What did you do to your Yamaha today?

I really like the Saskatchewan Roughrider paint colors!

 

I came home from a 1,000 km round trip, today. The Seca never missed a beat, as usual. The 20+ year old Vista-Cruise, throttle lock quit working before I headed home today. I used a Dremel tool to square up the edges of the plastic again and it seems to have cured the problem.

 

Well I did grow up in a little town called White Fox Saskatchewan (up by Nipawin)

 

Ordered the Carb rebuild kits, now I am in the hury up and wait mode. Hopefully will be able to get the bike back up and running by Saturday.

 

After my valve adjust and some tuning tweaks last night, I swear she gets going faster, smoother. Just when I though she coudn't get any sweeter, she gets less buzzy. Heaven.

 

I also adjusted my valves and even though I haven't gotten to the tweaking part yet I can already tell she's gonna run sooo much better. but I guess that's expected when only two valves are within their acceptable range (0.006-0.008 in.) one valve had only 0.0015 in. and another I couldn't even fit a feeler gauge under! :x At least now they are better.

 

I took it for a ride. And got pulled over, turns out the PO didn't have it registered for last year and the new registration hasn't gone through on the records yet. Cop had a quick chat with the dmv and I was on my way.

OK so maybe I goosed the throttle a little and thats why they followed me and ran my plates but he didn't even say anything about my speed.

 

Last week I replaced the entire exhaust. This week I put new seals in the front pipe/engine joint because like an idiot I left the old ones in (duh).
Today I fashioned a new lock from a kennedy toolbox for my right side hatch door on my stock windjammer because some crackhead idiot tried to open it with a screwdriver.
Next week-redo the carbs to fix enrichment circuit troubles (gulp).

 

Got to get some seat time in, rode it to work for the last 3 day...woohoo I'm employed again

 

Rode em All !

 

Yesterday, July 4th- Went from this:



To this...




And finally to this- Voila!





Separate post with process pics to follow..

OH! Almost forgot! After that we rode across town and bought my old lady a sweet Savage 650 for $900! It sounds explosive! Big day all around.

 

I changed my oil again today... This time to 20w50 as recommended by another biker. World of difference. No clutch slippage, gear shifter moves freely and the motor runs smooth! Certainly worth doing!

 

I'm about to change my oil. Will try that as my gear selector seems sticky-ish..

Thanks!

 

The Gear Shifter feeling sticky can also be traced to Clutch Throw-out.

These XJ Bikes need all the Throw-out you can adjust into them.
The Knurl Adjuster at the Clutch Perch is a good start.

Take all the slack out of the Clutch Cable and you'll end things like:
Neutral Fight
Red Light Creep
Clunking into First

Some Models have a Pedal Height Adjustment.
There's a turnbuckle-style adjustment at will give you some Up & Down adjustment on the Shift Lever.

Being able to make a complete throw is good for the Shift Drum and Selector Forks.

 

Hmmm does that transpose into the XS's too?, I have a serious cliunk into 1st, otherwise no real issues

 

The new clutch cable I put on my bike was a tad longer than the stock one by about 1 cm. The clutch handle is a bit loose I've noticed. I do beleive my clutch is on the way out anyway as it's been well over 60,000 km without a clutch service. I will try that though and see what it does.

 

All wet clutches drag a bit, so you will get a little bit of a clunk no matter what you do. When my oil is cold (20W50), I get a serious clunk into 1st but after it fully warms up, it's nice and gentle. Adjusting your clutch to make sure it's fully disengaged when the handle is pulled, plus a little margin of error, should definitely help an XS. Do the handle cable end first, then pull the rubber plug on the side of the engine and do that end. Basically you undo the 12mm locknut and use a phillips to turn the screw clockwise until you just barely hit resistance, back off 1/4 turn, then tighten the locknut.

 

That is great feedbak thank-you! I will make that adjustment right now and check it out on my ride home today.

Word to Big Bird.

 

OOPS. I read that wrong in fact I had instinctively already taken all the slack out of that baby right after I got the bike. Just like on a bicycle you need cable tension in order to insure proper operation of shifting/braking.

I guess she's doing about as good as she can for now in that department then.

 

Installed a new 16 tooth drive sprocket. Didn't realize how worn the old one was until I compared the two.

 

Cleaned the carbs *again*. Discovered that my problem was my air filters had self-destructed and my pilot jets were clogged with little bits of 27-year-old foam.

Runs much better now, but I still need to Colortune again as soon as it gets dark. I might even get to ride it tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath...

