Looking for diy videos for xj700 maxim x 1986/85

Since I am in the process of repairing a mechanical failure I.E. valves being bent and valve guides broken I have searched the web and this site for videos on how to's on Yamahas' xj700x series. I not to only help myself yet more importantly to help others. Since I am in the process I have been thinking about doing some videos to help alleviate some of the aggravation of working on my bike. The repair manual is great to have although there are times when it doesn't explain details clearly enough. I can honestly say that I am a beginner in regards to motorcycle repair so the videos are going to be trial and error. Mostly showing what to do and what not to do when I bugger something up. I also haven't mastered the art of editing so they will be rough not trying for perfection just trying to help others out.
Comments are welcome and possible suggestions to improve tear down and reassembly of said engine.

 

Fixing things that I have buggered up has offered up some great learning experiences. Good luck with the video stuff, find some young kid to do the final editing . . . .

 

Agreed trail by error usually is the way I learn.
Perfect example I had a shop replace worn fork seals and then read somewhere that they require 4 to 7 psi so I hit them with shop air and blew the freaking seals. LOL shop replaced them for the cost of new seals. Fortunately for me I am sure they had a good laugh.

 

As you have discovered, the Maxim X is a somewhat rare bike and the valves are completely different from all the other XJ models. Which makes specific tutorials quite rare - thank you for offering to do some.
You might want to try doing some searches for tutorials on other Yamaha models that used the 5 Valve "Genesis" engine, like the FZ750 which was much more common and had a longer production run.
Here's one for example:

 

Damn, those are pretty combustion chambers.

 

thanks for the vids there is some great information and ideas!

 

Here is the first installment of my adventure, I think

 

Keep in mind that videos, whilw helpful, need to be cross-refrenced to a factory service manual. There are more videos out there that have incorrect information in them, than have correct information. Anyone can make a video and publish it; there is no peer-review process.

 

Indeed! but there are intelligent people who have some really good solutions to common problems that are not thoroughly discussed in the repair manuals.
Trial by error for some has some amazing discoveries on an easier solution.

 

Tomorrow is the day the jugs and valve assembly go to the machinist. When I was first directed to this gentleman I was like OH no not the Harley dealer low and behold he calls and I mention what I am doing and then he goes on talking about how there was a Yamaha Dealership here in Medford years ago and that is where he started his career. All be it I thought he worked for the Harley Shop when the reality was is that he had worked there but now only does the machining as a sub contractor. back to our conversation he went on about how the xj's of the 80's were very well built bikes, which at that particular time I was supposed to be opening up for the evening meal for my fellow vets luckily someone took care of it for me. He went on and at some point I mentioned that I have the water cooled version and I could tell that he got excited talking about how they were hard to come by back then. He also proceeded to give me all the specs. I mentioned what I was looking to have done and he stops me and says just come on by and I'll mick the cylinders and hone them and we will call it good and I was like are you sure and he was yes I haven't seen one in many years and would appreciate the opportunity to work on one. You just never know what your going to get when the phone rings, if you take the time to answer the call.
Until next time probably like Wednesday I will have further information as to how the jug and cylinders turn out.

 

An experienced xj mechanic who is excited to work on your machine? Sweeeeeet! Between that and the experts here, you will get that thing up and running in no time!

 

Ironically, there were more X's produced than airheads, making the airhead a lower production bike and less common. BUT---so many people bought the X and didn't know how to take care of it properly, and many were blown up or wrecked long ago.........now the X is the one that is more in demand. How's that for a twist of XJ fate?

Dave

 

give him th xjbikes web site . would be fantastic to have him here

 

I will when I see him today at230 pacific time.

