Reviving my 81 xj 550 maxim

I still can't get them off. I've got about 3.5 ~ 4 hours into it. It moves almost 1/8" on the intake side but barely on the exhaust side.
The outsides of the cylinders are free, but the center of the exhaust side is what is holding me up.

I ratchet strap the engine down (laying on it's front) in a "x" patern with 2 straps. I have the engine on small stand I made out of a 3' header board and some railroad tie blocks I screwed together. Even with this thing cinched down I can not pull/wiggle them off.

I'll work at it again tomorrow

 

Double check all the bolts and nuts are all the way off/out. Once the initial seal is seperated it should come easily. Make sure to pull evenly, too. It won't come up angled.

 

The problem I had with the cylinders was a bit odd. I guess some rock/asphalt had made a home along side one of the center cylinder studs. I ended up double nutting the stud and backing it out, cylinders lifted right off with it.

I've been patiently cleaning up things, getting ready to order ring/gaskets & such. Pistons look brand new after clean up, measured with calipers & are in spec. Had to purchase a piston & got an extra one just in case.

I also made a homemade soda blaster that I have been tweaking to get it where I want it. Once I have it finalized I'll show pics. I think I may need to get some actual blasting soda from Harbor Freight or such. The store bought Arm & Hammer baking soda seems a bit too small? Anyone have any experience with that?

 

Yep, and you can't use grocery-store soda, it's just dust.

I picked up a bag of soda blasting medium at HF for around $22 IIRC. Works great.

 

So, it's been awhile but I have made some headway. My budget has been robbed in the form of tubes for my little girl, so i've just been doing the stuff I can with what I have.

Since I have the jugs off and honed, I decided to clean them up a bit.
Cleaned, filed the fins, sanded, cleaned, painted, baked & polished. turned out pretty good.










How to remove the front tank mounts: Punch and drill out the spot welds, moving up in bit size & just but not going into the frame.





I took these off in order to fit on the cb750 tank. I had to pound some sections of the tank channel to clear the frame.






Tank on the frame (please ignore the paint, it's what happens after a night of drinking & staring at masking tape. twice. three times)










I also lowered my head light and bracket and guages. I don't think the headlight is low enought yet so lowering more is in it's near future. Haven't cleaned & painted the welds yet.





In order to lower the guages, center punch the center of the studs then drill out & install underneath the triple tree. Pretty easy






I also got a set of clubmans for $10. I traded a shop my brand new untouched drag bars from my old intruder. They were 1" bars so they were no good to me. I've tried to sell them in the past with no luck, but he took them and $10 for the clubmans 8)


I have many more pics of the final tank position, painted & polished parts and seat mockup, but I'm having issues with my photobucket account. Will get them up later.

 

I ran across these 2 videos of when I got the bike running in February. After about 30 seconds of running, it starts smoking. It would only get worse, I let it run for about 5 min at one point and it looked like I was fogging for mosquitos in the garage.

Hopefully, this honing and new rings will take care of it.

(Sorry, I don't know how to embed the player in the thread)








Also, I've started mocking up the seat, but I think I will hold up. I still need to get that tank down and forward some more. So I guess more pounding is in my near future.

 

Any updates?

 

Hows this coming along