What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Also come up and does anybody know what threads these are? I've clearly been using the wrong bolts in them. Top of steering yolk where the cover connects under the badge cap on a Seca.

 

Not sure but a thread gauge is worth getting so you can measure the gauge of fixings.



I think the bolts are M6.

 

I think I remember a while back someone posting Yamaha part number decoding - so in your case this would be a 6 mm 25mm long. I couldn't find the post and not sure about the pitch, but probably 1 mm.

 

I have a gauge but with them being chewed up a bit, I didn't know how reliable it would be.

Thx.

 

Yes!

 

Y’all are the best.

 

hunted down, and repaired fuel leak.
o rings at fuel rail tee.
back on the road.

 

Last night in the motel parking lot I learned the Maxim’s ignition switch has two fork lock positions, one of which turns on the tail light. Luckily my neighbor noticed this and pointed it out before it sat on all night and drained the battery. I vaguely remember one of my other Japanese bikes having such a “feature.” I think it was some kind of European parking thing.

 

I discovered this only after my battery had died...

 

Been there, done that back in 1995 (luckily not since). Just warned my friend about that with a new-to-him KZ1000 police bike (Early 2000s) when I noticed the extra key position.

 

Ever have one of those days where it seems like everyone or everything is out to really p*ss you off? Yeah that's how my day started out so I made some lemonade out of those lemons and that started with filling the tank of my SECA and taking a 300 mile ride around the state. Started out making my way to US-61 going north to Duluth where I scooted around a little then made my way up to Hibbing on US-53, wind was out of the southeast and that took the cold air right off Superior and I wasn't dressed for the sub-arctic chill. From there it was down US-169 to Mille Lacs Lake where I snapped a few pix of the bike looking south. Quick stop in Garrison for a bite and I was south once again.
Overall the bike did well and got about 42 MPG, what really stood out was the number of people who gave me the thumbs up and air high-fives on the old machine. Maybe tomorrow someone or something will p*ss me off again and I will do another long ride... where should I go this time?

 

Over the weekend I rode my former Maxim to the Slimey Crud Cafe Racer Run in Wisconsin. All told a 460 mile round trip and the first time the bike has been out of state or away overnight. Can't complain about how it ran--I did a steady 75-80 along US 19 from Mt. Horeb to Dodgevill (about 20 miles) on Saturday night, trying (successfully) to get to my motel before that ominous black cloud crossed my path, and it felt like it was loafing. Nice and steady despite gusty crosswinds (especially when the road passed through cuts in the rock). I recall how my last Japanese four, a 1976 KZ900, was so flexible that it would start wiggling if you took one hand off the bars at 55mph. Of course, those old Kaws were known for using rubber as a frame material...

My modified seat worked... OK. I really wish I had done a better job of constructing it, because my "booster seat" pad under the vinyl cover leaves some gaps, which of course landed exactly where I did not want them to. Oh well; I think I will be taking it apart soon enough because the vinyl I used for the new cover got really scuffed up by the straps on my Ortlieb dry bags. Apparently motorcycle seats are made from a much better grade of vinyl than expensive recliners!

Somebody on one or another board (not this one) asked why I felt the need to assemble a tool kit. Here's why:



Just needed to tighten the nut on the back of that turn signal stalk. Two minute job with tools, major PITA if I wasn't carrying tools. Speaking of the tool kit... while I got only a few of the original tools (plug wrench, screwdriver, 4mm Allen and a double-ended box wrench that fits the axle nuts and FD filler and drain), I was able to supplement this with a number of wrenches from my previous Japanese bikes. Mostly from my 1979 XT500, a bike that went away in the mid-80s, plus a couple from my Z (which went away in 1980). Amazing I still had these tools lurking in the bottom of the toolbox in my garage. Even more crazy, I found I still have this:



Let's see who recognizes it...

Anyway... the Crud Run is part of the reason I revived this bike; I wanted something old and a little quirky to ride up to this event. The XJ is still pretty ordinary compared with the "Kawashocki" homebrew electrics, and beautifully restored two-stroke triples, and three brand-new-looking CBXs, and of course this beast (which started life as a Yamaha Venture Royale):


A sign on the sissy bar reads "MUD ABOVE LINE NOT RECOMMENDED." OK...