 

So what I heard was....when I move back to Oregon it'll be in or near Medford

 

yes Oregon is kinda like Arizona cut it half from west to east and the climate are opposites. You want cold and snow head north yet want heat and dry stay in the southern part of Oregon. If you were to relocate to Oregon I would look at towns that are outside of Medford like Eagle Point very nice yet reasonable living costs. Medford also known as Methford has a high rate of Meth users I guess like every where else I suppose.
I moved here from Northern California, like two hours from the Oregon border on the Coast, Ten minute drive to the ocean along Hwy. 101. Not no city folk lol.
Went and seen the machinist (John) and he gave the new to me Jug a look over and rather frankly said that I would need to have it bored due to water damage. Problem that I face now is were to get oversized pistons? However he asked me to bring the original jug to him to verify what the previous technician said about the number three sleeve (cylinder) being out of round. If it is salvageable by this I mean it can be just honed then I am in good shape.
And the adventure continues

 

I was born in Oregon City. Traveled all over the state during my 30 years living there.
There's a N/S climate cut too, and that weird tropical thing around Bandon.

 

Here are a couple of quick videos that I have added to this thread regarding my adventure in rebuilding the xj700 maxim x

 

I took the original cylinder jug to the machinist who liked that one better then the one I bought of E-BAY. going to give it a good measuring and then Hone it for me. Supposed to stop by tomorrow and pick it up. Looking forward to hearing that everything is with in spec and the cylinder honing came out well. Messed around last night with the 600 mile old rings and placed them inside the cylinder to check the end gap of the rings. Seemed to be with in specs yet I will do it again when I get the new rings and the jug back.
I suppose since I now have a spare jug I can gain some practice with no worries of Buggering it up.

 

Does anybody know where I can get the official specs for the 750 pistons I would like to confirm that if I do need to bore the cylinder that I can just bore up to the 750 piston since it seems that I can order those off line

 

Great work on the vids, my 85 xj700x also has the #3 out of round. Glad someone else is going through the pain and pleasure of working on this bike. Good luck and keep us posted with new vids as to how she comes out.

 

I certainly will and am looking forward to getting the reminder of the parts to begin the reassembly. I do need to work on the videos however I like the reality of them no fluff.

 

Mr. Timbox, is that a custom paintjob on your tank? hard to tell from the little picture . How many miles do you have on your X ?
I got mine with 44,000 and now I have 64,000 give or take a few hundred. Do you have problems with the fork seal? I seem to have to replace mine like every two years or so.

 

dowski68,

Mine was a "C" list find this winter. The custom paint job is the weathered and removed Yamaha stickers that leave those nasty spots. The inside of the tank is in good shape so I got lucky there.

The bike has almost 40K but had some weird carb jets when I started digging. The PO had 115 mains in all four of the carbs but everything else was stock. The jugs were really glazed so that is why the hone came to be. The rebuild was just to see if my head gasket was blown and it was, #2 was leaking badly and had only 90 PSI with the others being above 130PSI. Those reading according to the book are too low so rebuild time.

After my hone I checked to make sure my rings were still in spec and they are. I do have a line in my #3 but it will have to be, I don't plan on a full bore and then find the pistons and new rings. The hone did seem to take most of the oval of the cylinder, going to try it for a season anyway.

If you want to see my page and or build here it is. http://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/1985-xj700-x-looks-like-blowen-head-gasket.109293/

You will see from the pics that the carbon build up was a lot, or at least I thought so. Cleaned up and and waiting on gaskets to get here so I can put her back together.

 

If you ever find the time I have a you tube channel 541 maxim and I have been placing short videos about oddities or the things I am learning on the way. When I rode my bike last, like two months ago I parked it in the garage. A friend wanted to go for a ride and I killed the battery trying to start it. Thus the adventure began. When I did my compression check after checking everything else I had 60, 95, 60 and 60. When I got to the valve train I found that I had two bent exhaust valves on number two and one intake on three bent and along with broken valve guides. those valves are spendy. I to am waiting for parts at this time, wrist pins the final pieces. then I can begin the rebuilding the engine at least to the point where I can recheck the valve clearance. Those little buggers are 20.00 a pop.
On the original valve shims I need like 19 out of 20 hoping hoping the new to me valve assembly is not so far off.

