What did you do to your Yamaha today?

What I did was zip tie a shure stereo microphone just above the cam cover under the tank for the sound and fed it raw into the AFM 3&4 of the recorder. I'm using a Sony BVW-50 BetacamSP which was the defacto broadcast format until the switch to digital.

The camera itself is stuck to an angle bracket that's mounted on the sheetmetal of the air filter inside the airbox looking at the #3 carb.

Reason for this was to maintain roughly the same environment and get a good picture of what's going on inside. The lighting is subdued to keep from glaring and crushing the details, going to make a longer run tomorrow afternoon and I will push the video up slightly.

 

The right hand muffler on the 650 had a huge rust hole. While it did emit a charming exhaust note somewhere between a Roadglide and a Briggs & Stratton, I figured it should be patched. My first inclination was actually to get a $75 pair of "universal" e-bay mufflers, but if I was starting with junk, why not make junque?

Here's the offending aperture. The internal baffle construction leaves a double wall in this spot, perfect for trapping moisture.





So first, mark out the area of surgery and cut away with the zip disc.



Then make a cardboard template and transfer to some donor metal, which in this case was a rotted away muffler from a 750. But hey, pre-chromed!



Then after some half assed fitting and grinding and blowing and filling holes in high winds to make sure all the shield gas rapidly returns to its home, the patch is more or less secured.



Then hit the whole thing with the wire wheel to rebuild the remaining chrome, and voila, this perforated pipe is remuffled. It's on the bottom, so it's ugliness shouldn't offend too badly. A reasonable result, and less effort than I would have spent welding on a couple of even uglier aftermarket baffle boxes.

 

Professional as it gets.........

 

Did another video run today only this time really got into it several times taking the motor to 10K. Clutch still breaks away despite the el-cheapo oil so that is next on the to-do list. I was able to replicate the 6000 flat spot and it seems to correlate with the position of the needle transition point so I might swap them to a set of police spec needles and see how that goes. The motor otherwise sang really good above 7000 and I goosed it several times going for the century mark. Will post a better quality cut in the next day or two for your entertainment.

 

Now you've got the problem that the chrome on the patch is shinier than the chrome on the rest of the muffler!

Both of the mufflers on my '80 Maxim are rotting out, I believe at the next baffle back from the one you patched. Not as bad as yours, just a lot of crunchy rust on the inside and bottom, but they're going. They were that way when I got the bike, so I don't know if they're making any particular noise. I don't think I'm going to try patching them, though, as I despise the misbegotten suckup-t0-the-EPA welded-together exhaust system that makes minor maintenance like pulling a shock bolt into a gold-plated pain in the rear. I notice from your third pic (the one where you've got the muffler open in preparation for the patch) that there is a nice internal pipe in there. Bet that if I sliced the outer shell off someplace closer to the front of the muffler, I'd be able to trim that internal pipe and clamp an aftermarket muffler to it.

Eventually. For now there are higher-priority projects.

 

That would work for sure. It might be a bit messy at the end where the internal pipe and the outer chrome shell come together. One thing to consider on the 650, they don't have a hanger bolt in the crossover area like other models, so your clamps would be structural in a sense. Probably not a huge issue since exhaust clamps seem to bond at the atomic level after the slightest corrosion. If I had gone the route of aftermarket mufflers, I was going to trim it shorter to get past the double wall section and weld it all rather than clamp, but then there is also a little angle kick in that spot to deal with.

 

Two steps forward, one step back, repeat...

Last week I decided to do something about my pulsating (warped) front rotor. Stopped at the local multi-brand shop, and the best he could find was an EBC rotor for about $240. Ugh. This "free" bike has already cost me enough that I wonder whether I'd be able to sell it for what I paid. I started looking around for cheaper options. There are many Chinese-made replicas of the stock rotor available on eBay and Amazon for about sixty bucks, but I am not that impressed with the design of the stock rotor. And it was damnably hard to get information about what actually replaces what. Eventually I found the OEM part number on Partzilla, and from there I found a NICHE Industries rotor (Chinese made as well, but I at least have some experience with that company and everything I've bought from them so far has fit and functioned) that looked like a copy of the EBC item. Drilled, floating, explicitly said to replace Yamaha Part Number 1J3-25831-00-00, $80 with three-day free shipping. All right, let's go with that.

