What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Yep, that I what I use.

 

New years eve did nothing to the Yamaha. Got dunk, fell down. HAPPY NEW YEARS!

 

Whooo replaced the start solenoid and the new bike cranks with the start button.

 

I did I think last week..
It was in my xj650 bring back to life thread.
I would push the start button and the start was delayed. I thought it was the button and would squeeze and wiggle it but then I read an old thread about the starter solenoid doing that. (weak coils not moving or maybe the contacts on the output?)
Been great ever since replacing the solenoid purchased from mikesxs.net. With all the fiddling I have been doing, I'd say I've started it 20 times since doing it and it starts cranking immediately with a light press on the start button. I cleaned up the power rail metal and terminal rings while I was at it.

 

This is my 100$ Seca wiring at fuse block is toast , would not crank I had a spare solenoid spinning over great now . Generally speaking if you go to start and nothing happens this is usual cause the solenoid. They are cheap think I gave 12$ for it .

 

Valve cover was leaking at the front right corner and I found a bolt that wouldn't snug - threads were toast. Got a timesert kit and shored it up then went to reinstall the valve cover and another bolt on the other side wouldn't snug. So another timesert. Reinstall again and two more bolts on the right side won't snug now. Thank goodness the kit came with five inserts. Got it back together with the bolts torqued very lightly then let the machine run for a few minutes and no more leaks. woot!

 

No significant time to work on bike this week but the tail light was a tad faded on the top. Bike spent much time covered/garaged so it was not that bad. I forgot to take a before picture. I have used this stuff (part of a kit) on older headlights and it works but sun will fade again in 6-12 months. For a now garage kept bike that is not a daily ride, it should be fine for a long time. I used the kit on the master cylinder window previously (started with the heavier scratch remover). Light coat of wax on top is next.

 

Worked on Seca put another clutch cable on and had a choke cable I installed. Sprayed the boots down with silicone spray to try to soften them up .So made a little progress. I have COVID so have not felt real good .

 

I finally finished rebuilding the carbs on my bike and installed them. I was also able to start and run the bike for the first time since I have owned it. Still need to rebuild the brakes, clutch and replace the tires before I can take it for a ride.

 

Well, finally. In the basement and ready for work.

 

Took the seat to an upholstery shop to have it customized - going to take out the passenger hump and go for a more vintage 70's JSM skateboard shaped look up top but keep the contours down low. He's going to trim the back part of the plastic seat frame for a smoother roll on the back edge and wrap it in tan colored genuine leather.

 

Stood in the garage looking at my 82 Maxim and wondering just how much of a pain it was going to be to get the Head off, so the broken exhaust studs can get removed Can it be done without pulling the engine, and if I have to pull it, can I put the engine from my 81 Midnight, on the 82 frame so I can run it a bit. Then continued to stand there thinking of summer days and winding roads.

 

Pulling the head should be easy. I just pulled the head off a 700X and had to contend with more items in the way, such as horns, overhead coils, radiator, coolant and oil lines.

 

My riding buddy has strongly suggested I add auxiliary brake lights next to my plates.
These would be additional LED lights tied into the brake light which would pulse at the beginning.
Starting to plan this out, I pulled apart the seat and started to plan out where I'm going to tap into the harness. I have the Blink module and LED lights and 3D printed a bracket to mount to the license plate.

 

Pulling thengine is relatively easy , unhook electrical, pull exhaust, pull the carbs, disconnect the clutch cable . Remove the foot peg mounts these are long 17mm bolts with nuts on the back side , remove the front engine mounts . Drain the oil , remove the oil filter and leave it off , with a floor jack and bike on center stand raise engine up and slide engine to the right , I use a sturdy milk crate muscle the engine on to the milk crate . The other way is to put bike in grass lay bike on its side , with a helper carefully move the bike away from the engine . Might sound daunting but once I get moving a little over an hour .

 

I put a bit of timber below the sump. Just to be on the safe side although other people must have lifted it with the Jack saddle.

