What did you do to your Yamaha today?

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