Learning to wrench my own bike.

So I have ridden bike for a few years now and love it but have come to the conclusion that its about time I learn how to do my own wrenching.

I bought a 1982 Maxim650 off a friend. This bike has lots of problems and is not the prettiest of bikes to say the least. Its had a few owners and been dumped a few times. Its never been maintained properly but its a bike to learn on I figure.

I bought it cheap off my buddy this winter after he droped it over the summer. We did what we could to clean it up a bit cosmetics wise and we got it running again. When we first started it up it dumped fuel out the air filter....... I mean dumped!!! We stripped it down a bit put it back together and it seemed to fix it self.

We got it up and running but not very well. It would flood at first and start the second time around. I then had to take off for a few weeks and so stored it and ran the fuel out of the carbs. I came back and have tried to start it now but cant seem to get it to kick over. I cleaned the filter and I juiced up the battery and am getting decent spark. The plugs look a little fowled but not to bad. I can smell fuel on them and there wet but I dont know where to go from here.

If anyone has any ideas I would love to get this beast runnin well for the summer.

Thanx

 

Start off with fresh gas on a fully charged battery with cleaned carbs and new spark plugs. These engines will take a beating and come back begging for more flogging. It is a simple beast, just air, gas and spark and she should come to life. If the engine isnt blown it will run!!! After you get it running, ride the bike every week.

 

If the plugs are wet and smell like gas, then you must change the oil...could possibly have fuel in the crank case, especially if it was left on PRI. I have made that mistake before, easy to solve but irritating to the ego lol. Also open your oil filler cap and stick your nose as close as you can, take a good wiff and if you smell gas then it explains it Get yourself a good repair manual if you don't have one already, they really help

 

check for a leakin petcock. your float valves are not closing right so there is prolly some crap in the seats. and like xjdriver said change your oil and get a new oil filter

 

Thanx guys.

I just finished my very first Carb strip down...... Was sad when it was done!!! Can't wait to put it together again!!

I have a hayes catalog which made it pretty easy. I photographed the
S@#T out of the whole process for the next guy that comes along.

When I started I discovered the two Gaskets in the the center btween the carbs and the cylinders were loose.......one wasent even connected!!!! My buddy said he had had a problem with one cylinder not fireing and im guessing that was probably the one!!!
My Strip down also produced alot of rust and build up in the carbs so im gonna give those a good cleaning and drain the gas tank and clean it out as well. I will pull the petcock as well.

Hey what do you guys use as a cleaning solution for the carbs? My old man said take some carb cleaner and a bucket and let all the metal soak, as long as I take off the rubber it would be ok. What do ya think? and lube when its done?

Thanx for the heads up on the oil and filter. I will change that tomorrow and get some new plugs well im at it.

Damn this forum is great. Thanx for all the help once again.

 

i wouldnt put the float valves in the carb cleaner over night. just clean them up. Clean all the parts real good

 

I figure I will clean all the parts that dont have rubber by hand as well as I can and all the metal parts soak then clean by hand. good idea?

what do you use to clean off all the gunk and build up on the metal? I have read boiling it in lemon juice for a half hour works magic.

And do you lube the diaphram? if so with what?

 

Lemon juice or pinesol. I used pinesol works great.

If you soak in carb cleaner overnight cover the container or it evaporates out. I think in another thread you mentioned you have read Rick's cleaning instructions. He recommends muffin tins to sort parts. First time through mine I soaked overnight in carb cleaner to find a gunky mess in the morning so I had to reclean. After that I started using plastic wrap over them for overnight soaks.

And your Dad is right - no rubber in the carb cleaner...

Chacal sells a silicon grease you can use to stick the edges of the diaphragms down. I don't lube mine.

While you are at it pay attention to the clunk test included in the cleaning instructions. This will pay off big time if you do it right.

Good luck it's not hard - take your time.

 

Bug be carefull with the lemmon juice. Light boil and keep your eye on them. Just keep them in there long enough to remove the junk. If you keep them in there too long they might start to turn black. Do not put your brass parts in the juice as they will turn black. I heard white vinagar for the brass parts will clean them but not turn black.

 

REMEMBER there are rubber throttle shaft seals you CANNOT SEE that have to be taken into consideration in any "soaking" endeavors.

 

Hey Bugeater
I see its been a while since you posted. How's the learning process going? Have you become an expert bike mechanic yet?
I just pulled my XJ900 out of storage & am (like you) trying to learn how to wrench on my on bike.
Currently have carbs stripped & waiting to have enough spare cash to order rebuild parts from Chacal.
Its a good feeling doing the work yourself but I can't wait to hear the old girl purring again after so long.
Hope yours is going well.

 

Well with all the Help from the guys on here I put it all back together with no extra pieces left over!! Even I was surprised when I went to turn it over and it started like a dream on the first go. It was a beautiful thing!!

Only thing I could say is keep everything organised. I had like four muffin trays filled with parts and pieces and I took a picture every time I took a part off. I havent ordered anything from Chacal yet but everyone on the site swears by his stuff and the guy definitly knows what he's talking about. I am gonna do the same thing and rebuild those puppies this summer. let me know how it goes. If you run into any problems the guys on this site are some of the most knowledgeable and helpful guys I have ever found on a forum so dont heitate to question them.

Good luck!