Still, the Maxim attracted a few people, mostly those who had owned one at some point and had fond memories of it. And it fit in well with the many less-than-concours-level old bikes, the ones people still ride regularly.



I had a nice ride through the curvy, hilly roads of the Driftless to Leland, via the Merrimack Ferry and Baraboo. I got to ride a nice curvy stretch of Wisconsin Route 19 that Google tells me is officially Closed For Construction. Well, that explains the barricades at both ends of the road, though I saw no "CLOSED" signs and there was plenty of room to get between them. And it was a beautiful ride on a great road that may not be here next year--judging by the earthmoving equipment and some of the hills that were in the process of being relocated, the point of this project is to remove the curves. Sigh. Progress (?)...

So, a nice First Trip for this bike. Now that I'm home, it's time to tackle those rusty mufflers. Inmate @Fuller56 kindly sent me a pair of slightly-used Harley Sportster mufflers (along with a set of new forks that can actually be disassembled), so I guess I have to figure out how to make them fit. Searching the site has been a bit frustrating so far, as several people said they did it but so far I haven't found a post in which somebody explains just how. If any of y'all have done this on a US model Maxim (cans welded to the collector) I would appreciate knowing how you did it. Preferably with some pictures. Thanks...

 

For the last 15-20 years I've been 'meaning to' make the SCR. Or TWALD. One of these days. The pics make me miss the old Rockerbox show in Milwaukee. Maybe next year . . .

Nice adventure.

I'm in the Algonquin area, let me know if I should keep an eye out for you at bike nights in the area.

As for my Seca (detailing progress in my old thread), I dropped the mounting plate for the Atari unit to get welded today. Brake bleed finally took overnight (I cheated a bit), and I'm about ready to get it all back together for the first time in 11 months (HOW has it been that long already?!?!?).

 

Going back over some of my earlier work trying to figure out why my MPGs are down and was looking thru some of the posts, I came across one that mentions the aftermarket emulsion tubes are not the same as the OEM parts and would cause poor fuel consumption so I pulled out my original tubes and looked at them carefully under a medium power microscope, it's now clear.

The OEM tubes have several different size holes that get progressively smaller closer to the bottom. Mine starts at 0.79mm at the top and ends with a 0.58mm while the aftermarket emulsion tubes are a constant 0.55 according to Brown & Sharpe. The snapshot with the phone camera doesn't look that good.


Going to take the tubes to the church of clean and poke the holes clear and see how this goes, I will post my findings here for all.

 

First ride in 11 months, after repairs took longer than hey should have. Just a quick late-night blast for some fresh gas.

 

Put another 200 miles on because I had nothing better to do.

SECA at Lake Nokomis, my old stomping grounds and not far from the home of the original owner.

 

Took the slightly long way in to work. Gorgeous day for it and she sang like an angry kitten.

 

They definitely have a great sound to them

 

My Maxim has a great sound, mostly because almost none of the exhaust is exiting the back of the mufflers!

Changed oil and FD lube today. Oil because it was due (2000 miles since I first changed it), FD lube because I figured an early change would flush out any crud (from 20+ years of sitting) that didn't drain out when I changed it 2000 miles ago. And because I had filled it with Mobil 1 75W90 synthetic, which is probably just fine (GL5), but not quite the recommended weight and I have read a few places that say synthetic gear lube is bad for some copper/bronze parts in the drive. So I found some 80W90 non-synthetic, and there we are. I filled the engine with 10W40 Valvoline dino oil as well (4-stroke motorcycle oil; I know the "fuel saving" additives in car oil can adversely affect the wet clutch). Figured this engine wasn't designed for and doesn't need synthetic. And at $6.69 a quart, I can afford to change it at the specified (2000 mile) interval...

Along those lines... at one point I ran Mobil 1 V-Twin 20W50 full synthetic in my Harley Road King. Got concerned about top end noise. Was told by the Harley community that yeah, the Twinkie motor was designed pre-synthetic and the valve train makes a lot of racket on synthetic. Switched over to Valvoline dino oil and it quieted down. Nobody's quite sure why, but it is a lot quieter on the natural stuff. Go figure...

