What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Found myself going head-to-head with a Charger R/T this afternoon. Both going south on hwy 65 at the stoplight and I took off rather hard wanting to keep the traffic way behind but then I noticed a Mopar keeping up with me so I went for the redline, he was right there. Went for 4th and the redline again at full twist, think he was waving at me. Went for 5th and he never left my front fender. I was going for 9000 but had to cut back heading into the next wave of traffic, so far he's the only one to keep up with me and while the SECA 750 isn't the fastest bike on the road it's not exactly lazy with the rich jets and rider who isn't afraid of a full twist redline. According to my GPS we max'd at 102 and I have the feeling there was more to go.

 

Been picking away at the exhaust and carbs and related gadgetry in the evenings this week. Tonight I fired it up for the first time. This was a motor I was originally rebuilding for my other project 750, but the starter clutch in this bike finally forced me to change plans. Not a full rebuild by any means...starter clutch, primary chain guide, a couple main bearings, etc.

Fired right up and sounded great though. Pegs, levers and rear brackets and it'll be back on the road.

 

Changed the bars AGAIN. These are a tad wider and flatter. Debating bending them a little backwards.
I also put on an adapter that raises and brings back the bars 1" up/back.

I really disliked the buckhorn bars that Yamaha put on this bike and really liking the feeling and ride with the new bars. Wish I did this last year.
The idea that a 4 cyl bike in a relaxed cruiser format would work is besides me. Maybe people liked it back then especially when the Honda Rebel came out. (My friend had one in the 2nd year it came out and I borrowed it from time to time).
I just like the feel of the UJM format better. I may have mentioned this before but I do like to make things historically stock (maybe adding to it) but I just can't ride this bike with the stock bars and enjoy the rides. Maybe if I were taking 3-5hr rides I'd appreciate the buckhorns but that is not how I ride this one. I have 2 other bikes for longer rides.

 

Looks great this those bars. Master cylinder is at an angle though.

 

Those bars do look really nice. I kind of enjoy the feel of the buckhorns on the 650, but I tend not to ride very aggressively.

 

I dig the bars as well.

 

On the road again. Feels smoother and quieter than before, but I guess I did fix a couple nagging exhaust leaks while it was apart. Wasn't sure if the black motor paint would be a good thing or not, but it's growing on me. I probably owe this thing a seat cover and a paint job now. Red tank? Stick with all black?

 

WOW Absolutely impressive

 

Yeah, I'm with you on the buckhorn bars. PO had put flat bars on mine, I flame heated and adjusted them up slightly (they were bent anyway), but I found being too straight (across ways) gave my wrist joints a hard time. So I fitted some seca copy bars, only to find these were bent on one side, and STILL giving my wrists a hard time. So I will be adjusting these, with the help of a long piece of pipe, preferably on the bike, to correct the LH droop, and sweep them back slightly, fingers crossed.
Actually, I have a set of 900S bars, and they look about right, maybe I should just try them first?

 

Hey everyone, I’m new here, been reading quite a bit off of this site for a while however..

I have an 84’ Yamaha XJ750 maxim.. I love old bikes and fell in love with this one as soon as I seen it. And took it for a ride. So I bought it about 3 weeks ago now..

Everything is working great as far as I can tell.. I had a couple issues the past couple days with electrical and figured out it was a loose clip in the fuse box giving me troubles, not that I’m surprised given it’s the glass fuses and 40 years old lol

I’ve read about upgrading the fuse box to a bladed set up and want to do this. Can someone lead me in the right direction to which fuse box would be ideal/fit on this bike. It’s a fairly tight space between the seat and the air box.

Appreciate any advice or tips for this bike aswell. Thanks guys!

-Steve

 

Think I’ll be going with some inline fuses for now until I find something I’m sure will fit properly.

The inline fuses don’t seem like a bad way to go. As long as they’re rated higher than the fuse I’ll be using, which is only a 20 for the main fuse. I just don’t want to be driving it the way it currently is; with the clip/glass fuse being loose.

 

Fit a blade one like this and stick to the recommended fuse ratings for your machine. The old Yamaha factory clips break they are old now.

https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/low-profile-standard-blade-fuse-box-side-terminals-6-way.html

 

I spent most of Thursday cussing at the bike because I could not get the damn thing to idle.

Backstory: I thought I had everything going well until I went for a ride last week and one cylinder stopped firing. When I got it home, I found plug #4 was filthy with soot. I figured this was most likely caused by my having not believed the idle mixture screw really only needed to be 9/16 of a turn out, when the other three were 1-1/2 and 2-3/4 turns out (what I found when I pulled the EPA plugs and removed the screws). Well... apparently the range of correct adjustment on these carbs really is that wide. So... new plug, set carb #4 to 9/16 of a turn out, go for a ride... bike ran really well, even lost the flat spot and burble around 6-7000 rpm. But, when I stopped at a friend's house, the bike wouldn't idle. Starting at 1050 rpm, it gradually slowed until it stopped. OK... turn up the idle speed screw, idle comes up to 1200... 1500... 2000... Back down, it again stalls. Take it for a ride, pull in the clutch and the idle doesn't drop. Come to a stop, it sits at 2000 for the better part of a minute before very slowly dropping to 1500... 1000... stall.

Sigh.

Last time I had this behavior, it was caused by bad throttle sync; #1's throttle was effectively fully closed at idle. Fixed that and the bike idled at a nice steady 1050 for as long as I might want it to. So I got out the vacuum gauges and checked sync... and they were all dead on. Well, that's not it. By now I had burned my fingers enough getting those vacuum gauge hoses on and off the intakes to call it a day. Since the bike did idle OK when #4's mix was too rich (about 2 turns out), I kinda suspect it's now a little too lean, so I will probably try nudging it up slowly until I find a place where it will idle properly and not foul the plug.

But not today. With a three-week, two-up trip to Maine a week away, I have more important things to work on than this antique bike.

 

I started her up today and listened to the sweet sound of a machine that wants to get back on the road soon. Unfortunately, that will have to wait a couple of weeks for my left wrist to heal up. A recent stupid household accident left me with a fractured radius that had to be realigned with a plate.

 

Made one more attempt on the bent frame XJ1100 today. I figured it would either be fixed or scrap, and I think it's time to call it....scrap. I put quite a bit of heat on it and did get it to move a bit, but by my measurements the valve cover will still hang up on the frame.

Time to stop the bleeding I suppose. I would be more enthused about it if I didn't already have an 1100, and just how many of those things does a guy need?

Plus I really needed my shop table back.

Probably be listing it for part out soon.

 

Took a 2hr ride on the 83xj650 this weekend. I think this may have been the longest ride so far.
I had been running the replacement vacuum petcock on PRI for the past year and FINALLY hooked up the vacuum line to it.
Started out running 10 miles @ 70mph on a local highway to verify flow would keep up, then ran about 80 miles total in those 2 hours down mostly country back roads.

 

Over the weekend I max 2 k over the rattle can paint job last weekend. Thanks to the help from
the members I am making progress on my xj650 barn find. This weekend will be replacing gear shift cover gasket and shift shaft seal.
Now that I am running the engine have discovered smoke on pipe underneath that cover. Hope everyone has a great week

 

Never thought I'd see myself in triplicate...

 

Sorry if I did something wrong.