbs that have been sitting....about THAT long


So i cleaned em and got em working proper, These things were NASTY, the needle valves were so gummed up the slides wouldn't even drop back down...a bit of aluminum foil and a can of B12 chemtool later they were moving like silk.


Next up was a test start to ensure proper functioning of the electrics, so i hit the key, select run, hit the horn to test it...hit the starter button...SHE TURNED OVE....she turned over ONCE then dead stopped...out come the amprobes again..
I traced it back, jumping down the line, starter solenoid was clicking whenever i would hit the button, but nothing was happening, Heard relays flipping over, oil light came on, made my way down to the solenoid itself...had power at the top...hit button and it dropped voltage in line with the draw...touch probe to the starter side terminal aaaand...nothing...no voltage....


So here i wait for the solenoid to arrive on monday...I'm also going to pull the headlight bucket apart and clean a few other terminals in there with some deoxit...
And I'm debating just tearing all the relays out of the bike and replacing them with more modern equivalents...Perks of working in a parts department is you can get em on the cheap.

Soooo...Hi folks, You'll be seeing alot of me

 

Great start! (hopefully) Soon everything else will be downhill!

 

Well, the next time you change the oil you won't have to pull the exhaust. So there's that

You bought an old motorcycle. Half of the fun is making it all work correctly again.

 

Indeed!
I was going to buy the spin on kit, but found the bypass bolt for 10 bucks on amazon, So i bought two and torqued it to spec(I mean it was right there, how hard is it to do?)

I WILL be needing a valve cover gasket, which right now goes for about 79 bucks at any given bike parts shop...So I found another one on ebay for a good price(Yamaha bag and everything!) and ordered it, and a strainer cover/oil pan gasket just to keep on hand at home if i ever need it...lets just hope it doesn't end up being like the gaskets i ordered for my old Moto guzzi and they are literally spray painted paper...

Most of which should arrive on tuesday...along with a shiny new set of shinko tires(Until i can afford a good set of pirellis anyways) and a headlight bucket(to pitted to clean well).

Might also drain the forks and refill em...Haven't decided yet...Bike seems to have a very very Mushy front end, but since I've never owned one of these i don't exactly know how "mushy" they are supposed to feel.

 

When you drain the forks, go ahead and tear them down for inspection. They have likely never been serviced. Mushiness is a sign of underfilled forks and broken-down oil.

 

Bought a set of shinko 712s for the bike today, sources tell me they are rebranded yokohama(And I've had good luck with them on my track car).

Will also be replacing rear shoes(regardless of how new or well they look, all my bikes always get new brakes when i buy them...Probably going to buy all that next payday, along with the fork head bearings and a few other odds and ends.
Just hope my starter relay comes in tomorrow so i can start it and let it run for a bit....800 bucks for the bike and i've already dumped about 400 into it so far....double that if i was charging my labor rates for automotive work.

Had no idea how expensive some of the parts for this thing were

 

Bike looks pretty good for the money you have spent so far. Bikes like that her go for 1500-2000. And not even with that much work into it. We pay 800 for bikes that don't look anywhere near that good.
Don't toss the old starter relay they are repairable, have done dozens of them. Can't even remember the last time I bought a new one for any bike I've owned.

 

I tend to keep my Parts, Bad habit i picked up working on air cooled VW's.

Cleaned up my harness and discovered i really need to replace my headlight bucket.

Repaired a little issue with my headlight switch(the on/off portion)


as an FYI Loctice gel super glue works GREAT for this if it happened to you, there was literally a BLOCK of corrosion in there.
But now it is clean.


Did a nice dry testfire and it turns over wonderfully with the new coil in it(Picked t up off amazon for 10 bucks, free ship...not a bad deal so i bought 2 so i had a spare)

To top it all off my tires came in today...Just gotta wait till payday to order the rear shoes so i can install those.


Now i need to figure out why my headlight comes on when i turn on the key before i start it...I'm thinking i may have installed my relays in the wrong locations.

 

Can you provide a further explanation about the Loctite gel super glue trick for cleaning up corrosion?

 

Sorry i should have specified, the "circuit board" for the light on/off switch had corroded to the point it had broken the plastic switch breadboard in two, i used the super glue to patch it back together until i can find a replacement(or rather until i find a bit of cash to use on it), My mistake.

I got the headlight issue fixed though, ended up being two relays had been put in the wrong locations by the previous owner...so there is that.

I finally started it as well...that was nice...

Now another issue has arisen,I'm running luke warm to the touch on cylinder 2...which may explain why i'm not able to run the bike unless i have it choked open about halfway....I'm suspecting pilot jets...so next time i work on the bike I'll be removing the carbs AGAIN and clean all the pilots and wet set the floats...which will be a new experience for me.

 

Shinko bought the motorcycle tire division from Yokohama. Yokohama has been out of the powersports tire business for a long while now.

 

Have you ever removed the idle mixture screws to clean those passages?

