81 xj650 Maxim Project

ALRIGHT the day has come.

I pick up my bike tonight at 6. I cannot tell you how ready I am for this to start.

But I need knowlege and thank god for these forums.

OK the first things I am going to start off with tonight is just cleaning, but the first thing that i would like to do before i starting cutting into the fram is removing some of the extra items, and blacking it out.

I will provide a mass ammount of pictures as i move throught this proccess i hope some of you will follow along and lend some of your wisdom.

First thing I had a question about is what is the process to paint my engine ? I see it often, a blacked out engine with the edges still in silver, How is this accomplished, I have found a mulititude of high temp paint, but i dont want to rush this.... Help please!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!

 

clean and paint the engine ... before it dries wipe it off the fins with a rag dipped in just a tiny bit of solvent

 

or you could powder coat the engine like i did. it retains more heat (thus, my added oil cooler) and requires an intense dis-assembly. Personally, totally worth it.

 

Hey, Blue, that cam shaft looks a bit sus.

 

So i will post pictures tonight. Decided against driving it home, its got a tough time starting, and honestly with learning a new bike. driving it an hour home on highway 50 at ten pm was not teh best of ideas any way! but title and key are in my pocket!

So I love the look of the painted engine, after a bit more research last night thought, I do belive i will wait to paint it untill i strip the bike down and get ready to work on the frame.

With the rough start the green light come on, and then so does the red one some times, and it turns over but doesnt start. I can do that for 15 times before it starts, what in gods name could that be? Today i will ride it back and look to replace the spark plugs and wires, starting the bike on the first 3 tries will be my first priority.

blue pot pie, that looks absolutly wonderful! powder coats are great.

 

HAHAHAHA!!! I KNEW I forgot something...

Thanks man! It's been a LONG and painful process (since January!) and now i've got a week from today to get this beast on the road. That pic is how the motor sits right now, taken late last night. Let the race begin...

Good luck with your max, post your results here, i'm sure i'm not the only one who'd like to read about it.

 

Wow great photo album- love the color scheme cant wait to see more, Ill have full photos tonight.

I have not drivin many bikes, so the older clutch threw me for a suprise and pulled my front end up pretty damn fast, Cannot wait to get the hell outa work and back to get the bike

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I did the same thing with my 750! I never expected to see the front end lift off the ground so easily.

And i started a new thread with a little write up about my project here.

I'll be looking forward to seeing your bike pics when you post them.

 

green light indicates you are in neutral. The red light indicates that you're probably low on oil. Check that first.

dave

 

ok, today Its home! I sat in the parkinglot for a bit, and i COULD NOT get it to start up for me, The PO did it 3 times for me when i first was looking at the bike.

green in neutral, but when i hit the start button, it goes red, the engine turns and you can hear it trying but no actuall start. Ill check the oil today, and also goign to get new spark plugs and wires,

Got some pictures of the bike as i got it, and tonight ill try to post a small video of how it sounds and what it is doing when i try to start.

Amazingly enought, I never would have thought how difficult it is to have two men, just a few drinks each, try to push a bike up a 4x4 into a truck bed and back down, MUCH less try to figure out how to tie it so it stands upright in the truck bed....ended up putting down a blanked and laying it down sofly and then tying....gas got everywhere.... gas smells wonderful...Life is good.

 

UPDDATE

So i got a trickle charger, and teh battery still does not charge. and more so it would not hold the charge,

I replaced the battery, charged it and it works fine, I have a short somewhere in the front end and im working on finding that right now. cause it wont allow me to shut off my front headlight, or any power so it just drains that battery till i unplug it.

My carb. So its runnin rough. Puttin some carb cleaner in it today and once my pipes off and my in line fuel filter is in, im thinking about re jetting it cause i konw it has to be done. But i currently have pods on it, Came with old pods, had to put new ones on,

Any suggestions on that carb?

 

Pull them break them down and clean them good. Follow Rickomatic's cleaning and bench syncing instructions and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

OKAY so I have the rest of the bike set! and what the f*** do you think happens- electrical failure, 3 hours of a yamaha dealership specialist helped me out, but didnt charge me for teh work, and because i smoked him out, said he would just help me rewire it for the parts and labor at like 25-30 an hour to re-wire the whole bike, he said it would take 4-5 hours on a sunday to do so. SO! what is your thoughts?