1981 maxim 650 first timer

Here is my first ever motorcycle that I decided to change up a little please let me know what yall think I'd love to take some opinions and suggestions

 

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Looking good. Was it running well before you tore into it? Valve clearances checked, brakes rebuilt with new lines, and all of that other maintainance stuff that none of the prior owners ever do?

 

Yes it was running ok until my father in law mixed some oil treatment into the engine when I was changing the oil and after that it started making this squeeling sound in the engine it sounds almost like a belt squeel

 

Want to try hard tailing it

 

That would be the starter clutch slipping.
What treatment did he use?
Flush it all out with an inexpensive (sacrificial) oil, then refill with a JASO MA rated oil.

There is a link ☟down there☟that you should read.

 

You are wise to use solid links to try out hard-tailing. Makes it easy to switch back once you find out why motorcycles from the 1920's have sprung saddles.

 

What link? I don't see anything

 

Lol yeah I have to try it out first before I decide to hard tail

 

Are these Jardine mufflers? I had two very similar ones on a '79 Goldwing, I loved how they sounded.

 

this link in his signiture line right under
82 XJ750 Seca

Choosing Oil for a Wet Clutch Motorcycle

very important to use JASO rated oil not standard auto oil

hope he did not use STP or similar oil treatment

 

Yes it was stp oil treatment I had left to go inside to grab a beer and take a piss and when I had came outside he said he added a little bit bit of stp oil treatment and after that it started making a skreech

 

It'll flush out. You might run a bit of seafoam in the sacrificial oil to help get all of that slick crap out. The STP won't do any harm, but it does need to come out or that starter clutch will keep slipping.

 

But if I flush it all out will I still be hearing that squeeling sound? It sounded awesome until he added the stp and it started happening

 

Once you get rid of the STP, and put the correct oil back in, the squeal should go away. The big issue is that without the correct oil the starter clutch will eventually begin to slip enough that the bike won't be able to start.

At some point the clutch rollers will be worn and need to be replaced anyway (this requires splitting the engine cases), but the goal here is to try and push that date as far into the future as possible.

 

The oil I had used was the recommended yamaha oil and filter and fresh oil change too n now I got to dump it all out that's a bummer but I don't want that noise anymore so I'll do whatever I got to do to do it right without having to open the engine what steps do your recommend me for doing this do I add seafoam to the engine oil?

 

To be honest I don't have a clue to what kind of mufflers they are they were on the bike when I got it but they do look cool

 

Love the picture of the lil guy wrenching on your machine. I gotta get my guy out in the garage with me... It's never too early to learn!

 

If the engine is starting easily, then Id kive with the noise for 1500 miles, then change the oil. If it begins to get to where it won't rutn the engine over every time, then drop the STP contaminated oil, follow the directions on the Seafoam can for use in the engine oil, and run it until the slipping stops. It may take more than one oil change for it to go away entirely. If you can't spare the cash you can run the seafoam mix until the next regular oil change.

 

Thanks but I think I'm better off just draining all of the oil and do the sea foam I'm just hoping it will help it

 

Thanks yeah he's only 2 n loves working with me helping me out in the garage it's good to teach them young he'll even use gojo and shop towels to clean his hands when he gets a little bit of grease on his hands

 

Here is an update on the bike just took pics of it 5min. Ago going to use the same rear fender fill in the holes and bend the fender a little to give it that even curve over the tire going to be ordering the springs for the seat

 

2 more pics

 

NICE, starting to look BRAPPED out.

 

Turn outs on the exhaust look good. Nice touch.

All my recent posts are about mufflers. I'm getting EXHAUSTED!!
Ouch.

 

How would I go about taking off the tachometer and the ugly plastic square turn signal flasher and only have my speedometer on

 

You would buy an aftermarket speedometer and mount, as well as a blanking plug for the tachometer drive. I reccomend that you keep the tachometer; redline comes up pretty darned fast.

Yamaha signals from the late 80's/early 90's are smaller, and will fit without needing to make any modifications. Be sure to stick with 27W bulbs or you may experience problems with the flasher relay and self-canceling unit not working properly. Lower wattage bulbs can be used, but require a bit of additional work.

 

I bought a new relay switch I'm changing the turn signals to led I want to keep the old speedometer I just want to eliminate the turn signal flasher box and the tach

 

You can't do that easily. The gauges are part of an integrated housing. You'd have to pull the speedometer from the housing and make your own can to put it in. I suppose that you could cut the existing housing, but then you'd have an ugly hole to fill up, and it would not look good at all.

 

I appreciate the help thanks and one other question how has everybody hidden that big piece with all of the electrical pieces on the left side of the bike? I'm trying to eleminate as much as I can to give the bike a cleaner look what I did was I flipped up and some tape for now to hold it in place under the bottom side where the seat will go

 

This is what I'm talking about and this is what I did any tips on how to hide most of the wiring for a cleaner look?

 

Honesty, most people use the side covers

Those that clear out the middle all seem to make different choices. Some relocate everything under a custom seat (in the hump), or build an enclosure. Whatever you do, make sure that the voltage regulator (the aluminum finned bit) gets plenty of airflow.

 

Thanks for the input

 

So I just got my front turn signals in the mail today does anybody have any pics of how they took off there old front turn signals and installed aftermarket ones??

 

Got them on decided to wing it now got to open up the headlight and figure out how to wire it

 

I made these today at work.....

 

A few pics from a little bit ago buddy from work let me borrow his wire feed welder so I'm going to start working on a few things this weekend what do yall think so far? Yay or nay?

 

Wow great input on this site!! Lol

 

Decided to hardtail since I was borrowing a welder

 

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Does anybody know if it's difficult to swap gas tasks? I want to go for something smaller

 

The tank that you have is the smallest one that will fit without having to make mounts.

 

I thought it was a piece of cake to do a tank swap but yes you will need to make mounts which in my opinion isn't hard. You have already have done the hard tailing so I would say go for it. Find a tank that you like, buy it, and make it work.

 

Bumpy!

 

What does anyone recommend for a new gas tank off of what kind of bike? I would like to find a similar one but smaller, going to be going to local auto junk yard here and look after the snow melts a little

 

Took off the exhaust going to try n tackle the minimal wiring harness wish me luck will probably be taking off the engine for repainted and body

 

My niece was 2 years old and me and my brother gave her a wrench put it on a nut and told her to push, it was so cute she had the mad push face and everything