 

So for the past few weeks I've only been riding my 1100. Breaking it in, getting used to it, putting quite a few miles on it and enjoying it considerably.

Tonight I rode my 750 for the first time since, and I gotta say...the 1100 is kind of a big fat ungainly pig. Out on the hiway the extra weight does give it some gravitas I suppose. Or maybe that's just gravity. But add in some twisties and stop and go traffic or lots of up and downshifts, and the 750 is awfully nice.

Two different beasts. Nice to have them both in the garage depending on mood.

 

Yeah, but you get the feeling that the 1100 could drive thru a brick wall w/o being much worse for wear. It's the kind of bike I always imagine that Meat Loaf would be riding in the "Bat Out of Hell" song.....

 

I never pictured him on a Japanese bike, but if he was...yep, this would totally be the right one.

 

Took my single seat 650 maxim with the flat bars out for a wakeup spin today, nothing special, just 10 miles or so. I'm finding the flat bars are giving the insides of my thumbs a hard time, maybe will try some 650 seca bars.

 

Look more carefully at the album covers (both "Bat Out of Hell" and "Back Into Hell") and you will see the bike is an inline four. Undoubtedly Japanese.

 

A very productive weekend of smashing bugs.

 

You got me there! Old Mr Loaf had more style than I gave him credit for. I bet it would be pretty depressing to be leaving hell on your Harley and break down before you even got the smell of sulphur out of your nose.

 

Not today, but last night I went out for a ride for the first time with my nextdoor neighbor on his new-to-him 2019 Indian Scout Sixty. Young whippersnapper thought he was going to drop me off a light. Second gear around 9k impressed him. Respect your elders.

 

I gave a modern crotch rocket a good run for his money this evening, got me on the top end but I'm sure he learned some respect for the old horse.

 

During a leisurely ride this weekend, a crotch rocket came out of nowhere behind me, passed me up and disappeared around the next corner. I thought, "Ha, I'll catch up to him and show him something..." By the time I got around the next corner I could see about a 1/4 mile of road and he was gone. Yah. I slowed back down.

 

There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots. - Someone.

 

Yeah I gave up on seeing the road at 1/4 mile intervals after I totalled my CBX, the outer cylinder saved my leg.

 

What did I do today? I tore my exhaust system apart. First I dropped the system as a unit. Fortunately it was quite easy, as all of the nuts on the head pipes and mufflers came off easily. After hearing horror stories of broken studs and the like, I was very happy about this. The pinch bolts on the two outer headpipe/collector clamps came right out. Cylinder 2's pinch bolt was a little harder, but with a bit of work it too came out. Cylinder 3's pinch bolt snapped off, of course. That gave one of my friends, who accumulates gadgets like this, an opportunity to play with his new induction heater. This is a little loop of wire attached to a power supply, and it uses magnetic fields to heat up conductive materials. It got the nut (welded to the clamp, which is spot-welded to the collector) to glow a bright orange, without getting the broken bolt very hot. A couple cycles of this and the bolt came out. Wish I'd taken a picture!

With the system off, the first order of business was to get out the Sawzall and hack away the rotten mufflers. I cut right on the weld between the collector pipe and the front of the muffler, just behind the (welded on) heat shield:



The two inner pipes are 1.25 and 1.4 inches in diameter respectively. Too small to fit the Sportster mufflers' 1.75 inch inlet. I found some iron pipe that is a snug fit on the 1.4 inch pipe, and cut a pair of reducers:



The plan is to weld these in place to prevent exhaust leaks and provide structural rigidity (the Maxim's mufflers are welded to the headers, and as a result there is not central hanger).

The Sportster mufflers slip right on:



The O.D. of the iron pipe "reducer" I made is almost exactly 1.65 inches, a tiny bit bigger than 1-5/8 inch. Amazon carries an inexpensive EMGO reducer set that includes a 1-5/8 to 1-3/4 reducer. It will arrive tomorrow. With the TORCA style clamps, the muffler-to-pipe attachment should be as rigid and structural as a weld. Interestingly, the Sportster mufflers' internal pipe narrows slightly as you go back, and the slightly skinnier pipe from the inside of the Yamaha's muffler becomes a reasonably snug fit inside it when the front end of the muffler is clamped into place. Maybe a bit more structural rigidity. Nice.