While I had the wheel off, I pulled the right fork leg to replace a weeping seal. As I had done on the left side (when the bolt absolutely refused to come out of the damper rod), I worked the seal out using small screwdrivers, with the fork leg otherwise still assembled (as I had changed fork oil less than 1000 miles ago). New one went in without incident, or so I thought.

Rotor came on Friday. A quick comparison showed it was the right size and shape, so on it went. Looks pretty cool, eh?



Put everything together and went for a little ride to scuff-in the new disc...

What's that clatter-clatter-clatter sound? Uh-oh. Came home after a mile and had a look at things. The pads told a story:



It's more visible on the outboard pad (the one with thicker friction material), but it's clear that on both of them the inner edge of the friction material's hitting something and being chunked off. So let's take some measurements on this "guaranteed to fit" (by both NICHE and Amazon) rotor...

On the original Yamaha rotor, the pads visibly sweep in some 42mm from the edge:



However, on the NICHE rotor, the swept area ends at 37mm:



...and the edge of the rivets on which the disc floats is about 40mm from the edge. In other words, there's about a 2mm overlap, in which pads and rivets are trying to occupy the same space. Ouch. You can see where their leading edges got a little scuffed.

What to do...? On the one hand, I could probably battle Amazon and get a refund, as the rotor is clearly not a "perfect fit." On the other hand, I'd then be back to Square One. And in all fairness, even with the clattery collisions, it was clear this rotor had better stopping power than the original. 35mm of swept area is more than enough. And so, the obvious, if brutal, solution:



A few minutes with the bench grinder removed the last couple mm of the friction material from the pads. On the outboard pad (the one with the thinnest friction material), I also cut away the backing plate lest it graze the rotor rivets when the pads are near the end of their service life. This is a messy job, and I was grateful I have already replaced the original stock pads with asbestos-free EBC semi-sintered pads. Even so, a Shop-Vac at the grinder and a particle mask are something of a necessity for this job.

Took the bike for an 80-mile ride, no problems with the brakes. The EBC pads do indeed bite the NICHE rotor better than the stock one. Absolutely no pulsation. Ah, relief! I suppose I could worry about whether my surgery in some way weakened the bond between the friction material and the backing plate, but my experience with modern brake pads is that they are stuck together really, really well... as in, I have had pads where the backing plate bent enough to crack the friction material in half (I still don't know how this happened on my Himalayan), but the material itself remained firmly bonded to the backing.

I'd go looking for skinnier pads, but the Maxim's front brake is such an odd duck I suspect there are no options other than stock size and shape. I don't think any other bike uses pads with that odd taper. So, case closed, at least for the next few years.

However... upon arriving home, I found green fluid all over the right fork slider. My new seal was leaking a lot worse than the one it replaced. Aw (deleted)! I rode home, cleaned up the mess, and discovered the leak was not between the tube and the sealing lips, but between the seal body and the fork slider. Huh? Popping the seal out (getting to be a fairly easy job with a proper small screwdriver) showed why:



WTF? Did I do that working the seal out with a couple small screwdrivers? Doubt it; these were some serious gouges. One actually looked more like a bubble in the casting. And they went most of the way around the perimeter of the slider, while my removal tools had stayed in a small area. Previous owner did a hack job replacing seals? Manufacturing defect? Gremlins in the dark of night? No idea. I cleaned things up as best as I could, and then installed a new seal, putting a thin layer of silicone around its perimeter and on the bottom of the outer ring. Keeping the stuff away from the sealing lips and tube was tricky; I finally found the best thing to do was (with the fork slider in a vise) slide the seal onto the tube and only then apply the silicone. Drive the seal into place, install the retaining clip, and say appropriate prayers. I let the silicone cure for 48 hours before putting any weight on the front wheel, as I did not want to push any oil up against the seal until it had fully cured.

