What did you do to your Yamaha today?

Getting chilly, but went for a ride anyway.......now contemplating what else to do today---

 

Procrastinated on finishing up winterization. It's supposed to be nearly 60 degrees here tomorrow with abundant sunshine.

Winter layover may have to wait. Might have to put on a few more miles.

Turkey, schmurkey. I wanna ride...

 

Ok...........here's what I did this afternoon--

Shoe-horned my (new to me) 82 XJ650 Seca into the shop. So....now I'm crowded again. But she's home, dry, warm, and safe. Time for a long slumber til resto time.

Fitz....are the carbs on these the same as on other 650 engines or are they specific to this bike? Reason I ask.....two extra racks came with the bike, and are supposedly both for the 650rj.


Dave F

 

gday matt, same thing happened to me , same distance from home ,uphill, but it was a fuse, anyway 1 bloke stopped and asked if i needed fuel, and another couple asked if i needed a hand 50 yards from home ,some young punks thought it was funny and gave me some lip, i vowed to find and maim them, it was hot, im old and it nearly killed me, karma will sort it self out one day, keep helping people and all will be well.

 

I make it a point to stop whenever I see a bike on the side of the road and the person doing anything but taking a leak.

I've delivered gas, taken guys to gas stations, taken people home, taken them somewhere to simply make a call, etc.....

I think I passed one ONCE and didn't stop because I was running wa-a-a-y late. That was three years ago, and I still feel guilty for not stopping anyway.

Most of the time, the reply is, "nah...just taking a break, but thanks for stopping.....you're the only one that asked"

I've pushed a bike home, I've run out of gas....I KNOW what it feels like when no one wants to stop and help 'a biker'......yeah, we bad...........

Glad you got home ok, albeit tired and wore out.

Dave F

 

I ordered .80wt fork springs from Sonic springs. Ordered 15wt Maxima fork oil, Bridgestone Battlax 110/70ZR-17 BT-016 front tire. I have the FZR600 front end on the Seca. Soda blasted the header and painted it.

 

Checked valve clearances on the 650 had 5 out of spec. Now I need to talk to Hogfiddles and see if he has the last one I need to get it finished up.

 

Mav.....got your pm, I got the one you need. If you're home this weekend we can meet in Utica again......Would save a LOT of time. Will try calling tomorrow. Possibly, we could meet tomorrow morning... othewise late afternoon/evening or Friday. Saturday we're looking at snow.......... I still have your number, do you have mine?

Dave F

 

Ya I still have your number, figured it would be a good one to keep a hold of

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

 

fork seals and 15w fork oil overfilled to minimize diving!
it's AMAZING

 

I cut mine in half just behind where the kickstand is welded to the frame. That felt and looked weird seing my bike in to pieces

 

Got the airbox assembly in, as well as carbs and tank on.

I discovered that there are some engine fin dampeners missing. Maybe that was why the engine sounded as if would rattle. Ordered those from a local source as well as a new clutch lever, as the bolt hole on the old one is no longer entirely circular.

Left to do is to wire up new right hand controls, though I can't ride in 4-5 months...

 

I cleaned up my brake and clutch levers, still needs some wet sanding before it goes for anodizing.

 

Thats what those rubber bits are for!?!?!

I thot the previous owner was being stupid and decided to shove a couple rubber bits in between the fins for fun......
so i pulled them out and threw them away.......... there were only 2 tho.....


are they important?

 

Built a frame stand to make welding on it easier, welded a cross brace on the chopped tail, welded the mounting tabs for the solo seat (from a sport bike, not a old school bobber seat), cut some of the parts for my monoshock conversion

 

Howdy RD, from a mechanical POV they are not required, but the noise made may be irritating. At certain RPM the harmonic vibes cause the fins to "
sing". If you don't want to spend the money for the original rubber dampers, you can use short pieces of vacuum hose.

 

Replaced Right side mirror and Brake handle that broke when our dog knocked it over to eat the seat some years ago. We don't have that dog anymore!
Then took my kids for a short ride through town.

 

I cleaned the signal light switch, and discovered that I actually have a push to cancel signal light switch!! cool ...

 

re-filled my battery with acid, lettin it chill overnight to soak it up nice and good then top her off again in the morn. also finished up cleaning the carbs without taking them off the rack, checked all jets and needles everything is looking good!

 

I pulled both fork legs, then disassembled, and cleaned them. New seals and o-rings will go on next weekend.

 

Bought new tank badges today-original ones too-bike tins are also at the painter-should be done early next week-now looking for new turn signals and new mega phone mufflers-cant wait to ride it this spring.

 

Took the LH side air scoop off of the Seca 900 to help me find a way to fix the bottom tab of the RH side scoop.