The next step is to re-attach the system to the bike (with some newer and shinier head pipes from the hoard) and start working on the specifics of hanging the mufflers. Whether the tabs on the Harley mufflers will line up with the hangers on the Yamaha frame remains to be seen. I expect I will have to do some welding, cutting and drilling. I am hoping to re-use the existing Yamaha rubber mounts, both to minimize vibration and to allow for vibration and thermal expansion/contraction. Once I have everything lined up, welded and drilled, I will tear it all back down and re-install and tighten with new gaskets.

While waiting for the reducers to come, I intend to replace the nested bits of brass tubing I used to shim the Progressive Sportster shocks with steel bushings that I drilled out from 1/2" to 9/16" (14mm) last month. And I intend to install the set of cheap case guards that were in the box o' stuff I received with the bike. They are just little things, but I am probably riding the Maxim on the "Hügellandschaft Adventure Ride" gravel/dirt rally next month and figure I could use all the protection I can get.

Yesterday I put 60 miles on the Maxim with the wife. My first two-up ride on this bike, on a warm but windy Sunday afternoon. We went for ice cream. The bike ran flawlessly except for the tach needle jumping all over the place and eventually dropping to zero. I thought it was a broken cable until I started taking off the exhaust system, at which point I found the gland nut had loosened up and the cable had backed out of the engine. Well, that's easy enough to fix...

 

Continuing the exhaust saga… yesterday, while waiting for Amazon to deliver the pipe reducers (they are now scheduled for today), I re-installed the head pipes and collector to see how much of a PITA making a proper bracket for the Sportster mufflers will be. There was a bit of cussing until I discovered that the four head pipes are each unique and do not interchange. Luckily they are also stamped H1, H2, H3 and H4. Once I noticed this, things got easier. At this point I have not replaced any gaskets, because I expect to take the system apart at least one more time. With head pipe nuts and clamps snug but not tight, I slipped my iron pipe reducer into place and slid the muffler over it:



Not too shabby. The Sportster muffs go more straight back (vs sweeping up like stock pipes) because the stub pipes that come out of the collector don’t go down the middle of the stock mufflers; they actually follow the lower part of the cone. I think that when I’ve got things tighter the mufflers will sit a little higher, but it appears that fabricating the hanger won’t be too hard. One small problem is that while the mufflers and pipes splay out a few degrees, the mountings on the bike are straight forward-back, so the hanger will need a few degrees of twist. Ah, well, that’s what CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) is for…

One other potential annoyance is that the Harley mufflers are a bit longer than the stock ones, and it looks like they are going to be perfectly aligned with the rear axle. So the right muffler will have to come off to do tire changes. Oh well. Could be worse.

I am hoping (based on the availability of my friend who welds) to get this job done sometime next week.

Oh, and the observant might also notice I have installed a set of small “case guard” crashbars. They were in the box o’ stuff that came with the bike, so the fact that they have some scrapes does not mean this bike was crashed!

 

Nice. Those Sportster mufflers are a good look, and being lower slung looks better to me. Unfortunate about the axle bolt, but not the worst thing ever.

I discovered the same thing about the headpipes on my 650 this past week..."Maybe they are all 4 the same part, nope. Surely there are only 2 unique parts? Nope...all 4 unique."

 

Yep, I like the way those mufflers hang on the Maxim too. Those are some well traveled mufflers. From their original Sportster home they spent time on my Moto Guzzi California 2 and now on your Maxim. Of all the things you can say about Harley they really know how to do chrome on their mufflers.

 

Justifies the big ticket price tags.

 

Yep, I paid 99p for mine.
I almost felt guilty getting them for that.
But hey, nobody else wanted them.

 

So with the harley muffs does it have that putt-putt-potato-putt-putt-potato-potato sound?