 

Yes the labor of love can be spendy at times, that is just part of it. Bent valves does not sound good to me, hope mine is nothing like that. My shock was getting her running for the first time and then see white smoke and dirty oil/water come out of the exhaust weep hole on the bottom. This could have been anything as the bike sat I think outside for three yrs. Could have been rain in the exhaust or what ever. No seeing the jugs and what they look like, it was a good thing I broke her down and did the hone.

I have not even checked the valve clearance yet, that will be fun and yes costly when I too have to get a set of those little shims. More pics and updates on my post as parts and time allows. I will keep following your build, good luck and keep up the great work.

 

I would suggest checking the valves clearances- the repair manual recommends every 24,000 miles and it is much cheaper to change a few then to change a lot at one time.
Yes it is nice to watch another person go through the rebuild process, especially when one is gaining knowledge of what works and what does not. I am picking the head up around 3:00 pm pacific time today, looking forward to seeing how it looks will post picks this evening.
A friend of mine from work suggested that I rebuild her from top to bottom and then garage her due to the difficulty of getting parts. I was NO that is not who I am. Eye candy is nice but she was built to ride.
My goal is for her to be mechanically sound and to ride her enough that the next time I get into my scion that the battery is dead LOL.

 

dowski68,
I will do that as soon as I have put a few miles on her and it she is making bad sounds. While you are waiting on the parts have you gone through the brakes? Check the DOT3 fluid to make sure it is not nasty brown or worse. Check pads up front and the back drum, they say with age the back drum can separate from the shoe and cause extreme issues.

I got a maint free battery as well, they are close to $100 but well worth it with 220 CCA. Sure does help with the spark to IMHO. Also go through all the electrical connectors once you have disconnected the battery. A little scraping or sanding of he connecting surfaces and dielectric grease and you are in there. I went through the entire wiring harness, separated each connector and made sure it has a little dielectric grease to help out with my old bike.

I currently have too many bikes, I will be selling my 86 FJ1200 and my 2003 Suzuki Bandit 1200S this spring. Don't need those big bikes and more...or I don't think I do. So this medium size 700 should be a good around town bike. My Kawasaki KLR650 is still the go too bike, for now.

 

from maxim x web site
bore and stroke 700x 68.0 x 48.0 mm (2.6772 x 1.8898 in)
bore and stroke 750x 68.0 x 51.6 mm (2.6772 x 2.0315 in)

can,t say if the pistons are the same between 700x and 750 x

 

hard to say but the bore are the same 68.0 mm and the stroke on the 750 is a smidgeon longer. I don't see how that would be an issue unless the wrist pin is higher or lower in the piston.

 

My friend at work just picked up KLR 650 like two months ago a bit tall for him but he loves it. Keeps on me about riding to the coast which we will as soon as I get mine back together.
And yes I have replaced the brakes front and back when I got the bike. I am now looking to get those pretty stainless steel lines that hogfiddles has on his. This will increase the braking power and I did flush the front brake system and found a few little pieces of ?. Safety first and thanks for the heads up about the electrical connectors didn't even think about that.
In regards to, to many bikes are there really to many?
As long as you can ride one every other day or so
Thanks again

 

The following article from MOTOTUNEUSA.COM is quit interesting in regards to the topic of break in. I am a recently graduated Diesel Technician and during one of the many classes on rebuilding our instructor was very serious about the break in process of a new or recently built engine. Point being is that rings need to seat properly. Most of use were like OK can you be a little more specific. Our instructors main point was that an new engine needs to run under a load not just idling or lopping around town. By a load he was referring to like going up a long steep grade at 70% power this allows the rings to seat against the cylinder walls as they are under high compression. If an engine is lopped around the rings will not seat and eventually sooner then one would think you have blow by and lowered compression. I would like to think that after 30+ years as a technician and the last 10 years an instructor he might know what he was talking about.
So with that thought process I just happen to live near the Oregon and California border aka the Siskiyou pass.
Interstate 5 passes through the Siskiyou Mountains at Siskiyou Summit, located just north of the Oregon-California border, and just south of Ashland, Oregon. Siskiyou Summit is the highest pass on Interstate 5, at 4,310 feet (1,310 m). This pass is one of the most treacherous in the Interstate highway system all though it may be treacherous especially during Winter it is where I will be breaking in my new rings at 70% of total power available.
Just a thought-

Warning:
This is a very controversial topic !! I wrote "Break-In Secrets" after successfully applying this method
to approximately 300 new engines, all without any problems whatsoever.

