What did you do to your Yamaha today?

took the 750 midnight maxim out for about 40 mi last evening. Chased down a hot air balloon. There's a guy about 20 mi from here who has the business, and we often spot him. When we do, we always chase him down and help him load it back into the chase vehicles. Done that about two dozen times now, and it's become kind of a game.....he watches for us now

The Midnight will not be with me much longer, at the end of the month it is going to a forum member who will be doing a restoration on it.

Dave F

 

Repainted the wheels metallic grey. After the paint cures, I will polish the machined spoke faces and outer rim edges back to a nice shiny glow.

 

Fill the tank. Point the front end towards Grand Bend. When I get there, point it south and see where it takes me

 

Went for a few more rides......

OK.....Milliken (and anyone else who wanted to see it)----I have now put a couple pics of the pseudo-bob #2 in my gallery. It's the deep red 700 sitting in the grass with the chrome harley rear fender. Check it out. Next step is to complete the forwards and get them hooked up.

Dave Fox

 

I just put some of Len's braided steel brake lines on my XJ650RJ last night, looks good so far. Still need to rebuild the master cylinder and calipers later this week before I go try it out.

 

Scratch my head looking at it. Wondering why in the heck this thing will not run right. Then I cursed at it and joined this site.

 

Pulled the tank off to clean the wiring harness connectors under the tank (apparently I wasn't thorough enough last spring) yay reliable horn again, and got some of the old old old caked on crud off the head in the spark plug area.

Some other little cleaning jobs, put her back together and go for a shirt ride me thinks.

 

Took the center stand off -- atleast for the summer season -- that damned thing weighs 3 LBS!!! -- Need an AM of titanium (lol) that weighs 12 ozs please?

I'll put it back on for winter storage

So far I've removed about 13lbs or so of OEM stuf by careful replacement -- Light is Beautiful (and feels oh so good too)

 

FINALLY started to put together the bike. Center+side stand are in, as well as triple T and crown, and bars with bar mount MC and handles.

Bit of a challenge to get the RH controls....

 

Replaced the steering head bearings, replaced the valve cover gasket--after my shim adjustment, whereupon I discovered I had the wrong gasket, I was forced to reuse the old one.

And so was getting oil on my pants. Lots of oil. It was ridiculous. I mean, I only had to add half a quart after 4 or 5 days, once, and then the correct gasket had arrived, but I had to wear "oil jeans" and old sneakers everytime I rode, bring some spare pants and change upon arrival wherever I went. Glad to have that done.

The bike came with a notch in the middle. I had gotten used to it, convinced myself it was fine.

Holy cow.

It wasn't fine.

THIS is fine. I feel like I'm carving ice on this thing now.

 

Last Thursday - Glued small convex mirrors on plastic wedges to the outer corners of my stock mirrors. Better vision directly behind me, but still not great. Then rode Lariat Trail from Golden to Hwy 40, dinner, then back.

Uphill is no problem. Downhill, I'm only a touch faster than the bicyclists, and have to wait for a good straight to pass.

 

got the last of the MaximX valves cleaned up. Next step is to finish degreasing the head. Then, to lap the valves and seats. Then onto repainting the head.

Front fender is just about all done being stripped. Rear fender is partially stripped.

 

Changed the oil (3100 miles), changed the spark plugs (about 5300 miles),
rode today about 120 miles.

 

started to put it back together. Rainy all day here.

 

Changed engine oil, differential oil, plugs and put a mac 4-1 on. Sounds great.
Was going to go on a ride but the thunder and lightning and rain kept me in the garage

 

Today, manually turned over the engine. At least I can say it's not seized or anything

 

I back cut the dog ears to fix the second gear slip on my wifes XJ1100. Now to swap them in.

 

Well finally got to take mine for a quick spin. I need to adjust the brakes i think i got some air in the front still.

 

Forks, crown, speedo, and headlight bracket is in. Currently working on assembling the engine...

 

47th Annual Car Show, Norwich NY today. Received "First Place - Motorcycles up to 1987" Trophy for my 1983 XJ900RK Seca.

Oh, Happy Day

Dave Fox

 

Congrats, Dave! Recognition for your hard work sure feels good. Havin a toast to ya (& the 900) right now! (in the safety of my own home, of coarse). CHEERS to Dave & his award-winning 900 Seca!

 

Thanks, wwj, I 'preciate it!

Dave F

 

Dave,

Congrats!

 

Cheers! I clink my glass of wine in your honor!

 

Filled her with gas, went for a ride to take some pictures of a prospected house 32 degrees (over 40 with humidex) should be a nice ride.

 

Congrats, Dave! Good job on the bike!

Gassed her up, rode 200mi all highway to prepare for the Carb Clinic trip. Confirmed the bike will easily out ride me. Confirmed LED tail lights functioning properly and fairing vibrates minimally at 80mph. All ready for June 9th and the 5 hour each way trip!

 

Thank you so much for the votes of confidence! I just put a pic of it with it's new trophy in my gallery.

bluesbass, sounds good! Hey, I assume you got the emails on hotels, etc...... you can also bring a tent for the lawn. In the event of night rain, the camper MIGHT be available.........depends if I have time to get it cleared out.

So.......what did I do to my Yammy today? I took the Midnight Maxim out for a few miles so that I could cool off after our HOT parades today. Touched 90, and with one downpour just before the skies cleared for the parade, the humidity skyrocketed. But, the students did well for the parades and performances.

Now I need to go out and put the yammy's to bed for the night.