Yesterday afternoon I took the bike out for a sixty mile ride, hitting every bumpy road I could find (including about ten miles pavement-free and rough enough I had to stand on the pegs while bouncing over potholes and washboards). The seal is holding; the fork tube is antiperspirant-ad dry. So, for now, I consider this problem dealt with. In the long term, both fork sides have issues--the mating surface for the seal on the right, the damper-rod bolt kept from leaking by a load of red Loctite on the left. On Friday night I noticed somebody on the site was offering a set of forks from an '82 Maxim (which my Haynes manual says will fit a 1980 model) for the price of shipping. PM'd him; still waiting to hear back. Serendipitous timing if he's still got them. If not, I guess it's eBay time... eventually...

 

Put a new clutch in the 1100 tonight and hastily jumped on the road for it's maiden voyage. Hastily enough that I hadn't tightened the rear motor mount bolt or reinstalled the brake pedal...figured that out by the end of the driveway though. Then onto the road, and it's faaaast. At least until I blew two of the vacuum caps off the intake boots because I didn't put the clamps on...that haste thing...and limped home on two cylinders. A bit of sputtering in the mid range. The Supertrapp was wide open, so I need to figure out the whole disc tuning thing and if I need to tweak some jets along with that. But pretty good for a first trip.

 

I just ordered a friction & steel set for my SECA, it's burnt.

 

that it does, I'm looking for replacements for my Turbo, I'm using FZ600 rotors which are a very common fit, 2nd Gen Virago, YX600, RZ350, FJ600.
I see Niche has replacements but don't see floaters. This would avoid the problem you encountered but yours really looks great.
I passed on a mint (really mint) FJ600 front wheel w/rotors at a swap meet a year ago for $30, kicking myself now.
Does anyone know if any later model Yamahas have this same bolt pattern?

 

Have you posted videos to youtube?
I have a borescope that I shoved into the airbox of my XJ to look at slide activity when throttling up. It did not have sound though. It does record to SD card. showing CV carb slide movement when accelerating and running would be really good learning tool, especially if we could split screen it with the throttle position.
Too many people think a CV carb slide moves exactly with the throttle. It does not.

 

No, it goes up in response to the vacuum below it (between it and the main jet), which connects to the area above the diaphragm. Essentially to prevent the vacuum at the jet going up as a square of the airflow (ask Mr Bernouli). This is why they are (or should be in the US) called constant vacuum instruments.

 

Im interested to hear how the Niche brand rotor works out.

I ended up buying EBC rotors for my bike (two fronts on the yx600). I was able to find two NOS items at a reasonable price.

Chinesium rotors make me nervous. I’ve seen pictures of them falling apart on the road. Could be disastrous..

 

Oh my, suddenly I'm back in Physics 101 and thinking of Gaussian fields. About the only thing I really recall is that "F = Ma and you can't push on a rope"..........

 

Actually there are two videos posted now, just completed the longer one that includes a few runs to 9000+ and clutch slipping. Ordered a new set of steels & friction for some weekend work.

Longer Video is here:
Short Video:

 

Another test run on the 1100 today with similar results. Didn't lose any vacuum caps, so maybe blaming them was incorrect yesterday. But both days, it was cylinders 3 and 4 that quit. I'm waiting on fuel hose to rebuild the octopus and currently have both fuel lines teed from one petcock, so maybe I'm getting some weird air bubble and starving 3 & 4 carbs. Plugs were white and clean, so maybe fuel starved before they quit. Got it home and it fired right back up after sitting a bit.

Valves are all in spec, and I did consider something heating up and causing it, but felt like fuel. Not sure though.

Maybe I'll get my fuel lines all proper before another attempt.

On the plus side, I really like the setup of the 1100 for bars and seat and foot controls. Very comfortable.

 

After reading @Roast644's post about muffler repair, I decided I ought to see just how far gone mine are. Not an easy task when you're 70 years old and arthritic, until I figured I could use the selfie camera on my phone:



Notice the somber expression as I get my first glimpse of the carnage. These things are not pretty. Think they might be past the point of being patched.

 

Those are intimidating for sure! But my thought going into it was, I can't screw it up worse than it already is.

 

Some people fit Harley Sporter mufflers l believe.

 

Wouldn’t surprise me. Having owned a Sportster from around that period, I’m constantly noticing similarities to my Maxim. Same tire sizes, same seat height, about the same riding position, same ridiculous buckhorn bars… Of course, one big difference was that my late ‘82 Ironhead came with all of a 6-month/6,000-mile warranty!