 

Oh, ok - I thought you had some trick ship hack that uses super glue for removing corrosion. . . . Doh!

 

We will go with negative on that, I cleaned what i could access by removing the float bowls and B12, though looking at the handy pictures someone graciously put up(Wish i had known about them before i put it all back together...i'd have cleaned a few more things and replaced all the orings...another bonus working on euro cars is the abundance of oring kits i have in my shop, all viton rings to so thats a plus).

I didn't do any work on it tonight, so i will pull the carbs off when i get home tomorrow night and try try again.
Thankfully i don't have to worry about the carbs flooding as i pinched the line closed coming from the tank...So there is that...

Now when i cleaned them i didn't break them down to component pieces, i just "Quick cleaned" them for fear of having to reset anything .
I pulled off the float bowls, pulled out what jets i saw and cleaned em out with carb cleaner and a tiny piece of brass wire.

It didn't remove the dullness but it helped clean up some of the passages, the enrichment tubes were absolutely clogged on cylinder 3.

One other thing to note is that the vac line for the petcock is also connected to cylinder 2, but i doubt if that would cause much of an issue?

 

I got video



On another note i just realized i may have forgotten to re-tighten my exhaust clamps on the downpipe to crossover/bash plate section...that could be a problem.

 

Ooh stop making my ears hurt.
You have to remove the mixture screw plugs and clean those babies and she will run like a dream

 

Which vac port the petcock vac line is connected to does not matter.

 

So i figured, just wasn't sure.

Looks like imma be cleaning some idle screw passages up.

 

Welcome aboard. Check the valves clearances.

Gary H.

 

Well...I have good news AND bad news....

Good news...I found one of the enrichment passages to be EXTREMELY dirty.

The bad news is that cylinder one was dirty, all of the others looked identical to the clean screw, but it still had the factory EPA plugs over them.

Worse news...My drillbit kissed each of the screw heads down below.
Slightly less bad news; I can still turn them easily enough with a "custom thin line fat headed screwdriver"

The WORST news...I need to buy a pack of the gaskets and washers for the idle mix screws that apparently have no part number any more.
Would one of you kind individuals have the yamaha factory part number for it, or the updated number?

Alternatively how do i go about ordering HCP895SET4 and HCP896SET4 from the dude that sells them?

 

Start a conversation(PM) with forum member Chacal and ask for a price and payment options for those parts. Len will send you a quote and instructions. He's quick, efficient, accurate and fair.

That's sure a shiny oil filter bolt!

 

Hey Xed, looks like a hell of a job your doing on your re-build, man you got a good handle on everything your doing. I enjoyed your thread cause I just finished my ' 85 XJ Maxim 700 build and touched on everything I was doing, I can tell you this, if not for this site and the "correct" knowledge of the premium members have and are willing to share, there was no way I could of got mine finished on my own. I can put my stamp of approval on chacal (Len) and his parts quality at xj4ever .com , he had parts for my carbs that was NLA. I only found this site out of necessity after tearing mine down to frame (no bike knowledge or ever done a rebuild this complete) just general wrenching skills. Had I found them sooner, I would of saved $ and time, but not had learned as much. But would of had more hair left. So it was all good.
I'm sure these guys are tied of seeing my pics, but I'll send a before, during and after anyway. And wish you a lot of patience, a bit of luck, and a ton of fun !
Stay on board.

 

I managed to find a set of idle mix screws locally, Still trying to find a glass spark plug to tune with(I don't have 70 bucks to spend on a new one), waiting on fork seals, a new set of tire spoons(Former tireman at a shop, I am a master of the spoon), valve cover gasket and grommets, and some other odds and ends to come in....then i can do things like valve lash...which is just going to be loads of fun.

I literally haven't touched the bike for almost a month...but i have a rare weekend off so we shall see how that goes.

 

Well, any money i had set aside for use on the bike the last month or so was eaten by My daily driver needing a new clutch, so I finally got some extra money and bought the ridiculously expensive valve cover gasket for a good price off ebay.

Now I'm trying to hunt down a new set of ignition coils(Number 2 STILL isn't firing quite right, so since the coils are running on 35 years of life...I'm going to replace them with a set of dynas).
Also managed to get a nice barnnett clutch kit at a local swap meet that is still in its wrapper(was for an 82 xj550).

Still need a colortune...

It ALMOST seems like a losing battle...But i know it isn't.

Bike hasn't been run since last posting and that bothers me lots.

 

UPDATES!!!!

So i decided to use this amazing weather we are having in Tennessee to my advantage(as well as a rare weekend off), to Do some bike work.
Pulled the back wheel off to do a tire change and a shoe change.


Went and bought some shoes for it about 3 months ago and discovered shenanigans had happened with the previous owner.


To the left are what i assume to be the factory shoes for ...something... To the right are the vesrah shoes for an 81 XJ550H...


Shoes that as you can see, are very very different from what I actually have.
Now judging by the 4h700 stamp Am I correct in assuming this came from an XJ650G?