 

Had the wheels dynamically balanced yesterday and put them back on tonight.
Washed it up real good and shined the chrome.
Checked the plugs and found out I'm runnin a bit rich. Guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

 

Well, after much hesitation and with great trepidation, I FINALLY bit the bullet and went forward with my front brake rebuild. After a whole pile of screwing about, I finally got the seized piston out of the caliper. Of course, it wouldn't come out with air pressure. I had to reattach the caliper assembly and bleed it to get the piston to move. It finally came out and was pretty dirty. The seals were shot and the channels pretty messed up. A little brake cleaner and a brass brush on the Dremel got it cleaned up. New seals and the piston went in smoothly. While it was all apart, cleaned everything and installed new pads. Also rebuilt the master cylinder and replaced the old brake lines with a single braided steel line. Dang, it's a huge pain in the rump refilling and bleeding from scratch. I finally got it working and then, realizing I had the wrong bleed screw in, I took it out to replace it. Which would have been fine had I not dropped the new one into the pail of brake fluid while trying to get it started. By the time I got it in place, all the work of bleeding it the first time was lost. Started again, and again it took a long time to do. But it's all good now and the front brakes work like a charm.

Thanks to all of you who give advice to us non-mechanical types. I've needed to do a couple of things and everything has worked out great. Not sure what I'll need to fix next, but I know it won't be a problem as long as this site is around and as long as Chacal keeps accepting my money for parts!

 

I took all the tins off sanded somewhat and dropped them by a friends who works at a body shop for paint. Debating on color and what else I want to take off to get painted.

 

20,000 Mile Oil and Filter.
Summer long-haul pre-flight checks.

Topped-up battery with distilled water. We've had a heat wave around here.
Front tire OK
Rear tire FAILED. Bald. New tire going on before I get a flat!

Everything else on the Panel was Green ... good to go.

I'll have that tire on there by the end of the week if the wife lets me hahve the Credit Card!

 

Installed mufflers on the '81. What a pain in the arse that was!!!

 

Doing my front brake was my first project on my Maxim, and boy was it fun! Now I want to actually take it apart again and do the steel braided line thing, as well as probably new pads yet again, as I believe I contaminated mine the first time around. The bike doesn't have what I'd call awesome brakes but I think they ought to be better than they are.

I'm also toying with drilling my own rotor a bit. Anyone tried this? Am I going to die?

 

^^^If you drill it wrong, yes. I really don't see the need to drill these rotors. Although they look cool, I think the bike stops just fine the way it is. Speaking of which, hit chacal up for the braided line. I've got a pair installed on my '81. Man, what a difference. About puts you over the handlebars. You'll need a vacuum bleeder when you do it, though. You can either buy one, or, if you bribe me with cookies, you can come up here and use mine.

 

Unless you are a qualified Machinist and have all the right tools needed to do rotor drilling ... don't.

You're better off pulling them and bringing them to a Machine Shop and having them done right.

 

650 Maxim's with the single caliper actually have more piston area than any of the dual disc bikes (besides the XJ700 and XJ1100 models). The 650 Maxim has the huge 1.70" diameter piston (same as used on the 1100's), while all the other XJ650, XJ750, and XJ900 dual-piston bikes use a 1.50" piston.......using the formula for the area of a circle, the 1.70" piston actually has about a 30% greater surface area.

Surprisingly, the XJ650 Midnight Maxim models used a slotted disc rotor front the factory, unlike the plain 650 Maxim models, which used a flat disc.

Aftermarket slotted and drilled rotors are available:

Disc Brake Rotors:


br1) OEM and aftermarket front and rear disc brake DISC BRAKE ROTORS, brand new units exactly replace damaged or worn out originals.

Original OEM units exactly replace your originals.

High-performance aftermarket EBC Rotors not only fit correctly, but also feature a cross-drilled disc with over-lapping holes to prevent disc "ridging" as the pads and disc wears. This spiral "birds-wing" drilling pattern promotes maximum rotor cooling efficiency (not to mention cool looks!) as well as being significantly lighter than the stock rotors.....and on models that use an offset center hub, these floating-design (riveted hubs) provide significant weight savings over the stock rotors, helping to improve both the handling and braking characteristics of your bike. Their precison-ground HSPR low-carbon steel is basically fracture-proof.

Rotors should ALWAYS be replaced in pairs, or adverse and dangerous braking response could result.

And ALWAYS replace disc brake pads when installing new rotors!

The minimum thickness for original rotors is as follows (these specifications do NOT apply to aftermarket rotors). The maximum allowable "runout" or warpage is .15mm high-to-low for all models, all rotors:

4.5mm for all XJ550 models, all XJ650RJ Seca and XJ650 Turbo models, all XJ700 models, and all XJ750 models.

6.5mm for all XJ650 Maxim and Midnight Maxim models, and all XJ1100 front and rear rotors.

7.0mm for all XJ950RK front rotors.