Links to this article now appear on hundreds of motorsports discussion forums from all over the world. The reason is that over time, large numbers of people have done a direct comparison between my method and the owner's manual method, and the news of their success is spreading rapidly.

The results are always the same... a dramatic increase in power at all RPMs. In addition, many professional mechanics have disassembled engines that have used this method, to find that the condition of the engine is much better than when the owner's manual break-in method has been used.

The thing that makes this page so controversial is that there have been many other break-in articles
written in the past which will contradict what has been written here.

Several factors make the older information on break-in obsolete.

The biggest factor is that engine manufacturers now use a much finer honing pattern in the cylinders than they once did. This in turn changes the break-in requirements, because as you're about to learn, the window of opportunity for achieving an exceptional ring seal is much smaller with
newer engines than it was with the older "rough honed" engines.

In addition, there is a lot less heat build up in the cylinders from ring friction
due to the finer honing pattern used in modern engines.

The other factors that have changed are the vastly improved metal casting and machining
technologies which are now used. This means that the "wearing in" of the new parts
involves significantly less friction and actual wear than it did in the distant past.

With that in mind ...

Welcome to one of the most controversial motorsports pages on the internet !!

How To Break In Your Engine For
More Power & Less Wear !

One of the most critical parts of the engine building process is the break in !!
No matter how well an engine is assembled, it's final power output is all up to you !!

Although the examples shown here are motorcycle engines,
these principles apply to all 4 stroke engines:
Street or Race Motorcycles, Cars, Snowmobiles, Airplanes & yes ...
even Lawn Mowers !!
( regardless of brand, cooling type, or number of cylinders. ) These same break in techniques apply to both steel cylinders and Nikasil, as well as the ceramic
composite cylinders that Yamaha uses in it's motorcycles and snowmobiles.

What's The Best Way To Break-In A New Engine ?? The Short Answer: Run it Hard!

Why ??
Nowadays, the piston ring seal is really what the break in process is all about. Contrary to popular belief, piston rings don't seal the combustion pressure by spring tension. Ring tension is necessary only to "scrape" the oil to prevent it from entering the combustion chamber.

If you think about it, the ring exerts maybe 5-10 lbs of spring tension against the cylinder wall ...
How can such a small amount of spring tension seal against thousands of
PSI (Pounds Per Square Inch) of combustion pressure ??
Of course it can't.
How Do Rings Seal Against Tremendous Combustion Pressure ??

From the actual gas pressure itself !! It passes over the top of the ring, and gets behind it to force it outward against the cylinder wall. The problem is that new rings are far from perfect and they must be worn in quite a bit in order to completely seal all the way around the bore. If the gas pressure is strong enough during the engine's first miles of operation (open that throttle !!!), then the entire ring will wear into
the cylinder surface, to seal the combustion pressure as well as possible.
The Problem With "Easy Break In" ... The honed crosshatch pattern in the cylinder bore acts like a file to allow the rings to wear. The rings quickly wear down the "peaks" of this roughness, regardless of how hard the engine is run.

There's a very small window of opportunity to get the rings to seal really well ... the first 20 miles !!

If the rings aren't forced against the walls soon enough, they'll use up the roughness before they fully seat. Once that happens there is no solution but to re hone the cylinders, install new rings and start over again.

Fortunately, most new sportbike owners can't resist the urge to "open it up" once or twice,
which is why more engines don't have this problem !!

