New member - 83 750 maxim midnight

Hi all just picked up a 1983 maxim midnight 750 with 34000km on it and im looking forward to restoring as much of the bike as i can . the bike is in running condition but the collector has a nice hole right in the middle of it and the mufflers dont look to be original which i think is my biggest worry because it doesnt look like these are available anywhere anyway ive been reading the information overload thread and its great having so information available

 

XJ750 manuals

free down load

ebay used parts or clist we also have a used parts forum

can it be welded?

 

Thanks for the link. The hole isn't to big and looks like it can be welded I took my time and pulled the exhaust system apart yesterday and the metal still seems very strong except the 4 ends that connects to the header pipe the metal is very brittle and I have lost a couple tabs already

 

welcome aboard Turbo20

 

thanks boomerangg22. im looking forward to riding and restoring this bike also to mention the bike only has 34000km on it

 

Nice bike! I have the same one!

 

XJ4ever was able to get me a collector so ill be up and running again shortly now i will try to slowly restore this midnight to its original glory . hopefully lol

 

Cool, I'm getting my Carbs cleaned and rebuilt on mine to get 33 years of crap out of em so I can get em synced next week!

 

nice are you cleaning the carbs yourself? im going to do the carbs after i put the exhaust back together

 

You are correct--- those are not the right mufflers for your bike. Yours should be black, and should have an angle to the end so that the back of the mufflers is about perpendicular to the road, not to the centerline of the mufflers
Nice fined

 

Thanks hogfiddles , im going to have a fun time trying to find the OE mufflers but thats part of restoring 30+ year old bike as for the collector im going to cut and re weld the black heat shields onto the new collector

 

I'm pulling em and giving them to a guy who put them in a chemical boil to dissolve any hardened residue from all the old gas. Then I'll put em back on!

 

Tell your guy that he'll need to do more than just boil them if you plan on having the engine run correctly afterwards.

In the Church of Clean

The Secret Life of Carburetors

Clean Your Own Carbs --- The Whole 9 Yards

Setting the Fuel Levels

This is the part were recommend that you do the work yourself the first time, so that you don't have to re-do the work that you paid someone else to do.

 

i plan on doing the carbs my self previously did my 83 gs650L and my 83 Magna v45 (total bitch) . i have question about the handle bars are they supposed to be black or chrome on the midnight? mine are currently chrome

 

Carbs...... Don't trust them to work right when he's done. When he's done boiling them, your seals are gonna be shot.....you''ll end up taking them apart anyway. So, if you're gonna take them apart anyway, your' re only on step away from where you'd be anyway. Clean them yourself, do it all yourself, readthe links that were given to you..... And if you have any problems then WE ARE RIGHT HERE to help, and it's free here on the forums.

Handlebars - they should be black.

Dave

 

Great thanks

 

Wow.... That collector box is rough---- and OILY

 

The oil is actually seafoam deep creep (like wd40) I soaked the the hell out of everything for a day even the header pipes where it connects to the Box and still literally fell apart as soon as tried to pull on the pipe or unbolt a clamp( I dropped the collector and pipes as one piece with hopes dismantling with minimal damage while having it off the bike) lol wait until you see the brake fluid

 

Here's the banjo going to the caliper

 

Seafoam..... Good call. Didnt realize you had sprayed it down already

Brake ---yummy. The bolt looks tasty too

 

My MC looked almost the same. I broke the mirror off in it so I'm going to have to replace it anyway. I tried to get it out but no going.

 

That sucks I'm having a similar issue one of the screws for the MC. Cover broke off and I can't get it out the the screw metal is to soft I'm hoping I can maybe drill out what I can and put in a screw a spec longer or a spec thicker if possible. Have you tried and extractor bit ?

 

Careful drilling/milling extracting

 

Folks, I recommend that if you're going to own older motorcycles, especially metric ones, that you go ahead and invest in a good quality impact driver. For me, owning one is a must, and can usually save you some trouble with rounded out/stripped screws.

Oh, and nice looking brake fluid you have there!

 

Not much more you can do after that lol

 

I have a pretty good one fom mastercraft thats what got me started on the MC cover screws without that it wouldn't budge. I was able to get one side out no problem the the other side it just ripped the head off lol

 

I agree Turbo, I've used my impact driver several times course after I messed up the screw. Seems like they are very soft material, using the correct size screw driver helps but not always.

 

Well, yeah, using an impact driver is kind of an "all or nothing" type of approach, and you usually only get one shot at it, so it's best to have the right bit in it and be as square as you can be when you hit it.
Basically, if it doesn't come loose with an impact driver, you probably weren't going to get it without drilling it anyway.

 

Ya for sure . when I took the cover off there was enough of the screw sticking out that I was able to get vise grips on it and try again after soaking it with deep creep for a few hours but still no luck that also broke off . I will try to drill and tap something a bit thicker in if it works great if not I will purchase another MC. I will continue to update this thread as I go through the bike fix/ restore the midnight

 

Degrease the screw.
Use clay to build a dam around the screw head.
Disolve some (yes, this is the exact quantity lol) alum into some warm water.
Fill the clay dam with the solution.
Wait a few days.
Look to find that the old screw is no more, and you have clean threads for the new screw.

 

Welcome aboard. Nice bike. All the screw heads are JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). They are slightly different than standard Phillips.

Gary H.

 

Thanks k-moe I never heard of this before so I googled it lol. I read you can pick up some alum at the grocery store so I will give it a shot today when I get home

 

Thanks for the info rocs82650

 

didnt get to try the alum bath last night but i did get a little further on the left caliper . i was able to get the piston out using the grease method then cleaned it / polished it up but the retaining pin that holds the pads was a total pain , i was able to unscrew the threads all the way out but the rest of the pin needed to be hammered out with an old screw driver and a mallet as for the right caliper the retaining pin head is stripped and wont budge and thats after soaking in some deep creep for the weekend, i will try again today when i get home maybe i can heat it up and maybe squeeze some vise grips on the pin in between the pads anyways here are some random pics of the first caliper