My Maxim 550

A little of my and the bikes history. I live in the St Louis area and back in the late 90's my dad, he lived in Michigan at the time, gave me his Maxim 550. I rode the bike and loved it! best of all my Harley friends never gave me static and I rode with them a ton. In late August of 2000 I was minding my own business leaving a buddy's house when an old lady ran a stop sign and I got a titanium rod in my leg for life as a memento. I made the bike ride able again rode for a few months the next year and the bike made it into a shed for years. A few years ago the bike got bumped from the shed to the patio. Since then I have been working on my cars, 1950 ford my brother and I got from dad, 97 Lincoln Mark VIII, 99 Grand Prix GT that I S/C'ed and made into a GTP. A few weeks ago, out of the blue, I got the urge to ride the Maxim. started with buying new handlebars (the ones I got after the wreck kind of worked, but just not right). Joined the forum here and started devouring info.
I can not find my keys, but have read I can order a new one, get the number from under the ignition, or from the lock on the side that holds the helmet. The fairing wasn't original, but I liked it enough and may find something comparable, or even café racer like for the bike. I know I will need other things, new tires, new seat or re covered and for the love of the bike a cover. plan on taking the carbs off and taking to a local shop for rebuild. One problem I had before when I rode the bike was with the gas cap, that thing was always a pain to open, always felt like gravel in the lock, I assumed it was from gas vapors dissolving the oil or grease that lubed the mechanism.

 

it is an 81 Maxim 550, I tried to post pic's but an error keeps popping up as the link is suspected spam...

 

You can link photos after your fifth post.

 

This is my Maxim and from what I've read on here, Len is about to become my new best friend..

 

Ooh, custom seat cushion!
Len is your friend.

 

I see that it comes with the Woodland Brushfire accessory kit.

 

I think that's an early version of the Realtree cammo pattern.

 

I've had worse projects, cars, first bike resto. so this should be a tad bit easier.... I hope.

 

Nitvid, get her out of that yard cleaned up and in the sunlight, she will look better. 16K miles is not bad and all in all she looks okay. Should be a fun project for you.

 

I have a stock seat that looks a lot better than that I might end up selling. Along with the snap in side covers if they're scratched beyond fixing. Good luck with your build! You said the bike was rideable after the crash? So I'm guessing the frame isn't bent or any issues there?

 

Clean and lube the ignition switch

Your Gas Cap and You

Cleaning your Mikuni carbs

 

This is the first time I've seen the ignition switch rebuild, I will definitely be doing that!
I thought about rebuilding the carbs, or having them rebuilt anyway by a local shop with a good rep, since it hasn't run in quite some time. do you think a good cleaning is all that I would need? I'd be up for that challenge.... maybe...
I already saw and planned on the gas cap rebuild.
Thanks for the links!

 

looks like your missing a motor side cover and blinker.
you can start with a good cleaning but breaking the rack and replacing the throttle shaft seals and fuel line o rings is the recomended method.
so you do not have to do it twice.
xj4ever has all the correct parts you will need and the throttle shaft seals
see his logo on top of page or
XJ4Ever - Supporting Vendor

also www.xj4ever.com

check your inbox for info

what price is the local shop asking to rebuild the carbs?

 

And I bet they still don't do it right.

 

my next suggestion if he does not want to do it him self is to send it to our carb clinic expert

 

they told me $25 - 30 per rebuild kit. 4 carbs, 4 kits... I have done a ton to my Mark VIII and Grand Prix by reading on their forums. this one once again gives me the confidence, knowledge and tools to do the job... but if one of ya'll is a carb king, shoot me a price! by all means!

 

Dave does carb refurbishing in his sleep with his hands tied behind his back and makes it looks easy . . .
If you don't have freetime and want to be riding yesterday PM him.

I would like to encourage you to do it yourself. You will cuss a bit, sweat a lot, ask a bunch of questions here while taking pictures and jotting notes - finally get it all together and realize you forgot something - stress over whether or not it is "good enough", come to the realization that"good enough" does not equal RIGHT. Ask more questions here. Takes things back apart adjust - rinse, lather repeat until you get it done.

At least that worked for me - I learned a lot, can take my rack off/ on easy breeze in no time flat and feel good about the accomplishment of finally getting it dialed in.
Go to Church son!
http://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/in-the-church-of-clean.14692/

 

For that kind of price, I wouldn't trust those kits as far as I could throw them.......and I BET that doesn't include the fuel supply rings, throttle shaft seals, mixture screw o-rings, etc....and I bet the don't even take the rack apart. I've even seen some shops where they just pull the bowl, spray some cleaner in the carbs' general direction and say it's been cleaned and rebuilt.

I just did a rack for a fellow here that 'had it rebuilt at a shop"....well-- the t-shaft seals were hard and trashed, the fuel supply rings were tittle, the supply T was so loose it rattled, the needle tips were malformed from sitting, the carb 4 body was cracked through from hammering to remove the bowl, etc.....

When I do a rack, it will come back to you as clean as it left the factory, and set back to factor initial settings ready to dial in for YOUR bike. You can see other pics if you search through the forums

Dave F

 

I've seen on EBAY where you can get new keys based off the numbers on the ignition switch, is that where I should get my keys or do you guys use another source?

 

I go to a local locksmith

 

there are 2 ads on ebay one is for 9.99$ for a single key that is a good deal, it is a new ass to me and have not used his services.
another ad is for 29 $ you get 2 keys with number stamped on them he is quick on the turn around


Yamaha-Motorcycle-Atv-SxS-Scooter-Snowmobile-Boat-Cut-by-Code-key-keys-to-code 9.99 + 2.67 shipping


Yamaha-Motorcycle-ATV-New-Replacement-Keys-Cut-by-Code-Number-Guaranteed work 29.99 free shipping

 

I saw the ads there, wasn't sure if you guys had someone on the forums here that did this or went the ebay route. from what I've seen thus far here, Len is the guy to go to for parts as a whole on our bikes, didn't know if keys were one of them.

 

len sells the key blanks but as far as i know does not cut keys the last time I looked at keys in his catalog.