 

I’m tall enough and my arms are long enough... I just straddle frame, reach down and grab the engine and lift it up to slide it over.

 

Yes l have done it that way too. I prefer when l can lifting the frame away from the engine.

 

Started to look at adding auxiliary brake lights that pulse to the sides of the license plate, then proceeded to fully discharge battery by accident
Charging it back up and will do a load test with my battery tester when its done.

 

had very slight stumble at low rpm take off, meaning throttle response was not perfect enough for me. checked plugs, light grey. added 1/4 turn out a/f screws. now at 3 3/4 from seat. vacuum synced, all cyls where off a little from last sync in june. now all is well.

 

Put a new clutch in the Turbo today. It was slipping when the boost kicked in. Everything looked great, so I just changed the friction plates and the springs. Shifts like butter now, and no more slipping on boost!

 

Finished installing the blinking aux brake lights on both the XJ650 and my other bike.
Here is the XJ650. I tapped into the brake light lines under the seat where the bullet connectors are making a Y junction for the brake light. Ground already had a Y junction and ran the wires to the back so that everything I did is reversible.

 

Whooo worked on new 100$ bike , installed my spare carbs hooked up aux tank , hooked up my big car battery with jumper cables , a spray of carb cleaner , and she started up . This has a Kerker four into one exhaust and it sounds great , blew stuff out all over the place . I did not have to adjust the carb exept idle , these carbs have new butter fly seals and was rebuilt over a year ago sitting on the shelf . Have numerous things to do , the tires will not hold air , no front brakes , needs an actual battety , the insturment cluster I put on it was one I had for spare parts , so tach does not work and Atari is not working as well . Since it does not have a title , just not sure if I want dive to deep into it . The weather got into upper 40's , I fired up old yellow took a few tries but she finally fired off , I have it wedged in corner of the garage so will wait till spring to pull it out.

 

Nice work on the lights. I think this is a major visibility/safety upgrade.

 

After work went to garage and worked on 100$ , I had a new blade type fuse block , installed it and wired up all the bad connections from what was left of old fuse block . Got the tach to work, and the Atari lights up and warning light works , tail light works . Could not get the neutral light to come on , I need to did more into the wiring and try to figure out the relay situation. The head light will not come on with bike running , changed out the relay and still no joy, tried the relay off of my other Seca and still wont work . I was trying to get neutral light on and shifting is rough ...I hope the cam chain guide is not breaking up , all I know is for as cobbled together I got it running pretty damn good. Going to try a few things tomorrow will see if I can get a few more things sorted out.

 

I'm curious how you fix this. Hoping you figure it out. My headlight and aux also wont turn on. I replaced the bulb, replaced the headlight relay, but nothing changed

 

Tested out the Chin mount Go Pro and did some local testing of the rock filter installed. Did not want to stray too far so was at a local neighborhood that does not have much traffic. Not long into the ride, the darn left sideview mirror came loose. I had previously tightened this when it was much colder. Added blue loctite after the ride. Bike is running great right now.

 

Worked on bike bike for awhile today , got the headlight on by jumper wire at relay . Still no joy getting it to come on after start. The Atari displays but the warning light stays on but got it to flash like it should once , but now on constant. I have another cluster swapped it in got same results. Had to call it a day for the Super Bowl GO CHIEFS.

 

For the headlight relay sounds like charging system not working or if it is the voltage is not making it through the diode block

For the Atari it's a straight shot from the AC Generator to enable the Atari, so that would appear no voltage on that phase, or likely just a defective charging system

 

A day of degreasing, cleaning, painting miscellaneous parts like the swing arm, center stand, triple clamps. Found out the parts bike had tapered bearings in the steering head so I figured I'd swap them to the other...trying to save a buck. The tapered bearing conversion is not set up to be extracted! But I suppose these should last the life of the bike once installed??

 

NO, one good pothole and they're notched the same as the ball bearings were.

