Maxim X - Need some encouragement

Arrgh, so I finally got some valve shims today and spent the evening replacing the shims in my Maxim-X (which hasn't run right since I bought it... I'm also cleaning the carbs, have 2/4 reassembled including throttle shaft seals, did find a few nasty jets but that's another story).

I was pretty apprehensive about getting the cams back in properly, but everything went smoothly and the timing marks all lined up. No interference when rotating the engine by hand. Everything torqued to spec.

Then I checked valve clearance again... ONE intake valve is 0.03 mm out of spec (loose). I can swap pads with another valve that is in spec but a little on the tight side (0.13mm where the others are ~ 0.18mm) but I'll have to remove the intake cam again. I'm positive that I got all the shims in the right places, so either I measured wrong or one of the shims is marked wrong.

Someone PLEASE tell my a horror story about the guy who DIDN'T go back and get that 20th valve tightened up 0.03mm to get into spec, because I'm tempted to not do it. And someone tell me how awesome the X is going to be once I finish with the carbs, the Dynacoil conversion, and the valve adjustments. And fix that small crack in the airbox I found tonight. Sigh...

-Dave 'Chaz' S.

 

You hear the one about the guy that decided to leave a valve out of spec loose? Probably because you couldnt hear it over the valve noise when it was running..... *any good?* ;/

Im having shim issues with my 650 right now so can feel some of what you are going through...mine is an airhead luckily.....

 

once you finish the job and it fires up the first time and hums that oh-so-familiar tune, and you take it out, you will realize how much the effort was worth it.

as you pull to the stop sign down the road, you see nothing but open road. you start to squeeze the grips a little tighter, you rev up to 4k, back to idle, up to 5k and realize that you have one goal: don't get pulled over as you push 9k in 3rd.
the pure satisfaction of doing it right and knowing your hands were the ones that brought this mass of steel and aluminum to life with a turn of a wrench and a beer burp will have you smiling all the way down the road.

now, dammit, finish the job!

hope this helps

 

look at it this way...

anyone can go buy a new bike. anyone can pay to have the work done. very few can do the work themselves. it takes a special breed to show the patience and desire to do it right for their own personal satisfaction.

 

Thanks guys. After a night's rest I feel much better and will tackle it again tonight.

 

that's the spirit! after you are done, wanna swing by my place? I am pullin the slides out of my carbs and gonna polish the bores.

 

Isnt it amazing what a nights sleep can do to cure the OMG YOU @)$(#)&@#!! BLUES??

 

It's got a end, man. It's got a beautiful end. All that you are using is time, and that's free. Imagine yourself enjoying a fully tuned, fully smooth, and fully powerful bike; that's where you will be if you keep on

 

What's another couple hours compared to always wondering in you f@%ked it up by not finishing the job?

 

Ok, valves are all in spec and the cover is back on. Finished cleaning the carbs and reassembling the rack. Decided to try things out before doing the Dyna coil conversion...

I had damaged a plug cap spring, so I stole one from my 550. Just for grins I disassembled the other three plug caps. Surprise! PO (or his mechanic) had modified two of the plugs by stretching the spring out and throwing away the brass disc/resistor rod (which you can see here on HAP's Maxim-X site). Shock/horror!

Despite this mess, I assembled everything and cranked her over. Started up, idle was around 5000 rpm, but turned it down to 1000-1100 and she runs nice and even. Valves do sound like a sewing machine! And it drives like a different bike, I haven't even tuned it yet (mixture screws three turns out, carbs just bench-synced). Yeah!

 

congrats on not blowing it up or throwing it off a cliff!