 

Tax, Title, and Tags.
woohoo

 

Okay so today I dropped my original emulsion tubes back into the carbs and took it for a ride... definitely leaner all around and I can say the MPG's are back in the high 40's but is also has a far more peaky powerband when it hits the magic 7000 point. I'm running #122 mains & #42 pilots on the stock float levels and that 6000 flat spot really stands out. Going off the beaten path tomorrow with the aftermarket emulsion tubes I was using and opening up the top pinhole with a 0.059mm wire drill leaving the other 0.032's below and back to my #126 mains to see how this compromises. I really like the power the richer mix gives as the motor pulls hard from about 6500 up but as a daily machine it's hard to justify the 34 MPGs when my 3800 Impala gets near the same. One thing the bike did before was go from about 20 MPH on up in 5th without jerking and right now it will start cold without the enrich on only 2.5 turns of the pilot screw (fine thread) with a smooth idle. Carbs all got balanced to one inch Hg and it really has a nice hum.
Will let ya know how the tube mod works out.

 

I ran the wheels off a LeSabre. 30+ mpg. Power, luxury. I think I changed spark plugs at 275,000 miles and they probably didn't need it. 3800 was a great motor.

 

Unfortunately the supercharged 3800 in my Park Avenue Ultra was hooked to a plastic transmission. Engine was running great when I blew up the trans around 150K. The car delivered a pretty solid 22mpg in suburban driving, would touch 30 on the highway. The car would run on regular without damaging itself, but then performed worse (both power and mpg) than the normally aspirated Park Avenue—mpg in particular was so much worse that it was actually cheaper (in terms of miles per dollar) to run the expensive fuel.

 

Meanwhile, the exhaust project… the reducer set I found on Amazon didn’t work. The smallest one was loose on the header outlet, and I managed to get the bigger one stutso badly in the muffler that I almost wrecked the muffler inlet.

OK, back to the drawing board… I took one of the mufflers to the auto parts store and matched up a short piece of 1-3/4 pipe that fit properly into it. Sorta reassuring, as Harley exhaust pipes are supposed to be that size. Then I took the short piece of iron pipe that was loose both over the ~1.4” collector outlet and inside the 1.75” muffler inlet. Put it in the vise, hit it with a carbide cutter wheel, and cut a ~1/8” slit in it. Squeeze this in the vise and it fit nicely into the 1-3/4” exhaust pipe I bought at the parts store.



Happily, the inside of this assembly was a tight—as in, it took a piece of pipe and a few whacks of the hammer to get it into place—fit over the collector outlet.



I will probably weld this adapter into place, but I doubt it’s necessary. I’ll probably cut off the extra pipe, too. The mufflers slip on, though one’s a bit tighter than I’d like. Of course it’s the one I have to take off when changing the back tire.

So the remaining challenge is the hanger. I think I’ll have that done in the next week.

 

After engine pulldown #2, she did |NOT want to fire on all 4 yesterday, so today I looked at the pickup coils, and to my shame and horror the baseplate was missing all 3 screws. Replaced them, and she runs on all 4, but not well. Could I have trashed my pickups, rattling around (not for that long a time, but feeling sick right now)

 

He was back there in the hedge/field and you went right past- (my version)

 

Like that version better myself

 

So back to the bike. Swapped in the aftermarket emulsion tubes and #122 mains in place but did enlarge the one set of holes at the top of the tubes to 0.059MM leaving the others. Floats set to the book and I ran four loops that equaled 100 miles, math says 36 MPG with a mix of nice and not so nice riding taking the bike to the century mark. Motor feels strong again but still has that flatness from 5500 to 6500 or so then waking up to the redline and beyond.
The "street feel" is better with a more linear off-idle feel working into the clutch without the chunking and the idle is very smooth without the hunting. Once our rain passes I'm going to do a longer and more realistic road trip of mixed riding thru the cities, real traffic and stoplights with real fools playing on their phones behind the wheel. This is what I consider the "acid test" be it on a bike or in a cage.
Basically it comes down to keeping the bike running right and if that means compromising on the MPG's some I'm good with that. Right now it's fast and rides well.

 

I actually did look for a parting of the bushes or tell tale skid mark, but pretty sure it was a case of faster bike and better rider.

 

I won't tell

 

I recall being tail-gated in my ShitOldJapCar on a set of twisties.
I gradually increased the speed as I went and when I got to the end of the section the tail-gater had vanished. I kept an eye on the mirror for a long time on the straight road and he didn't appear.
Silly boy.
Might have looked like a ShitOldCar, but had really good suspension.