Son's first project bike...

Picked up a 1981 650 Maxim to give my 13 yo son a project during this covid outage. He's already assembled his own motorized bicycle so I think he is ready. We did a little poking around last week and found the plug on 3 completely dry and no spark on 4.

Got the carbs off tonight and found a couple of the diaphragms (1 and 3) had not been seated correctly and there was a water/fuel mix in the bowls of 3 and 4. Other than that, the carbs were surprisingly spotless! Going to clean them anyway and order a carb kit but Im encouraged about the state of things.

Additionally, the rear end of the air filter box had been cut off. I think it was going to be a bobber project for the last owner. Not a big worry

Biggest lessons so far:
1. don't leave your tools on the ground
2. bag/box everything as you take it off
3. label every bag/box as you fill it

If he can learn those 3 lessons by the end of this project he will be well on his way!

Mark (the wise elder)
Alex (the eager padawan)

 

Welcome to the site, looking forward to your updates with the bike. Sounds like a great together time for the two of you, great teaching and leaning time on the horizon. Great to hear....

 

The good news, though, is if you DIDN’T bag and label everything, we know all the parts here, anyway, so just show us what it is and we’ll tell you what it is.

dfox

 

So is there a secret XJbikes way to get the airbox out of our parts bike without taking off the starter and manifolds and moving the engine? Building an entire bike AROUND an airbox is a bold move but Im not sure Yamaha got a home run with that one...

 

Get a hot air gun and soften the box and carefully fold it. Then do the same to re-install.just be careful and take your time so it ends up nice and straight again. Remove the clutch cable brackets and bring the box out that side. But, you may STILL need to shift the engine forward.

you should resist the temptation to go to pods. Make it almost impossible to remove, and that pretty well ensures most people won’t do that.

 

be very careful with the carb kit, their not all created equal. a lot of the pieces you get are not necessary and some are just wrong.
take some pictures, ask some questions, you'll get fixed up

 

Get your carb kits from LEN

 

Wow, never thought of that. Got the box out of the donor bike. Even with the engine loose it was a tight squeeze. Now we will just have to get it into the project bike...

 

Thanks for the heads up. The internet has certainly made it easier to get parts, but also easier to get WRONG parts. I'll go with LEN.