 

If there's a chance I'll need to pop the outer races back out someday, I need to grind in some reliefs on the tube to catch an edge with the punch then.

 

That's always a good plan, anyway.

 

The other day, my friend who just got his 1983 gold wing came over and we went for an hour ride. I just had to match him with my 1983 XJ650 Maxim.
Had not taken the Maxim on that long of a ride, nor taken it up to near highway speeds yet (we did at the end but camera battery died after the first mile).
Here are some highlights

 

Pulled the carbs to clean the enrichment circuit well.



They were all plugged up. Used a single wire from a wire brush, and some compressed air and carb cleaner to clear them out.



She purrs like a kitten now!

 

I think you are correct , I think charging system in not working of course I'm using a car battery with jumper cables but not getting any volt increase at terminals . If I rev it way up Atari starts cycling and warning light starts flashing like it should , let it go back to idle and it just goes back to solid display . I have a couple spare regulators swapped in fno luck , running out of time today , will have to test if stator or rotor is defective tomorrow.

 

It was a one step forward, three steps back kind of weekend. I "saved a buck" by reusing tapered head stock bearings. They felt good loose, but after assembly with some load
there was a small grind. Debated leaving it, cussed a while, knocked them back out and ordered new.

Then ordered tires. I've been looking forward to this...sort of a milestone in the project. Ordered online, then quickly realized I'd picked the wrong size for the rear. Tried to get a hold of them. This is one of the mega cycle houses who will go unnamed. The only assistance I could get was either an automated text app, or some guy in a foreign country pretending to speak English. Either way, it wasn't helpful and all they could tell me was its too late to change the order. They offered to pay the shipping back at least, but sheesh, you can't just holler down to the warehouse before they pick the order?! So I got a wrong tire on the way.

I did at least manage to clean up two of the crustiest looking wheels ever into something almost respectable with new bearings.

 

Rooster was right , checked stator was showing infinity on the meter, swapped out the stator from my spare engine . Fired up and SHAZAM the Atari cycled and the headlight works now both low and high beam , and auxiliary light as well . Charging at 14 volts now the only thing I don't have is the neutral light that is not working . Ironically after I pulled stator tested it and now showing normal readings go figure .

 

Thank you Mr Heisenberg

 

Cleaned my pistons.
Before...


After...

 

I'm repairing carbs...

 

Happy you got it running. I haven't checked my stator but I'm only getting 7v at the headlight and I checked everything else so perhaps my solution will be similar to yours!

 

I Tested the stator was showing open 00000 , swapped out stator and now it works , tested stator after I removed it and shows .5 ohms can't recall what manual says but looks like maybe moving it looks like it is still useable . You might pull your cover and see , what condition your brushes are in. Moving stator as long as it is not melted you might get to work , test at the plug there are three white wires see if you get any ohm reading. At least it is working on my jewel now.

 

Hi. 5 valves per cylinder? Water cooling? What the XJ bike is this?

 

The Yamaha Genesis engines, not just another purdy face, and it was such a good design, it was used ---- basically without any significant design modifications ---- for over 20 years:

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/text/cows-multi.html

 

The 1985 and 1986 "Maxim X"

 

Slapped on some new rubber tonight!

 

Fitted on new foot peg rubbers as the old ones were WAY worn out and taped together by a previous owner. Cleaned some sort of paint and rust from an original, but not from this bike, exhaust and re-fitted it with new gaskets. It had been wearing a Kerker 4 into 1 that had a bit of dog food stored in the "muffler". Makes one wonder how long since it actually ran. This is after spending about 8 hours getting the green, ethanol goo out of the carburetors. Not as bad as Hogfiddles last rack but not good either. As normal SuperStar @chacal came through in record time the parts order. If there were more Lens in the world there would be more peace and serenity. Thanks, Len.

 

Is "dog food" a euphemism for something else, or was it actual Dog Food?

 

I discovered vacuum leaks at the throttle shaft seals on three of the carbs...