Dave F

 

Oh yeah.......finished cleaning the valves for the Maxim-X project. Now to clean the head and lap the seats.

 

Dave,

I fully plan on bringing a tent and sleeping bag and roughing it out. I didn't make Eagle Scout to stay in hotels! Though if the weather is truly atrocious I may be interested in some slightly more fortified shelter, but only if it isn't an inconvenience!

If anyone else plans on camping out I intend to arrive sometime shortly after 5. I will have a cook stove and basic supplies with me for the weekend and welcome any and all company Friday and Saturday nights.

 

Managed to get the engine cases together yesterday, using Ultra Grey from Permatex to seal between the cases. Providing it has cured today, I'll be putting on the cylinders.

Whilst putting together the cases, I noticed that there are supposed to be two cables (battery ground and engine ground). Can't seem to find the battery ground cable. Wonder where that one might be...

 

New tires!!!!

 

got tired of the wobble in the shifter lever, took it off and bored it round again removed the pin from the cover, made it round again. made a brass bushing, pressed it in the lever and now it only goes up and down, not all around

 

Got done more on the engine. Middle and final drive are in. So is the clutch with all new plates and springs. Working on casting a new front mudguard in fibre glass...

 

New tires front and back... Metzler ME 880 Touring... New rear brakes -- and, tried a product that works well polishing aluminum and achieved good results on the rim sides... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MN ... 04_s00_i00

 

Brought home an 82 xj750 maxim to the stable

 

You need a 12 step program... You're addicted

 

Oh, I already have more than 12. Just sent two to Michigan last night, one of them is/was my Midnight Maxim xj750 that will undergo a complete restoration with probably some special things. This is another list member so it will be interesting to see how it comes out.

Dave F

 

Went for my first solo ride in 30 years...last time I rode was in 1982 - an XS1100 in Germany.

 

Congratulations that is great news

 

Broke it :cry:
Last night, I learned not to ride while tired. I lost grip and dropped it trying leaving work. Didn't even make it out of the parking lot! Had to force it home with jammed brakes:/
Today though, I got the broken brake pedal welded and front brakes un-jammed! Now to just find where to get good engine covers and almost an entire exhaust system on a teenager budget. Any ideas?

 

Sorry Toast. thats a bummer. Ebay, put up a wanted ad here, XJ4ever.

@Dmccoach....Some questions.
Did you polish that all in one sitting??
What did you use to remove the laquer from everything?
How do you clean the casted surfaces??
Thanks.
btw, Thats one very fine specimen you've got there. I love the shocks and the original maxim logos look real good over the yellow. Ours were scraped during painting.

Pulled apart master cylinder and caliper to inspect and prep for new seals. Sanded and painted MC with Black krylon. great results..Just hope I dont get brake fluid on it now! Also inspected front brake lines and thanks to Chacals store realized they are the original lines dated 10/81 from japan with zinc plated banjos!!! Yup 31yrs old and ya couldnt tell by just looking at em.

Just pulled apart the right controls to try and fix or jerry rig the start switch. Wish I had some plastic and lathe access i'd turn a bunch up for the forum
Any ideas are welcome.

 

Added factory luggage to my Seca 750:

 

rode it to.Laconia NH Bike Week! I only saw one other XJ, a Midnight Maxim...

I represented!

 

I didn't really do anything to mine, per say, other than move them around a bit. BUT.... I did help another list member who called up last night..."You happen to have a throttle cable? I just broke mine". Happens I did, so he truck-bedded it up to me and we swapped it out, and also cleaned the right-hand control switches as they were all dusty, filled with dirt, and the 'START' button was pretty sticky.

It's a good thing he came up, because as he put the truck in reverse, the left front brake line ruptured. I crimped the line so he'd have be able to get home, but when he stepped on the brake, it blew through. So.....two more times of that, with the same result, the brake line showed that it was weak all the way to the junction.

So, he was able to ride home on his bike and get the truck later to fix it as time permits. It wasn't the ideal day for him, I guess, but I said to him the the way I see it is: well if you DIDN'T bring the bike up this morning, you would have lost the brakes who-knows-where-at-what-speed and you'd be without a truck AND without a bike. At least this way you have a set of wheels, and your truck is safe in a driveway.

That blue seca above, looks really sharp!

Congrats to Timmay.

I'm riding to a car/bike show tomorrow. I don't think there's any judging, but that's ok................

Dave F

 

Coach......good thing you didn't ride that up here for the carb clinic......we would have thought the sun was out.

Dave Fox

 

Finished molding the front fender in fibreglass (3rd try), and test fitted on the bike.
Looking goooood

 

On the 550, I took both wheels off and currently are being changed (they were date coded from 1993!).
Also took chain off for inspection and its soaking in kerosene for a few days til wheels are put back on.
Boy was that dirty. Starting to see how the PO never did anything for this bike in 20 years!
Also took front brake caliper apart for cleaning & inspection. Jeeeez glad I did that. Master cylinder will be cleaned and re-bled once tire is put back on.

On the 650, disassembled the engine head to replace head gasket. last time I had it apart I failed to put the copper-crush washers on the RH side. Needless to say after 4100 miles of riding, oil started to weap out the RH side. New gasket kit directly from Japan, and I hope to be riding back on it by next weekend!

 

Primed the new front fender for painting later today, and clear coated the tank to enhance that nice red color...

 

Finally got around to painting the pipes (to cover up the damage I'd done) and got called in to work mid-way. It sounds amazing without them

 

Finished fabbing and painting fibre glass front fender, mounted.
Assebled pistons on rods, put on clutch cover, and put the jugs on engine.