An additional factor that you may not have realized, is that the person at the dealership who set up your bike probably blasted your brand new bike pretty hard on the "test run". So, without realizing it, that adrenaline crazed set - up mechanic actually did you a huge favor !!

 

Getting closer to starting the rebuild YEA

 

I not sure why when I post a video all these other ones (Videos) pop up with mine, any ideas ?

 

I'm only seeing the two videos that you linked (#8 and #7) in post #35. Are you talking about another post, or is there a video that you see that you did not link?

If you're talking about what pops up at the end of the video, that is a YouTube thing. They are suggestions for watching similar videos in that category.

Regarding video #7. Those are all Metric grade 8, which is not the same as SAE grade 8. It's equivalent to about SAE grade 5.

The big question is why are they breaking? They are supposed to be set to a tad over 8 ft lbs of torque, so if they are breaking at 5 there is a problem (and the case threads should yield long before the bolts reach their failure rating).

What type of torque wrench are you using (beam or click), what range is it (is that 5 ft lbs at the lower end of the range, middle, or upper), and when was it last calibrated?
If it's a clicker, do you store it with the indicator set to 0.00 ft lbs?

Also, did the bolts both fail near the same place? I'm thinking that maybe thery were left loose at some point and the starter got knocked enough to bend or nick the bolts, leading to the failure.

 

Didn't realize that there was a difference between the S.A.E. grade and the metric grade for strength.
Click type torque wrench brand new and yes it starts at 5 and goes to80 ft. Lbs. Per your question about leaving clicker in stored position is always left below zero tension so as not to distort calibration.
Went to local hardware/ace store and found a whole section of bolts and nuts all metric found the correct thread pitch and bolt size just had to rethread it down the shank 1/2 inch to get the correct length( used hack saw to remove unneeded threads). Prior to reinstalling new bolt cleaned up the thread with a thread chaser and blew out with compressed air.
In regards to the starter being loose and bounced around as far as I know both bolts have been tight since I have owned her. During disassembly I found no bolts or nuts loose.
When I first got her I went through and made sure that all bolts and nuts were tight.
I found none on the entire bike that were loose.
Good morning Sir

 

1. You need anoher torque wrench so you can accurately hit the mark at the lower values. Toward each end of the range, a torque wrench is pretty well useless (basically the lower 1/8 th for most).

2. The torque wrench probably didn't cause the failures. As I mentioned earlier, the case threads should have failed first.

3. That PO guy messes everything up. He probaby reused already damaged fasteners. It's still a weird failure though. A shear failure on an assembly that isn't normally in shear.

 

agreed a friend of mine from my diesel school has an inch. torque wrench So I will ask to borrow his tomorrow.
Yes I have never seen a bolt shear like that ever. Guess there's a first time for everything I am still glad that I got it out of the main housing

 

Went on line and found a site that gives the tensile strength of both SAE and metric. Yes 8.8 metric is comparable to grade 5 SAE. I just re-read your post and you mentioned that that starter bolt (when looking at it from the left side is the short one on the right rear closet to you) of starter housing. In my book it says 5.1 ft. lbs for the torque spec. yup just double checked with the appendices in the back. Still it is very odd that it sheared and the housing didn't give way first.
My friend is bringing his inch torque wrench in tomorrow if he remembers lol.
Was looking through the manual for the specs for the bolts as in stretch limit haven't found any, got any ideas ?

 

Good videos and I like what you say about the Break-in being done under a steady 70% power.Would that also be true for many different engines ? I have 320 grit fine hone stones on my spring loaded 3-stone hone and so I imagine a hard Break-in wouldn't bother the lower piston skirt.

 

@dowski68 Which manual are you using? Both Yamaha and Haynes list 7.2 ft lb for that pair of fasteners. There are documented errors in the servuce manuals, but to my knowledge that isn't one of them.