Cut the bottom of a soup can to the right shape, will use pop rivets to hold it on the scoop, will glue a washer on it and paint it black.

Will post when done!

 

Searched high and low for a sport fairing online , soaked all my intake boot bolts with kroil oil so i can remove then next week . rebuilt petcock , built roll away dolly for my extra motor so it can be moved easily out of the way . fed the deer when they came in the garage to watch me work . hung extra frame from rafters to give me more room.

 

visited a motorcycle museum this morning, gathered misc parts to get rid and/or sell on here of before I move outta the parents house, pulled my front forks off the 550 maxim and got 'em apart, separated, and cleaned free of dirty grit and ooze in the grooves. tomorrow i plan to polish the forks!

 

I pulled the carbs off the 750 seca cause It wouldn't start after swapping the bars ( those two things are connected , I get to that in a sec), I pulled them apart one by one hosed everything down, cleaned all the jets, main nozzle, the floats and needle seats. put each carb back together before moving to the next.

Well I found 2 surprises one was a small bolt sitting in the vacuum piston of carb #2, so someone dropped it in without realizing when putting the cover on the diaphragm .

second I found all my carbs had 120 main and 40 pilot, EXCEPT #4 which had a 40 Main, 40 Pilot.
like seriously how do you f that up? luckily with the bike I also got a box of parts that included a set of carb skeletons and various little bits and pieces bouncing around, so I found a 120 jet to replace that 40 main.

got them all back together and on the bike with some fancy prybar work to get all 4 intake boots on the carbs at the same time. Got everything hooked up and ready to test fire, Bike took a while to catch like it was only trying to fire with the starter but wouldn't take off. Well it finally cought and jumped up to 6000rpm, shut it off, tried again fire and instantly at 6000 rpm.

so after about an hour of problem solving I determined that somewhere between removing the carbs and swapping the bars, the throttle cable was about 1/8" too short and holding the throttle open. the adjuster in the cable casing was already as short as it would go, so I cut 1/4" off the casing adjuster so i could dial it in.

all back together and its never run better. I had run the bike on friday after doing the valve shims but flooded the engine after swapping the bars which lead me to this extremely long post.

 

I enlisted my freezer to help with the upgrade to tapered headstock bearings. Yay for freezers

 

My garage is like working in a freezer! Managed to wrestle my carbs off this morning and did you know that carb boots get really stiff when they're cold? Don't think I damaged anything.

I got really good at removing the carb bank while I was resurrecting my '82 Maxim 750 (just 5500 miles but lots of issues from past owner's neglect). Must have had them off 10 times before I finally found the blocked enrichment jet in the float bowl. Used the smallest tip cleaner and sharpened it to a chisel point then used it like a drill bit. Man, that crud was tough!

Next project is to continue to adjust the floats using bench methods and clear tubing on the drains. The bike starts immediately and cold idles great but it idles high when the engine is warm and I come to a stop light. The floats have been indicated a possible issue. I've already bench synched the carbs using several suggested methods found here (thanks, guys!) and checked for vacuum leaks using more great ideas from past forum strings.

To do before riding season:
Make "batt" and "fuel" warning lights go away
Finish carbs and reinstall
Wash the winter's dust off and ride it, man!

 

New stock tank badges are in-still waiting for the tins to come back from painter-have new orings ready for reassembly-come on spring-come on painter.

 

Removed old carb intake boots thanks to my new friend kroil oil ,And rebuilt my petcock in anticipation of installing my rebuilt carbs this weekend !

 

I enjoyed riding my 82 XJ650J today for the first time since it has had new tires, new brakes (front and rear,) rebuilt master cylinder and caliber,new brake lines and new front and rear wheel bearings. Sure did feel a whole lot better about riding it around. Thanks to the guys here I turned a very unsafe motorcycle into a much safer one. Now getting stuff together to check valve clearances and then synch the carbs....yea!!

 

Repaired my turn signal relay...because I'm a cheapskate

 

I dug back into the Maxim for the first time since last fall.

I took off the seized caliper and am currently trying to unstuck it. All the front brake stuff is coming off for new lines and rebuilt everything else.

Can't wait for the first ride.

 

figured out why it was idling at 9k rpm when i put the carbs back on yesterday..... the throttle cable wasn't in the bracket + holding it wide open.... *facepalm*

 

Big face palm . re installing my carbs this weekend . Will make sure i dont do the same

 

Brought her flowers for our 7th anniversary together!

Just kidding...I bought my 1977 Yamaha XS650 in February 2006, seven years ago.

 

???....

i get mine back tommarow!!!! (hopefully), i have been working on a 2002 cowi vulcan 1500 clutch this week though, horrible testing (if any lol) cow did on these bikes......google a vulcan 1500 clutch problem from 00-05 and you'll see what i mean.