I figure the regular Sportster shorty duals might be a bit restrictive; then again the Maxim is barely half the displacement of a late model XL. Might be worth a look, at least in the short term. There are plenty of them around, cheap. I could even weld them on without their getting in the way of shock bolts.

In the long term, the closest thing I’ve found to the look and size of the stock muffler is the EMGO “blunderbuss,” but they’re around $80 each, would need mounting hardware, and come without baffles.

 

I fitted a pair of Dyna mufflers, but the gotcha is the differing placement of the first blanking baffle inside each of them. I removed them and replaced both with an adjustable baffling setup.

 

Yes I would go with the Sportster one's rather than try and repair in mine were in that condition.

 

Were they easy to fit?

Like these?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/35524682...N06CjK0olzCFpuxtgZ43Bdk8nsTPcnpwaAiPhEALw_wcB

 

Got my problems sorted on the 1100. Appears I just had a partially pinched fuel line in my temporary setup so it was slowly starving of go juice. I put the octopus back on. If you've never had the joy of working on one of these, you're not missing out. Two petcocks, each with two fuel lines converging to a common vacuum valve then branching back to two fuel rails. In the stock configuration they're a pain, but I added a pair of inline filters which made it horrific. I might plan a conversion to a pair of standard on/off petcocks in the future.

But that aside, finally could put a few miles on the bike without it conking out. Enjoying it more each time.

 

They were easy enough to physically fit, just needed a packing collar on the front end (that was the cut-off entrance of the old mufflers).

 

Ideal for my 900 cheers.

 

I was immediately struck by the quality of them, compared to the cheap-ass crap of aftermarket budget silencers.
I don't see the arse rusting out of these any time soon.
These Dyna or Sporty mufflers are a good source of decent parts, along with the factory air shocks that many H-D owners discard.

 

More miles on the "new" bike today. I might need to start picking away at paint and trim. No complaints so far!

 

Did nothing important to my XJ today, raining in buckets right now. Did make a quick custom boot screen for the Garmin GPS I use on the bike.
Just waiting for the clutch friction & steel kit to show up so I can put an end to the slip n' slide during the ride, once again the USPS is playing the delay game as these parts were scheduled for delivery today... now it's a promise for monday.

 

You got the shocks on your 900f and GS1000?

 

I have the shocks on a GS850 (been using air shocks for 30+ years after buying a set of S&W which are still on the other GS), and another pair to go on the XS650.
The XJ9 is still fine with its Hagons for now.
There is a spare set needing a rebuild after blowing their guts out on a massive pothole.
Showa air shocks, perfectly suit my riding style.

 

Having put over 100,000 miles on multiple Harleys with stock mufflers, I can vouch for their rust resistance.

As for the air shocks, I must differ. They came as stock parts on five of my Harley touring bikes, and they were just junk. Hard to adjust, prone to leakage, and any damping they provided was accidental. Somebody once told me the MoCo’s cost for these things was under ten bucks each. Wouldn’t surprise me. Perhaps, as they were specified to work on a 600-900 pound touring bike, they will work OK on a bike weighing 1-400 pounds less. But I know why so many H-D owners discard these things, as I was one of them.

 

Is it me or has HD's quality gone down that far that they would compromise on a shock absorber? Wow! So much for American quality.

 

just finished putting on a new peacock and fuel line. old owners put one that wouldn't let me go to reseve so i'd just run outta gas somewhere and be screwed, currently looking into getting the front end off a 750 maxim so i've dual brakes instead of the single.

 

Yeah, it's probably the weight difference that helps, but the fully-loaded GS850 is no lightweight itself. Whatever, I'm quite happy with my choice and have had no reason to regret it. I always run them at 35 - 40psi, which gives a firm ride and definitely helps.
After buying the S&W shocks I next bought a set of Showa air shocks from a Kwak GT750 and they lasted for ages, until the aforementioned pothole killed them. It was after that I discovered H-D take-off Showas. Might well be that I just got lucky with low-mileage unworn shocks, but for the bargain price I paid, I'm not complaining.

 

I have got YSS shocks on my 900f now.