8.0mm for all XJ900RK rear rotors.


Aftermarket High-Performance Rotors:


NOTE: all floating-hub design rotors come with a natural finish to the central hub section, which you may wish to paint black (or gold in the case of Midnight Maxim models) in order to duplicate the original color scheme of stock rotors.


HCP4133 Aftermarket front Disc Brake ROTOR, left side, spiral drilled cooling holes with a fully-floating, riveted hub design, fits all XJ650 Maxim and Midnight Maxim models, and XJ1100 models.
$ 195.00

 

Strapped on the tail bag and took the ol' girl tent camping.
Felt nice to be with my bike and nature.

 

Yesterday was eventful. I painted my engine, the lower end only, the top end is being coated with BBE thermal dispersant paint. And I modified a Seca rear seat cowling to accpet an old style Yamaha R6 integrated LED Tail/signal light.

Take a look.

the engine:



and the cowling:

 

put a post in the advice area to find out if I killed my carbs while trying to clean them on Saturday....lol

 

Last night I wet sanded the tank and polished it, attached the front windscreen, did a little more electrical work.

Here's some more pics:

 

Gwyn.... That's looking seriously cool... Nice work.

Today I polished up a set of headers, collars and a collector box I picked up recently... They're in better condition than the ones on the bike so I'm looking at doing a swap any day soon

 

My bike just rolled over 32,000 miles on the way home yesterday! Yea! I also had to filler her up again, this time only 42 mpg. I'm going to have to lay off the right wrist some...

 

I spent about 5 hours last night re-greasing head bearings on the 750... I'm going to tapered as soon as I have the time, but for now the originals will have to do. As I took the triple tree apart, I noticed that the upper race was not even touching the bearings.. Wow, that thing was way loose. That would explain the wobble at 40-45mph... Now I have to change the freshly-cupped tire, too :-(

Bike's almost to 44K, so it's getting a brand new, hand-made seat cover from B&H, just as soon as it comes in! :-D

 

Last night I completely took apart my carbs (first time), and went through the mess that they were, and realized I didn't have enough parts and pieces to fix em - so Chacal is getting another order ;-)

Man, they were nasty - the bottom of the pan I was using was actually at least 1/2" thick with crap when i got them all apart.

Oh well, ordering the parts will give them a few days to soak ;-)


I also, started to strip parts off my bike and sand them down and clean them up... always fun to do ;-(

 

tonight, pulled the battery, topped it off and put it on the charger for a bit.
Installed the choke cable that came in today (YEAAAAAAAA!!!!)

Found my 'new' mirror's gasket wasn't seated properly, so worked it into proper position.

 

rebuilt the carbs for the 3rd time in the hopes that it will resolve my problems. drilled out old drein screws and replaced them with new ones. changed gaskets. and sanded cylinders and pistons in the carb to make sure i pass my clunk test. tomorrow, ill remount the carbs and see if i can get all 4 cylinders to fire! wish me luck!

 

So today I fitted my polished and near new replacement header pipes and collector box... Even gave her a bit of a clean

 

Last night I reassembled the engine. I still need to set the timing before I put her back in the bike.

Take a look:

 

^^^ Sorry to hear about you shipping problems. Maybe it'll still work out for the trip.

 

No kidding Gamaru. I'm pretty bummed out. I've become an expert on air freight very quickly and it looks like after many $1600 quotes I found a guy that can do it for $1000. Plus I may be able to get it even cheaper if I ship the engine separate. Of course then I have to install it myself at some loading dock. Not impossible but it would kinda suck.

I'm going to make this happen, I've come too far. As well I just got a donation from one of my readers. I didn't know I had a subscriber base for this story.

 

In today's episode of As the Seca turns....
Paul just got back from getting a new rear tire.
Another Dunlop 404 to match the front one that went on a couple weeks ago.

 

Elvis... You have a dream.. it will happen

Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning, painting and assembling a new front brake setup... Be a week before I can fit it while the paint dries

 

New air filter, and replaced a broken front blinky light. Now trying to figure out how to fix/ jimmy rig my high beam switch, broken off- to work..

 

I went off the deep end, Removed the side head covers(ornamental) on my X and taped off bead blasted all the black off, removed the radiator cap retainer sand blasted it, Removed both wheels, rotors, brake parts, swing arm, driveshaft, final drive assy. I already had the tank fenders and side covers off. The bike is gettin a stripped and a fresh coat of paint within the next week or three here. It looks pretty darn sad at the moment and I need to get my digi cam over to the garage to get some in progress pics of the teardown and reassy.

 

Today... both front calipers stripped, cleaned and re-built...

Damn those pistons can be a right pain to remove.

 

Today- Rear brake light switch!

All lights now functional. Finally!