 

I actually have three books or two dvd's and one soft back.
The dvds are from e-bay for under twenty bucks

1 dvd from TECHSPARK Studio.com 1985-86 maxim (X) Xj700
Starter bolt torque listed is 7 Nm or 5.1 ft. lbs. Pg.97 chapter 3 engine re-assembly.
2nd DVD in work computer

Star
Maxim X 1985-1986 hard back book - from CHACAL
Part number LIT-11616-xj-00
comes with Appendixes specific for the 86 maxim x water cooled
pg. 20 Lists starter motor
Bolt m6, Pitch 1.0 Qty. 2 Nm 7 and Ft. Lbs. 5.1
I will also look tomorrow when I get to work on that DVD and see what it says.

Right at this moment I am doing the first coat of (VHT) engine Enamel on my jugs.
Heat rating is 550 F or 288 C
Got the other pieces cleaned and taped up as well. Something to do while I am waiting for the remainder of parts.
Out of pure safety LOL or pure boredom I also went around the whole bike and re-torqued every bolt and nut.
Found a few bolts that were missing underneath exhaust and replaced them as well.

 

The lower piston shirt not to sure about yet there are multiple websites that would explain the purpose of the piston skirts at a much higher intellectual level. LOL. Be sure to specify that the pistons are for a motorcycle as there are differences between auto and motorcycles. Let me know what you find out probably a good read.

Although the hard break in should be done in increments ever increasing the duration of the load and allowing to cool a bit between loads.

I not too sure about the grit for the hones, fine seems more for just removing a light glazing of the cylinders. The machinist who by the way worked for the Yamaha dealer here in Oregon when these x's came out was excited just to see one again.
The gentlemen sub contracts through the Harley dealer used a flex hone on my jugs. 20.00 bucks He also took the time to check each cylinder for roundness and all are good to go.
What I found was nice is when he went right into the bikes engine specs and new them by heart even after all these years. Really good conversation with him.

 

Always nice to find a common bond with your machinist and local dealer.

As for the books and DVD's having some issues, I too am finding this out. It is not a show stopper but have to look a little deeper and then ask more questions. All my parts on in the mail too, but you are taking the next step, painting. Not too sure I want to go that far and then try to put her together without messing up the paint. I still want to hear her per first before I give her a facelift.

My hone was done with the 220 grit and they came out nice. Crossing my fingers that the rings spec out well so I don't need bore it out .5.

 

I would hope that they don't need to be bored cause I have been looking for aftermarket pistons and I can find the rings but no pistons.
If so you may want to look for a new jug and standard size pistons.
As a last resort having a set made is going to be spendy. I have found one place that makes pistons yet they have a 12 piece minimum order. Ouch unless you can find two other people who may be in the same boat and split the cost.
One thing about Yamaha Bikes in the 80's they where built very well for which I am very grateful.

 

The second CD/DVD is by
Tech-CD
27690 State Hwy 46W
Spring Branch, TX 78070
Even on this DVD it sates Starter torque is either 7 Nm or 5.1 Ft. Lbs.

 

Painting the aluminum jugs, cam housing, valve cover and engine side covers. A work in progress, since I have not received last few parts to start reassembly of engine. Although I have not received the last few parts I am trying to look at this in a positive way.
Items I have done to occupy my time-
Re-torqued all bolts and nuts on Bike.
Found that I was actually missing a few bolts on the exhaust, of course these were underneath and tucked up inside the assembly.
Bit the bullet or bullets in regards to replacing all rubber O-Rings for cooling system.
Honestly I probably would have just reused them and hoped for the best. With age comes wisdom Do it right the first time allows for more riding time!
Rear drum- replaced pads when I first got the bike rough sanded the edges. Now went back to local College and turned it on the brake lathe-hopefully no more squalling when I come to a slow stop.

 

Hogfiddles had mentioned I believe or K-moe had mentioned about checking the stretch of bolts. Where would I fine this information out in regards to the cam caps and various other bolts for the XJ?
The manual gives the thread count and pitch yet does not give the length to these bolts.
Solutions needed.