 

Other way around. I first encountered their lousy air shocks in 1983, and four bikes and over 20 years later (my 2004 Road King) they were still using them. They looked like the OEM shocks for an early Gold Wing. I have heard from people on other Harley boards that they may have finally used up the warehouse full of these things, and started putting better ones on the touring models. Wouldn't know. I ditched the air shocks on my Road King about two years after I bought it, in favor of Progressive 412s, which were replaced a few years ago by SuperShox™, made by a relatively local (Woodstock IL) racing suspension company. Vast improvement. The biggest problem with Harley rear suspension is that you just can't do much with two inches of travel.

 

Found a thread about carb racks on another website which compelled me to change mine.

Here’s the simple but effective setup. It’s very easy to level, and sturdy (as you could imagine) so manipulating the drain screws is simple.

Simple idea:


Old vs new:


No mess with a drain pan right below:


Also bought an official Yamaha fuel level measuring tool. $18 is pricey but it makes life easy.
(No fuel in tube, just photo fodder):


Here’s a ton of different carb rack ideas:
https://kzrider.com/forum/21-tools/535878-carb-stand-from-old-carb-holders?start=72

 

Here's how I did mine. Simple but it worked.


Hard to see in this picture, but there is a funnel plugged into the end of the fuel line.


Magnetic level across the top of the hats.


My calibrated eyeball says that's three millimeters.

Wet-setting the float levels is a gold plated pain in the rear, but it's 90% just the annoyance of draining the carbs, taking the bowls off, making a tiny adjustment to the float tang and discovering the adjustment wasn't quite tiny enough...

Still, could be worse. At least the procedure in the manual is correct. I once set the float level in my 1990 Harley according to the official H-D factory manual, and it started starving for fuel at any speed above 40 mph... because the manual had the fuel level set too low, and as the bike got thirstier with increasing speed, the float eventually dropped until it was resting on the bottom of the bowl, but the needle was still too far closed to supply more than 40 mph. A month or so later, google finally got me to an online copy of the instructions that came with a new float needle, which included the correct level. To the best of my knowledge, H-D never corrected its official manual. Oh joy!

 

I'm another to vouch for the bench vise.
I drilled a hole through some wood so the idle adjuster isn't clamped.
If you don't have a bench vise, then you need one.

 

Don't forget to level front to back.

 

Replaced the clutch friction & steels today, plates that came out were still in good condition and totally flat but the friction plates are quite hard and glazed. No forbidden glitter or guide chunks in the oil so it was an easy R & R but the ride will have to wait for tomorrow, picked up almost two inches of rain over the weekend and today is cold & snotty.

 

Check ride today with the front wheel off the road in 1st and at the fork stops in 2nd gear, oh yeah I'm a satisfied customer.

 

So today it was step the main jets down to #124's and take it for a long-ish ride to Anoka which is about 65 miles south. While at a gas station I was approached by an older guy who asked straight out "How is it treating you"? I looked up from filling the tank and said it was coming along quite well and he said that he was the original owner of the bike so we got to talking for a while. Very nice guy to say the least, he had to give up riding because of a pinched nerve that wouldn't allow his left foot to move up for the gear change but I let him circle around the lot in 1st for old times sake. It was clear just how attached he was to the bike but was happy to see it in good hands, I'm doing my best anyway. After his short ride he gave me the original set of keys from his keychain and his address.
Clearly our meeting today was not by chance.

 

Of late, having adjusted the valves, replaced the rotor, and got the forks to not leak for the time being, I have been working on ergonomic improvements. I've mentioned before that the Maxim's "cruiser" ergos don't work for my 34" inseam and fake hip. For a while I have been riding around with a "booster seat" (a stack of stiff closed-cell foam) strapped to the seat, until I felt like I've gotten it right. And on Monday morning, I walked out to the curb and found my neighbor had thrown away a couple vinyl-covered recliners. Cool. I sliced 2-foot-square sheets of vinyl from the backs of the chairs, politely asked my wife to stitch them together into a single sheet, and got to work...


Original seat cover. Really in nice condition but for one repaired scuff.


Foam, also in pretty good shape.


The "booster," resting on top of the seat foam. I did not glue it to the seat foam, in case I someday sell the bike to somebody who wants to restore the stock "cruiser" seat profile.