I am now in fear of my wallet if i continue to find these "upgrades".

 

It is awfully early here.
Not sure if there is a parralax happening . . . . are the original shoes a larger diameter?

Where did you get your replacement shoes from?

 

+1.
According to Len's catalog and Yamahapartsnation the oem part number (4H7-W2536-00-00) is the same for both bikes specified.
HCP4193 OEM rear DRUM BRAKE SHOES, enough to do one bike. Fits all XJ550 Maxim, XJ550 Euro, and XJ650 Maxim and 650 Midnight Maxim models with rear drum brakes. Include the return springs.

Gary H.

 

I got them from my local bike shop, getting ready to call him and double check the part number.

 

Got it figured out, he's ordering me another set.

His catalog didn't differentiate between a seca and a maxim.

 

And that is why we like Chacal.

 

Wish I could LIKE twice.

 

I liked myself twice this week... it was wonderful

 

It is all back together on the back end, got my new shoes in, chain cleaned and oiled, and a bearing or two replaced.

Now i just need to get the front tire on and the valve clearance to spec, tune the carb up to spec and i think she's gonna be road worthy...I am excite.


Now we also have another pile in the stable....dad found himself another goldwing so we've been arms deep in that thing as well.
If you ever think ANYTHING on an XJ is difficult...Just think, i have to take 90% of the fairings on a goldwing off to get the choke cable in.

 

And if you ever have to do stator work, you have to disassemble just about the whole bike to pull the engine out in order to remover the stator!!

 

I burn incense and sacrifice oil to the demons of speed to keep that from happening... Seems to be working so far.

 

Well... I checked the valve clearances...

Good news is they have been done before... The bad news is it was done poorly. That was cylinder 1.


They also decided to install the shims number side up so i had to mic all of them.





So here's the list


Now to go order some shims.

 

Hogfiddles runs a shim pool. You don't have to buy new ones, though I don't know how he feels about unmarked shims. PM him and find out.

 

progress is a good feeling, besides spring is just around the corner.
Great job on the repairs/maintenance-
Curious about the color tune though I just got mine last week yet I am still waiting the rest of my parts to come in-
LOL yes I am waiting for my ship to come in rom Japan as that is where my wrist pins are coming from LMao

 

Got my shims in from Mikesxs
Thankfully I only had to order 4.


So shiny....so clean....


Also Got this lil' fella in, which is nice.



Even managed to get 20 years of gunk off the valve cover,leaving that delicious patina behind(A mixture of marvel mystery oil, wd40, washing soda, and Kung fu elbow action).




To Top it all off I won an amazon gift card and bought that set of dynacoils after finding out i had a dead coil(And dropping a brick when i priced some new ones from yamahahaha), Went to resolder new wires back onto it thinking the leads were bad and the poor thing had scorched itself long before I owned it, it actually looked like the windings had arc-shorted and melted.

Those are due in tomorrow afternoon while I am at work.

So ,Hopefully, this will be the last of the ignition system shenanigans for awhile.


I'm getting excitable at this time....because now I might actually be able to RIDE it(My friends seem to think it will only ever be good for repairing ).

I'm off on sunday and i shall hopefully get to work on it a bit.

 

I doubt that your bike is only good for repairing-
Yamaha builds reliable machines- That if maintained like anything else will run for a very long time.
I have only been left one time and that was only because of a broken clutch cable. I would not even consider that being broken cause I could of ridden it home-carefully and gently-

 

Oh I know, Most of my friends are HD or Sportbike riders, we give each other crap all the time about brand preferences.

Got my dyna wires in....but they neglected to ship the coils as well for some odd reason...So looks like i await tuesday to install the coils...

 

Well i got it all together and noticed something....my new coils with wires and caps attached ohm out to 55 ohms resistance.

Turns out i got a set of suppression core wires and now need to go snag some copper core wires from work....Might as well go ahead and get some resistor caps as well.

 

good that you noticed that you had the wrong wires before you tried to go riding. Oh here comes spring and hopefully many miles of fun and adventure.

 

I found a mythical roll of 7mm non suppression nickle coated copper wires at a speed shop, also ordered some new plug caps from sl-orielly's(Cheapest price i've seen locally on ngk resistor caps in my local, paid less than 12 bucks for all 4).
At some point in the future i will likely order me a spool of 8mm copper core wire, but not today.

Spring is here in Tennessee and she is making up for lost rain, so no riding...for now.

 

It is also raining/hailing here in Oregon as well. Sun/rain/hail/sun/rain you get the picture. Wonder what its gonna be like once summer actually gets here. If it is like the winter wetter then normal then it may be extremely hot this summer-Only time will tell.
Waiting for parts still

 

plug wire to plug wire, 55 ohms or 55K ohms?


you have an XJ550 maxim from what I see in your photos .
why were you using a seca wiring diagram? there are a few differences between the seca and maxim wiring

 

Rhetorical question?