 

Ordered Virago bar mounts from ebay to replace stock 2-piece bars. Saw some pics in forum of other similar Maxim mods and was inspired. Hope to find a tube-type that's a bit flatter but not too "drag bar" flat.

Reset the floats on the bench, put the carbs back together, threw in the battery, and, by gosh, it started right up! Yee haw!!!

Now just waiting for sweet, sweet spring to arrive in northern New England.

 

Just got my carbs all finished up after rebuilding, bench-syncing, wet-setting, etc. Holy crap, I'd rather re-build my calipers 3 times than have to set those floats again. Guess it's worth it for that feeling of seeing all 4 at exactly 3mm!

Spring weather can't come soon enough but in the mean time I'll be stripping out the crap liner job the PO put in my tank and doing some cosmetic re-working of the bike.

Then I won't have anything left to fiddle with so I guess that means I'll just have to ride!

 

Ran new vac line, fuel hose, and a cleanable fuel filter; lubed all the cables; put the brake calipers back on, and have it sitting with the MC filled (lever tied back) and the bleeders cracked to pre-bleed the system overnight. I might get to ride tomorrow........if the snow finishes melting off of the street.

 

Hmm, well I'll start with yesterday...

I went to a house 5 miles away, pushed it onto a trailer, strapped it down, signed the paperwork & then offloaded it at home, put the acid in the brand new battery that came with it & put on charge overnight... Yay I have my new toy!!!

Onto today, I pulled the tank, sidepanels etc & removed the carbs as per the guide (airbox rubbers were lovely and soft, inlet stubs not so much...) and gave them a good cleaning out to supplement the P/O's semi-done job, including re-siting the pilot & main air jets which were in the "Haynes position", and marvelled in the wonders of rubber plugs in the pilot screw holes that meant the pilot screws are like new.

Once I'd got that done with & wrestled the carbs back onto the stubs (had to remove the outer two & put them on separately to be able to get the carbs onto the middle two without pushing the whole plot off the centre stand! fortunately an indoor life has left this bike with virtually no nasties like seized or rotten bits) I swilled the tank out & put some fresh juice in, hooked it up & got the bike running for a few seconds just to hear it.

Now I only have to put the airbox rubbers back in, get some new fuel pipe & filter, replace the oil and filter, bevel box oil change, U/J check, brake lines & maybe pads (triple discs, no drum nasties for me ), clean the master cylinder, new throttle cable, new tyres (especially the 1977 dated front on a bike last taxed in 2004!!!!! :roll: ) new grips & then RIDE!

So yeah, not a lot to do considering, provided that the suspected non-original carbs are actually set up to this engine... 8)

 

Started re-assembly yet again. Took it down to the frame and had it painted, new paint on the tank and fenders, cleaned the carbs, and checked the valves over the winter. Now it's time to put it together again. Warming up a bit here, the bikes are out, and I'm itching to ride.

 

Ordered a set of iridium plugs today-guy at napa said they were listed as masaratti plugs-hope i get the rjght ones-ordered dr8eix ?

 

That reminds me, I meant to buy plugs when I went to the shop earlier *facepalm*

the ones in my XJ750E-II are currently BPR7-ES, wouldn't bother with platy plugs to be honest since they are more suited to EFI/CAT equipped stuff & can foul easily (not to mention the cost!!!)

Also, if you can drop the "R" designation I.E. BPR7ES to BP7ES etc, the R signifies a resistor designed to suppress RF interference but in my experience bikes start & run more reliably without, and RF suppression is a bit redundant nowadays, who has analogue telly these days anyway?

 

Got my tins back from painter today-man they look sweet-will post pics in my gallery-also picked up a set of iridium plugs-now i have to reassemble and wait for spring-come on spring-have a buddy going for a ride today-hes nuts its minus ten here.

 

moved it to a corner in the garage

 

Over the weekend, ordered parts from XJ4EVER. Other than that, NOTHING UNTIL IT STOPS SNOWING!! Don't want to hear from people who live in places where it's 70. This summer, when it's 80 here and the mountain behind your house is on fire, sorry if I miss your posting 'cause your" tires have melted and oh-by the way what's the most durable and fire resistant tire"... sorry, that's when I'll finally be out on I-81 doing 9400 rpm and avoiding the armed tax collectors with the flashing roof lights.
... Sorry, just want to go for a ride. Don't mean to be nasty. (Don't have a garage, or even a friend with one nearby, the maintenance will just have to wait.)

 

watching it get snowed on... yes its got a cover... but still so sad

 

Nothing as sad to see as a bike's outline hugged by a cover weighed down with frozen snow :cry: glad spring's not far off here

 

covered it... and now watching it get snowed on