An extra layer of rebonded foam to smooth out the edges. This stuff was glued to the "booster," but not to the original seat foam. Ductape holds things together, sort of, but was removed before covering.

For some reason I didn't photograph the next step, which was to stitch the cover. It was not elegant. I tacked the vinyl, inside-out, to the seat pan. Then I hand-sewed darts in the corners. Flipped the whole thing right-side-out, painted some sealer into the seams, and stapled the cover to the pan. I had an electric staple gun, but it wasn't really up to vinyl over an oddly shaped plastic pan; it's more intended for cloth furniture upholstery being stapled to wood. So there was much cursing and a lot of discarded, bent staples. But I eventually finished the job:


Nobody's going to give it a "best in show" award, but my tush says it's pretty good.

Another "more legroom" project can just barely be seen in the above photo: the lowered footpegs. Here's a better shot:



I had a spare set of both rider and passenger pegs, and so I assembled these from the parts. Flipped the passenger-peg mount (a steel U channel) upside down, trimmed it a bit with the grinder, and welded it to the stub (basically just the casting) of the rider peg. This lowers the footpeg by about 1.5 inches, which is makes my psoas tendon a lot happier when I have to put my foot down at a stop (or, more precisely, pick it up again).

Lowering the shifter pedal (two splines, I think) was no problem. Lowering the rear brake pedal was a bit more of a problem. Lots of fiddling with the stops and adjusters, and it's still not quite where I would like it.



I would like the pedal to be higher, but at the moment it just barely clears the bottom of the footpeg mount. Having a spare pedal, I might try heating up this one and bending it. Or, for the short term at least, I might just put a block on top of it to lift it a half-inch or so. Right now it gets more than a little awkward to push the brake pedal down far enough to do much.

The last thing I did to my Yamaha this week was install a small Puig windshield.



It's a two-point mount and I was worried it might rotate backward, but it has a small screw hole in the mounting. This is supposed to sit above the headlight mounting ear, but of course that doesn't quite fit so I drilled a couple small holes and installed some self-tapping sheet metal screws. The windshield works pretty well, not well enough for me to ride with face shield open but enough to make the bike more comfortable on chilly mornings. Most important, I took it on a 90-mile shakedown ride today in winds that were 20 mph sustained gusting to over 30, and it didn't affect the bike's stability any.

At this point, between the ergonomic upgrades and the mechanical stuff I've done (valve adjustment, front brake disc, etc.), I think the bike is in good enough shape for its first overnight trip to a place relatively far from home. This weekend, I'm planning to ride up to the Slimy Cruds Cafe Racer Tour in Pine Bluff and Leland, Wisconsin. It should be about 400 miles over two days. I've put more than 1500 miles on the bike since bringing it home, and it's brought me home every time, so I think it's ready for the trip. I hope...

 

I don't see why not, so far I've done roughly the same miles on my SECA and never gave a thought to a problem on the road. I'm curious tho regarding your seat & foot rest mods; how is the Maxim different than the SECA? I'm 5-10 and don't have any real issues with the ergonomics of the bike or hitting the ground with my feet flat on the stock seat, I do get the occasional hip cramps that make for a miserable ride but they're not from the bike. Actually I've had COVID three times now and omicron once over the past four years and now suffer from the long-haul which includes some collosal muscle cramps, there are days I simply can't ride no matter how hard I try.

I really like the little windscreen and would like to find a something similar for my SECA. Straight up those are some sweet mods that get two thumbs up.

 

Excellent!

For some reason the final product seat cover pics aren’t showing (for me at least).

Nice work though!

 

@ScottFree Very nice work making the bike fit you. Its easy to get stuck on "Well this isn't stock!" but these bikes aren't museum pieces and if a custom modification makes it a better bike for YOU it is the right thing to do.

Good report on the windshield. I think that upward curve at the tip help a lot. I wish somebody that made one of the larger windshields offered one with the swoop at the top. The most effective screen I've ridden with was stock on a Triumph. It was small, but had the curve and blocked the wind amazingly well. I really like how that Puig looks on yours.

 

Could somebody sanity check my placement of this rubber ring? It's been way too long since I took these forks apart. '81 XJ750 Seca

 

Yes that is the correct position.