My Maxim 550 Gets New Paint!

Well, I finally finished the paint on my 1982 Maxim 550.

Painted with "Regal Red" Rustoleum Paint from Wal-Mart - Sprayed with my gravity feed gun from Home Depot.

Topped it off with several coats of Dupli-Color Clear from Wal-Mart...

I blasted and sanded the front and rear fenders and painted them red as well...
Also painted the muffler/footpeg brackets.

Even sprayed my emblems silver and cleared them. Left the "Maxim 550" emblems off the side covers...
Boy, that was some tedious masking!

What do you guys think?

Here are two pics of the finished product...

 

Nice work, looks very slick!

Once I get my handlebar issues worked out I'm planning on going with Rustoleum Grass Green (color 7731 for those curious). I can only hope mine comes out half as nice

 

Before my next project (Which hasn't even been purchased yet!) I am going to invest in an HVLP gun to replace the one I have...

All I can say, is color-sanding saved me - Can even make a bad paint job look great!

Look forward to seeing your project when you get to it.

 

Sweeet looking bike nice job, I'd like to do my 700 in "pepsi blue"

 

ok , the front guard circle? is not parallel with the rim/tyre circle is what i see formost in da pics....

 

Beautimus Weaver! Well done and good on you! You realize your inspiring others (myself included) to try this at home, don't you?

 

Yeah, that's how teh front fender was when I bought the bike... I don't know whay it is that way, or how to fix it... When I took the fender off to paint, I was hoping to get it right, but that is how it went on when I lined up the bolt holes...

Any ideas why this is?

 

Possible the fender is for an bigger bike, like the xs850? I'm shooting in the dark on this one so don't snipe me if I'm way off base. Given that there is a bit more space to the back of the fender, I'm going to guess that the model this fender came off of had a trailing axle rather than the forward location your bike was made with. I'm convinced that this is not the original fender for your machine, my Max fender doesn't curve that far down either. XS or a larger XJ with an anti-dive setup??

 

As Robert has stated, definately not the right one. 550 Maxim fender has more support bracing of it. That maybe a Seca guard as the seca has the axles in the centre of the fork tube.


You may be able to do something with that one. I would look at the possibility of "slotting" the rear screw holes vertically to allow the bottom to lower. Out with the die grinder.

I think that would allow it to drop into a less noticable spot.


Cheers
HG

 

That Goon fella has the right idea i think , as you already painted it , but could always try the brute force method [i was going to suggest a sledghammer ]

ie take out wheel the push on rear downwards till get it right.....

because the front of it is too close to da wheel too so me thinks is bent....have fun..

 

I'm not sure how the fit would be but I'll be selling the front fender from my 750 once I get her painted...or if I found out Monday morning from the garage that she's DOA.

Died tonight, can't figure out why and I'm not totally willing to put another $300+ of labor into it.

 

Just a dumb question from someone who doesn't know any better...is is on backwards?

 

Nope Jazz, the front of the fender is correct. Hessener, WHY pay some one else the cash? Do it yourself! You have every thing you'll need here as far as guidance. Take a crack at it!

 

I'll take a shot at it. I've started a new thread under the "XJ chat" section.

 

Thanks for the ideas guys... It had never crossed my mind that it might be the wrong fender...

I haven't seen a whole lot of these maxim 550's around, so I don't have much to compare her to.

I think I will try the "slotting" method mentioned above - I will post pics after.

 

Wow! I am impressed. I was actually (girlie, I know) trying to figure a way to just glue material on it and maybe cover it with some sort of clear coat. <shrugs> I have a friend that used to ride a Hawk until he got married. I have seen him use a mouse pad as a seat cover and carry his battery in a backpack connected to the bike because he couldn't figure out where to house it after some mods. You guys are creative. I hope I can add some originality.

Your bike is spectacular.

P.S. It looks an aweful lot like my 550 Seca fender and all. How do I know for sure if my bike is a Seca?

Oh.....and of course if i do paint it, mine would be Emerald Green.

Carla

 

well, from what I've seen the seca tanks look totally different, as do the rear fenders... You should upload some pics of your bike...

-cw

 

Most visible difference between a Seca and Maxim is the sidecovers. While not very easy to see the pic in my avatar is a 550 Seca. Left hand cover has a hole for the seat lock in it.

Maxim's are more triangular with the top side sloping down towrds the rear axle.


Hope this makes sense.
HG

 

Also add to ya signiture of what old bomb ya own for tecknikal reasons when looking at da posts.

 

Okay....First I changed my signature to show what I ride. Secondly, when I purchased the Seca, I was told it was a Virago. It was not until I acquired insurance that I was made aware it is a Seca. Perhaps they are mistaken? I assumed they took my VIN and determined it was a Seca. Thirda and final, I attempted to post but my pics are too big. I have put it in my mind to have pics posted in 30 days or less.

Hired Goons Seca looks nothing like mine. My seat is like CW's, my tank and fenders too. I am beginning to wonder. I had a friend over the other day and when I said something about my Seca, he said "You don't have a Seca." I said the insurance papers say it's a Seca. My friend, I think, said it was a Virago also, but I don;t remember. I just know he said it was not a Seca.

Inquiring minds want to know......Hmmmmmm. I will have to get this figured out.

 

If you post up the first six letters/numbers of your VIN we'll be able to work out what it is.

 

I attempted to send a PM with this info, but it stayed in the outbox. The info is: JYA22U

 

The head of the maintenance deptartment where I work does some amazing paint work on big body hogs and classic cars, he told me he'd paint my bike just for the cost of the paint if I let him pick the color. I told him I was thinking of a soft green but he didn't seem to like the idea. A few days later he shows me a swatch of the color he wants to do...it's green

Not quite emerald, just a bit more vivid. He calls it "matrix green".

 

Easiest way to tell is that the Virago's are V-twin's, Seca's/Maxim's are 4 cylinders (there were also a very few parrallel twins). What you probably have is a Maxim 550 instead of a Seca 550, not sure how the title and stuff got screwed around though. Or maybe someone put all the Maxim stuff on a Seca frame. Would be a lot of work, but doable none-the-less.

 

did you do a final wet sand?

 

wicked nice paint job bye the way!

 

I did... And considering I don't have the highest quality spray gun, the final wet/color sand was crucial!!!

After that, I cleaned it, and sprayed the clear... Not too bad, if I say so myself.

 

Me thinks it's an xs fender,not an xj fender...

 

Never did do any more to the bike or fender. Sold the bike to my brother-in-law as his first starter bike. Right now I am bike-less! But I do think it was the wrong fender... Anyone know if the seca's ever come with a chrome front fender? Because mine was chrome before I blasted and painted it...

 

yes the 550 secas did come with chrome front fenders, although I have seen some with painted front fenders as well

 

EmeraldPrincess,
It appears you have it right in your signature, but just in case no one got back with you...

The model code you provided, 22U, shows that it is indeed a Virago, and has the following result from the XJCD - XRef:
XV500K 1983 500 XV500 Virago Street
(The JYA is the manufacturer, and present on all our bikes.)

Now returning this thread to its' respective owner.
Z

 

Nice job!!!